Inspiration Post, w1

I ought to get back into this schedule of posting five things that inspire me every week. But it’s a little hard for me. When I’m truly inspired, I get up and I act on that inspiration. Which tends not to leave a lot of time for five things a week. So, my plan is restructure this for the new year. The first link will always be the one that inspired me the most. The following four links will be things that are important to me.

This week’s inspiration:

1. This Video by LuckyWabbitWebDesign has a video series that goes right along with this month’s Learn a Skill
2. I’ve been listening to Adrian von Ziegler‘s album, The Wanderer, for almost four days. Even though heavy metal is my favorite, this music is so relaxing and it allows for me to expend my creativity! I use this particular album while I’m writing my story about a swamp village, complete with fairies and will-o-wisps! Although, fun fact, wisps aren’t the friendly type. They would have lead Merida into a swamp, to her death. But I love those wisps anyway!
3. A quote from the lovely lady Hellen Keller
4. I actually attempted to cook this recipe by Just A Taste. I will admit, if I had followed the instructions, they would have been perfect! But I didn’t and they were still amazing to eat. So I recommend the recipe
5. And finally, I have been inspired by my lovely printer. It’s a inexpensive Pixma Printer/Scanner combo. It likes to remind me that sitting in my room, scanning things for 4 hours, is not normal. And it likes to remind me this by failing to work after hour 3. But I can coax it for another hour before it quits and I remember that I should get some dinner

Does my inspiration help anyone else?

 

Learn a Skill: HTML

January is cold, so personally I don’t want to learn something that will require me to stand around outside for any period of time. I’m barely tolerating the ten foot walk from the apartment to the college.

So, what could possibly be a better idea than learning HTML while relaxing with my sister’s Keurig?

Actually, I can think of several better things to be doing. But learning HTML will be good in the future when I set up my own domain. WordPress does a lot of the hard work already, however, I want to be able to customize my layouts and know what is going on behind the scenes.

I don’t need to know everything there is, but I’d like to know enough to be comfortable.

This idea was actually inspired by this book, Build Your Own Website:A Comic Guide to HTML, CSS and WordPress by Nate Cooper, that my younger sister received for Christmas.

Mini book opinion time: This is an incredibility well written book! The comic portion made it easier for me to follow along with the ideas and concepts explained in the book. And I do recommend this book to others. During the non-comic sections, there are screen shots explaining where things are and how they would actually look. I liked that since I tend to misunderstand technical stuff like this.

So, my goals for January to fulfill this Learn a Skill:

• Create a better header
• Learn how to make a footer
• Learn how to adjust the layout

I hope to one bullet for each week left in January. The header should be up by Friday morning!

And then I guess, that next step is to buy my domain and get to work!

~Wish me luck lovelies!

New Year 2015

“New year, new me” right?

Well not exactly, I’m more realistic than that. I just want to develop new habits.

Last year, my resolution was to learn a new skill, every month, and to listen more to others. I can honestly say that I did well with listening more and that made me feel better about offering advice. But, I didn’t do so well with the learning a new skill every month. I think that I was successful for a total of 10 months, missing November and July. That’s all good though, I did my best.

This year, I’d like to continue that idea! But I’d also like to share a skill that I already have too. I reckon that if I truly learned that skill, then I can teach it too! And last, but not least, I’d like to write more. I’ve always enjoyed creative writing but I never seem to make the time for it because I’m always worried what others will think. I like writing though, so I’m going to do it for me, from now on.

So please look forward to my monthly “Learn a Skill” and “Share a Skill”!

~Good Luck Lovelies!

Share a skill: Sewing for Dolls, Corset Pattern

Modeled by DollZone Wendy, WS

So with the winter holidays coming up and the semester coming to a close, my budget is tight and quite lacking. I have a few friends that are also into Ball Jointed Dolls (BJD) and I had hoped that I would be able to get them a hobby related gift.

But that budget says otherwise.

