My first re-rooting project!

Is it hot where you are?  It's sweltering here!  I feel like this is the hottest summer I've ever experienced in all my years here.  I don't have the luxury of air-conditioning at home--partly because of the cost it would add to the electricity bill, and partly because of the hassle involved in getting the townhouse association to approve the installation.  I have fans that just seem to blow the hot air around, and it's the worst when there aren't any breezes around.  To keep cool, I've taken to showering in cold water.  It's pretty refreshing for awhile...and then just this week, I made an appointment with the hair salon and had the stylist chop off a lot of my hair.  It used to be past my shoulder blades, but now, I have a bob that reaches just to my lower jawbone.  That seems to be helping a little.  The only one who doesn't really like my new hairstyle is the husband, but well...it's not his hair, and he's not the one who has to deal with trying to stay comfortable in this awful heat.  My hair, my choice.

As if I don't already have enough keeping me busy, I thought it would be nice to learn a new skill.  I decided to give re-rooting a try! I have a Blythe doll waiting to be customized by Buzzingbumblebee of Bee's Dreamland. The doll is already in Norway with Bee, and in the meantime, I thought I would work on her hair. I used an old Blythe scalp that I had lying around, and what is good about it is that there are already existing holes I can use for the plugs. From all the tutorials I read, it seemed like punching holes in a CoolCat scalp would be the most tedious part.

I picked up five hanks of Barbie-length Saran from dollyhair.com in various shades of blue (Phthalo, Lagoon & Midnight). When I got my order, it seemed like a lot of hair, but now that I've actually started rerooting, I'm not too sure. I made quite a few mistakes and some of the hair strands already got trashed...snarls, tangles, breakage. Plugs too thick. Strands that got kinked when I used too much force pulling it through the hole. But now I think I have a better handle on the size the plugs should be.

It's slow going. I started in July, and that was when I did the part line and thatched it. I also started on the spiral on the crown, but I had to stop since I went on my trip. On my last day of vacation, I sprained my finger. That slowed things down considerably for me since my finger is still tender. I worked on the reroot for two hours today, and in that time, I managed to do the outer spiral shown in the photo.

It's a bit messier than I like on the inside. Too many stray hairs sticking out of the locked loops. But I think I'm improving. The reroot looks better from the outside, heh.

This girl is going to have blue hair. She's going to have a beach/ocean theme, and her name will be Shanty. I made up some pull strings with charms made of natural beads, beach glass and seashells. She's all put together in my head, and I am excited to see her completed.

Paloma has arrived

No matter how burnt out I am, just having the dolls around help make the days a bit brighter.  While I am still grumpy and a bit stressed out because of work, it's not really bad yet, and I can hold things together.  It'll be easier going to work now that I have Paloma beautifying my workspace for me.  Who's Paloma?  I'll get to that in a moment.  Read on for more details.

My love for custom dolls carries over into all doll types.  I believe I mentioned my desire for a custom Blythe by Bee's Dreamland.  The Blythe hobby is full of all kinds of cute custom dolls, but many of those dolls are "factory" Blythe dolls--that is, made up of parts supposedly stolen from a Blythe doll production factory, or fake Blythes, which I believe means they are made using molds made from genuine Blythe faces.  So, basically a recast Blythe.  My stance is that I don't go looking for knockoffs, copies, or bootleg products.  I try to get the real thing.  I don't have any Angelgate Pullips, and I frown upon recast BJDs.  In my poking around the Blythe hobby, I saw that there are many collectors who own both genuine Blythes, and fakies.  Some collectors shunned the fakies and customs altogether, and only collect Kenners or other stock Takara Blythes.

