September chat

[Donna]

Hello..
Welcome to the crazy month.
Hope all is going well with everyone..
hope those entering the Auckland doll show are getting along well with their entries and stall holders are stocked and organised.

I had quite a mishap with my sculpts face.. set me back over a week actually, as it is a portrait and I had a huge amount of trouble getting the face right again. I was at the stage of putting hair on so it was really annoying. But it was also my own fault for tutu'ing around.

Mistake made, lesson for others if necessary... don't ever put a heatgun onto a sculpt before acetone is completely dried off..
Urgh! My face exploded into bubbles of moonies, eye cracked badly.. what a mess. It's ok now, not as good as the first face (typical) but at least I have a face again..

Otherwise.. not going too bad.

Any news?

[jules]

That is a shame about the issue you had Donna, but glad you have been able to put it right

And still you are doing better than me. I bit off more than I could chew
And with every step (and there was a fair few many steps) she looked less and less like I wanted her to look, until the point I started hating it. So I decided I just wasn't happy with how she was and what she would look like if I kept pushing through all the parts I didn't like, so I have pulled the plug and decided not to enter her. I have put her aside and will work on her at a later stage

I also entered the Christmas decoration category, if (big if) I finish that tomorrow I will send it

So while I may not have anything to enter I am definitely looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made

[fantail]

Hope you were able to enter your pieces in the comp Jules seems like we all had trouble with our entries this year.
I entered mine but its now where near as finished as it should be - so many things went wrong so I went for good enough what with too many late nights and early mornings- I'm still exhausted

Was hoping that if you didn't have anything finished that you could always enter one of your other dolls if you hadn't sold them yet as the theme is not compulsory

[jules]

That was pretty much how I was feeling Fantail, that things were being left as good enough. But as I kept going I kept looking back at what I didn't like and ended up really hating it. So I decided to stop. I will finish her at a later date when time is not a factor

I also entered the Christmas decoration, but that one was meant to be based around a 3D printed icicle decoration with a clay angel (trying to bring the two worlds together) but sadly I have had issues with my printer. They replaced it once, but it broke down again, so I am still waiting for the third machine to turn up was really sad as I had a lot of things to print this week for the show, but the printer is completely out of action

But I am very much looking forward to catching up with everyone and seeing what everyone else has made

[Donna]

I'm sorry to hear your piece didn't go how you wanted Jules.

Fantail is right, we did seem to have our difficulties with this one.
I certainly did, major problems, and it hindered the finishing touches with mine too, due to time. Yesterday I thought I wasn't going to be entering. I worked all through the night last night, no sleep at all.. lol.. got finished at 9am this morning.. whew!

Thats no good about your printer either.. hope it gets sorted soon.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow..

[fantail]

Tania Marriot was there - she said she would like to do some sculpting with people today not sure what time.

Hope you get the 3d printer sorted, and hopefully you can still enter your Christmas entry next year
Oh Blue and Donna's work is amazing, sigh, I so want a closer look at the beauties, hopefully today
and there are some great entries this year. I do hope get some photos too.

[jules]

Hey everyone, was lovely seeing everyone's work. It was all so awesome! Fantail please post some of the pictures you took, I would nice to see them again

And so we have At the Races for the Hamilton show, and Through the Looking glass for the next Auckland show - how are the ideas flowing?

[fantail]

Was good to catch up aswell. wonderful entries. Still need to sort through the photos.
We should have grabbed you so you could play with the dollies too
was a bit crazy and over all too quickly and when I looked again we had to go, sigh.
I'm stuck with one idea only so far.

[jules]

As I mentioned I have a piece I am already working on which fits the theme of Through the Looking glass
But it's actually a zombie piece so i think too dark for the show
So I will do something else for that

No idea for the "At the races" theme yet

[Donna]

Hey everyone
It was wonderful to see you both and Blue at the show.
The comp pieces were a joy to see, as usual. Huge congrats to you Fantail for winning Doll of the Show this year. Well deserved too, with your tiny BJD and furry friend. Well done.

I'm sorry we didn't get you up to have a closer look too Jules.. it's all so chaotic at the end, I didn't realise until it was too late.

It was a wonderful experience to meet and chat with Tanya Marriott and see her works up close. Her judging was strict.. lol.. but constructive and I learned a lot from her. I hope we get to catch up with her soon.

I have a theme idea for "Through the Looking Glass".. but not "At the Races" either.
I might start NOW... hahaha.

Oooh can't wait to see your Zombie piece finished Jules.

