Friday, October 29, 2010

omg shoes

  omg shoes! Let's get some shoes! My shoe woes have finally come to an end. Yes, sometimes, well, most of the time, especially in the beginning, I made/make my own shoes. This can be satisfying. This can also be a huge pain in the ass. I have made some boots I'm very, very proud of, but have run out of the materials used to make them with. I would LOVE to make them again, but have no idea what was exactly used to make them. Such is life when working with donated crafty items. Ahwell.

  ANYWAY! I went a lil bananasammich on they good 'ol ebayz and bought tons of lots of Barbie shoes. I bought (these are all pairs, not loose shoes)  2 lots of 60, 2 lots of 30, 2 lots of 15, a lot of 8 skateless ice skate boots (stfu I have reasons) and a lot of 26 shoes. I think I have enough shoes now. I am in shoe heaven. Not all the packages have arrived yet, but enough have for me to be all OMG, SHOES!

  Sometimes shoes are just shoes and sometimes shoes are a base to build off of. They're pretty important and we were down to nothing. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of all these shoes. I tell ya, when all the packages come in and ALL the shoes are here, I will. And THAT will be impressive. HA!

  These shoes are $300, let's get 'em!

-  Joy -

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Siamese Twins - work in progress

  Let's take a break from doll fiction for a moment and get back to some step by step how to's, or what ever they are. Let you in on some of my little secrets here and there to keep it interesting and all.

  The doll fiction came about because pretty much, each doll has a story. I either think it up while I'm crafting them or it comes to me when they're done. I was playing with Maddie and Cara the other night while Apey was here and she told me to share their story, so I decided to. I will be in between other posts.

  Anyway, in THIS post, I'm going to show you a bit how I'm constructing my latest Siamese Twins, who don't have names yet. Let's get started.

  They started out like this, as they usually do. 2 dolls, separate, doing their own thing. Unsuspecting.

   Ut oh, things are starting to look a lil scary for them at this point! That brown headed girl did NOT want to give up her arm. Now that was a fight. WHEW!

   Working on their masks. Gotta make them pretty and creepy, yanno.

   One mask nearly done, except for one detail to be added later.

  2 masks all finished! So pretty! Very different these 2, which my other I went same, but opposite. These ladies are just different pretty much with some things alike.

  And finally, joined together! I haven't yet decided if I'll leave them like this or join their heads too.

   The back view, of course.

  Awww, so happy together! Maybe they DO want their heads glued? hmmm...

- Joy -

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Maddie and Cara continued...



  Cara knew she wasn't as special or perfect as Maddie. Sure, they had they same face, but their bodies where nothing alike. Maddie was strong and healthy, where Cara was weak and broken. Born disabled at birth and no one could figure out why one twin would be so healthy and the other so...not.

  Mama and Papa always treated them the same at home, Cara sometimes getting even more attention because of her illnesses. That doesn't really make it the better kind of attention though. When company came around, Maddie was the twin they showed off. The beautiful, healthy, able bodied twin. She didn't resent her. Cara mostly stayed in her room and played with toys during these times. Awaiting her call for dinner. They'd never exclude her from dinner, at least.

  The braces on her legs were quite heavy, so she'd make her way to the top of the stairs, then call for Samson, one of the bigger, stronger servants to carry her down. He was always quite sweet about it and became her kind of personal carrier servant. If she needed to go anywhere, Samson was there to assist her. They formed a strong friendship in her short life.

   Her best friend in the whole world though, well really, her whole world, was her sister, Maddie. They were so close. Maddie took care of her, helped  her, played her and yet still managed to make her feel perfectly normal. Maddie resented her role as 'the pretty one' more then Cara did. Of course, she was stronger and cared about a lot more.

  The day of their 5th birthday party finally arrived. Cara knew that even though it would be against Maddie's will, they would eventually get separated. Maddie would be shown off, passed around, made the princess and Cara would be set off to the side, stuck with a Nanny servant maybe, to watch over her and make sure she also enjoyed her party, but not as much in the spot light. But Cara had her own idea. She knew once she  broke away from Maddie, she was free and could slip away unnoticed. She hated to do it to Maddie, but knew in the endit was for the best.

