CUSTOMS: TTL BRUNETTE REPAINT

Hey Everybody,

Just sharing two quick pics of the repaint I did on the TTL Brunette base body I got last week.

Stock Head:



Introducing Rosalind:





I repainted the eyes with P3 Formula Paints "Arcane Blue" by Privateer Press and then repainted the lips with "Sanguine Base" by P3 as well.

Thanks for following.

SIDE PROJECT: ALL'S FAIRE BLOG

Hey Everybody,

I had mentioned a while back that I had been planning to work on a second blog devoted to my favorite girl Gillian. Well I have started that project:

ALL's FAIRE



So for all things Gillian Faire, check out this blog. I hope it will turn out to be a fun project and affair for my followers and other 1:6 hobbyists.

Thanks for following.

CUSTOMS: THE CALE SISTERS

Searlait and Siobahn Cale:



The Cale Sisters started out as just Siobahn (on the left), She was a BBI Goth Alagua that I repainted the eyes on to make into a goth girl. Later on I wanted to get a second Alagua head because of my OCD of always buying multiples of things. So a little while after I had gotten her and gotten ready to paint her identically to the first one, I found out something... It wasn't the same head. Turns out it was the same head, but what I didn't realize was that a wonderful factory mishap had happened. The first Alagua head must have been pulled from it's mold too son, and deformed some, but not at all in a bad way. It deformed evenly and kept the features, but had just enough of a change to it that set it apart from the normal head (Searlait, on the right). I really liked this, I liked it so much, I knew they would make perfect sisters, having just enough difference to tell them apart, but enough similarities to make them twins. So my twin goth sisters, Searlait and Siobahn Cale were born. They both have identical custom painted mixed color eyes, green hair, and dark lips.

Their ensemble is by SMcG Customs, a fantastic custom outfit maker who I have dealt with several times and highly recommend to anyone.







Thanks for following.

TUTORIAL: TTL HIP MODIFICATION

Hey Everybody,

I love the TTL body. But with every body on the market it has it's pros and cons. The major con of the TTL body is the lack of range of motion in the hips. The TTL body can't close it's legs well and sit properly. This tutorial will will show you the amazing difference that the hip modification can do.

So to start we'll go over tools. Whilst a Rotary Tool helps, this can be done with an X Acto knife, it just will take a while. I use a Tungsten Carbide Cutting Bit in mine.



Next you will want your X Acto knife for some fine trimming work if needed, and of course sand paper. Sanding sponges work best IMHO, but aren't necessary.

So we'll start by showing off the body and the areas that we need to remove stock from.







The areas highlighted in red are the areas of stock removal. I usually start with the hip section removal. What you want to do is rotate the legs in such a way to give you room to get your cutting bit into the space and remove the stock. You will have to work the legs around as you do this. Just keep moving them around so that the opening is there for your bit. Once you have your areas of red removed from the hip sections, go in with your knife if need be to smooth some spots and then go in with your sand paper to smooth it out.





Then once you have the hips done, go in and using your tool remove the stock on the legs. You want to hollow out those areas marked. You are making the groove / channel larger for the crotch / hip section to fit into. Make sure to make the stock removal smooth, and try to maintain the smooth curves on the legs. Once the stock is removed sand your areas smooth. Then you should have this:



Do any further cleanup or stock removal as necessary until you are happy with the range of motion in the doll's legs. Why you are done you should have this:

Unmodified Body on the left, modified on the right.



Modified body on the left, Unmodified on the right.



With this modification, TTL bodies can close their legs and sit properly. You can see the gap and angle of bend the unmodified body has compared to the modified one.



Hope this helps some people,

Thanks for following.

TOY REVIEW: TRIAD TOYS JADE VAN HELSING

I just got my Triad Jade Van Helsing on Saturday, so I put her together and figured I'd do a review of her.



This figure to me was an overall decent figure. I have some complaints and some praise for it. This figure comes in at a price point of around $120. I got mine for $114 from Good Stuff to Go.





Starting off, the figure is Triad's Alpha female body. This is a nice full figured body with curves you aren't going to find on other bodies on the market. It's a good blend of aesthetics and articulation. It has some drawbacks. The neck is very wide and this makes it hard to use any heads other than Triads without any modification... sadly also this even befalls some of their own heads having compatibility issues. The wrists are a drawback to me. The design of the wrist post is flat ended, which means that it doesn't seat properly inside the wrist sockets of the hands. This can easily be fixed with using CG / TTL / etc wrist posts with the Triad hands, granted this is not something you should have to do, but it's not a deal breaker. There were some skintone matching issues with the individually packaged Alpha bodies and hand sets, but the boxed figures don't seem to suffer from this. Triad has said themselves they take greater oversight of the boxed items than the items for customizers, which is good, considering the pricetag of Jade, but you shouldn't just limit your oversight of quality to your high end items IMHO. Anyway, the hands that came with Jade all matched the body very well.





