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At Miscon 2013, around Memorial Day, Missoula MT, At SoonerCon, in OKC, around June 15, also Spokon in Spokane, in July/August, Beyond that, we aren't sure.
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Jane’s entered a Project Runway for ball-jointed-dolls. And she has made some…

…killer outfits. These are hand-made. And Wiishu stands about 6″ tall. Get a load of the tennies Jane made, not to mention the cargo pants with functional buttons.

The Arrival of Puki-shu, Wiishu becomes a Fashion Model, and more!!!!

February 1st, 2013 | Category: Journal

26 comments to Jane’s entered a Project Runway for ball-jointed-dolls. And she has made some…

  • Tommie
    February 1, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    Great job with the toggle clasps, Jane! Plastic canvas for the shoe soles?

    • Jane
      February 2, 2013 at 8:33 am

      Thanks! Aren’t those cute fasteners? I designed the whole silly coat around them then almost had to scrap them. The toggle is on a tiny ribbon that disappeared into the lining so that you can pull them through.

      The shoes actually need a stiffer insole (design notes) I used a thick fake Chamois to stitch/glue the shoe to, then glue another layer to the outside and put the non-skid shelfliner on the bottom before finishing off with a (tada!) rubber band. :D I know I can do it now, so will investigate more “finished” looks for the soles. I need to make Morgaine and Vanye boots…there’s just nothing available for them…so I needed to figure it out.

  • Tommie
    February 1, 2013 at 4:18 pm

    CJ was speaking of her work hours earlier… I couldn’t find the post… how some ever!
    Do not work yourself to death, no matter how I militate and bully for more tales! Geese and golden eggs…

  • ryanrick
    February 1, 2013 at 8:31 pm

    OMG. That is the most amazing thing! Wherever did you find the doll? I wasn’t familiar with the name Puki-shu or Wiishu and I just figured you had gotten Jane something associated with anime (which I’m also not all that familiar with either, but I know you both are big fans). But that is such a beautiful doll!

    And Jane’s fashions are fabulous. Looks like the new sewing machine has been put to good use!

    • Jane
      February 2, 2013 at 9:15 am

      (Wiishu bows acknowledgement. He’d do more but he’s on strike right now. “No pitchurs until Momma-D’s package is mailed.” He and PukiShu are having a sit-in strike.

      Wiishu was a gift from an online friend. We met through Gravitation FanFic and I knew about the dolls, but had avoided really getting into them because they are, frankly, quite expensive. Anyway I met her briefly and by surprise at a con in Dallas last June and we really hit it off. When we went back for FenCon in September, she showed up armed with several of her little resin-crew to tempt me.

      It worked. I utterly fell in love with her little LTF, Chi, who has a Shiwoo faceplate, just like Wiishu. Could not keep my hands off him because the body language and posing is just so priceless. Turns out she had this little guy that she’d purchased only for his body! (Poor Wiishu!) She had a different faceplate she’d gotten that needed a body. But he informed her that night that she was just a way-station for him, and that he really belonged with us, and the next day, she showed up at the con with this beautiful box with the ‘cutestest house elf’ ever lying inside.

      I was absolutely floored. He’s been a delight and he’s helped jumpstart my story-telling neurons which the business needs of the last few years have wreaked havoc on.

      He is soooo personality-plus. He has a bunch of photostories, if you’re in the mood for a giggle or two, check out http://www.janefancher.com/HarmoniesOfTheNet/all-the-slideshows-gathered-into-groups/wiishus-diary/

      As for the Ball-jointed dolls in general…they are definitely an Anime aesthetic, tho a few companies move into more “realistic” looks. (Iplehouse has some beautiful adult sculpts.) The fully-jointed, anthropomorphic dolls range from (believe it or not) 5cm!!!! to about 75cm. Wiishu is a smaller “kid” size at 25cm. His new “liddle brovver” is 11cm.

