Saturday, October 31, 2020

Hekate (a photo shoot)

Hekate (or Hecate) is the Greek goddess of witchcraft (among other things, cross-roads, and ghosts), so I thought she was the perfect doll to do a photoshoot for especially during this time of the year. The goddess, Hekate also appears in William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth (known to superstitious actors as The Scottish Play). But often times she is cut from the play and replaced with a normal witch.  

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecate#/media/File:Relief_triplicate_Hekate_marble,_Hadrian_clasicism,_Prague_Kinsky,_NM-H10_4742,_140995.jpg)


I ended up making a doll of Hekate, however I'm not sure I'm done customizing this doll, given that Hekate is a triple goddess. So I may find a way to make her look a little bit more like the Greek goddess above in the future, but for now... 

On to the photoshoot!

I really like the way this photo turned out, especially with the blurred background behind her. 



The leaves have recently started falling from the trees, so I thought
they made the perfect backdrop. 




I like the angle of this photo. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which photo is your favorite? And do you have a favorite Greek god/goddess or line from Macbeth

Have a Happy Halloween!
-Quinley 


Thursday, September 24, 2020

Pixie Hollow Rewrites (Part one)



                  Pixie Hollow was a virtual world that was up until 2013. It was a beautiful and amazing I loved the fairy creating portion of it. However it closed and I was very upset for a little while...

One thing I loved about the game was the character creation part of it, where you could create your character or remake them over and over again. I always created a new fairy when I played the game. And just enjoyed changing the talent around. There about three slots you could fill for the fairies so I always ended up deleting a fairy in order to create a new one.  The only thing I didn't like was that you and to pay to get certain things, it was a game that helped the company earn money so it was not surprising but still I didn't like that aspect. I took a break from the game for a little and then when I came back I was sad to find out that Disney had removed it.

What you see when you enter the site 
And then in 2020 four years later from the time that Fairy ABC had decided to create their own rewrite of the game, I found it. I was looking through articles about Pixie Hollow when a "fan community, FairyABC, has created a "rewrite" of the game, as of 2016. Users there can join a virtual world similar to Pixie Hollow, but without many features of the original games." - Wikipedia.
I was both surprised and intrigued, so I decided to check it out and created an account and entered the magical world of Pixie Hollow...
I created a fairy to begin with, and loved how the opening and choosing of talents felt like the old game. Even if it was more limited in some ways. 

My original goal when I entered was to recreate one of my old fairies, who had been extremely tall for a fairy and had long black hair that was tied back in a braid. But in the end I decided to create a new fairy. Though I may end up making her looking that fairy in the future. I started exploring the game and soon found out you could change your fairy's wings... 

I ended up giving my fairy dragon wings. Which was something I couldn't do in the old game, and if I could I am pretty sure Disney would have made it a premium option.

I began playing around with what my character wore, and it felt like a paper doll game, except where your paper doll will blink and sit if you want them to. I also love that I can give my fairy Bobble's glasses. 
I was never able to create a sparrowman in the old game because it closed before I actually wanted to, it was an option when I played but I just wasn't interested. So now I realized I wanted to make one, so I did. 



This game also allows you to have six slots for the amount of fairies or sparrowman you can create which is double what you had in the old Pixie Hollow, So I'm saving my others for later and currently just building these two characters and their houses. 
The game does glitch and overload from time to time causing you to go in and out of the game and bugs will happen, but it doesn't make me annoyed I'm just glad this exists. 

One of the funniest bugs has to be my water talent changing into a tea making talent. 🤣
The tea making talent is a talent you can choose, but it was one that my fairy isn't. 

There a lot of pros in this game, which outweigh any cons, because the community in the game is usually pretty active, and users are generally welcoming and are willing to help you figure out how to do something or tell you if they know about a bug and which stores are and aren't working at the moment and if you click a button it may cause you to reload the page. 
And one of the bonuses of this game, is that they have other talents that didn't appear in the original game, a fast flying talent, a performing talent, a writing talent, a tea making talent. 

(Image from Disney Fairies wiki, https://disneyfairies.fandom.com/wiki/Rani) 

Because of this I intend to have more of the talents that weren't in the (original) game than the talents that were, though I chose to pick one of my favorites of the original game's talents. Which is Water talent partly because of Rani from the original story books.  Also I love the irony that my Water fairy has red hair and dragon wings which is something you would usually attribute to fire. 

