Shopping with the Boiiz

Long time, no craft...

My friend and co-creator of SkippyBJD Mary was in town this week, so we took our YoSD boys with us to the craft store. We were there to pick up polymer clay for some doll-sculpting experiments,  but also wanted to see if there were any good doll accessories or props we could find. It ended up becoming a photo shoot, but we did grab some clay eventually.

We were looking at fairy garden stuff when we happened upon the above zen garden setup. The boys thought it was cool, so we plopped them down and snapped a few pics.

Then, we were wandering through the aisles and happened upon some lilac flowers - perfectly matched to Honu's eye color. He cooperated and let me take a pic or two.

All in all, a successful run. In another post, I'll show the progress we made toward sculpting some heads. Mary went a more traditional route with her's while I...well, I guess you'll just have to tune in and see, haha! Thanks for tuning in.

My Little Pony Repaint (Part 1: Supplies)

Hello again,

Today I have the first half of a series for you all. Located somewhere between a tutorial and a collection of progress shots, I have a bunch of photos outlining my process in customizing/repainting one of these chubby, Playskool Friends MLP characters I found at my local Tuesday Morning (they were awful cute and I just couldn't help myself...)

Over the weekend, I attended Otakon in DC (their first year in DC) and attended a panel on modding. She went over a lot of things I recognized, but a few things I had never looked into and suddenly I had a hankering for...modding a My Little Pony. I decided to start cheap (since these don't have real hair to re-root, it makes them even cheaper in the long run). Seeing as these are for toddlers, they're simple, cute, and small enough to make a manageable project out of!

What You Need:

1. Cleaned Pony/Ponies
2. Sealant (I personally prefer Mr. Super Clear, but it's a bit hard to buy if you live in the USA*. You can also use Testors Dullcote or something like Liquitex Matte Medium, though I have not used the later.)
3. Colored Pencils (watercolor or otherwise)
4. An Eraser (I like these white ones because you can cut them into a point if you need to get into a small space. If you like cutting the ends off your erasers, you will also need scissors..)
5. A Pencil Sharpener!! (If you skimp on the sharpener, your lines will NOT come out nice and crisp.)

6. Pastels (avoid oil based)
7. Paintbrushes
8. Acrylic Paint (not pictured, but I will be using white)
9. Paper Towels and...
10. A Clean Worksurface

What You May Want (Optional Supplies):

1. Magic Eraser (it works magic..)
2. Glitter/Gloss/Shimmer
3. X-Acto Knife
4. A Little Helper (Latidoll Lulu)


*The Junky Spot website often has Mr. Super Clear (MSC) in stock in both the UV cut and regular types. I buy mine from there in 3-packs to save on shipping.

My next post will detail my steps and show process shots. I am going to wait until I complete the pony so I can show the whole thing from start to finish. My progress so far has given me hope that this won't just be a throw away project..and I look forward to sharing the result. Thank you for reading and I'll see you next time!

ABS Plastic - The Solution...is Alcohol!

Rubbing alcohol that is!
As continuation to the previous post...

I wish I had known this first, but I still have an interesting mod project ahead of me! A few weeks ago we got some advice on YouTube from a good Samaritan about our "mod":

NellaCuriosity3 weeks ago
The eyelashes are looking good.
W&N melts/compromises ABS. To clean ABS you want rubbing alcohol, the purer the better.

Thus, we have an answer.
Only use Winsor & Newton on resin!!

Stay safe hobbying out there, friends.

ABS Plastic and Winsor & Newton (Crafting Gone Awry)

Hello there,

For those of you who do not know, I have a YouTube channel called SkippyBJD that's updated about as regularly as my blogger (which is to say, somewhat sporatically). Recently, I put up a crafting video documenting my and my friend's BJD alterations with the title "A Faceup and An Unintentional Mod".

The reason for this post is that I wanted to ask (or warn) about ABS plastic reacting to Winsor & Newton brush cleaner. Now, Winsor and Newton is my go-to for faceup cleaning - it's gentle on the resin and doesn't stain or leave residue. That's why, when the following events unfolded, I was a little more than confused.

I was trying to wipe the factory faceup from an Ai Doll Lagrus and she sort of...melted. Now, I don't want to scare anyone or jump to conclusions; I'm not 100% sure that the Ai Doll I had was even made of ABS plastic (the same stuff used to make Blythes). This is what the result was:

My only thought is that I have to sand her now - honestly not too upset because that means I get to try some modding stuff I've been too nervous to try as of yey - but hopefully that gets her into a presentable state.

Concluding Thoughts: You should always test things like this on a small part of a doll you're not sure about ESPECAILLY if you've paid a lot of money for the doll. I'm still not confident this is made of ABS plastic, but if anyone has any advice, I'm open to suggestions! Hahaha....

Wrap Up Questions: Has anyone had something similar happen? How did you fix it? Or, better yet, if you have a doll you know is made of ABS plastic and used W&N cleaner on it, did it work fine or did it melt?

Follow Up: I have a follow up blog post describing the solution to this problem. In short, please only use Winsor & Newton on resin. ABS aparently does much bettter with rubbing alcohol. Please see the corresponding blog post for a little more detail.