      They got started in this commercial incarnation about ten years ago. Volks/Dolphie, a Japanese company, was the first and is still considered the standard, tho they’re not my cuppa. Wiishu is from a Korean company, Fairyland.

      They are completely customizable. You can get numerous different faces for the same body…the little fee like Wiishu has two bodies, one male one female, and something like 24 different face plates, which you can buy blank or with the default “faceup” (like Wiishu’s) The eyes are separate, and there are some amazing eyes available. (If you check Tinkerboutit’s box opening, you’ll see a mockup with the eyes I’ve got on order for him.) The resin can be cleaned and repainted endlessly. The resin can be carved and sanded so you can create the face you want or even, as some have done, turn them into robot bodies or beautiful ‘carved wood’ dolls.

      You can even mix and match heads and bodies between companies and even sizes. There’s an adapter for the CLines that let them wear an FTL (like Wiishu) head. It’s actually a very cute look.

      It’s one of those hobbies that will utilize pretty much every craft/construction skill you want to toss at it: sewing, jewelry-making, story-telling, photography, painting…and we haven’t even gotten into constructing furniture for them!

      Morgaine and Vanye are one of the few adult dolls in the under 40cm range. (Their box opening story starts here:
      http://www.janefancher.com/HarmoniesOfTheNet/2012/11/30/the-much-anticipated-mv-box-opening-part-one/)
      Like Wiishu, they’re from Fairyland, who makes some of the most amazingly posable of all the dolls. I got them because FL was ending production on this line and I really wanted them for artist model dolls. I’m hoping to use them in getting the rest of the graphic done. Pose them frame by frame and use them as models…my sketching abilities just aren’t what they used to be….

      I’ve got to get it up, but I took a quick shot of them waltzing the other day…

      The larger dolls tend to be a bit more “setabout” because the weight of the resin overpowers the elastic that binds them together for the more elaborate standing poses. You can pose them, and I’ve seen some wonderful shots of the larger dolls, but there’s no way you can do with them what I do with Wiishu.

      Anyway…that’s the basic intro! I’m so glad you enjoyed him. I love sharing his adventures. (Now…back to work, Fanch!)

      • Tommie
        February 2, 2013 at 10:32 am

        You might try a bead or two of chain weight, a drapery supply, in the clothing or as jewelery to make the smaller ones more posable…

      • BlueCatShip
        February 2, 2013 at 10:10 pm

        [quote]Turns out she had this little guy that she’d purchased only for his body![/quote]

        Apologies in advance…. What a problem to have! …. Should we be jealous? …. I mean, when was the last time someone wanted you, the reader, for your body…or just for your mind…or, well, whatever it was…. Yeah, been a while, huh?

        Heck, even when I try to be a little risqué, that public courtesy thing takes over. … Possibly explains why it’s been a while….. Gee.

      • bakayaro onna
        February 3, 2013 at 3:19 am

        To defend myself (LOL), I was going to change the Shiwoo faceplate out for a Shiwoo ELF faceplate so all I was doing was giving the character pointy ears. I couldn’t find the faceplate that day so I put the soon-to-become Wiishu away. The next day I met up with Jane and CJ and the rest is history.

  • CJ
    February 1, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    They’re a modern offshoot of an Asian artform, the creation of beautiful jointed dolls, the semblance of living things. The joints are made to flex as human joints do. When you handle the smallest of the small, where the weight of the resin limbs and the strength of the elastic cord inside are closely balanced, they have an eerie tendency to ‘crawl’ a bit in your hand—not much, but they can move. Wiishu can stand and balance like a human. So can Puki. Getting the taller dolls to stand—no, not so easy: their weight overpowers the strength of the cord. The tallest of those are 70 cm tall. Originally the material was probably ivory. Another Asian notion is masks. These dolls change hands, change feet, change faces, sometimes change species, or acquire animal ears… One thing I’m looking forward to is Jane’s notion of doing traditional Korean and Japanese dress for these dolls, because it can be absolutely exquisite…especially when coupled with one of the long-hair wigs.

