Isn't it always the way?

Yesterday I had had made the decision that I would need to make some eyes for my Hujoo Berry because the eyes I had ordered were taking too long...

Well guess what? Yep that's right, this morning they arrived.  It is a pack of four pairs of eyes in blue, grey/blue, green and light brown.  Apologies as I forgot to take a picture of them.  They are lovely though.  They have a mould line on them but that cannot be seen when the eyes are in place.  The eyes are more detailed than I thought they would be so I am really pleased.

Because the eyes were here, this means Berry will no longer be kept covered, so I was able to put her eyelashes in place. Hmmmm, I did manage it but I would say it is a little trickier than you would first think or perhaps I should say trickier than I first thought.   Here she is with that stage completed though :)

Eyelashes make a lot of difference don't they?

Anyway, with that part done, I moved on to choosing the eyes I wanted for her.  I ended up using the grey/blue eyes as they will suit no matter if I decide to change her wig at a later date.

They look more blue in the pictures than they do in 'person'.

The final part for today was putting her wig on.  I have bought her this white wig to start with.  To be honest, I bought it thinking that it was cheap and I would buy her a new one once she had her face-up completed so I could see what personality I thought she may have.

I actually think it does suit her though.  Anyway, this now leaves me with only her clothes left to sort out.  The items currently on are all a little too big and came off a male doll about the size of a 'Ken' doll so I am currently looking around for simple patterns.  I have a feeling that clothing is going to be an ongoing project as I haven't made any before and they would need to be hand sown.

This is Berry so far and I am really happy with her so far.  By the end of this year, she should have new clothes and some shoes.

I am going to go now and am going to chill and watch a couple of episodes of Doctor Who before I go to bed.

Further progress on my Hujoo Berry customisation

First off, my apologies as I have no photos to show you today.  I did pop to a local haberdashery yesterday and bought some lovely material for a good price.

This was followed by a trip to HobbyCraft, where I purchased a couple of little  bits that I can use to make a small necklace for Berry (I still need to find her a name).

Unfortunately, getting items delivered appears to be a huge let down lately.  I ordered some different eyes from the internet and they still have not arrived yet.  So, as I do not want to wait for much longer as I want to see her progressing, I have decided to make the eyes for myself.

Soooo, I have been researching on the internet.  At the moment, I am quite low on choices of colour in Fimo so I am going to try the simpler method.  If I do not like the results, I can try making some using the eye can method.  Luckily I do have a decent range of paints.  Fingers crossed it will work out but, either way, I will post pictures of the results along with the items I bought yesterday.

Feeling excited and nervous.  They made it look easy on the internet (isn't that normally the way?) so I hope it is just that.

I will post again soon    :)

Confession

My last post was about my second doll arriving.  I was sooooo happy and rightfully so, she is very pretty.  Unfortunately, the itch to do something set in.  I contacted the dealer I ordered Elsa through and it looks like it could be another 6 weeks after they return from Chinese new year break!!!  To say I am disappointed is an understatement, I had been hoping as I had ordered it in November, it would at least be in the process of being produced meaning less waiting time... Anyway, that is kind of off track.

All this waiting and wanting to work on a project led to me making an impulse order.

She was cheap and in stock.  How could I resist?  And here she is.

I covered her for modesty sake as you can see.

Of course, as I had ordered Hujoo Berry, I needed to get her a wig, eyes, putty (just in case) and eye lashes.

Unfortunately, the eyes are oval and I would need to file the eye sockets etc for them to fit so I am not using them and will use some round eyes.  I want to work on her but want things to be relatively simple for a first face up and customisation.

Tonight I started the customisation.  I have used mainly pastels on her face for blush and lip colour.  I also used pastels on her eyelids.

For some reason the colours on her face look a lot more orange and yellow in this picture but, it does give an impression of the look at this point.

I used water colour pencils at this point as I had heard it made detailing the hairs on the eyebrows easier.  I used Tamaiya matt sealer to seal the face-up at various points.

The final part for today was painting a fine line of eye liner and lower lashes.  I must admit, I am very very happy with the result for a first face-up.

From my experience so far, I would highly recommend a hujoo doll if you are wanting to experiment with customising and are worried about the cost.  Obviously as she is ABS, there is a big difference between her and a resin doll but there is also a big difference in the cost.  I have found her very easy to work with so far and would say to look into them more and not write them off just because they are not resin..

I am definitely going to invest in another and next time be a little more adventurous with the face up, possibly going for a gothic look.
I am gluing in the upper eye lashes in another day, when I have the eye balls that I am going to use as until she is complete, I am keeping her safe in a bag to protect her.