This weekend felt really productive…. the three days off were great.  It’s amazing the difference one extra day can make.

I made some good progress on Versai’s torso… the lower piece is more symmetrical now and the legs fit into the sockets.  YAAAAAY.  It’s a very curvy torso.  The upper torso fits onto the lower now, but I need to work on the shape so it’ll move better.  It gets some good posing, but I want more forward and back.  I spent a couple hours on it over the weekend, which is longer than I’d spent on it in awhile.  I think I’ve also figured out how I want to do his corset torso.

I finally drilled Husk’s hip socket stringing channels… turned out that I made the core bigger than I thought I had, so drilling through didn’t take very long at all.  Husk didn’t get any attention otherwise, but he will now.

Mandy also mostly deseamed one of my customize kits… which is pretty awesome.  It’s been sitting on my shelf for over a year because I first couldn’t find the appropriate size drill bits (metric sizes are difficult to find around here), and then I just didn’t have time to work on them.  One of them is almost ready to be drilled and assembled, which is pretty cool.  I am looking forward to painting them!

I’m a little torn as to whether I want them to just be random little guys, or if I want to make them into two specific characters.  The main reason I’d want them to be random is because one of the customize kits has this fantastic bright primary red hair… and for him to be the character I was thinking of, I’d have to airbrush it brown.  It seems a travesty to ruin such a delightful color.

I muddled through opening a bank account for DoA.  Man, did that ever take forever….

Mandy also made melon pan.  Granted, we couldn’t find melon extract, so they were actually strawberry flavored (ichigo pan?)… but they were really good.

We went on some long walks with the dog.  The walks themselves are nice enough, but the best thing is that when we get back, the dog is too tired out to really be too evil.

Very irritated with some guys who live in our complex.  Almost every afternoon, they take their rather large RC cars out into the grassy area between two of the buildings and race them.  For HOURS.  They’re very loud; they sound like a lot like when the neighbor’s new baby wails, if the baby was capable of making that noise uninterrupted for hours… and they’ve worn the grass down to mud. The dog is terrified of the sound and won’t go out when they’re out there, so we end up taking the dog out after they go in.  By which point it’s dark, as they’re like little kids and play all afternoon, run inside for supper, then come back out to play until dark.  When we do finally take the dog out, the ground is littered with pistachio shells and cigarette butts (which the dog tries to eat).  It so totally ghetto… and it’s not like we live in a crappy area.  Far from it, actually.  I’m going to write a letter to the rental office.  As an adult who plays with dolls, I’m not going to judge anyone for having a childish hobby… but for fuck’s sake, at least act like courteous adults and do it in the extensive parking lots and side street so that you’re not ruining the grass.  And clean up after yourselves like grownups!

We also got a computer desk set for the workroom to replace the piece of crap desk we have there.  We hadn’t intended to buy a new desk yet, but the price was just really great.  If you have an Office Max near you, check out their clearance stuff.  We’re getting a desk that was originally around $300 for $30, then the matching hutch and bookshelf for another $18 each.  The whole thing was under $70 including free delivery.  It’s really pretty, too… it’s actually wood, rather than particle board with woodgrain laminate.

I’ve got some commissions (and some “favors”) coming up that I’m really looking forward to.

Also totally looking forward to seeing Therese this weekend.  It’s pretty cool to see her twice in one 12 month period!  We can hang out and freeze together in the artist studio at AtNouveau for the weekend.  YAY!

Dear F-list and blog readers,

I have been doing really well with being a grown-up and not buying any dolls with the money I’ve accrued from selling dolls.  But I am afraid I am about to fall off the wagon.

If you could help a girl out by removing temptation by buying the remaining Zuzu Delf Lio The Duke, that would be fab.

…why is everyone so obsessed with whether or not I’m going to reproduce?

I think the solution for now is faceup-only commissions… I really enjoy painting, but lately I’m not as into doing modifications.  I think part of it is because of the dog, tbh.  I am so constantly hopping up and getting her out of things or playing with her that I don’t have the same kind of zen flow that I used to.

I PMed the next people on my waitlist and I need to see where they are in their lives and if they still need work done.  After that’s sorted, I’ll open up 5 faceup-only waitlist spaces.

I did mod a head last night, though…. hopefully I can paint her tonight!  I like how it’s turning out, can’t wait to see how she looks with paint!

I am booked for a hotel in NYC, tonight I need to get online and book my flight…. Michelle, please be sure to sign on so we can coooooordinate!

I am so excited fro Dolpa!  Who all is going and who are you bringing?  I haven’t decided yet which doll will come with me… it’s mostly between Rory (omnipresent Link) and Shai (Lucas).  I will also most likely bring The Traveller, depending on how fate twists that one… though she’ll be a stowaway and won’t be able to come to Dolpa due to her non-Volksocity.

Whee, time to go home!

Oh, yuck.

So the woman who did the “crazy doll people” story for NPR last year is now intent on cashing in on the hobby by compiling a book of photos that are already available for free on the internet (scoured from Deviant Art, of all places) to show the playful beauty of the dolls?  What sort of legitimate book is compiled by someone who has no first-hand experience?

I would really like to see these people tell her to piss off, after last year’s spectacle.

Most likely, though, there will be enough people who want to see their names in print that this group will be able to publish their book.  It all seems really exploitative, like those poetry sites that say “Hey, we published your poem!” to knacker some pipedreamin’ writers into spending $39.95 on the epic tome for their own bookshelf.

I also doubt that this group is going to ask permission or credit manufacturers…. which may not be strictly illegal, but isn’t “right” and is totally out of line for this particular hobby, where we treat the dollmakers as co-artists in creation of the characters.  From a project I’m working on, I’ll tell you that there are some companies who would be very upset to be included in such a book….