I thought that if you are planning on customizing a Blythe, it makes sense to use a fakie or factory Blythe since you're essentially sanding and carving away and there is very little of the original doll left.  Factory/Fakes are less expensive than genuine Takara Blythes, and by using factory/fakes as your base doll for a custom, it would save a stock Blythe from possible ruin, and preserve it for the people who would want to keep the Blythe fully stock.   But then I started to think a bit more.  Factory/fakies are still wrong because of the lack of honesty.  Somebody went and smuggled out parts that they didn't have any right to, or they made molds of Blythe's head so that they could make their own version of Blythe from it.  This is cutting into the money earned from the company that makes Blythe...if people take their money and spend it on factory/fakes, then that is less money that the company is getting.

Which brings me to Paloma...my Blithe doll.

blithe

blīT͟H,blīTH

adjective

adjective: blithe; comparative adjective: blither; superlative adjective: blithest

showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper.

 Paloma is my sweet little custom girl from Bee's Dreamland.  I had wanted a Bee's Dreamland custom for months.  Ever since Bee had been accepting commissions, I had been searching for a secondhand, nude Blythe to send to her.  I found a few on ebay, but alas, I kept getting outbid.  This went on for many weeks, and I gave up on it for a while.  I thought about ordering a NRFB or new release Blythe, but I couldn't find one that I liked (hair, stock outfit & accessories).  If I am going to pay those release prices, I should at least like most of the doll.  And then I saw this custom on Bee's flickr, and read that she was in Bee's etsy shop.  The only downside was that the base was a fakie or factory doll.  My resolve to not purchase a fake/factory Blythe broke, and I made the decision to purchase this custom.  My thinking is that what's done is done, the doll has been customized, and I love the customizer's work.  It's not Paloma's fault that she's made up of factory/fake parts, that she's a Blithe, and not a Blythe.  I would love her the same regardless.

 Bee has been putting these beautiful butterfly wings on the eyelids of her custom dolls.  Look at her lashes!  Paloma is beautifully blushed, and exquisitely carved.  Her lips and subtle freckling are perfect.  I couldn't resist leaving her to sit on etsy any longer, and I had to have her.

This is Bee's trademark Bee logo that shows this is an original Bee's Dreamland custom.  Paloma is custom girl #9.  I'm hoping that Paloma won't be my only Bee's Dreamland custom. 

I know it is hypocritical of me to not support bootlegs, clones, factory/fakies, knockoffs, recasts, etc., and to have one in my collection.  At the end of the day, it is my collection, and my money, and it is finished, so no sense looking back because we cannot turn back time.  While I won't get any more factory/fake dolls, I think what I will do is to get a genuine Takara Blythe and have her sent to Bee to get customized.  And then I'll put it side-by-side with Paloma and I promise you that I would not love one more than the other.

Anyway, Paloma is my work doll.  She stands on my desk at work in the back office, and is kept company by my WWE Chris Jericho action figure and my plastic Finn the Human figurine.  Having her around to brighten up my office makes it easier to report to work.

If you would like to see more photos of Paloma the Blithe, please visit My flickr!

Summer Plans

As a librarian, it is a given that I love to read.  When a story really gets to me, I can immerse myself in that fictional world and get lost in those pages and pages of prose.  Some novels are just so good that I am sad when I reach the end and I have to bid adieu to the characters and the world that I have come to love.  The most recent instance of that came when I read and finished The Iris Fan by Laura Joh Rowland.  This was the final title in the Sano Ichiro mystery series, and it was a bittersweet moment when it finally ended.  For years, I'd been reading that series of mysteries that took place in feudal Japan.  It was like saying good-bye to old friends when I got to the last page.  This photo is a small sampling of my summer reading list.  In the summer, it is customary for me to choose novels that I want to read, as opposed to stuff I should read (for making sound purchases for the library's collections, or for recommending titles to our public library patrons, for example). Not pictured but definitely on my reading list this summer are also tons of manga titles.