Never fear, I do have some free time and sewing skills! I decided to make corsets for the dolls instead of buying anything. This is a good idea, in my opinion, since I can make each corset match the character. It’s simple, cost effective, and personalized. As a bonus, you can adapt this to fit any doll (Monster High, Barbie, Tonner, Blythe, as a few non-limiting examples.)

Here’s a small warning though, this is NOT a historically accurate corset. I’m sorry if you were hoping for that.

Getting started:

You’ll need

• paper
• tape measure, the ribbon kind
• Pen
• Fabric
• scissors
• the all important sewing utensils, (machine or needle and thread)
• Closure system
• Any potential embellishments

I am working under the assumption that you, my dear reader, know where to get your measurements. If not, fear not! This is where I learned. RodianAngel, in my opinion, breaks it down into an easy to understand format with pictures!

These following pictures are based on my DollZone Wendy’s measurements. But please use your measurements!

So let’s start drafting:

If your measurements are based on the circumference, divide those in half!

With the trusty pen and paper!

 

First mark the length of the corset and the widest measurement to create a box.

Color coding not necessary

Divide the box into three or four equal parts. I colored mine but it’s not necessary.

Shape

This is where I defined the shape of the corset. I draft my patterns as half, mirroring the pieces when I cut my fabric, so that both sides are even.

Math happened here

This is what I consider the tricky part. I forgot to mark it in the picture, but find where the narrowest measurement would be. Using basic addiction or subtraction, figure out the difference and carefully mark take equal parts from each panel. Draw curves to give the corset its shape.

Cut those shapes out. I number mine that way I don’t mix them up with my other pattern parts that usually collect on my desk. For durability, I also use clear tape to ‘laminate’ the pieces.

From here, I forgot to capture picture. So hopefully this makes sense.

1. Trace each piece on to your fabric
2. Flip the pieces over and repeat so you have both sides
3. Sew them along the correct seams
4. Optional, repeat steps 1-3 on another fabric to line the corset.
5. Finish the edges
6. Add a closure system: grommets, hook/eyes, zipper, whatever floats your boat.
7. Rejoice that you created something with your own hands! Bonus points if you didn’t almost sew through your fingers, I somehow always manage to get my fingers.

Completed with my embellishments

Modeled by DollZone Wendy, WS

And that’s my finished corset!  I hope this was easy to follow and you were able to create your own amazing corset!

Here’s my final advice: Talent may be helpful, but creativity is actually a learned skill. It took me several attempts and alterations to make this to my satisfaction, so don’t feel discouraged on your first try. And always have fun!

 

~Good luck lovelies!

 

Inspiration’s Top 5, Week 8

So this has been an off week for me, but here’s what inspired me:

1. My little sister sent this to me, the circle of life
2. And sure it’s from 2011, but this song by Crown the Empire is really striking a chord with me (warning, this is not like the folk music so far posted)
3. and this is exciting it need all caps: DOLL CHATEAU JUST RELEASED A NEW DOLL SIZE AND THEY’RE SOOO COOL!!!!!!!
4. Just a cute thing i stumbled upon from Zenhabits
5. This person posted about bronze sculptures and how 3d printing effects this craft

Inspiration’s Top 5, Week 7

This week, like a lot of girls, my hair is boring me. It’s been this white gold color for over a year so I want to add color again. So I’m trying to figure out what to do! So this week, most my inspiration is for my vanity:

1. I love these colors for my hair
2. I really want to color like this, to keep that white
3. Halloween is right around the corner, perfect time to make these
4. I bought a new binder to keep all my creative writing in
5. And this sums up the mystery of modern art, Tracey Emin sold her bed as artwork in 1998 and it went to auction for how much?

Inspiration’s Top 5, Week 6

What a week that it’s been! I have so many things I want to do but not enough skills to complete them. But here’s what inspired me this week:

1. Nanowrimo is coming up quickly and I would love to have the chance to participate this year
2. This was interesting to read since it’s an interview with an artist
3. PrincessPrincess is super adorable and well illustrated
4. A video on food samples
5. And this cool gallery my little sister sent

The Atlanta Ball Jointed Doll Convention

I intended to post over the weekend, while these events were happening; however, the hotel’s internet and my computer did not seem to get along. But, let me share everything that happened anyway!

