Iron Lace

potential irrationality: my life, thoughts, likes, and bentos and maybe dental amusements

[aliencreole]

trying out semigloss msc and shimmer

Hopefully she's not sweaty looking 😅

Tried out using msc semigloss to have that dewy look and maintain the mica shimmer and I'm pretty pleased with the results! Def will use this technique again if the head calls for the look.

Open for USA faceup and eye commissions of practically any size.

[aliencreole]

Rearranged the diorama because I wasn't able to resist getting a doll scale curio for the doll sized nerd collection. Book shelf is a bit hidden, but there for convenient grabbing from the couch when you need to lounge on the couch with a manga or light novel It's pretty messy in there and adjacent to it, but maybe I'll get a folding pet gate to be a doll sized screen room divider to hide my table of shame.

[pineisland-dolls]

can someone please explain how to install lighting like this? I've been searching for a tutorial but I can't find anything.

[aliencreole]

Mine isn't as pretty or clean, but this is mine.

I used something like this. Was like $40 for me. But looks like you could find it cheaper.

No drilling for me. I just had the wires come out the space between the door and the wardrobe/shelves, but for a cleaner look, you could make the cords go out the back board. I'm just lazy af, and so if my jury-rigged version of lights held up with sticky tack and wires taped, that's how they're going to stay 😂 Light positioning wise, i have them in the front, but angled at about 45 deg so it's shining more on the doll faces. rather than just shining straight down above them. Additionally I have the lights plugged into a smart plug so that they automatically turn on in the afternoons when I come home from work and on the weekends and turn off at night around when I should go to sleep

[aliencreole]

A little pick-me-up for work

Because sometimes you just need to have something to look forward to during the work day.

(Chinese pickled mustard, tomato, steamed eggs+ketchup, raspberries, Asian avocado salad, white rice, rotisserie chicken)

[aliencreole]

Japanese gacha machine miniatures to use with my 1/3 dolls.

item list: watch, retro camera, manga volume, lip stick, lip gloss, eye shadow, foundation compact, game of life, dos, and tamagotchi.

The manga volume is an all pages fully printed and legible volume 1 of Fruits Basket! And the Dos card game is a full set of cards you can actually play with 😂

[pineisland-dolls]

I'm moving soon and I should absolutely not start building a 1:3 dollhouse in my apartment but I'm going to keep collecting gacha gacha toys because I want to set up something like this someday.

(I don't know why this is showing up as ✨sensitive content✨ because it's SFW as far as I can see…?)

[aliencreole]

Moving means potential more space for dolls, right? so that means preparing to fill that space with more stuff, right? 😜 /j

but yeah i'm pretty sure bjds end up censored on tumblr because bent arms/legs/wrists showing the ball joint and the chanel for elastics looks phallic to the machine... it's such a shame, but i'm kind of resigned to it.

[aliencreole]

Ringo in the diorama

The perks of a 1/3 diorama using pet furniture is that the pet will use the furniture too. so ringo hangs out in the corner of the room in the diorama while I craft at the desk

Luts Junha on the SDF65cm body in the diorama for comparison sake.

for the last set she was way too comfortable with the heater in the room and so i had fun putting stuff on her 😅

[aliencreole]

Improvements (hopefully evident)

leveling up my eye making skills. The top pair I made 2 years ago and while I didn't think they were terrible, they photographed quite dark. So I decided to remake them. Although they still photograph darker in the Canon than irl, I'm much happier with the results of the colors and details. (🙈 Still need to work on finishing her faceup though...)

Bonus pic of the eyes and Link's eyes (previous post) before they were domed

[aliencreole]

Made new eyes

while it's more Link-like as intended, not sure how I feel about it compared to the brown pupil-less ones. Still, what a cutie.

Custom (half finished) faceup and eyes vs company faceup and eyes

[aliencreole]

@coolcatsodalite's Alphinaud and vendor table and my no-longer Alphinaud. I'm having fun with him, but still torn on his half finished faceup and the direction I want to go. He's so cute and gentle looking rn. But wondering if I want to make him more intense or mischievous since i originally intended for him to be a Link. Maybe i'll know better after i make his blue eyes... 🤔

[aliencreole]

fit check

Doll con outfits: this year vs last years. pardon the grainy phone pics.

I like black a little too much 🙈

[aliencreole]

Happy lunar New Year!

Some pics at the local celebration that I took very self consciously 🙈

[aliencreole]

I think I need to tone down the flowers in the braid, but here's my customish Rapunzel. I only got the doll so I had to source the wig and outfit separately. I got the longest blond wig I could find which ended up being a very cheap 70cm synthetic wig from taobao and did a 5 stranded braid with 3 thin braids inside. The flowers kind of overpower braid itself though to the point of hiding the braid entirely. The dress is a dessers dress I searched for and finally found on xy.

I thought the Rapunzel outfit that the Disney expo auction Lieselotte wore was super lovely with the lace and frills and wanted something similar esp since my other Disney girls have fancier dresses than the company ones. I think if I added separate puff sleeves at the shoulders and maybe a crisscrossing ribbon in the front would convey more of a Rapunzel feel, but this is where I'm at for now.

I still need to redo the company faceup, but seeing how long Cinderella took me, we'll see how long this one will take 🙈.

[aliencreole]

the nendo/bjd hybrids

I'm a 1/3 collector, but these are my backpack buddies--nendoroid/pennybox hybrids. They're so portable and stress-free to have. Have some down time? pull them out and fiddle. Go somewhere? Take random pics!

