Okay. So everything is out of sync now. I got a lot of doll stuff. I sorted a lot of Rement. I got a a few photography jobs back to back (one of which is a wedding that I still have to sort through 1000 shots for), and amongst it all I had the time to finish 'Bouncy' (which was the Makie head originally known as Ziggy), Cosma (the custom dyed Makie belonging to Fil of Spectatordoll, mok.me jewellery and All Rolled Up (crikey! what doesn't she do!?!) and... lastly... my own gorgeous 'Mushroom' who I am THRILLED with.
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| Bouncy (not Beonce ;p ) |
Ziggy/Bouncy was interesting because she was dyed after being stripped of the previous faceup. I thought there would be issues but the dying process was fine. What I discovered (as we all had just assumed it would go right through) was that dye only effects the surface of makie flesh. Ziggy had originally had a bit of a ridgy forehead so I shaved the ridge and his eyebrows off, revealing white Makie skin underneath. So I ended up doing my usual technique of lacquering and sanding the head to a smooth texture and then airbrushed a colour-match to Cosma so that I could experiment with colour on Bouncy before doing Cosma for Fil.
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| Bouncy and Cosma |
In both cases I found that every layer; every application of MSC or Citadel, had a dissolving effect on the pastel or pencil that I had applied for that layer. Any type of moisture, however brief, be it fixative or varnish, caused the colours to dissolve into the dark base layer. Kind of like washing a blackboard. I did manage to get vague yellowy tones on Bouncy and vague pinky tones on Cosma, but I think airbrushing or pure painting could be the way to go for dark-dyed Makies. Or I need to use better quality pastels... hmm...
Also, Cosma was the first Makie that I didn't pre-lacquer. I did use a number of MSC coats to start with, but otherwise there wasn't a significant difference in the technique, but the final appearance is more matt and makie-like, as you'd expect.
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| Mushroom |
Mushroom however, being original white (and lacquered from last year) was far more forgiving to work with and after wrestling with ideas for her make up (from 1960's psychedelia to a full-on mushroom-head) I decided to go with simple hints like white mushroom spots and a little nod to her Mario-mushroom [toad]stool from the first Makie meet as a little tattoo behind her ear.
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| peek-a-power-up |
Why behind her ear? Well, we've all got our little 'power up' spots, right? Plus, now that's she's complete, she definitely looks like a gamer girl.
I'm not often satisfied with a faceup. I always feel like I could do better, or that I might have missed something. But with Mushroom I'm really happy. Perhaps it's because Makies are slightly more cartoony to start with, so hitting the mark with realism isn't as much of a pressure.
But there's also a level of satisfaction I've never experienced with bjd's. She was 'mine' from the start. I put those features on her face even before the paint went near her. I knew how she'd end up even whilst people were asking 'why are her eyebrows so high?'. even the fabulous dreadlocks that Fil made on my request last year have turned into a wig even better than I'd imagined! I just used the lock & loop technique on a silicone wig cap knowing that a scarf would disguise the head cap line.
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| plotting out the dreadlock holes. |
So that's all the makies sorted for now. Fil has both Bouncy and Cosma (as they can both share a matching body) and if I get a new body for Mushroom, 'Wired' makie here can inherit the old one.
I just designed a little brother for Mushroom so perhaps in the future I can reign her in regarding child-friendly themes (I mean designing a potential pot-head for a childs toy might not be my brightest move) and have her as a benevolent big sister with a winning smile instead :)
x
