The theme in question is for my personal site once we have our tax refund and I buy the domain. It’s going to look pretty minimal at first while I get things just right but I hope you all think it’s worth the effort I’m putting into it. It’s also an exercise in relearning coding, as I’m building it from the ground up. But now I have a base I can build other themes from in the future.

There’s also news on the carriage project. I’ve gotten the deposit, and as soon as the bank clears the transfer from Paypal I’ll be starting. There will be lots and lots of photos, so I hope you enjoy. Among all my dollfie friends there’s quite an interest in custom armor and weapons, so I’ll be working on that too when I can’t work on the carriage. Chain mail and simple things like spaulders to start.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to go recover from all that coding.

I do know it’s going to be a mock-up. The doors won’t function, instead the sides and possibly the roof will be removable for photo shoots. The wood will be stained and sealed, with brass hardware most likely. The curtains will most likely be leather, but I’m unsure what I’ll make the seat cushions from. We’re still in the planning phase so I don’t have much to show you just yet, but I do have a picture of the carriage I’m using for reference, courtesy of Antique Carriages.

Any comments from my Dollfie and BJD friends? (The posts have been about you guys a lot lately huh?)

–

“Sire, more photos?”

I wanted to show off what I’ve been making you, like this dragonfly necklace. And show off your new eye placement. I tried to have them more downcast but it looked entirely wrong so here we are, close to the original spot.

“I still have no clothes, Sire.”

Yes, yes. I know. I have no velcro to finish them off. Soon, enough though. Does it bother you that much?

“No, Sire. Just holding you to your word. And I do not like this thing. Too tight.”

Good girl, and I’m sorry. I haven’t got the fit quite right. Slave bracelets for your hands are difficult to say the least.

“Accepted. This is, an odd choice. My ears are pierced.”

But for those girls without it would be nice. This one is plain compared to larger ones I’ve made. I need some smaller beads.

“Is that all, Sire?”

Yes, yes. Still the somewhat reluctant model I see. And look, pieces of your future outfits.

“I remember you pinning this one on me Sire. And the pantsu are…”

Cheap? I know, it was just to fit the cut not for you to wear again.

“Is this the first real outfit?”

Yes, a short dress in the works. I’m not really one for pink, but it looks like it will suit you.

“…”

Yes, I took a pic of Morrigan too. I’ve had her for 5 years and I thank you not to give her such a scornful look.

“Yes, Sire. I will try.”

–

There are a few more pictures of what I’ve made this month in my January ’11 Creations photoset. I also took some shots of my Workspace, including a print of Brigid Ashwood’s Repliqué (second one listed). For a salvaged dining table it works pretty dang well.

And with all that said I’ve got a question for my fellow BJD lovers. What kind of jewelry would you want to see for your girls? I know the sort of things I want to make for mine, but I love making jewelry for others too so you might very well see any ideas you give me in the near future.

I named her Caitlyn mainly for the sound of the name, it seemed to fit what I had in mind. After I decided on the name I looked up its origin and meaning: Gaelic for Pure. The twist of irony isn’t lost, as she is going to be modified, experimented with, evolved. I’ll most likely give her a bio and a story soon enough, but for now enjoy a few pictures of the first of many surgeries.

“Hello, my name is Caitlyn. Sire just brought me home today. It is a chaotic place, but it seems like a good home.”

“…” What are all those metal tools for? “Sire says he has plans for me. That I’ll be a new me, better suited to serve, when I wake up. I can only trust him. He did promise new clothes though.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

And there we have some pictures of the first modification. The head comes off with a bit of practice so can be swapped for another, though I wonder about skin tone matching. Her face up is nice, but when I have paints again I’ll have to try my hand at improving it. The eyes are 10mm, so I’ll be able to replace them easily enough if I find something more suited to her. I’m still trying to decide if I should wake her up before or after I have new clothes for her.

And for the rest of the photos you can check the Flickr Album. Please do feel free to comment, on the mods or my amateur photography. I’m hoping to improve both.

Two weeks I spent sick as a dog and taking more pills than I have since I got out of boot camp (where I got that case of pneumonia). The worst part, after I got over my crud the wife got sick which meant another week of sickies in the house. In good news, none of the kids got more than a few sniffles they were over quickly.

