Powers of Creation

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2015-03-27T16:12:22Z

All two of you who read this thing can find the continuing adventures of Powers of Creation on my own server.

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Zombieville Chapter 6.1: "Hole in the Head"

2015-03-23T00:51:10Z

Isabel doesn't like having one.
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Beth has clothes beyond a hospital gown!

2015-03-11T23:45:35Z

I could buy clothes for Beth, Isabel's doll and star of Isabel's doll-based comic Beth and Death. However, I'd rather try making clothes from existing materials. After several failed attempts, I've come up with the following passable outfit. The skirt is a semicircle that I hemmed with fabric glue, then sewed up the back. I cut a hole in the center, then disassembled Beth and kind of reassembled her around the skirt. I made the halter top from some old bandage tape that Janna no longer needed.
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Thalia's temporary pre-Raphaelite hair

2015-03-08T23:36:58Z

Some frizzy wig is standing in for Thalia's wild mane of black mohair curls, interspersed with plastic snakes. I like the voluminous curls; they soften her square features a bit. I also like the hair pulled back because then I can see her pointy ears.

What I don't like are those pointy tits. I'm not sure why so many sculptors insist on aggressively projecting nipples. I can't wait to get her a shirt.

Just for the heck of it, she's holding Beth, my smallest articulated doll.

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Dollism Plus: ephemera

2015-03-01T19:54:31Z

I finally got around to scanning some of the Dollism Plus 2014 ephemera that's been sitting on my floor for about six months.... In no particular order, here are the results from my crappy scanner.

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Working on dolls at long last!

2015-02-24T16:00:54Z

I am taking advantage of a true vacation to work on a list of doll projects that has expanded alarmingly in the past months. So far I have:

Derooted Cutey Honey's brittle, shedding default hair. When she went to the last VTDL meetup, I noticed that sad state of her hair and vowed to replace them. I don't have the appropriate replacement hair, so she's mostly bald at the moment. At least she's not shedding anymore, though.
Put Thalia on the body formerly belonging to Janvier Jett, painted her hands and gave her a temporary outfit.
Found a large, fabric-covered storage container at Goodwill and set it up on its side, thus converted it into a passable seat to accommodate long-limbed dolls like Jareth.
Improved Yamarrah

Yamarrah's hair was not sticking up enough, so I tacked down more of the long pieces.
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Thinking about Thalia's outfit

2015-02-19T20:28:45Z

Thalia is currently wearing a DollHeart neck corset, Ringdoll Frankenstein's robe, black handmade leggings and skull loafers. That's not her final outfit, but I'm still working on what indeed she will end up wearing.

I have multiple and often contradictory ideas at work here. My default impulse is to take a particular idea and run with it to the extreme, which would mean more black! As many shades and textures as possible! More corsetry! More boning! Paint it black! Paint it black, you devil!

On the other hand, the more clothes Thalia wears, the more difficult she is to pose. This argues for an ensemble that's either parsimonious or loose/stretchy.

I need something skimpy and stretchy, which means that the Ringdoll robe, being voluminous, won't suffice. I can also abandon my cherished hopes of jamming her into Jareth's platform stilettos. And no underwear.

Maybe some hot pants and a tank top? I actually used to have such an outfit that came with my Angelsdoll Hyang, but I sold it [with my Angelsdoll Hyang], so phooey.

EDIT: I see that I can procure a blank stretchy tank top for relatively cheap, so maybe a black tank with a rib cage on it would be good instead of pasties. [I've been on a skeleton kick for a while...]

While I'm thinking of it, I should also add that I'd like to make her eyes like Lucian's: black irises with white pupils. He has such small eyes that it was always difficult, when photoing him, to get the full effect of the unusual coloration, so I hope to carve open Thalia's eyelids so that her eyes are more visible.

And the ball gag -- don't forget the ball gag! I'm kinda surprised that no one else has come up with that idea before me [or, if they have, they haven't exhibited it publicly]. I have some squeezy stress balls to cut up for the gag, but I'm not sure what to use for straps. I refuse to make an elaborate harness, settling instead for a single strap -- maybe four-way stretch Spandex? Lord knows I have enough of that left over from Jareth's super expensive commissions.

I'm considering alternatives to a bunch of plastic snakes glued to her scalp for hair. I think a black mohair wig [like the one featured on Spirit Doll Stayne at the most recent VTDL meetup] with occasional snakes inserted might be more effective, as it would look like an average wig until closer inspection. Then surprise! Snakes!!

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Nowhere to sit

2015-02-19T17:17:19Z

I seriously need to invest in some good chairs for my 1:3 scale dolls. My single 1:3 scale chair has ridiculously short legs, leaving Jareth hanging out of it like a partly collapsed tent pole. :p Everyone else just sits directly on my bookshelf, and they have to keep folding their legs to the side so they don't dangle.

There's a person on DOA who sells flatpack chairs and couches, which may prove useful for my limited budget and space....

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Oh no! Lesley Gore is dead!

2015-02-19T16:34:43Z

She died on February 16th, 2015 from lung cancer. Goodbye, Lesley Gore. I'll miss you.