To begin, I attended the Atlanta Ball Jointed Doll Convention the weekend! My impressions of the convention as a whole was pretty good. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and wonderfully polite. I was surprised at just how small it was, but that was perfect for me since it was my first doll convention. Because my mom and I pre-registered, we were given goody bags that contained the program book, a doll clothing item, a mirror, and a ton of candy. I personally don’t eat candy but it was a nice surprise.

In this post, I’ll explain the different classes. In a future post, I’ll review all the items and what I liked the designs and the other panels we attended.

The Workshops:

SilverBeam Tiny BJD

 

The first class we attended was about how to paint a 3D printed doll. The class was lead by Eileen Bowen, of SilverBeam Magic. She was wonderful to talk with about how 3D printing worked and the differences between the resin dolls versus her printed dolls. She walked us through using pan pastels to color the doll, to using a pearl powder to add finishing touches. All of this on a doll that’s barely three inches tall!

Face-up Class

Another class we took was how to paint doll faces so that they look more natural! The Instructor for this class explained the dangers of working with resin and sealants. Regretfully, she didn’t make it too far into the class before falling ill in a slightly unprofessional manner. But she did explain how to paint the eye area to add the illusion of depth of the face! My mother’s head, on the left, looks much better than mine!

Blushing an Anthro Class

This class was lead by Sarah B. Seiter, The Mushroom Peddler. She showed us how the pastels work differently on the resin compared to the 3D prints. While I painted this (technically) fox, my mother painted her Nano Freya from Hujoo, although, I was unable to grab a photo of her doll. But during this class, Seiter explained her artistic process and the choices she makes about her finished products. Her dolls have a more marble-like texture than normal dolls because she chooses to not have them polished! I loved seeing her different dolls.

We also attended a class on making eyes with Eileen Bowen, but I appear to be missing those photos. Regardless, she had cast eye blanks and showed us how to create our own unique eyes! This involved tons of glitter on my part. Then she showed us how to make the dome on the eyes. Mom’s eyes came out much prettier than mine and I’ll definitely post photos asap!

Charity Auction:

Charity Auction

This year, the convention was donating to a no kill animal shelter, that specializes in older cats that are harder to find homes, called Goods Mews. So to support the shelter, we adopted this resin cat sculpted by the Mushroom Peddler!

 

After a long weekend, it’s nice to relax with tea and new friends

There were several artists that were selling doll clothing. I was impressed with the selection of things! And even more impressive to me was that vendors would allow me to try things on my doll. That was so much fun!

So the weekend was quite lovely and I can’t wait to do it again!

Here are the different companies that I was impressed with and what I got from them:

• The Mushroom Peddler (Dolls)
• Affordable Designs (Clothing)
• Silverbeam Magic (Super Tiny Doll)
• Teacup Dreams (Clothing and shoes)

And in anyone is interested, my human doll is from Raurencio Studios, now RSDolls. Although, she’s no longer available on their site, they do have other beautiful sculpts!

Inspiration’s Top 5, Week 5

This week is super exciting! And let me show you why:

1. My long awaited Atlanta Ball Jointed Doll Convention is this weekend
2. My favorite band is rereleasing their debut album from 17 years ago
3. My favorite song this week is a filkmusic song called The Horse Tamer’s Daughter by Leslie Fisher from 1983
4. Dollmore released a new doll that’s a ballerina, I wish I could see one in person
5. And check out these foldable animal sculptures

Inspiration’s Top 5, Week 4

What a week this has been for me, but here is this week’s inspiring links:

1. I just found a new band, Vision Divine, and I love the music quality so far
2. But this week, I’ve been listening mostly to Opera from  Tarja Turunen
3. I also recently discovered Bloop Animation, and that has refreshed my desire to learn animation
4. This is a photo set of my favorite OPERA singer Tarja and her daughter with her Horror Heavy Metal buddy Lordi
5. And my little sister did a tumblr thing with this set of photos for this amazing mural