If what you are missing is the game playing part of Pixie Hollow, then there is a version of it called We The Pixies (or WTP) where they are recreating some of the old games. However, it doesn't save the fairies you create like Fairy ABC, so you have to restart every time. If you like just restarting every time and not building your fairy over time, then this version of it you may be okay with. Given that it focuses more on the gaming of it, rather than the fairy building. Though it doesn't have the sort of community that Fairy ABC has which has been growing for years. 


Their version of creating the fairy is somewhat similar to what I remember to what one of the first Pixie Hollow games was like, it doesn't allow you to create a sparrowman (yet), but they say it will come in the future. And perhaps in the future you will be able to save your fairies too. 

They only have one meadow in it, but that meadow has one of the games I remember playing in it. 
Which was the fish game that Silvermist had in the old game: you are rescuing fish and over time it steadily gets harder. 

One thing it has is more than one way to sit down, you can sit or kneel down. While in Fairy ABC you can only sit down. 

At the moment, I feel this rewrite is in its early stages, it may end up getting much more complex over time. But I would say WTP is mostly something I would go to, if I wanted to play some of the games from Pixie Hollow rather than building my character and traveling around the game. 

So in the end the choices between which rewrite you want to play is up to, your interests. I love character creation and developing a character over time so I would play Fairy ABC's, however if you like playing games where there is a challenge to complete I suggest We the Pixies, and if you are alright with having to create a new character every time you play too. I generally like being able to keep my characters and have it remember them instead of starting it like I have never played it before, so that's just my preferences. 

Since I have only played the game for a short period of time, and there are still discoveries I am making this is going to be made into a series exploring the different areas and things one can do in ABC Fairy's Pixie Hollow. 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have any of you played the old Pixie Hollow? Are you interested in the rewrites? And if so, which is your favorite? 
-Quinley 


Saturday, July 11, 2020

Where the Fay Dwell (a Lyrical Photoshoot)




Hello everyone, 
I hope you are doing well, I know the quarantine is hard. But to cheer you up, I have a lyrical photoshoot to present, I took the photos beforehand and decided to write the poem later. 

So here it is: 

I know a place where the fay live, 
it is near a cave, 
with sparkling crystals that will make your heart lie still, 

In the glenn, 
which has been talked of by wise men, 
the fay fly, 
into the summer sky, 

There are tales spun, 
but of them none of them lie, 
For if you believe: you will see the fay fly, 


They hide in flowers, 
they particularly like sun flowers, 

But if you believe they may come near, 
If you are sad they will wipe away a tear, 


If you are happy, they will play a lyre, 
They are the fay, 
and if you believe they will surely come to play. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have any favorite stories involving fairies? If so, I would love to hear in the comments. :D 

-Quinley 

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Custom Doll: Steampunk-Cyborg (Belated Blog Anniversary Special)




Hello everyone, 
This was meant to be posted on March 30th (the date of my blog's creation). 
But then a lot happened, so instead we will be celebrating Q's Creative Corner's blog anniversary very late. 

I thought it would be fun to film myself doing doll customizations, not only because I had seen doll customizers who inspired me to do this, but also because then I would be showing it in a way that wasn't just pictures. That way, you (the audience or reader) could see it and see how I do it, and maybe learn from it if you are interested in it. So, here it is: 



You can also watch it here
I hope in the future that I will be able to produce more videos like this, for this blog. 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who is your favorite Doll customizer on YouTube? 
Would you like to see more videos like this on my blog in the future? 
                                                    -Quinley

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Dolls For Natural Disasters and For Children in Hospitals (Part One)




Hello everyone,  it's been two months since I last blogged. 
If you are wondering why I was gone for so long, This post will explain it.
But on to the actual post!

For those who didn't know, I have been working on a project for children who lost everything they owned due to a natural disaster, be it flooding, a hurricane, a tornado, etc. I intend to visit the areas where the natural disasters occurred and give children customized dolls that I have made.  I am planning a second project as well, that involves making dolls for children in hospitals.

For both projects, I intend to give customized dolls to people once the current COVID-19 quarantine is over.  Some of these dolls will have their face repainted and their hair re-wigged with yarn. Like my previous doll customizations, however, the hair re-wigging will only happen when the child wants it (since you can't really brush it after re-wigging). I feel even more deeply connected to doing both of these projects, as I have had a surgery and live in an area where a tornado recently hit.

