Covid 19 - Updates from your zones

[thegreyarea]

Amazing and adorable work, Annuil! Your sister is a lucky girl!

Jitter, I thought that our version, when the whole government (including ministers and their direct aides, about 60 or 70 people) presents itself to the President, was already quite long...

[moredhel]

Oh, wow, Jitter, those are sooo cool! And so tiny! The smallest clothing I have ever done was for a 12-centimeter doll of one of my characters, that I made as a Christmas present for my sister (she is my biggest fan).

It took me a month to make (not without several moments of despair when I wanted to throw everything into the trash and cry a river of tears) and it’s actually a jointed doll made from scratch out of polymer clay.

Very impressive, sonds like a lot of diffcult work.
And it really looks great. Better than many dolls from the shop.

[Mirasol]

Woah, Annuil, I have made dollclothes and -accessories before (I know the pain with the superglued shoes...), but your entire doll is a completely different level! And it looks amazing! Did you have a manual to follow or did you develop the shapes you needed yourself?

Spoiler: some pictures under the cut because I don´t want to steal Annuil´s spotlight • show

My barbies looked significantly too little like Fantasy-characters. I had to change that.

[Annuil]

Thank you, guys! It did take a lot of my patience but my sister loved him too, so the suffering was compensated. He was actually an addition to the doll I made for her birthday. That was a little easier to make since it was like three times bigger. Here are a few pics:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wDeEW8Yba8q0oRwd
They are a father and a son from my stories. (I’m still in the processes of making one other doll for myself but I get so tiered after I make one that I need a rest of a few months to be able to do another one :'D)

Woah, Annuil, I have made dollclothes and -accessories before (I know the pain with the superglued shoes...), but your entire doll is a completely different level! And it looks amazing! Did you have a manual to follow or did you develop the shapes you needed yourself?

Spoiler: some pictures under the cut because I don´t want to steal Annuil´s spotlight • show

My barbies looked significantly too little like Fantasy-characters. I had to change that.

Ooh, I love those, Mirasol! The little one in the fir coat looks so cute! and the boots on the darker haired one are so good!  Did you make those?? And those bags, and books, and the lamp!.. looks really cool

The question about the manual: I did read several web blogs on making polymer clay jointed dolls and also used one as a step-by-step instruction but it was for adult body, so I had to adjust it to fit my little guy (my toddler-cousins worked perfectly for being models). I had no idea on how to make joints so I needed some sort of a manual, but the characters themselves are fully designed by me. Here are pics on the joints and some movements (warning, naked (not detailed) or headless dolls might look a little weird):
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wDKy8ss-3m54mmTL

[Mirasol]

Thank you, guys! It did take a lot of my patience but my sister loved him too, so the suffering was compensated. He was actually an addition to the doll I made for her birthday in August. That was a little easier to make since it was like three times bigger. Here are a few pics:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wDeEW8Yba8q0oRwd
They are a father and a son from my stories. (I’m still in the processes of making one other doll for myself but I get so tiered after I make one that I need a rest of a few months to be able to do another one :'D)

Oh, that one looks really cool too! I like the little gemstone-details. I used similar ones for the belt of my dark-haired doll. What material did you make his shoes from? They look almost like real leather-boots!
But understandable that you need a break. It seems like a real lot of work!

Ooh, I love those, Mirasol! The little one in the fir coat looks so cute! and the boots on the darker haired one are so good!  Did you make those?? And those bags, and books, and the lamp!.. looks really cool

Thank you! Yes, I made all the accessories myself. In the case of the boots, (Also the lamp, shield and skull-mask) I made them from... uh... this foam-stuff... this. You can heat it a bit with a candle (not too much, or it will catch fire...), then you can form it and it keeps shape. Mostly. Superglue helps. :'D Then I painted it with Acrylics. For the books, there´s a really cool doll-sized book-binding-tutorial on Youtube, you should check it out!

And thank you for the pictures of the joints and the work behind it! This is really interesting!

[Annuil]

Oh, that one looks really cool too! I like the little gemstone-details. I used similar ones for the belt of my dark-haired doll. What material did you make his shoes from? They look almost like real leather-boots!
But understandable that you need a break. It seems like a real lot of work!