In other news I got to catch up on all the anime I’ve been neglecting, namely Lodoss War, Berserk, and Twelve Kingdoms plus played a good bit of Paper Mario. I’ve also reorganized with help from the wife, so now I’ll be able to do more crafts. First on the list is some hand sewing, then perhaps some jewelry once I actually know what I have. There will be pics, so look forward to that. Particularly for my BJD/Dollfie friends, as I got my first 1:6 girl. More on her in the next post.

That said, this is the time of year I plan on starting changing a few key things. Like my weight and my eating habits. Why now? The holidays are over and I’m not as tempted by food. How tempted? My grandmother made over 9 dozen no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. Do you want to know how many I ate all by myself? At least 6 dozen. Most likely more than that. Too much temptation. I like food too much and I’m too polite to say no when it’s in front of me. At home I control the food, therefore I control what I eat more.

Now, back to figuring out how to schedule my days/weeks so I can work on the various projects I have and still have time to do all those trivial things like cook and clean.

The face was the first one, after I gave up doing doll-sized hands. I used a couple of 8mm beads to keep the eye holes open while I sculpted. No clue what I’ll do with it now that it’s fired. I’ll think of something.

I went for something cute after the Michael Myers esque face. A little round bunny! Yes, I can do cute too. This one is going on her desk at work once it’s sanded and painted.

Then there is Mr. 1-UP Mushroom. Come on, did you really expect me not to eventually get into Mario Bros.?

The pics are all from my camera phone. I’ll post an update later with better ones and what they look like painted.

Again, any comments truly are appreciated. It’s been so long since I’ve done any design work I feel a bit out of touch.

DD you ask? Dollfie Dreams. And they’re on my mind in part because of the new Twitter friends I’ve picked up, but mainly because it’s nearly Christmas and my plan for a while has been to get one then. At first I thought I’d name the first after a character from one of my stories, but now I think I’ll go with Odessa. She is the one whom will selflessly sacrifice herself so that those after her shall have a better life while being stern, yet kind. And much like Tir I’ll protect her to the best of my ability.

With that said, I’ve postponed sewing for now. Things are too chaotic and re-learning that takes focus. Jewelry, on the other hand, is relatively quick without as much focus. With the help of a friend I might actually get some pieces produced not long after Christmas. Most of it is going to have a bit of medieval flair, something I love given my love of writing fantasy.

I’m very much looking forward to really getting started in this, and to getting my girl.

If you know anything about me from Twitter or my occasional blurbs here, my trio of kids is chaos incarnate. Add to that recent illness and the holidays and a getting into any kind of groove has been impossible. It has given me a lot of time to think, though I don’t need an excuse to do that.

At the top of those thoughts is a play by post game I want to run. An empire building game set in my main world, on the same continent Eclipse War is set in a few years after the first book. In fact, if it lasts long enough the players will actually be involved in said Eclipse War. I already have a few friends on board, and I should be getting a blog up next week. More on that later.

On the other hand, I’ve been talking to a lot of dollfie owners lately (Polty, Choco, Haku & Sora, Chun) and it’s making me want one even more. Polty and Chun are the worst though, always showing off those cute clothes on their blogs (in the blogroll soon). I’ve already decided one of the things I want for Christmas is one of the 1:6 scale dollfies so I can get some practice sewing clothes for them. Maybe even sell some of those fashions so I can actually afford a Dollfie Dream or Super Dollfie, the (much) more expensive 1:3 scale versions. Odd for a guy, I know. I’ve never been normal.

Tied to the dollfies is the fact I took out my sewing machine today, after saying I would for so long, so I could give it a good look over and make sure everything still worked well. It’s a Singer Stylist 533 we bought used. At 35+ years old it still seems to run great, but tomorrow is the real test. I’ve got some purple plaid fabric cut and pinned ready to be sewn into a cuff. I need to find ribbon for trim/closure and will have to pick up some grommets to finish it off. Something quick and simple to make sure I still know what the hell I’m doing and that the machine is ready for use. I’ll post pictures of it when I’m finished.

So see, lots to say, but not a significant amount of progress to show for it. Hopefully I’ll be fixing that soon. And I just noticed ‘Exercise’ staring me in the face in my ‘most used tags’. I’ve done next to nothing there. Bad me. I want to lose this weight. I know this, I need to get on this. Calorie counting ho!

Now, off to tweak the blog some. Hope you enjoyed the read, come back soon.