   Cara took her chance, breaking away, letting go of Maddie's hand to wander over to the cake. Dang if these braces weren't heavy. She looked back to see the worry on Maddie's face, but tried to put her at ease with a smile. No harm in cake. Maddie was soon scooped  up by the adults anyway and there was no one to watch over Cara's every move. She made a break for it....

to be continued....

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Story of Maddie and Cara


  Meet Madaline and Caraline. It's a rather tragic story, really. You're really only meeting Madaline, better known as Maddie. The part of Caraline is being played by a well worn doll, but shhh, don't tell Maddie her Cara is just a doll, there's no telling what could happen.

  You see, Maddie and Cara were twins. Born to one of those wealthy families in the South on a Plantation  with lots and lots of land, ponds, gardens, etc. Need I even mention their home? Larger than large, room after room, secret rooms, giant attics, ball rooms (2, actually), servant quarters (which were always kept full), you know the type.

  These twins daughters were the pride and joy of the Willis Family, along of course with their older sons Anderson and Maxwell. Little girls are special though and 2 at that! But sadly, tragedy struck early, swift and hard.

   When the Twins were having their 5th birthday party, it was a huge celebration on the grounds. There were people everywhere. Usually, Maddie and Cara stuck together like glue, but that day, Cara really wanted to go off exploring. She let go of Maddie's hand and wandered off a bit. Maddie felt her let go and looked over with worry, but watched her sister simply walk over to the cake table. No big deal there.

  Maddie got pulled this way and that, from grown up to grown up and passed around. So beautiful, so gorgeous, the favored twin anyway. No one seemed to notice Cara was missing except for Maddie herself. Whenever she'd try to bring it up, her fears were pushed aside. It was a party, give her sister some space without her to have fun and such things were said, but deep down, she knew it was wrong.

  Deep down she knew all the attention she received was wrong. Cara was beautiful too. She just had some problems with her arms and legs was all, but they had the same face. It was just some silly braces on her legs. The parents loved them like equals at home, but once company came around, Maddie was shown and Cara was hidden. Such is life in the old South, I suppose.  Maddie didn't agree. She loved her sister more than anything else in the whole world.

   It broke her heart, soul and mind to lose her...

   To be continued....

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Slave Doll

    She started out as any other masked beauty. I'm not sure what took us to this place. I knew I wanted her to be different, I knew I wanted to use electrical tape and I knew I wanted to do a certain look. It just so happened that look turned out very...slave like.

     She's also a Midge doll and one of my favorites, as we all know. I think she was 2nd Gen Barbie and the Rockers. The ones that didn't dance. Her make up was horrible. I actually passed her over twice at Value World because of her make up and her hair was a nightmare. 3rd time's the charm and I took her home. I salon'd the shit out of her and painted her face white. She made a very nice mask indeed.

   Oh how I do love my masks. They really are my favorites. Specialties, even. Too bad everyone doesn't feel the same. heh

  Here she is in her strips of electrical tape upper half. Now's probably a good time to point out I didn't take these pix. Apey took this doll home to take pix and put her directly in our Etsy Shop. Lucky you! She's for sale and just a click away!

    Like I said, shots for etsy shop. You can find her under Slave Doll.

   As you can see, Apey likes to take artsy shots. lol


   2nd to her face, her feet are my favorite.


  Trying new things and all, etc. There's something for everyone not to buy! ohman, I am feeling down. I need to be positive.

   Let me start over. *cough* There's something for everyone to buy! :o)

   - Joy -

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Etsy Shop Woe

 I'm new to this whole Etsy Shop thing. Everyone keeps telling me how great my dolls are and that I should totally sell them and they're totally worth $X amount and blahblahblah. So I start an etsy shop. Well, Apey does, anyway. I'm not good at stuff like that. I'm good at buying stuff like that.

  Good example, we no longer need Barbie shoes. I just spent like $40 on ebay buying lots of Barbie shoes. *hangs head* Which totally makes the fact I haven't actually sold a damn Barbie worse. Oh except for my one commissioned doll. I did get paid for her. But not enough to cover all these shoes.