Jade's headsculpt is nice, with good paint application on it. It's a good stock paint job, but I will probably repaint / retouch her to make her more mine. Her hair... well I like the two tone colors, but... the best way to describe her hair is "Post Apocalyptic" lol... It definitely needs some taming, and the cutting on it leaves a bit to be desired, but it's tough with short hair cuts on dolls.

















Jade's outfit is nice. It's a nice Steampunk inspired ensemble. I feel it needs something to complete it, I think a nice brown leather corset would look awesome with it. The material is good, and like most all Triad's outfit offerings, it is the strong point of the figure. I like the colors, and little details. Her belts and holsters are well done with nice metal working buckles. The only thing I would have asked for with her shorts would have been more belt loops. The two on the sides are nice, but a couple more would have been better to keep the belt in place better. I like the secondary lower set above the garters for her leggings, they worked nicely for the pistol belt. I like the buckle setup for the garters too. Her psuedo coat / cape / duster is nicely done, but doesn't really do much for me, if it were more of a duster it would have been better.

As for her weapons, Jade has very nicely designed and steampunky looking revolvers. They have a decent paint job, but considering the weapon offerings from other companies currently (including Triad themselves), for the pricetag I'd have expected a bit more to them. I'd have at least expected them to break open possibly being the design is like that of older style revolvers. The revolvers go nicely into the holsters on her belt.





Jade's sword was a bit of a let down. The let down mostly being because of the price point of the figure. Triad's Dakota was around $30 less than Jade, and came with a metal sword. Jade's machete was plastic, and not even a really solid plastic. This was a serious letdown, and I will probably make my own for her out of aluminum. It did come with a nicely done scabbard however.







So, in summation, this figure is decent, I'd give Jade 3 of 5 stars, mostly because of the price point issues. This figure would have been worth it had it been closer to Dakota's pricetag of $90. I know that Triad is a smaller company with smaller runs, however if they want to compare themselves with the big boys, they needs to make their offerings worth the value of big boy prices. I'm content with this product, and I probably will have it grow on me more as I do some custom work to her and make her more "mine". I think though that if I had to do it over again at the $120 pricepoint I would have passed most likely and just tried to get loose parts.



Thanks for following.

1:6 SCALE CUSTOM PARACORD & HEMP BRACELETS

Hi Everybody,

This has been a project that has been a while coming to post on the blog here. I finally have my 1:6 Scale Custom Paracord & Hemp Bracelets ready to show off and take orders for.





I offer them in two styles currently, Solomon Bar and Lizard Tail. They can be made for both male and female figures and can be made in solid colors or two tone in the available paracord color choices:

NAVY BLUE, WINE, TANGERINE, IRISH GREEN, AQUA MARINE, LIGHT OLD GOLD, SPUN GOLD, SUNFLOWER, CINNAMON, GOLDEN YELLOW, KELLY GREEN, FERN, KHAKI, DARK TURQUOISE, WHITE, ROSE RED, WILLOW, RAINBOW, BRONZE, LAVENDER, BABY PINK, RASBERRY, PURPLE PASSION, BLACK, SILVER, & NUTMEG.

The assortment of colors I have are great for both Armed Forces and School Pride bracelets!

Hemp colors available:

White, Tan, Brown, & Black.

These bracelets are hand woven by myself and are fully functional with loop and toggle closures.





Sample Bracelets:

Solomon Bar Style


"The Thin Blue Line" Bracelet for Law Enforcement (Black and Dark Turquoise)


Dark Turquoise and Silver


Black and Willow


Black and Silver


Willow and Bronze


Rasberry and Baby Pink


Light Old Gold and Aquamarine


Golden Yellow and Black


Wine and Navy Blue


Cinnamon and Khaki


Fern


Khaki


Rasberry


Wine and Cinnamon


Purple Passion


Purple Passion and Lavender


Brown and Tan Hemp

Lizard Tail Style




Cinnamon and Khaki


Fern and Khaki


Dark Turquoise and Silver

The Bracelets are prices as follows:

Solomon Bars - $4 each or 4 for $12.
Lizard Tails - $6 each or 4 for $18.

Shipping will be included in all U.S. orders. International shipping please inquire. I'd prefer Paypal payments, but contact me if you wish other methods.

If you are interested or have any questions regarding styles or colors, please contact me via my e-mail link on this blog.

Thanks for following.