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Drag queen compares and contrasts blackface and drag

2015-02-18T16:36:37Z

Taking as a springboard Mary Cheney's comparison between drag and blackface, Miz Cracker posts on Slate's Outward Bound with a discussion of the two subjects. Miz Cracker notes that, at base, Cheney objected to drag because she saw it as a mockery of an oppressed group [women] created by a powerful group [men] for degrading purposes. Miz Cracker wonders if drag is inherently misogynist.

Miz Cracker basically argues that drag is not like blackface because blackface is inherently racist, while drag is not inherently misogynist. The comparison between blackface and drag breaks down because blackface and minstrelsy used to be ubiquitous idioms with great cultural influence, but drag has never achieved such a pervasive high profile. That's because blackface was performed by the oppressors in positions of power, whereas drag has been performed by oppressed people in positions of marginalization. I'm not sure how this is relevant to the presence or absence of misogyny in drag.

In fact, I think Miz Cracker's contrast between blackface and drag breaks down because it does not recognize multiple axes of oppression. When she argues that drag has been performed by oppressed people who are marginalized, she's referring to gay/queer men marginalized by their sexuality. However, though gay men may be marginalized on the axis of sexuality, they do have the privilege of being men in a misogynist society. Therefore, when men do drag, no matter what their sexual orientations, they may also be seen as performers in positions of power [as men] compared to the people that they are portraying [women]. Miz Cracker's insistence that it's just a few individually misogynist queens who mess up the whole art form entirely ignores the complex structure of drag and its location at the intersection of mutiple axes of power and oppression.

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Monster High MegaBloks!

2015-02-17T20:24:44Z

At this year's Toy Fair, Mattel showed off its upcoming collaboration with MegaBloks on the Monster High line. In terms more pertinent to me, this means more highly articulated dolls for dolls, as the MH MegaBloks figures have jointed knees! I find them adorable, in part because the small scale reduces the bobble-headed proportions of regular Monster Highs to something more appealing to my aesthetic interests. I actually do not have any MegaBloks licensed figures in my collection of dolls for dolls, so I don't know how big they are.

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Thalia, temporarily

2015-02-16T19:05:19Z

Months after acquiring her head, I finally got around to doing something with Thalia this weekend. I took Janvier Jett's head off the Angelsdoll massive girl body, along with the Dikadoll jointed hands. I plopped Thalia's head on the Angelsdoll body and put the original hands back on and then dressed her in some stopgap clothes.

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Zombieville Chapter 5.4: "Attack of the Enormous Cat"

2015-02-16T12:28:27Z

Isabel is playing with her dolls, and Muggins wants in on the action.
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"It is also sort of classy-looking, in a generic, TV-ad-for-bath-oil way."

2015-02-11T22:48:39Z

Bwah hah! Lisa Schwartzbaum damns the 50 Shades of Grey movie with faint praise in the linked review. I particularly like the line quoted in the subject.

The general consensus appears to be that this movie is decidedly mediocre: not so bad it's good, but definitely hampered by the headliners' limited acting abilities [I'm looking at you, Jamie Dornan!], a sort of generic set dressing and the refusal of the script to let the main characters take off their pants and actually do something significantly sexy.

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Funeral for amputated leg

2015-02-11T19:56:14Z

This woman's parents had her amputated leg buried on its own. "One foot in the grave" indeed. On one hand, I appreciate the gravity with which they treated their child's loss of limb and resultant change in life. On the other hand, the writer notes that it really weirded her out to attend her own funeral while still alive.

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Compooper savings update

2015-02-11T16:50:26Z

I decided to go back to a desktop compooper for my next, instead of a laptop. I decided this mainly because I thought that I would much too easily max out 16 GB of RAM, which appears to be the max for laptops these days. Currently considering the Asus G10AC-US0105, which comes with 8 GB of RAM, expandable to 32 GB, which should last me a while. It has pretty much the same specs as the laptop I was originally considering, except for the greater amount of rRAM and no monitor included. It's like $1200.00 though [plus~$150.00 for a monitor], so Lord knows when I'll be able to actually get it in my hot little hands.

The computer fund right now has $560.24 in it, which may be augmented by by $59.67 in Amazon gift certificates. The computer fund should have $755.24 in it, but I had to use some of it to pay rent this month, and I don't yet have enough to replenish the fund. Maybe I can afford a new one by my birthday...

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Ah hah! I found a tutorial on UV mapping clothing!

2015-02-10T13:40:49Z

I've been looking for something like this for a while...

EDIT: And here's a basic cloth room tutorial.

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"Sexiness" vs. actual sexiness

2015-02-10T02:14:32Z

Jareth illustrates the aforementioned finger-in-mouth pose deemed alluring by so many advertisements of digital content. In case you haven't noticed, he's very sarcastic. :p

( Read more... )

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Baffling fashion poses for digital content

2015-02-09T20:02:52Z

When I look at promo pictures for digital content on the Daz or Renderosity sites, I have to ask myself: What the heck is up with all the women sticking their fingers in or near their mouths? The parted lips, as if their mouths have just drifted open, the partly closed and unfocused eyes, the FINGER IN THE MOUTH AARRRRRGH... I think it's supposed to evoke blow jobs, but it all combines to create an atmosphere of awkward absentmindedness.

