Sunday, August 18, 2019

Custom Doll project (part 2): Repainting and Making Her New Clothes




            Hello everyone, If you've read this blog post, then you will know that I was working on a custom doll project. I haven't talked about it as much as my others. So, I decided I would post an update for the project:

  
Since I rinse whenever I use nail polish remover, I had to find a way to make sure her hair didn't get wet (and come off.) So I used a Pressed'n Seal that was called Glad to cover her hair.

When I had finally removed some of her paint, bits of her hair had gotten 
wet thankfully they didn't come off. But they didn't get as wet as they could have gotten.
Which means I found a new technique to use. 

At first when I started repainting, I wanted to make her into a fairy.
But since she didn't exactly feel like the right doll for that (I have another doll that I am going to use, who I will post about once I begin repainting and rewigging her), 
and considering the fact that at the beginning of the project, 
she had two long hairs coming out like Tauriel's (which made it seem more 
to be falling into a Middle Earth doll project), I decided to go with that.
Also because she was short (shorter than Astrid), 
I decided that I would make her into the daughter of Fili and Tauriel, if Fili had *spoilers for The Hobbit don't read them unless you've read the book or watched the movies* survived *end spoilers* 
I was rather excited about this idea, because she be a half elf half dwarf. And it would mean that she would have Silvan elf and dwarf elements to her. 

I began by outlining where her eyes had been. Since these dolls 
have an area that is sculpted showing where her eyes used it be. It can be very difficult to make it smaller, or larger without it looking like there is a space where her eyes should be.

                                        I then took a pen, and made it much more clear.

I then decided to paint over where the pen was and give her
gold eyeliner, green eyes, and freckles. 
(Though the freckles later look more realistic than they do in this photo.) 

Unfortunately, I did not take that many photos later of her face, when I was using pencil
to give her more details. (And add white to her eyes.) 
So, I will give you pictures later in the next post, of what her repaint fully looks like. 
I am working on something else related to this doll project, so I am not going to take her outside for photos yet. 

After I repainted her some more, and then put Mod Podge over it. 
I then began by making her clothes. 

First I took green felt and wrapped it over her in the exact way I wanted it to look, 
and then hot glued it. 





After that I glued blue ribbon on, to make the upper half of the dress stay on her better. 
I also added glitter to the ribbon to make it more shiny and to
give you the feeling that she might be rich and own jewels and gold. 

I then decided that the skirt I made out of felt, didn't work very well.
But I kept the bit of felt I used and made it part of the top part of the dress.

Since I wanted a loose flowing skirt, I decided to use one that had been the costume for a Frozen Anna doll.  


Since I wanted the pattern to be different, I decided I would paint on the 
skirt. First I painted a green dragon with a hoard nearby. 

I then started adding other details onto it: 









I tried to give the skirt different colors than Anna's original skirt had. 
Some of the colors were harder to cover than others. 

After I finished the details of the skirt. I used some spare felt to make her dress look a little 
more bulky and less fancy (or at least fancy, but not in an elvish manner): 


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                                     There will be a part three, that is focusing on her elf ears, but for now...
                                       What do you think a half elf, half dwarf would look like?  In what way do you think it                                                        would have affected the relationship between the elves and dwarves if there was a half 
                                                 elf half dwarf? 
                                       -Quinley 


Thursday, July 4, 2019

Happy 4th of July (A Photoshoot)

Happy 4th of July to everyone in America!
I actually took these photos a while ago, but I thought I would share them now:



I like the angle of this photo. 



I like the upper view of this photo. 



The blurred background in this photo is a cool effect. 


I like the way this photo turned out. 
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Which photo is your favorite? 
-Quinley 

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Father's Day (A Photo Shoot)




Happy Father's Day! 
To celebrate Father's Day, I am doing a photo shoot with Astrid and Legolas. 
Astrid is the daughter of the alternate dimension versions of Tauriel and Legolas, so she shares the blue eyes of Legolas and the red hair of Tauriel. 
She was adopted by this dimension's Tauriel and Legolas. So let's get to the photo shoot: 







I like the angle of this photo, I tried to make it look as if they are hugging. 

For some reason, this photo looks as if it is turning slightly black and white at
the edges and I don't know why, but it gives it a cool effect. 







I like how this one turned out. 








I like the angle of this photo. 



During the photo shoot, I had an idea that Legolas and Astrid would be 
doing a Father-Daughter portrait near the end and this is what came out of it. 


                    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Which photo is your favorite? 

-Quinley 


Wednesday, May 22, 2019

My Thoughts on Carpatina's and A Girl For All Time's Newest Releases


Hello everyone, I don't usually see people talking much about Carpatina or A Girl For All Time. Mostly the posts I've seen are talking about AG, so I thought I would dedicate a post to sharing my thoughts about Carpatina's and A Girl For All Time's awesome new releases (including Emma, because I never talked about her when she was rereleased).