Gem-stones are the best. I didn't make mine, I bought them...
The boots are made from actual leather, yes And so is scabbarth for his sword. There is also a tutorial on how to make shoes but sadly I don't know what it was named and it was in Russian, so, not very helpful... I used the main ideas from there, just to pick up the main shapes of the shoe.
The leather was pretty thin (I think it's called goat skin), I used thicker type for the bottoms.
I use weird materials sometimes, like for the scabbarth, its made of leather and aluminum foil (the little metallic-looking stripes on it). I also use ribbons to make the hair (the most amusing process). :'D Or for the little one's sword I used toothpicks.
Edit: pics on the shoes and on the scabbath:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wEGm7ffE4FKA8GkS

Thank you! Yes, I made all the accessories myself. In the case of the boots, (Also the lamp, shield and skull-mask) I made them from... uh... this foam-stuff... this. You can heat it a bit with a candle (not too much, or it will catch fire...), then you can form it and it keeps shape. Mostly. Superglue helps. :'D Then I painted it with Acrylics. For the books, there´s a really cool doll-sized book-binding-tutorial on Youtube, you should check it out!

And thank you for the pictures of the joints and the work behind it! This is really interesting!

O-oh, that is super interesting, I need to look into that foam thing, it can make so many things way easier... Thank you for the links! I will definitely use them one day!
You're welcome! I'm glad I could share this! 

[Mirasol]

Gem-stones are the best. I didn't make mine, I bought them...

Agreed. Though I didn´t really "make" mine either, I´m afraid. I salvaged them from an old necklace and sewed them together. I couldn´t figure out how to make something like that from absolute scratch. ^^"

The boots are made from actual leather, yes And so is scabbarth for his sword. There is also a tutorial on how to make shoes but sadly I don't know what it was named and it was in Russian, so, not very helpful... I used the main ideas from there, just to pick up the main shapes of the shoe.
The leather was pretty thin (I think it's called goat skin), I used thicker type for the bottoms.
I use weird materials sometimes, like for the scabbarth, its made of leather and aluminum foil (the little metallic-looking stripes on it). I also use ribbons to make the hair (the most amusing process). :'D Or for the little one's sword I used toothpicks.
Edit: pics on the shoes and on the scab bath:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wEGm7ffE4FKA8GkS

O-oh, that is super interesting, I need to look into that foam thing, it can make so many things way easier... Thank you for the links! I will definitely use them one day!

Interesting! I didn´t know leather could be this thin. It definitly turned out really good.
Weird materials are the best part! Basically all the tiny ribbons I used in the three outfits are those that are on new (human-)shirts to make them stay on their clothing-hangers. And the pants of the doll in the middle originated as a pair of socks. I haven´t thought about using tinfoil so far... Hm... *mind whirring*
As for the hair, do you mean yarn? I´ve only heard of a method for making dollhair from yarn before. There´s one involving ribbons?
And glad I could be of help with the links!

[wavewright62]

Wow, these crafts are outstanding!

[Annuil]

Agreed. Though I didn´t really "make" mine either, I´m afraid. I salvaged them from an old necklace and sewed them together. I couldn´t figure out how to make something like that from absolute scratch. ^^"

Phaha, yes, mine also were supposed to be part of a necklace  :'D

Interesting! I didn´t know leather could be this thin. It definitly turned out really good.
Weird materials are the best part! Basically all the tiny ribbons I used in the three outfits are those that are on new (human-)shirts to make them stay on their clothing-hangers. And the pants of the doll in the middle originated as a pair of socks. I haven´t thought about using tinfoil so far... Hm... *mind whirring*
As for the hair, do you mean yarn? I´ve only heard of a method for making dollhair from yarn before. There´s one involving ribbons?

O-oh! I never even thought of using those ribbons and those would fit perfectly for such tiny things

No, I actually do mean ribbons, let me explain it under a spoiler:

Spoiler: show

So, it is the most amusing process. I tried to find a good tutorial on this but all the ones in English are not good enough and I used a Russian source so I can just translate it for you, it’s not that hard

You need a roll of ribbons the color that you want your doll’s hair to be, a candle, scissors and a toothbrush (or some sort of a brush that can be used for a tiny head). If you would like the hair to be curly you would also need aluminum foil, round toothpicks or Chinese sticks for food (it depends on the size of the curls), a a small pan and an access to a stove and to the water.

Step 1. Cut the ribbon into several pieces, the length of the hair you want to get (don’t forget about how much length it will take on the head itself too). If the hair is going to be curly the ribbons will get two times shorter, so keep that in mind too.