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Vermont Doll Lovers Valentine's meetup: 02/07/2015

2015-02-09T13:53:33Z

We had a Valentine's meetup on Saturday. For BJDs, I brought Muggins, Jujube and Submit. Cutey Honey also came along because she had hearts in her outfit. A close examination revealed that her hair is turning brittle and falling out, so I really need to fix that. VTDL members recommended a reroot, but I'm going for a wig. I'm pretty sure I have some bright red faux fur.

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Zombieville Chapter 5.3: "The Doll Room"

2015-02-08T19:06:56Z

Isabel plays with her dolls; art imitates life.

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50 Shades of Registered Trademark

2015-02-04T14:39:12Z

Last December I noted that Vermont Teddy Bear had a bear clearly inspired by 50 Shades of Blaugh, which was discontinued [after it sold out] because it was unlicensed. Well, it looks like VTB got the legit license to do Blaugh bears, 'cause here they are. I just know they're going to sell out, especially in conjunction with the Valentine's Day release of the Blaugh film adaptation, which is going to be a turd.

The impending release of the movie has people online talking about the books again and their abysmal portrayal of pretty much everything, but bdsm in particular. Now I kinda wanna read it again...

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Zombieville Chapter 5.2: "The Doll Room"

2015-02-02T02:04:23Z

Isabel tries to distract herself from thoughts of death by playing with her dolls.( Read more... )

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If Jareth and Jennifer were toons...

2015-01-28T17:54:46Z

As I have previously mentioned, I love the standalone figures created for Poser and Daz Studio by Nursoda.

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Paul Smith takes typewriter art to the next level! Also Reeva Steenkamp is still dead.

2015-01-28T15:03:22Z

As much as I hate to draw attention to stories that portray people with disabilities as sources of inspiration, I'm linking to this story about Paul Smith. For decades, he used a select ten characters from a typewriter to create intricate works of art. I love the bold and yet sketchy lines he makes. Very cool!

Yes, it is relevant to Smith's art that he had cerebral palsy. His inability to use a more traditional instrument such as a brush or pencil prompted him to employ the typewriter. However, there's absolutely no need to describe Smith as "suffering from" a "terrible condition" and therefore "remarkable" and "awe-inspiring" because he created art. There's no indication that Smith perceived himself as suffering, burdened or even awe-inspiring. In a video about his work, he says, "It's something to do." As far as I can tell, he was enjoying himself as he listened to classical music and meticulously created his masterpieces character by character. I'm not claiming that Smith had a purely joyous existence -- for example, he didn't attend mainstream school, which leads me to speculate that he might have felt painfully lonely in his youth -- but I'm not seeing the horrible suffering that this stinky article assumes he felt.

I desperately loathe the trope of disabled person as inspiration to non-disabled people. The OddityCentral article epitomizes the dehumanization implicit in this theme when it concludes, "He died on June 24, 2007, at the Rose Haven Nursing Center in Roseburg, Oregon, but left behind an impressive portfolio of typewriter art, and most importantly the inspiration that you can overcome anything in life, if you put your mind to it." This sentence dismisses the entire content, texture and detail of Smith's life by depicting him solely as an oppressed person who miraculously overcame his oppression to make art. It assumes that Smith's disability can be separated from his experience and art, that it's a barrier between him and a fulfilling life -- because there's obviously no way a person with a disability could ever have a fulfilling, happy life while also having a disability. In short, this sentence dehumanizes Smith by assuming that an inextricable part of his life, his cerebral palsy, can be excised like an early stage of cancer.

But the article isn't satisfied with chopping up Smith into neat little segments [Person vs. Disability] and comparing him to some non-disabled person's ridiculous standard of a fulfilling life. No, the conclusion dehumanizes him a second time as well when it dismisses his artistic accomplishments and legacy, claiming that Smith's status as "inspiration" is more important. Yes, who cares about Smith's life and art and disability and the relationships among these elements of his experience? Smith was not a significant person who deserved dignity and respect like all other beings. No! He was a superhuman exception to humanity whose primary purpose in this world was to educate the lowly non-disabled people about how we, too, can distance ourselves from the revolting materiality of our weak and mortal flesh and transform ourselves into pure creative mind, ascending to a plane where physical pains and distinctions are irrelevant.

I also hate the Supercrip narrative because of its creaky old Cartesian dualist underpinnings that smack strongly of racism and sexism. Relatedly, Eddie Ndopu discusses just such misogyny and racism inherent in portrayals of Reeva Steenkamp's killer, athlete and miserable human being Oscar Pistorius. [My other discussions of sexism, ableism and racism at work in Steenkamp's murder and the portrayal thereof can be found at "Reeva Steenkamp, 29, is dead" and "Reeva Steenkamp still dead; ex still to blame, but declared innocent of murder by courts."]

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