Also on my reading list but not in the photo are the titles I picked out through my Kindle app on my phone, and downloaded e-book titles from the library's Overdrive app.  I have to admit that I am a reluctant e-book reader.  I think it's a great idea in theory, but reading all those words are hard on my eyes.  I can't read e-books for very long, so it takes me much longer to finish a downloaded e-book on my phone.  Maybe I can read an e-book for 10 minutes at a time versus hours for a print book.  I'm sure staring at a tiny screen for a long time isn't healthy for one's eyes anyway.  My optometrist told me that the use of smartphones and tablets is the reason why more and more younger kids these days are needing glasses.  He said that  staring at small screens changes the shape of your eyeball, so doing that for long periods of time each day isn't such a good idea.  I have bad vision, I'm really nearsighted, and I like to read, so I'm sure there is some truth to that.

My supervisor at work is temporarily assigned to another branch.  She voluntarily took the transfer, it is unknown how long she'll be out there.  I'm a little upset about this because we are now to cover the loose ends she left behind.  We're short-staffed, I'm busy with the library's summer reading program, and just generally irritated with this.  It was a sudden transfer, we weren't given enough lead time to prepare--she only informed the staff two days before she left for the other library.  So we weren't adequately trained on what we need to do.  It's very much a learn-as-you-go and wing-it type of situation here.  My co-worker is temporarily assigned to my supervisor's position and he's getting more pay now, however...he's not doing any additional duties.  I'm expected to pick up more of the duties that he's supposed to do but isn't and I just don't see how that's fair.  More work but no additional compensation?  Hmmm.  I'm nice up to a point, and as long as things are fair, I will work hard.  If you take advantage of me however, my teeth and claws will come out.

Dolly Update

It's been a long time. I've been in a foul state of mind ever since January. I just didn't feel like doing much of anything other than go to work, and get home to play videogames and read. I'm slowly getting back to normal, though. There has been some slight population growth of my doll shelves. Despite the overcrowding of my shelf, and my delusional self swearing that each doll will be THE LAST, I still end up with more dolls. So instead of lying to myself, I should just accept the fact that I'll continue to slowly obtain more doll residents and what I should really be doing is looking for a bigger shelving unit! 

In late December/early January, I asked Janeen (Doll Angel) to give Zen, one of my Taeyangs a custom face-up. I have a thing for custom face-ups, and even more of a thing for Taeyangs with custom face-ups. She was quick with the "plastic surgery" and I had my Taeyang head with his awesome new face within a couple of weeks, all for a reasonable price. The only reason Zen wasn't in my photos is because he didn't have a suitable wig...until now.





 

You may have seen Mayumi (a.k.a. Mokka) before. She arrived sometime last year, when I was still generally in a decent frame of mind.  She's a Nahh-ato with a custom face-up by Myufish. Mayumi previously lived with MissEdith and then Vanie. She's an island girl now (even though she loves wearing PaleAngelAccessories sweaters), and now that she's met Zen, she's not planning to leave anytime soon. Or Ever.  Mayumi's wig is getting on my nerves. I like the color, but it's seen better days and is very dry and frizzy. I see a new wig in her future.


Kei is the Pullip Fraulein head that I bought as part of a split. She was the good-natured volunteer in my Zeenie Dollz / Pullip rebodying experiment--you can probably see all about that in my thread on  Dollchemy.com   She enjoys towering over all the other dolls on her new body, and even more so in high-heeled shoes. While my preference is the older Pullips with the heavier, rounder heads/faces, I've got to say that this girl looks pretty good rewigged and rechipped.
 

 And last but certainly not least, this is Kyo. He had been hanging around as a headless body since I had sent his head on to Angeltoast to be given a pretty new face-up. I'm so glad that Angeltoast paints all sorts of dolls and isn't strictly BJD only. She told me that she has a Taeyang too so she's familiar with doing face-ups on them, and would be happy to give my doll a new look. While her price is quite possibly the most I've paid for a face-up on any of my dolls, I will say it was definitely worth every penny.



I had resigned myself to having Kyo being the only doll without a counterpart, but good thing for that split with Cornflower Blue, so I was able to get Fraulein's head.  Kyo and Kei are hitting it off quite nicely...they keep each other company on my doll shelf.
 