Doll Companies: Latidoll

Latidoll

I suppose this is a review. When I originally wrote this (in 2016), I still had dolls that had not yet arrived, but now I have no outstanding dolls from the company and my experience is a tad dated with their limited releases. I still have a (fairly) large pool of experience with Latidoll and there are always those who will find stuff like this useful. Here we go:

Dolls Ordered

Latidoll and I have had a relationship since 2013 and I have ordered dolls across three of the past four years.

2013

MH Sophie (NS)
Lulu (NS)

2014

BatB Haru (TS)
LoL Sophie (TS) - Sold
PPiS Lea (Open eye, TS)

Sophie (left) and Jia (right)

PPiS Lea (Mystic, TS)
PPiS Haru (TS)
Olympos Haru (Blue Skin)
LAS Jia (TS)

2015

LAS Sophie (Pink Skin)
Penguin T.Jia (NS)
Frog T.Sophie (TS)

[Key:
- MH = Monster House
- BatB = Beauty and the Beast
- LoL = Legend of Lati
- PPiS = Peterpan in Steamland
- Olympos = Sacred Goblet of Olympos
- LAS = Little Angel Sweeties
- TS = Tan Skin
- NS = Normal Skin]

Overall Opinion

While they do get flack for their shipping times (my experience has ranged from 7/8 months on the shorter side to over 10 months as of the Little Angel Sweeties release), they are very accommodating and, for the most part, have high quality fullsets and limiteds. Until buying two Lati Whites, I had not really bought non-limited dolls from Lati, so I cannot really comment on their treatment of regular release dolls except that their new normal skin is much nicer, more natural, and slightly pink compared to the old yellowish tint. The quality of the dolls that I have received has never been lacking.

I do like Latidoll, but their recent limited releases have been meager. They must have come under new management or something because since the Secret Garden release last summer, they haven't had any full (6 doll) limited sets come out. Fair warning, I guess.

Customer Service

Their customer service has always been prompt and accommodating. Sometimes they forget items, or do not include them for other reasons (resin problems, etc...), but they always ship them in the end. Currently, I have gotten all parts and pieces from every set I ordered. In the past, Lati has made it up to me (for waiting times) in the form of small gifts: one I received was a pair of sunglasses for my dolls and the other was a free fullset wig which I had not paid for because I was poor at the time (haha...aren't we all). They don't always comp, though, so you should never expect it.

Contacting a lati representative is as simple as posting on their Question and Answer board. Make sure to check back every day to two days because you probably won't get an email notification. If you have a question about an order, list your order number in the title or the body of your post. Passwords that you must assign to your thread can be as simple as 1234 and that is  what I normally use.

Doll and Fullset Quality

Their dolls (my dolls) have never had seam lines. I personally have never had problems with factory faceups flaking or cracking. All clothing has fit with the exception of one pair of shoes which I never ended up getting around to resolving. Most of their dolls are strung perfectly upon arrival and can stand right out of the box.The only exceptions were my two 2013 NS girls which are a little loose and I just haven't gotten around to restringing them.

Two Event Heads
(they do not come with eyes or wigs)

Fullsets also sometimes come with free event items (usually heads). They are sometimes released later as part of the normal run, but you can never be sure if they'll be back.

The resin is even. The clothing is high quality (and some of my favorite pieces for them to wear). The eyes are a little big for my taste, but they are good glass eyes anywho.

Negatives

As far as lati negatives, I already mentioned wait times; the average was around 9 months the last time I ordered. Some companies I have ordered from ship in as little as three or four weeks (Angell-Studio), so nine months is on the longer side. They are a little overworked; asking them about estimated shipping dates or when points can be received will usually get an answer like "we hope to ship them out as soon as possible" or "once the dolls exceed the standard processing time".

Late Points

My last topic about the company has to do with their point system; there are bonus points for delays in processing. You do have to remind lati to give you your points. They will not volunteer this on their own. Title your thread "Late Points" and list your order number and they will take care of getting the points to your account. The link below is the most current post from the company about the system (I believe).

http://www.latidoll.com/2007_en/index.htm?mode=notice&sc=en&num=353

Diary Adventure (Japan Trip Video)

Hey there,
Like usual, I'm really delayed in getting stuff up on the web, but I got my Japan Trip video up on YouTube! It contains all of the random stuff I took videos of while I was there a few months back, but I did leave out some..."tutorials" and "vlogs" that I will put up in separate videos.
The video I already put up is already 14+ minutes long so...haha.

Overall, it goes over some daily activities like the view out of my room and walking around. However, we also get to visit Tokyo Disney Sea and enjoy some of the park!

After I edited that video, I also managed to set aside a few minutes to put up a "tutorial" on how to fold onigiri. That link is also listed below.

Check out the video here: [click]

P.S. Check out my Onigiri Tutorial as well! [video]

Diary Adventure (Nakano Broadway)

So my friend, Pjelly, who had been in Japan for some weeks by the time I'd arrived, knew that the real otaku haven was Nakano Broadway. Akihabara has some stuff, but it's spread out amongst electronics stores and such. Nakano Broadway is like an anime mall, where all of the stores are close together in the same building. We saw a lot of neat stuff that day, but in Mandrake, one of the stores that spans multiple levels, I saw some really beautiful Volks dolls and a couple Azone amongst other brands I was not as familiar with. I didn't want to deal with getting a doll through customs (and none of my grail dolls were there), so I didn't end up buying any, but the dolls and other things were fun to look at nonetheless.