Cutebucket

Phoebe’s Wings (one shot)

thedoorknob — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:29:50 +0000

A few days ago, I decided to sand and body blush Phoebe. I’ve chosen to give all my dolls this treatment, now that I feel confident that I will not completely ruin them by doing so.

That being said, I did actually manage to ruin Phoebe’s left hand by trying to heat adjust her fingers. A few minutes of being in the oven turned it an awful yellow and it started bubbling, which was damage that even sanding could not fix. Luckily, Dollmore sells these hands separately so it should be easy enough to get a replacement. Needless to say, I will not be trying that again!

The rest of the body blushing went acceptably well but not perfect. The weather was just windy and cold enough to show in the sealant (in the form of cracking and dust), so I will probably need to strip her down and reblush again in the future. I am not best friends with Mr. Super Clear.

In any case, here is a quick picture of my experimentation. I was torn for a long time over how to represent Phoebe’s wings, and I think is the ideal solution.

On an unrelated note, I have transferred the blog to a new template and it will probably be seeing other kinds of updates as well. This decision was prompted in part because the old template was too narrow to fit large pictures, especially in landscape. I also felt the blog has moved more towards BJDs these days and its appearance should reflect that. I hope that nobody is disappointed by the changes and I’m always open to suggestions of course!

New Eyes for a New Year

thedoorknob — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 03:37:16 +0000

2012 is almost here, but I thought I’d sneak in one more post before I say farewell to 2011!

After finding that his old eyes were difficult to photograph, I decided on a whim to get Oliver a new pair of eyes– in glittering gold. I think the eyes are perfect and Oliver seems happier too!

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Berries

thedoorknob — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:18:48 +0000

It’s been a long time since I last posted, but not for a lack of activity or photography. With the lack of sunlight (leaving before the sun rises, getting home after sunset) I have just found it difficult to put in the effort to involve my dolls in a photoshoot. But I did manage to take Lorelyn and Ember out of the house today for their annual Christmas pictures, and I’ve uploaded some other pictures I’ve taken over the past few months, as well.

Ember’s new outfit is from Dollheart. It’s amazing!

OMAKE:

I don’t usually like to share pictures of dolls before they’re complete, but I recently acquired this gem of a head on the Den of Angels and I’m excited to make him a new character of my doll family. He is a limited DOT M.Kaillar, with an amazing faceup by the company. Shiro seems as excited as I am to have another Dream of Doll in the house!

The weather has been so warm lately that all the plants have started to bloom. I took these pictures today:

And here are a few pictures I took awhile ago:

This poor little guy flew into our porch door. He was frozen from the shock of hitting the glass, and I managed to snap this shot before he flew away.

Shot from my bedroom window with my awesome telephoto lens!

Downtown Raleigh.

Petit fours at the official opening ceremony of the new building for the company where I work.

I spend my days tending to plants like this one (I work in a greenhouse).

Hopefully I will be updating again soon! Happy Holidays!

Oliver and the Toadstools

thedoorknob — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:22:09 +0000

Hurricanes (huuuurrrrr-icanes) have been passing by us left and right, which means that we have had an unusual amount of rain over the past few weeks. Mushrooms love the moist climate and are popping up left and right. There was a particularly large one for which I braved the nasty bugs to do a quick photoshoot.

This mushroom, aside from being massive, also happened to match Oliver’s colors.

They come in all shapes and sizes, though.

I would choose to sit on the one above (if I were itty bitty-sized).

Skery shrooms O_O

… and some flowers!

OMAKE:

Last night, I made a headdress to match my AatP Time of the Roses jumperskirt. It was completely handsewn and turned out nicer than I had anticipated!

It was really fun to make and I’m sort of looking forward to making some to match future dresses! I think I will try to make a little tophat, too.

Introducing: Oliver (Soom Aloa)

thedoorknob — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:58:23 +0000

Right near when I graduated, SOOM put up a special order for the most adorable tiny-sized centaurs I had ever laid my eyes on. I have always loved SOOM dolls and was waiting for that doll that would blow my socks off (and that I could afford)– and this little centaur was it. I immediately knew he would become a part of my doll family.

I got my Aloa (cream white) with a faceup, knowing that I would do the body blushing myself. It has taken me well over a week to complete him and he will probably get several more blushings in the future, since it is already starting to chip. But this was part of the plan– by doing the blushing myself, I can fix it as often as needed.

Here is his box before I opened it. I haven’t had the chance to do a “real” box opening in a long time– not since Lorelyn– since all of my dolls since then have been secondhand. Needless to say, I was excited!

A little too excited, maybe, since I accidentally carved a line into the top of the box with my scissors as I was trying to open it ><;

I got the special order eyes and wig with him, but the wig ended up not suiting him at all.

The first thing I noticed was that he had the prettiest faceup I have ever seen. It is stunning.

This image is to show that he is palm-sized– very small, but the proportions are relatively slim for a tiny, which I was super happy with!