Farewell, Grandma

This is one of my favorite photos of my grandma. I love how tough and sassy she looks. On January 16, 2015, my grandma passed away.  She was 96 years old.  In December, she fell and fractured her hip in two places.  The fractures weren't minor enough to leave alone and if she didn't have the surgery, she would most likely become bed-ridden.  My grandma had always been really active--she couldn't sit still and it seemed like she needed to be doing something, so that would never fly.  Despite her advanced age, and her heart issues, my uncles (her sons) and my grandma felt that they would go through with a hip-pinning procedure.  I was anxious the whole time, because I personally thought she was too frail to survive, but she was very strong and the surgery went very smoothly.  Unfortunately, while she was rehabbing in the hospital, she contracted the flu and then pneumonia, which she could never really shake.  The rehabilitation had been progressing, and at one point, we thought that she would be home for the SuperBowl.  But it was not to be.

I visited her at the hospital whenever I could.  I was fortunate that I had a couple of weeks vacation in December, so I spent many hours there with her.  We even had Christmas Dinner and New Year's lunch with her in her hospital room.  And when I went back to work after my vacation was up, I still visited her almost every evening.  But then I got sick and couldn't go for awhile...so the last time I saw her was the day she passed.  At that point, she was made "comfortable".  Grandma just looked like she was sleeping.

We had Grandma's funeral yesterday.  It was a really nice service, but what I didn't appreciate was the lecture the Buddhist minister gave us.  He pretty much told us that we were doing it wrong.  According to the Buddhist faith, when a person passes away, that is considered the 1st day.  And then every seven days, the family needs to hold a service for the next seven weeks.  This 49-day period is the amount of time the departed's spirit is undergoing training to attain the enlightened status that the Buddha achieved.  Each seven week's service is to encourage the departed to strive hard.  And the 49-day service is the most important one.  My grandparents were devout Buddhists, but the later generations, are less so.  Some of my relatives have converted to Christianity, while I don't belong to any particular faith.  I'm still exploring.  We uphold the Buddhist traditions as best as we can, but it was really very uncomfortable to have been lectured like that.  That was the only part about the funeral service that made me upset.  I think that my grandma really would have enjoyed seeing her family gathered together like that--I haven't seen some of my cousins in a long time since we're all pretty much spread out across the country.

So that is mostly why I've not posted anything in a long time.  It's just really hard to believe that my grandma is no longer here.  She's been a huge part of my life, every Friday evening we'd go to her house and I'd cook something or order food from a restaurant and we'd have dinner together--Grandma, me, the Husband and my two kids.  Thanksgiving was always at her house.  And Superbowl.  It was the gathering place for the whole family and it sucks that she's gone now.

Happy 2015!

Another year begins.  While I wasn't as active in writing blog entries as I liked in 2014, at least I haven't abandoned it entirely.  An occasional post is better than none at all.  I'll strive to continue to write a bit in this new year.

Being that it is January, I'm going to start with some things that I hope to focus on.  They are almost like resolutions, I suppose, but if I don't call them resolutions, I believe I'll be more apt to stick to them.  It's something psychological, obviously.