[jules]

Yes it would have been nice to listen more to Tanya during her presentation. It's always interesting to see how people work with clay in different ways

My zombie piece is inspired by Face-off. They had that Zombie Alice episode and none of those who had the Queen of Heart did it in the way I would have, so it inspired me to give it a go.
I wish I could sculpt fast, it would be fun to turn every challenge into a mini clay doll in the way I would have interpreted the weekly task. But even picking one challenge per season I am still two seasons back! I work so slow so many days go by where I haven't have a chance to work with clay

For the last season just been my favourite challenge was the lolly one. I think the latest season is being filmed, so hopefully we will get it soon

[fantail]

That is a great show and I look forward to seeing your zombie piece too
glad we don't have to do one entry per week haha
Ugh my entry was so unfinished I felt bad that that was the entry that Tanya had to judge
wen I look it over I still cringe but I still want to finish badger- he was just a prop so I tried to make sure I do enough on the girl rather then finish him as I wanted

[jules]

I think your badger was very cute, but I guess as the artist we get in there and look a lot closer than everyone else does

[fantail]

Thank you Julie I hadn't finished furring or painting him hence all the pink and the sharp edges of were the fur material ends on the hands etc

[jules]

Maybe you can post some before and after pictures when he gets his makeover

[Donna]

I didn't see any of the last series of Face-off, it must have been on when another family member had control of the TV..
It is a very good show, imagine trying to get all that done in a short time..

Little badger was so cute, very well done.
I think you should finish his fur off.. I didn't notice anything missing from him.. lol.. but you'd probably feel better.

I'm going to hand-tack the seam ends on the clothing of mine. I ran out of time for that, but it'll look better finished neatly.

I haven't taken any photo's yet..

Wasn't Anubis little pixie holding the dragon just the cutest little thing.. I'm so happy I got to see her work in RL, glad he travelled well this time.

[jules]

Yes that little pixie with the dragon was super adorable. I can't sew so people that make those soft dolls are a wonder to me

I have been spending the week sorting things out, as they always need to be done after a fair. But hopefully next week I will be able to spend some time on the three dolls I still have in the making, including stripping back the parts I dont like on my competition piece

[Donna]

I HAVE AN IDEA... 'for At the Races'... yay! I'm happy with it too...
Of course I'll have to execute it yet, and trickery will happen.. hahaha..

I'm not allowed to start any sculpting until I have sorted my workroom though, says me.. self inflicted discipline.. so that should be a good reason to clean up, coz I'm eager to start.

Hope you get a chance to get onto your 3 dolls next week Jules, and that your latest will turn out how you want her too..

[jules]

That's great that you have an idea for the Races Donna A few ideas have floated into my head, but they are so different from my normal I don't know if I could pull them off.

Its a good idea to get your workroom in order. I think the tidier your area when you work, the more calm and organised you are, and therefore the better the result in what you are working on. That is how it always is for me anyway

[Donna]

'Calm and Organised' are definitely not traits of my personality..
But I found it very difficult to work within the chaos I'm currently in.

You are very right, it will make the task much easier, and quicker if I know where things are, and I'm not losing things.

I'm very excited about making my current idea, I've already made most of it in my head.. lol..
It is a bit OT but still technically within the theme..

[jules]

It sounds wonderful Donna, I love it when an idea is exciting. I actually really enjoy the first part of coming up with the concept and researching all the different parts it needs to bring it together

[Donna]

I love that part of the process too.. researching, running the technicalities through the brain, figuring out how you could make something and what you could adapt. Definitely the fun part.

I ran my idea for 'at the races' to the family last night and all agreed I was pushing the envelope as far as being in theme.. they are right, LOL.
Dammit.. I know it's not compulsory to enter the theme, but I think it's the interesting part of the comps, seeing all the different concepts that arise from a single theme.

Sooo.. now I don't have an idea...

Yeah I do, LOL, I'm going to adapt my idea to fit slightly closer to the theme..

I've been fixing the hands up as best I can on my 'Damien' sculpt. I wouldn't usually alter a sculpt after judging, but in this case I will. I would like Damien to keep this one, and after the major mishap with burning the hands and the all-nighter I had to pull to get it to an acceptable stage to enter, I feel ok about fixing it a bit more now. I can't do too much to fix it, but the hands do look a little bit better. Next will be the finishing of the seams which I ran out of time for.

[fantail]

But if you really love the idea you should do it anyway
Problem if i clean I can't find anything cause I don't have enough room for dedicated areas but I do loose more things by the end of the time because of the chaos

I will finish of badger sometime cause I will feel better when I do
just have family stuff this weekend- cleaning and enjoyed actually not having to accomplish anything for a few days (other than work that is)
I don't see anything wrong with working on the piece after the comp- if they tell me how I can fix it and if I can - makes it all the better right.

[jules]

I agree, that changing a piece after the judging is not a problem. I wasn't happy with the direction of the head on my Mother Earth piece. Her heavy hair had pulled the neck while it was cooking, so she set looking up more than I wanted, but I didn't have time to change it. So after the show I broke her neck and reset it as I wanted it - looking down as she should since she was a big tree

[fantail]

that is quite a gutsy thing to do after its finished but also important to get the right effect
ooh also sound like a brutal thing if you didn't know we were talking about sculpts