Resolution to be a grown-up….fading…

(Boring post wherein Armeleia talks about DoA and….furniture.)

I posted last night to DoA that I’m going to be the new owner of the forum.  It’s weird… I feel a little nervous.  In terms of what I’m doing for the forum, it’s not actually going to change much because I’ve been doing most of this stuff for a year or so.  But I feel kind of shy putting myself up there as the Grand High Figurehead.

Doing the business filings is going well – the LLC has been formed, and probably tonight I’ll file for a federal tax ID.  Then I’ll file the paperwork to keep DoA’s ad revenue completely separate from my taxable income.  Next week I can open a bank account and Paypal for the forum.  The need to keep DoA’s ad revenues off my taxes, plus the desire to open a dedicated Paypal account for DoA, was the main impetus for the business filing;  I really have no desire to make DoA “profitable” because it would be such a hassle to decide whose money it would be.  Better to just pay the bills and hang on to any surplus for tight months and the occassional contest prize.

Yay, accounting.

Soooo much going on.  But if anyone wonders where I’ve been since the beginning of the month, that’s where.  Reading up on how to do this the right way and filing paperwork!

I did some window-shopping last night with a friend for a new dresser (more accurately what furniture companies term a “chest”).  By and large, I have to admit that I was shocked by how expensive they were… as much as a lot of couches, and not very well made for the price.

I found that I could probably get only one chest for the cost of the Luna… and I find myself going “Well, if I can’t get the dressers I may as well get those Lati Blues that I want…”

Buuuuut I won’t.  Maybe the trick is to get unfinished furniture (as in, unpainted) and finish it myself.  There’s a place about a half-hour out that specializes in unfinished wood furniture.  One of the problems I’m finding is that I want black dressers and there just… aren’t any good ones.  If I wanted white dressers I’d be in the clear – they had some at Ashley Furniture in white that were the perfect price and size…. but they were white.  UGH.

If they don’t have what I want in a reasonable price range at the unfinished wood furniture place, maybe I could just get the ones I want at Ashley and paint them black.

Funny, those things you just don’t think about.

Still need to attempt that replacement lampshade again.

I’ve decided that I’m only going to keep one of my Euclase heads, though I am torn as to which one I want to keep.  I’ve been thinking about it since he showed up.  Realistically, I know that I will only use one head – I’m not a head switcher.  And it really bugs me that one head has the long ears and the other doesn’t… it doesn’t really make sense to me, character-wise, that he would only have long ears while he’s sleeping.  I had intended to open the eyes part-way on the meditation head so that I could have a head with the fabulous ears… but because I was gung-ho to paint him the day he arrived, I painted the open-eyed head because it was ready to go.  I really like the open-eyed head and I love how the faceup turned out.  I’m thinking of modding and painting the meditation head, then deciding which one I like better.  If I do that, though, I’ll have to wipe one head prior to selling regardless since I feel like the faceup/coloration he has is specific to him.

I dunno.  I like the ears, but I’m not in love with them.  Without the hawk feet, they don’t make a lot of sense.  Hummmmmm…. will think.

This weekend I must…

• Photograph Yli resin samples and make notes on resin matches
• Design the other Yli default
• Paint Percy
• Make substantial progress on commission mods (build armatures and rough in at the very least)

Also seriously reconsidering if I want to take general commissions anymore, or if I only want to do work for people I know.  I’ll finish out my commission list regardless, but I may just close shop after that.

I’m taking next Friday off… and I am using that as a day of pure creative hedonism.

I’m going to work on projects!  I want to make MAJOR progress on Versai’s hermaphrodite torso, that project has gone on way too long.  I need to finish it and send it to Therese to cast with a body.  I want to work on Burgundy’s head… I want to finish things.

Luna may be sold… she’s on hold till tomorrow, and I may have a backup buyer if that falls through.  (I hope it doesn’t, though.)  I am going to try to be a grown-up and put the money into furniture for the apartment – I want a new dresser!  Depending on where I buy them, I may be able to buy two dressers for the cost of the Luna.  I’m just looking for a really simple, sleek black style, no frills or trim.  That shouldn’t be too expensive, right?

…right?

Siiiiigh.

I also remembered to submit my taxes, finally.  I’d done them through Turbotax awhile ago, but hadn’t submitted them because I had wanted to check something or other.  My fed refund isn’t too bad, though as usual I owe money to NY.  I always do, and I don’t know how.  This year I asked our payroll company to withhold an extra $2 a week from my paycheck to put toward my NY taxes… that should cover it, I hope.  The refund is always a little disappointing.  It seems like when I read other people’s blogs, when they mention a tax return, it’s always something huge.  Like they’re able to go on vacation to Europe or buy that Tsukasa they wanted… I couldn’t even buy a Lati Blue with mine.  (Not that I’m intending to use it for that – Roommate and I are pooling our collective returns to buy a new couch.)

Coooooouuuuch.  I wish I was home lounging on my couch…

My Limhwa Luna arrived today… after I ordered, I got nervous that she wouldn’t fit as Juliana because she’s so slim and realistic.  She’s gorgeous, exquisitely detailed and generally one of the prettiest girl dolls I’ve seen in person, but she’s just not going to fit as a lounge singer.

If you’re looking for a beige opaque urethane Limhwa Luna (or know someone who is), please drop me a PM.  I’m asking $500 + ship.  Saves some shipping money on ordering direct and there’s no wait!

In Search of the Uncarved Carver

I’m now hosting HalloSpaceCat’s dollyblog.  Hopefully we can start getting her to post often!

I want to paint an Elfdoll, preferably a girl… does anyone want theirs painted for free + postage?  Drop me a PM on DoA. :)

I’m all set, I think… thank you!