  I'm know I'm totally whinning in my Barbie Art Blog right now, but hey, I can't post pictures anyway and I'm feeling kind of low about my 'art' anyway. If my dolls are so great and people would love to have them, to buy them and they're worth $X amount, why aren't they selling? Why aren't people buying them? I mean, I'm selling them for way less than then $X amount people are swearing they're worth.

   It's becoming quite frustrating.  I'm tired of hearing "it takes time". How much time does it take? I get 80 some views on a doll, people obviously like looking at them, wouldn't they like looking at them in their own homes? lol Buy it! I don't think my prices are unreasonable.  I've been told I'm asking way too low, but I want to sell them. I don't want THIS. Sitting around, waiting, wondering if I'm just wasting my time. I feel like I am. I feel like this whole business venture is wasting my time and I need to just stick to dolls for myself and the occasional custom.

  But then I end up with so many dolls and hear "you really should sell those". lather.rinse.repeat. Insanity, I tells ya, insanity.

- Joy -

Monday, October 18, 2010

Follow up on the Twins

   They're finished! They are my Masterpiece! I don't think I've ever created anything more spectacular! Beautiful! Gorgeous! Pictures don't do them justice! But I will try, of course, to show them off in pictures for you. I am so proud of them. I feel like I really beat the big boss on this one.

   They took so long. So much to figure out. So much went into them. So much more thought and energy than your regular doll (except for a custom, maybe). I don't know, there's just something about them. A special connection. I feel more like they represent me than any doll I've made so far. Go figure.

  Enough from me, let me introduce these lovely ladies Zelda and Odette, World Famous Sideshow Headlinders who have spent their lives traveling the globe....(or at least how I envision them)

   We can thank Apey for the fabric, which inspired finishing these lovely ladies and also the camera with which I used to take pictures that didn't suck. lol 

   I gave them champagne glasses because they're going to be part of a scene, which I will explain at the end.

   Odette, the happy masked, classy twin. There are more cracks in her mask. hmmmm.

    Zelda, the sad masked, happy funtime twin. Less cracks in her mask. interesting indeed.

  Back view. Hair is still one, thick braid. Thought I'd brush it out and fix it up. All the flopping them around so much getting them dressed messed it up. lol

  Together again, incase you forgot. And yes, of course, I made both their outfits.

  This will be their scene box. I've already started it. A red velvet curtain in the back and a black stage. There will also be a red velvet curtain in the front. I really want to give it the look and feel of a side show where they're the main attraction, the headliners. I'll post pictures of that when that's all done. HA!

- Joy -

Friday, October 15, 2010

Siamese Twins

  My current project (among many) is a set of Siamese Twins. I actually did a fair bit of research on the matter before plunging in with these dolls. I wanted them joined at the head and wanted to see some pictures of what this looks like for real.

   Forgive picture quality, we're back to using the camera phone. We were lucky for a minute, Apey was here last week. haha

  They started out like this. I believe in this picture they're wearing make up. One has "wild" make up, the other "normal". That didn't last long. They both got painted white.

   A view from the back. I cut a bald spot in the middle of both their heads. Pulled out the nubbins with pliers. Their hair is braided together.

  After awhile of messing with them, I decided I wasn't really happy with how they were turning out. I did their masks. One happy, one sad. That looks good. But something just wasn't right. I couldn't get them to pose right and it was just pissing me off. I decided beyond being conjoined at the head, maybe they should also be attached at the shoulders. I pulled off their arms and glued their shoulders together. Much better!

   I think anyway. I still haven't decided if they'll share an outfit or have their own. As you can see, twin on the right has a glove where twin on the left does not.

   Twin on the right is happy, while twin on the left is sad. They're pretty much opposites of each other.

  The back didn't match up as well as I wanted, but I'm sure clothes will cover that and all will be well. I'm wanted to make these into a series. I just need to keep finding like dolls.

  Oh how I do love the odd. Maybe I should just make a whole series of Side Shows? That would be awesome....