Step 2. Now that the ribbons are cut to the needed size, you light up the candle and roast on of the ends of each little piece of the ribbon, so that it doesn’t loosen. When that is done the best part of it all starts. You need to unbind the ribbons from the end that’s not burned. (There are actually no tutorials on unbinding the ribbons in English, which is weird, I tried to find one with no success...)
Tip on unbinding the ribbon: I usually cut the sides of it and pull out the little strings from the middle... so, you need to get this:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wFthcWx25SAKlE0z

Step 3. Only if you want the hair to be curly. Wrap the little pieces of released (loosened) ribbons on the sticks or toothpicks and cover them with aluminum foil (make sure they are wrapped tight). Then fill the pan with water and warm it up until it starts boiling. Once it boils, place the sticks with ribbons into the water and wait a few minutes. The longer you boil them the more springy and bouncy they are going to be.
For the little guy’s hair I boiled it about ten minutes I think, but to get sort of wavy-curly hair 2-5 minutes would be enough. Depends on the ribbons too.
After boiling take the sticks out, take the ribbons off the sticks and place on a piece of paper towel to let them dry a little.

Here are pics on the process of making curly hair:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wE74gAtdmlHRXBly
(There are also pics of the doll I made last Christmas, it doesn’t look that great but the hair is there and it is the bigger type of curls than for the other one )

Step 4. Putting the hair to the head. I didn’t make a whig, some people do, I just glued the hair directly to the head. Here are step-by-step pics on that:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wFqpSIEVYmzYRjcG
So you have to do the lines on the head first that will indicate where you will glue the pieces of the ribbon. Use the roasted side of the little pieces to glue them to the head. The blond guy has a few hairs over his forehead, so I glued a little piece and then placed another one over it and brushed the latter one to the back.

Step 5. Brush and trim the hair! For straight hair brushing with a toothbrush really helps to get rid of that kind-of-tiny-wavy structure and make it look soft and more like real hair, not like a bunch of treads glued to the head. Curly hair doesn’t really require brushing, only trimming. But that’s to your own taste!

So, here is a messy tutorial on making the hair, I hope it helped a little 

Also, thanks, wave!

[Vulpes]

Annuil, I am gathering up my jaw from the keyboard tray... just, wow. Making your own dolls is a serious time investment, and what attention to detail! Brava.

That ribbon-for-hair trick is brilliant!

Both you and Mirasol must have far more delicate fingers and more patience than I have - making tiny clothes look decent is so hard. My mother made a few dolls of various sizes, and cursed her materials when they wouldn't behave. I love all the tricks you're both using to achieve the effect you want - so creative, and the problem-solving must be a lot of fun.

[Jitter]

These are just wow!

[Mirasol]

O-oh! I never even thought of using those ribbons and those would fit perfectly for such tiny things

They do! They are exactly the right size, easy to keep from fraying by burning the ends and come in all kinds of colors! (As long as you wear very colorful clothing, that is...)

No, I actually do mean ribbons, let me explain it under a spoiler:

Spoiler: show

So, it is the most amusing process. I tried to find a good tutorial on this but all the ones in English are not good enough and I used a Russian source so I can just translate it for you, it’s not that hard

You need a roll of ribbons the color that you want your doll’s hair to be, a candle, scissors and a toothbrush (or some sort of a brush that can be used for a tiny head). If you would like the hair to be curly you would also need aluminum foil, round toothpicks or Chinese sticks for food (it depends on the size of the curls), a a small pan and an access to a stove and to the water.

Step 1. Cut the ribbon into several pieces, the length of the hair you want to get (don’t forget about how much length it will take on the head itself too). If the hair is going to be curly the ribbons will get two times shorter, so keep that in mind too.