[aliencreole]

Grail fullset: Angell-studio Queen Kelly fullset

After 2.5 years I have obtained the grail fullset with even the wig! It was a long process and I learned a lot on the way and the fullset on all aspects was even better than I'd dreamed!

(long story time after the break)

It started in March 2023. I see Angell studio just released a new doll, Kelly on taobao. She came out in a Queen version and a knight version. The moment I see the queen pics, I show my SO being like, omg, I must have this. I mulled it over for a hot minute. The doll was fine, but i was in love with the fullset. My SO was already resigned to the fact that I was going to buy it the moment i showed it. So while I had never used a proxy before, I get the link to send to a proxy. The next day I look, and it's sold out. ༼⁠;⁠´⁠༎ຶ⁠ ⁠۝ ⁠༎ຶ⁠༽ It had sold out in like 24h and before the proxy had a chance to get back to me. Seeing how quickly it had sold out on tb and how limited it seemed, I had little hope that i would be able to get one through WTBs, but i dutifully put them up all around in the english speaking places.

Then I learned about xianyu. I knew NCS could do some proxying and had heard about another bjd proxying individual, so i poked around on xianyu and I did find the fullset doll, but they would have been like 2 or 3k usd with the bjd proxy fees. While I did love her, i could not justify that cost to myself. another time i found her being sold but as a bundle with several other dolls being like 8k or something. I resigned myself to continue the search. Through it, i learned more about general chinese proxies rather than bjd specific proxies which had much lower fees.

Then late 2024, i see someone selling the queen outfit, no wig on xy. it's kind of pricey at like $400~500 and still too steep for me. but i kept refreshing it and watching the listing day after day. the price eventually drops a bit. but still too high. later it drops again. then in december it drops down to an imo reasonable price ~300s. I did the mental math and found that the xy outfit cost + new nude doll straight from AS cost would be less than my WTB budget. It was in striking range now. I threw it over to the proxy and bought it. It was glorious. Until 47 came in to power and fucked up the global trade... that was a stressful time, but luckily the outfit came through without any additional charges 3 months later (sea mail 🙈).

Now I'd resigned myself to the fact that I I wouldn't be able to get the updo fullset wig as it seemed most people I saw on xy only had the long hair down version that was the other wig option when the fullset was being sold. So I thought I'd get a lace front wig and try to do an updo myself. Never quite got around to doing the braids and curls and such and just clipped up the hair. Then late 2025 I run across a listing for the wig!!!! I had been aimlessly browsing xy styled wigs and it just popped up and less than $100 too, which imo was reasonable for a style that elaborate and I apparently would not be able to recreate anything similar anytime soon lol. I threw it at the proxy asking for seller pics hoping the condition was still good. And it was! Color turned out to be more reddish than I expected from the company pics, but it was still acceptable. It arrived at the proxy along with a purple dress I was looking for Rapunzel (the main reason I was searching xy). Out of tariff fears and cost saving desires, I decided to have it sent over to a relative in China who'd bring it to to the US when they came back for the holidays. So it along with the rest of the tb/xy haul became this years Christmas present. The wig was even more elaborate in person than in the photos, and I realized after receiving it I had no chance of making it with my skills and supplies lol.

So after two and a half years, I finally have the Grail fullset I'd missed out on by a day and Elsa is rocking it as the queen she is (volks SDGr Elsa). Through the process, I learned so much and have expanded my doll shopping options. I know about general Chinese proxies and how to use them rather than relying on bjd specific dealers and bjd proxies that have higher fees/rates. I even have direct taobao purchasing ability with alipay so no more incidents of missing out on a company fullset due to proxy delays/time differences. I know about and can search xy now, though direct xy account access is difficult so I must still use a proxy for them. My relative in China is able to be the local address for me and bring things over for me directly. Now things I still need to learn to access and buy from are rednote (I think people sell there?) and weidian.

[aliencreole]

Hatsumōde (初詣)

Tried out editing her onto a shrine pic i took years ago in Hakone. Lighting feels a little off, but hopefully it's close enough that it doesn't feel too jarring.

[aliencreole]

🌹

Bought 1/3 scale mohair wigs for the first time and wow is it fine and soft. This wig singlehandedly saved the doll from going on the cull list 😂

[aliencreole]

can you tell who she is?

I attempt at recreating a Rapunzel style hair.

(Bonus brown short hair Rapunzel below the cut)

I hear that the original volks Rapunzel wig was like 80cm long. I searched for a while, but the longest i could find was 70cm long, so i just went with that. The color is more yellow than gold, so i might try dying the 2nd one i got, but if it doesn't work out, we'll still have this.

I went for about 3 thin braids that'd be incorporated in the big braid and then did a 5 strand braid. The straightening the hair first probably took me the longest, then the trying to divide hair into 5 equal parts took the next longest. Actual braiding is pretty simple. I then bought a few sprigs of fake flowers and just kind of stuffed them in the hair. (if you move her, several will fall 😅) I'm half tempted to glue them in, but i suppose the proper way would be to sew them in or something. But that's a pain. She's not going out, so i'll leave it as is for now.

I like the short brown wig, but it has a bit more vertical swoosh in the front than i expected, so still a little iffy on it.

Next on the list is to get a purple-ish dress that isn't necessarily the same as the movie, but gives a similar feel. I have my eye on a specific one that i think will work, but i'm still in talks with the seller, so we'll see. 🤞 For now just a little janky phone edits to turn a blue dress purple as seen in the first two pics.