           What I intend to do for the Natural Disasters Project: 

1. Visit hospitals (this will also cross into my other doll project for children in hospitals).

2. Visit areas that have been damaged and/or destroyed by disasters. 

3. Send dolls to people who need them, even if I cannot visit them. 

So far for this project I've finished brushing the hair of and making clothes for about twelve or thirteen dolls. I intend to bring them to hospitals for those who have been affected by a natural disaster, given that some natural disasters have injured people enough that they need to go to the hospital. And I hope to visit those in my area, who have lost their home.


            And for the Hospitals project: 

1. I intend to talk directly to children in hospitals, and ask them what type of doll they want. 

 2. Go on visits and give dolls to people. 

3. Perhaps get a group of people to customize dolls with me. (This will probably apply to both projects). 


For this project, when focusing on the doll customizing portion, I hope that I will be able to talk to the child about what type of doll they want before making it. If they want a character from a movie, a book, or a TV show, I will customize a doll for them to be that character. I even intend to create dolls of characters they made up themselves.

For the natural disaster project, I will bring pre-customized dolls in for people. Hopefully,  I will eventually get to talk to talk to people about what kind of dolls they want beforehand. But I'm not sure how much time I will have to do that before I actually go to those places or if the people who were affected by the disaster would exactly want to talk that much to me. But even so, I will bring custom dolls of course.

                        For both of them: 


As well as giving dolls to people in hospitals, and to those who suffered natural disasters, I hope to teach people who want to learn how to clean up and customize thrift store dolls. I know for some going to the thrift store to find dolls that are not completely perfect must be disappointing.
So, I hope that knowing that they can be fixed, will help them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What have you done to help your community? I would love to hear your stories in the comments. 

That's all for now. When I have more updates on this, I will post them.

-Quinley

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Custom Doll Project: Fairy Girl


Hello everyone,
 I didn't post this right away due to the fact that the holidays came up and I already had a holiday post. 

 Shall we begin?: 


I started out by using a Tinker Bell doll since her ears would already be pointy and I wouldn't need to use clay to make them that way.  

Then I removed her paint by using non-acetone nail polish remover. 
(After that I ran her under sink water, as it is bad for the polish remover to stay on her face.) 

I then cut her blonde hair and glued on red yarn. 

Then I painted on purple dots to begin her eyes. 

The I outlined her eyes in black and gave her a pupil. (Sometimes this step has to be done over and over, because the pupil sometimes looks wonky.) 


I then did the other parts of her face. I dotted her face with other paint markers, 
and gave her blue lips (this was later changed to green, but I don't have a photo of it) and orange colored eyebrows. 


I also then made her an outfit, using felt, and gave her silk leaf wings, which I then also dotted on with paint markers.  

The last thing I did was to add glitter glue to her. The glitter took a lot of time to dry, but in the end it looked great. 

Before: 

After: 


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is your favorite story or stories involving fairies? Also, who are some of your favorite fairy characters? 

-Quinley

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Fun Things to Do During the Winter Holidays (post by Tenney and Z)


Hello everyone, this is Z and Tenney sending holiday cheer!

We hope you're having a happy third day of Hanukah!  Or a good Christmas Eve, if you celebrate Christmas, or are looking forward to Kwanzaa which begins in two days, or had a good Winter Solstice, or are enjoying whichever holiday you celebrate since there are so many around the globe.
We thought to make everyone feel welcome, we would make a post that everyone would enjoy, and not feel left out of.

Here are some fun things to do over the winter holidays...

1. Do a winter themed stop motion animation. 

I (Z) always love doing stop motion animations with my AG dolls (and my other dolls as well). It can be fun to do stop motions that have themes related to winter.

2. Take photos outside of your doll in the snow* 



*If it snows where you are. You may want to be careful about what types of dolls you bring out for this. If it is an American girl doll, Carpantia, or a Girl For All Time, there is a possibility that their eyes may rust or they may get damaged.

I (Z) love doing this, since the photos I take tend to turn out beautiful when it is snowing, and it gives it really festive feel.

3. Write a winter themed song 

This is an activity that I (Tenney) enjoy doing during the holidays. The song could be about the snow flakes falling down and how beautiful it is this time of the year.

4. Film a music video or video outside side in the snow* 

*if it snows where you are. 

This has a cool (quite literately) effect to it, that both of us can agree on. And it makes it even better if your song or movie has a winter theme to it.

5. Read winter/holiday related books to get into the spirit of the holidays 

There are so many fun winter related books to read during the holidays, whether they be about your holiday or merely winter itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What are some of your favorite things to do during the winter holidays? Feel free to share some of your own ideas in the comment section below! 

Happy holidays! 
-Tenney
-Z