THINGS I'D LIKE TO FOCUS ON THIS YEAR

• Health.  I bought myself a FitBit One last month.  It's more to help me get an idea of how many steps I'm taking during the day, and how many flights of stairs I climb, and keep track of the hours I sleep at night.  I have the apps downloaded to my phone and ipad, so it's very convenient for me to get a good picture of the restless sleep I have during the night.  The app makes it easy for me to set silent alarms so that I wake only myself up and not my entire household.  It's also very easy to log the glasses of water drunk throughout the day, and keep track of calories.  It's like a food journal, but done on an app.  I already keep a food diary--an actual notebook that I jot down the stuff I eat--so it should be pretty convenient to transition over, I just haven't really done that yet.  The holidays (starting right around Halloween and continuing into the New Year festivities) really do a number on me with fewer hours of sleep, unhealthy eating and indulging, and more alcohol intake that I normally allow myself.  I'm looking to get back on track now that the holidays are over. I would like to decrease my weight a little--I still play the WiiFit Plus on my Nintendo Wii, and I'm a little tired of the Wii board kinda groaning when I step on it!  How rude.
• Family.  My children bicker all the time.  My older son has a short fuse and gets irritated rather quickly.  My daughter likes to bait him and then usually he lashes out at her.  It gets to the point that I get grouchy and I yell at them.  I hope to do less yelling at them...they are siblings and that's what siblings do.  They argue.  They irk each other.  I remember fighting with my sister when we were kids, and my parents used to yell at me.  I guess that's why I yell at my kids--it's learned behavior.  I hope to try to get them to try to get along more because  when I'm gone and my husband is gone, the only immediate family they will have are each other, and it would be nice for my two kids to have a harmonious relationship rather than one mired in hostility.  I also need to appreciate more what my husband does around the house rather than zero in on what he doesn't do or does wrong.
• Finances.  Life is just expensive.  Just when I think I have a handle on things, emergencies pop up!  I would like to commit to spending less money where I can.  It's really hard to live within one's means when the cost of living just keeps going up and my pay doesn't keep pace with it.  I was really proud that I paid off my monthly credit card balances each month on time in 2014.  I hope to continue to do so this year as well, and hopefully just use the plastic a little bit less to keep my balances from going sky-high!
• Doll Hobby.  I keep telling myself that I'm done with adding to my doll family, but I just don't think that is true.  The most I can do is slow down the rate of growth and thin the herd when it gets to be too much.  In 2014, I had a list of things I was allowed to spend my money on, and I stuck to it for the most part.  I had a few setbacks and impulse purchases, but it happens to the best of us, right?  Here are my doll-hobby items to focus on for 2015.

1. Blythe Doll to be customized by BuzzingBumblebee/Bee's Dreamland.  I keep trying to find a decently priced second-hand Blythe doll to be used as the base.  I'm not interested in TBL/fake/factory/knockoff Blythe dolls, so this is harder than it seems.  The Blythe hobby is so inundated with non-genuine Blythes and there is such a casual attitude towards them that finding the real deal is challengine.  I find some on ebay and then I get outbid at the last minute.  It's very frustrating. 
2. Isul Doll.  One of the rules for my collection is that each one of my dolls must have a counterpart.  So my Pullip : Taeyang and Dal : Isul ratios must be equal.  I have an unpartnered Dal and it's making me twitchy.  I already have an idea of which Isul to get (Light).  Ideally, I'd like to find a split partner for the stock, but that hasn't happened yet.  If the MIO Isul kits come out sooner rather than later, I'll probably give up on Isul Light and just get an MIO and find someone to give him a pretty face.
3. Get MIO Taeyang completed.  I have a MIO Taeyang for Mokka, my single custom Pullip.  Nanami the Veritas was fine with sharing her boyfriend with her but she finally said "Enough is enough.  You have to get your own man."  So Mokka's Christmas wish for a Taeyang of her own will come true...just late.  I'm sending the Taeyang for a face-up this week, but he still requires a wig. 
4. Obitsu bodies.  I need two obitsu bodies--one 27cm for my Pullip who is currently on a plastic BJD body and one 21cm body for Misa the DRTA.
5. Stay out of the BST/Marketplace areas unless it's to sell/downsize.  A really bad habit of mine is window-shopping.  If I don't go to the mall, I don't see all these fancy things that tempt me.  It's the same with the BST/Marketplace.  If I don't browse the listings, I won't get tempted and suckered into buying cool stuff that I want but definitely don't need.
6. Wrap up the cabochon eye business.  As fun as that was, I think the time has come to stop.  I still may make the eyes to donate to PUDDLE and for my own personal use, but as far as selling them and filling orders, 2015 will be the last year for that.  I intend to close up my etsy shop at the end of November at the latest.  It's not like there aren't tons of other crafters who do cabochon eyes--people can still get their eyes from other places.