Step 2. Now that the ribbons are cut to the needed size, you light up the candle and roast on of the ends of each little piece of the ribbon, so that it doesn’t loosen. When that is done the best part of it all starts. You need to unbind the ribbons from the end that’s not burned. (There are actually no tutorials on unbinding the ribbons in English, which is weird, I tried to find one with no success...)
Tip on unbinding the ribbon: I usually cut the sides of it and pull out the little strings from the middle... so, you need to get this:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wFthcWx25SAKlE0z

Step 3. Only if you want the hair to be curly. Wrap the little pieces of released (loosened) ribbons on the sticks or toothpicks and cover them with aluminum foil (make sure they are wrapped tight). Then fill the pan with water and warm it up until it starts boiling. Once it boils, place the sticks with ribbons into the water and wait a few minutes. The longer you boil them the more springy and bouncy they are going to be.
For the little guy’s hair I boiled it about ten minutes I think, but to get sort of wavy-curly hair 2-5 minutes would be enough. Depends on the ribbons too.
After boiling take the sticks out, take the ribbons off the sticks and place on a piece of paper towel to let them dry a little.

Here are pics on the process of making curly hair:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wE74gAtdmlHRXBly
(There are also pics of the doll I made last Christmas, it doesn’t look that great but the hair is there and it is the bigger type of curls than for the other one )

Step 4. Putting the hair to the head. I didn’t make a whig, some people do, I just glued the hair directly to the head. Here are step-by-step pics on that:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsSnHPIBASO_wFqpSIEVYmzYRjcG
So you have to do the lines on the head first that will indicate where you will glue the pieces of the ribbon. Use the roasted side of the little pieces to glue them to the head. The blond guy has a few hairs over his forehead, so I glued a little piece and then placed another one over it and brushed the latter one to the back.

Step 5. Brush and trim the hair! For straight hair brushing with a toothbrush really helps to get rid of that kind-of-tiny-wavy structure and make it look soft and more like real hair, not like a bunch of treads glued to the head. Curly hair doesn’t really require brushing, only trimming. But that’s to your own taste!

So, here is a messy tutorial on making the hair, I hope it helped a little 

Oh, cool! This method seems pretty similar to the yarn-method, minus having to glue them together to make the streaks. Yes, this is very helpful!

Thank you everyone!
Vulpes, I actually usually find it easier to work on a smaller scale. Better for figuring out what parts you need.  However, I once sewed a school-uniform for a 6cm cat-figurine, that was a nightmare! It was so little fabric that my sewing-mashine kept on sucking it in.  I will definitly not do that again...

[Annuil]

Thank you, Vulpes and Jitter!

They do! They are exactly the right size, easy to keep from fraying by burning the ends and come in all kinds of colors! (As long as you wear very colorful clothing, that is...)

Yes, and usually those colors are quite unusual 

Oh, cool! This method seems pretty similar to the yarn-method, minus having to glue them together to make the streaks. Yes, this is very helpful!

Yay! I helped!
Yes, the cool thing about ribbons is that it’s shiny in a way and the hair turns out to be super soft and silky  and shines like real hair. But you don’t have to buy that artificial hair that they make for creating dolls and you can pick any color of ribbon you want 

Vulpes, I actually usually find it easier to work on a smaller scale. Better for figuring out what parts you need.  However, I once sewed a school-uniform for a 6cm cat-figurine, that was a nightmare! It was so little fabric that my sewing-mashine kept on sucking it in.  I will definitly not do that again...

Ahah, I had the same problem with the clothing for the little guy I made, so I had to sew it a by hand 

[Vulpes]

Well, so much for Newfoundland and Labrador having Covid under control. 30 new cases on the 9th, 53 cases yesterday, plus 32 suspected cases. Definite community spread in the St. John's area. That's 750 km away from here, but there's a lot of travel back and forth, so I imagine it will show up here too. It was inevitable, but still kind of disappointing. K-12 schools have been closed in the Metro area, because it seems to have originated in schools and sports teams, and they closed a bunch of other stuff, like bars. Fingers crossed, people will behave themselves and we'll get this back under control. No word yet on whether it's one of the more contagious variants.

[wavewright62]

We are having some of our cherished summer festivals going ahead this year, with a new twist.  Two events that I know about so far (Big Gay Out and the Lantern Festival) have instituted a ticket system.  Entry is still free, but you have to get tickets online ahead of time, with your details registered.  The Lantern Festival has also included a timing element; even though you can stay as long as you like, you sign up for a 45-minute window of entry time. 
Then they will also have the required QR code for Ministry contact tracing posted, but that is not mandatory.

On a less happy note, the strain is starting to show in our managed quarantine system, with nurses and cleaners in particular experiencing staffing shortages and lack of hazard pay or overtime.  Combined with a lack of a firm timeline for vaccination, many warn that it's a matter of time before our luck runs out.