<3 ears

The second thing I noticed were seam lines.

Terrible, terrible seam lines.

Within perhaps an hour, I was already starting to sand away at these lines. They were just so awful D:

With eyes and the default wig, which he promptly rejected.

After I stopped drooling, it was time to finish sanding and blushing.

A week later:

I tried to match the pink and sandy colors of his faceup in his body, and ended up with this golden-y fawn color. I think it suits him quite well, although I will probably try to go a little more greyish in future blushings to better match his hair.

OMAKE:

He gets along very well with Lorelyn and she seems to like him too! ^u^

Lorelyn and Phoebe’s New Dresses

thedoorknob — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:27:12 +0000

Several months ago, I decided to commission a pair of dresses for my girls from the Haunted Dollhouse, a wonderfully skilled Polish seamstress. I had previously bought a dress from her for Lorelyn, who rarely wears anything else. The dresses are perfectly priced and the waiting time to have these dresses made was very well worth it: my girls are very happy to finally have some new clothes, and for Phoebe, her first “real” outfit. Sadly, I forgot to get matching headdresses, so I will have to put together some makeshift ones until my next commission with Dei– which will probably happen again as soon as she has the time!

These dresses have such wonderful, careful little details throughout them– it is what makes them so special compared with those made from a company.

I can tell that Lorelyn loves this dress because she actually stood up for me without too much hassle! I think the color makes her look more youthful than she sometimes does.

On a related note, I got some new lolita dresses for myself, too. I will most likely present them in a separate post, once I have coordinated outfits put together.

My newest doll was shipped two days ago… he should be arriving very soon…

This is my 100th post on Cutebucket and the blog will officially be two years old in exactly six days!!! Time flies when you’re having fun!

August Raleigh BJD Meetup

thedoorknob — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:04:09 +0000

I can’t believe a month has already passed since the last meetup! I have been quite busy lately after starting my new job (which is incredible, by the way), hence the lack of posts. But I am slowly getting used to the life of a working-class individual, and income also means that I am gradually starting to build the wardrobes of my dolls as well as my own. Lorelyn and Phoebe got a new pair of dresses which I will show off in a separate post. In the meantime, here are just a few pictures I took last weekend at the monthly doll meetup!

I loved this boy. Blondes *drool*

Fabulous Dollheart fer!

This gorgeous lady was so wonderfully unique in her realistic, victorian air. My pictures failed to capture her in a way that did her justice.

A new addition!

Shiro got to meet this little girl, and nobody would have guessed that they both have the same sculpt (DOC Si). She was adorable.

I had a great time again and am looking forward to the next one!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OMAKE:

I had some fun trying to “stage” food.

I got a little hungry toward the end of the shoot though ^^; nom

July Raleigh BJD Meetup

thedoorknob — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:31:16 +0000

Last Saturday, I had my first chance to attend the monthly doll meetups that happen here in Raleigh. The meetup was about ten times the size of the tiny meetups we had in Vermont! It was great to meet all the local BJD hobbyists and see their dolls. I don’t think I’ve ever been around so many dolls at once, and especially not the huge numbers of slim minis! It was a lot of fun and I definitely plan on becoming a regular to these meeting.

I managed to take plenty of pictures. I wish I could remember the names and makes of all these dolls, and maybe I will get to know them better in the future… but, for now, enjoy!

All of my dolls came along this time, but in the future, I think I will reduce it to two or three. I get extremely nervous having them around so much activity and food, and I’d rather have less to worry about. I’m a bit overprotective of them.

The weasel travels around…

Beautiful!

~end~

_____________________________________________________________________

Omake:

I have two new additions to my “family,” not dolls this time though!

The nutmeg is named Harley. He is big and lazy, but gentle.

The lilac still needs a name. She is smaller (probably younger) but very tame and curious. I’m open to suggestions for names. ^^

Painting (Lorelyn and Ember)

thedoorknob — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:49:30 +0000

I’m still job searching, still waiting for new clothes for Lorelyn and Phoebe, and still waiting for my new doll. So here is just a short post to help pass the time. Lorelyn and Ember are a bit difficult to work with, but they look so sweet together, it’s always worth it in the end. These pictures were inspired by a doll-sized artist easel that my mom had sitting around. Enjoy!

(It started to get buggy– time to go home quick!)

As usual Lorelyn refused to stand without support ^^;

Solution:

I guess being around each other for over a year has made Ember more sweet and Lorelyn more clingy!

-end-

The flickr set for these pics can be found here.

____________________________________________________

Omake:

I spotted this pair of lazy squirrels from my back porch and quickly grabbed my telephoto lens. What better way to spend a hot afternoon than chilling on a branch?…

Summer Reading

thedoorknob — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:39:29 +0000

My mom has a wonderful collection of tiny books that I found amongst our regular human-sized library. As such, my dolls have suddenly turned into bookworms– especially Shiro, who is still sad about the weather. What better way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon than with a good book?

~end~

The flickr set for these pictures can be found here.