    • bakayaro onna
      February 3, 2013 at 3:48 am

      It’s true most companies stick to the 68-72cm range for their largest sculpts. However, in 2007 the tallest became 80cm (Soom Mecha Angel). I saw one up close belonging to the amazing faceup artist SDink (also met her that day) and they are long lanky guys that are great clothes horses. http://dollsoom.com/eng/shop/item.php?it_id=1249032740

      In 2009 Angel of Dream made a 90cm body! I saw one at a con. The poor woman had to wheel him around in a stroller because he was so heavy! And naturally, she had to make all his clothes to get the style she wanted.

      I think the doll companies keep making them larger and smaller just to say ‘We did it’. Luckily, places like Fairyland insures their aesthetics, engineering and mechanics also makes a desirable doll.

      Fairyland is evil. I know I have already put one of their kids through college.

      • CJ
        February 3, 2013 at 7:52 am

        The bigger ones must require their own car seats. Jane’s travels much more compactly.

      • BlueCatShip
        February 3, 2013 at 10:10 am

        I had to do a quick calculation to find what those are in inches. 72 cm is just over 28 1/3 inches, and 80 cm is a bit over 30 inches. That’s getting near the point where baby and toddler clothes would fit, except the proportions and styles would not suit them.

        I’m reminded of the MEGO action figures (e.g. Star Trek TOS and various cartoons) out in the 70′s when I was a kid. These were somewhat posable, but not to the extent the BJD’s are. The BJD’s resemble artists’ and clothiers’ mannequins in some ways.

        I bet traditional Japanese, Korean, and Chinese costumes would look great on the dolls.

        Or late 1700′s and early 1800′s European and American styles….

        BTW, I’ve never seen much in the way of artist’s guides to drawing kids and teens in proportion. This may be part of the reason dolls come in the proportions they do.

  • Tommie
    February 2, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    http://www.oocities.org/kimono_kimonos/kimono.htm Not the best one I’ve seen, but useful nonetheless. Kimono fabric scraps are available at a good price, and the undergarments and the softer belts can be made of stuffs from your local fabric store, but you, Jane, may have a problem finding fabric for the obi and obi-jime without buying one of each and taking them apart and remaking them. That is not as much of a problem as it sounds, but if you can actually touch and get a feel for them, you will have much better ideas about what you want to do.

    BTW, if those are your hands in the M&V arrival photos, you have the same turned in pinkie and crookedly growing little finger nail that is common in my father’s family. Mama says that’s how he really knew I was his…

  • CJ
    February 2, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    Server was down briefly this evening: apologies to anyone inconvenienced. Up and running again and all is well.

  • Tommie
    February 4, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    I would love to see Morgaine in riders’ hakama, (trousers), in silver and black stripes, and Vanye in dark blue or brown…. hint, hint; nag, nag…

  • Tommie
    February 4, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    Jane, you might like this BB:
    http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jspa?anticache=1359754926486&rw=true&forumID=84&anticache=1360021543186

    Any of the rest of you who enjoy needle and fiber arts might enjoy it too!

  • bakayaro onna
    February 5, 2013 at 10:59 am

    Here is an old photo of my Crew in kimono/hakama/haori: http://onnas-baka-gaki.livejournal.com/152024.html

    Wiishu is a centimeter smaller than the cute orange-haired boy in green.

  • Tommie
    February 5, 2013 at 11:50 am

    onna, those are pretty great!

  • Tommie
    February 5, 2013 at 11:52 am

    …family portraits so often have at least half the people not looking their best…

  • paul
    February 5, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    On a somewhat different note without a convenient home: I suppose these would be “waves without a shore”. ;)

    http://news.yahoo.com/weird-underwater-waves-spotted-space-211812642.html

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