(screenshot taken from the official Carpatina doll site: https://www.carpatina-dolls.com/collections/pre-production-offers/products/louis
The first thing I noticed when I looked at a picture of Louis was that he had a different face mold than James (I renamed my James doll, Alfred) or Stephen, his face felt wider than the others. I think the reason for doing this had to do with the fact that the historical figure they were basing the doll on had a different facial shape:
(image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France#/media/File:Description-de-l%27entree-Du-Roy-et-de-la-Reyne-Paris_MG_1114.tif
Louis looks very similar to this portrait of King Louis the 14th, and I think Carpatina did a good job putting his personality and characteristics into doll form. Now, as for Louis's two wigs, which are removable, I find it very interesting because I thought at first that the brown wig was put over the auburn one, but it appears that you remove one to put the other one on. Since I don't have a Louis doll, I can neither confirm nor deny whether that is the way it works, but I am judging from what Carpatina said in the description. The cool thing about having two wigs is that you can always add a third one in, which adds a way to do quick customization without actually hurting the doll. As for the outfit, I love the style of it, and I like the style of the buckled shoes. The shoes are different from James' because of the time period difference and because of the fashion that was popular during King Louis' reign. As a whole, I am excited that they made another boy doll!


 (All three screenshots of Emma from the official Carpatina doll site, https://www.carpatina-dolls.com/collections/pre-production-offers/products/emma)
Emma was actually rereleased around the time I found out about James. I didn't really talk about her much at the time, because I was focused on the fact that a colonial boy doll was being released. Emma is a time traveller, who according to the description travels to the 1600s during Louis the 14th's reign (which is rather cool to have a girl doll and a boy doll who are from or time traveling to that time period in French history). Unlike the other girl dolls I have seen, she has two dresses (and a underdress), one from the modern time, and one from the 1600s. The 1600s dress is my favorite of the two, since the 17th century is one of my favorite time periods.


(image from the official girl For all Time website, https://www.agirlforalltime.com/collections/a-girl-for-all-time/products/elinors-surcoat-and-gown
Speaking of the 17th century, Girl For All Time recently gave Elinor (a doll from Shakespeare's time period), a new outfit, which looks beautiful on her. As a person who loves the Elizabethan era, I love that they are giving Elinor more clothes and accessories.


(image from the official Girl for All Time doll site, https://www.agirlforalltime.com/collections/elinor-your-elizabethan-girl-doll/products/elinors-cat-shakes)  

This cat reminds me of Caroline's cat Inkpot, except that he is named Shakes after William Shakespeare, one of my favorite playwrights! If you didn't know already I am a huge Shakespeare fan, and the fact that a cat is named after William Shakespeare in the Girl for All Time brand makes me so happy. And since her story is set in Elizabethan England (even though there hasn't been a release of it yet), it makes me wonder which of Shakespeare's plays will be mentioned in her story, and if there will be part of the book where Elinor visits the Globe Theatre! If there is a scene where she goes to the theatre, it would be awesome!

             
(Image from the official  Girl of All Time website:
https://www.agirlforalltime.com/ (downloaded may 20 2019)) 
As it turns out, Girl For All Time is releasing a boy doll, though he is from the 21st century (and I much prefer historical boy dolls and girl dolls). Although I find it exciting because this might mean that historical boy dolls will be released in the future. If there was a boy side character, who was friends with one of the girl characters, it would be awesome if they made a doll of him.  Anyway, I am excited to find out what releasing a boy doll means for future releases at A Girl For All Time.

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Do you have a favorite release from the ones I mentioned? Do you prefer 17th century France or England? 

Love,
Quinley

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Happy Mother's Day from The Queen of the Gods (Post by Hera)



Hello mortals, as queen of the gods, and mother of Hephaestus, Hebe, and Ares,
I was asked to write a post for this holiday "Mother's Day" or "Mothers' Day".
Anyway, Zeus, if you are listening, you will know that today will be your least your favorite day!

My favorite things to do during Mother's Day 

-Torture my husband's other children, send a snake* or two, or make someone insane.
- Complain to Disney about their movie adaptation of the Twelve Labors of Hercules, and tell them that I am not and will never be the mother of Hercules!
- Revolt against Zeus. Remember that the Fates said there would be a downfall, my little cuckoo**? Well, I may be leading it, you never know.
-Send the many other demigod daughters, sons, grandson-son things (I'm not even going to ask) of Zeus on many labors, which hopefully they will fail.... Hopefully....
-Spend time with Hebe and my other children, and tell them how much I love them, and apologize to Hephaestus for throwing him off Mt. Olympus.***
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What are some of your favorite things to do on Mother's Day? Have you ever tried to overthrow the annoying King of the Gods? 

Farewell Mortals, 
Hera, Queen of the Gods. 

P.S.  Aphrodite won the golden apple contest that said she was the fairest, but that doesn't mean I'm not the best mother! If there was another golden apple contest that said To the Best Mother I would win for sure!

Notes for mentions of mythology:
*Hera sent snakes in order to kill Hercules. She failed, since Hercules killed the snakes.
**Zeus disguised himself as a cuckoo in order to woo Hera and succeeded in the end.
*** When Hephaestus was born, Hera thought he was ugly and threw him off Mt. Olympus.