- Joy -

Thursday, October 14, 2010

A Doll For Me

 I've been so busy making dolls for Etsy, I've kind of forgot about myself. The whole reason I started making these dolls is because *I* love them, not just to try and sell them. I started out making a doll with the intention of selling her, but ended up falling in love with her. She's mine, I'm keeping her.

  Her name is simply Pinky, for lack of something better. She's one of those more grown up Skippers that I love to work with. The body style treats you kind.

  I made her dress out of some bears dress. I had to cut it down a lot to make it fit her, but I just thought it was so cute. I used the left overs for accessories.

  I kind of hate how you can't evenly part a barbies hair. That's total balls. Willy nilly hair placement for the loss.

  The other material, a stretchy black with white polka dots was a tank top of mine. I loved it, but it had weird boob cups I couldn't handle. lol

  So there ya go, a doll for me! She's on MY shelf, among my other keepers. She'll live with me forever! :o)

- Joy -

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Trying New Things Part 2

As a follow up to my last post, I'd like to share with you the outfits I made for these lovely ladies.

 She was transformed in this....

 SkullySam can be found in our Etsy Shop along with the rest of these lovely ladies I'll be displaying. :o)

 This lady became....

 Ms. JackieWilds I just love her dress! Also avaible in Etsy!

 She turned out as one of my favorites...

  FestiveFlora is her name! I just love the dress and booties! Also on Etsy!

 Then there's this special lady....


     Turned into this Naughty Nun type. I kind of love her, too. lol Also on Etsy!

   aaaaand this lady....

  Doesn't have a name and I'm still working on her!



   There you go! An update on all the ladies from last post! :o)

- Joy -

Friday, October 8, 2010

Trying New Things


 I think or feel or something as an artist you should never stop evolving. Don't stop what you're good at or what makes you happy, just get better at it. Try different things within what you're doing. Whether that's color, materials, what have you. I've been experimenting with a few new things lately. I haven't always liked the out come, but trying have been fun. That's pretty much what this post is about. The different things I've tried.

  First up we have actual Sugar Skulls. I love them. I've always loved them. I'm not very good at them, however. I'm good at my masks, which have a kind of sugar skull-esque-ness to them, but still no, they're not sugar skulls. I know this, you this, we all know this. They're cool, but they're not actual sugar skulls.

   I wanted to make, so I tried. With materials on hand, of course. I don't actually put a lot of money into this hobby of mine. I used nail polish, sharpie, toothpicks and some paint brushes I stole from my kid. Well, first I tried actual paint on paint, but it was too light. I wanted it bright and I wanted it to show up.

  So enough blahblahblah, let's get on with it, right? The first one I did is very obviously with nail polish.

    Everyone I've shown has given me the creepy seal of approval. lol

 
    I guess I need to make them outfits now. Think it looks alright? Everyone I've shown seems to think so, but they're all biased. :p~

  This is the 2nd one I made. I think it looks too clowny. A few have confirmed the clowniness. It makes me not really like it.

 
  Someone's bound to like it though. So I should make her an outfit and put her up for sale. lol


 The 3rd and last 1 I planned a little better. I drew out the designs in sharpie, then went over them with a toothpick dipped in nail polish. Hello pain in the ass. But hey, it worked!






  And again, gotta make a dress. I have so many unfinished dolls laying around. Need to get them finished and into the Etsy shop.






  Besides the Sugar Skulls, I've been trying out the half and half faces thing. I have a couple pix of those to show you. I did a whole blog of the half normal, half mask. But I mean all mask, but 2 diff mask. Just...look. lol
  This one's kinda cooky. You can't really tell till the side shots, but her eyes are beads. We like to re-use a lot in our art, really as much as possible. We use nail polish a lot. I had a bottle sitting upside down trying to get the last drops out and those beads feel out. I had the pereft use for them. Ha!


  I painted it silver with a little black dot in the middle. See how perfect that is?! lol

 Didn't have to paint this one black, but I did put a little silver dot one it! lol


 Here's a half and half with a mask. The last one didn't really have one. Just design and designs and shit. This is a little more elaborate.







     and like I said, a little more elaborate, here's a full body shot....

   Just gotta make an outfit for her.... lol

  So there ya go, I'm trying new things. Along with the old things. heh

- Joy -




 

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