State of the Neko address: week 1

song+ Home- Michael Buble- Its Time
book+ POP Wonderland Little Red Riding Hood
scent+ sealant and dust
quest+ saving for Dolpa
upper+ Moose could have full time employment soon!
downer+ i wish i got paid more..
attire+ work clothes
drink+ Dr Pepper

this is me, making a legitimate effort to post more often, so ya'll don't think i've died or just fallen off the face of the planet or something. xD my goal is regular once-a-week posting to start. maybe i'll manage better, but i thought i'd start with a reasonable goal.

i already shared pics of a completed FaithAnn (or mostly complete) tonight i'm gonna try one more time to get some eyelashes glued in, hopefully it'll work out. tomorrow (or Wednesday depending on how crazy-busy tomorrow will be) i'm bringing her up to work to show off my awesomeness. xD either this weekend or next (most likely next) i should be able to order Rosalie. the RealSkin is available through the 12th, so as long as i order by then it should be fine. after getting FaithAnn done, and playing with the crazy-awesome mobility joints (SO superior to DoD's, which i already liked) i'm even more excited about getting Rosalie. i think in six months i'll reassess who i have at home and how i feel about them, if someone's not fitting, i'll sell them and probably buy Iple Jerome to be my own Roro!doll. most likely also named Robbie. maybe Robbie Jr. xD or to be snooty- Sir Thaddeus Robinson the IV or something preposterous like that. *snerk* but likely just Robbie.

i've got Kyu thinking about ordering (not now, but at SOME point) an Iple Joshua to be his self!doll. he's thinking about it because he thinks it'd be fun to get TEENY TINY paint brushes and do an over-time photo shoot of doll!Kyu painting his own tiny Epic Warhammer army. xD i think that's so lame it's awesome. also i'd enjoy doing Doll!Kyu/FaithAnn coupley shoots. xD along the same vein i plan to do sister shoots with FaithAnn and Rosalie (and eventually Robbie maybe) where they're steamrolling each other, or watching movies snuggled under a blanket, or picking on a third party together. xD maybe set up dolly clothing boutique and stage a SHOPPING! photo shoot. xD that would be crazy-fun!

speaking of my sister, the real life non-resin one, Moose had a trial day at my workplace today. she's being trained to take over the position of another girl i like pretty well, so this bodes well for long-term employment! i figured they'd have her doing menial grunt work her first day, but she's already being trained for middle of the ladder tasks. so yay Moose! yay making rent easier, and getting paid back the money i'm owed (eventually), and having more fun-money since Kyu and i will be covering our shares and not ours and-a-half. i understood her financial issues before, and i did my best not to hold them against her when she was obviously doing her best, but i am VERY MUCH looking forward to these tumultuous financial times drawing to a close. i know that with this new income her priorities will be 1) making rent, 2) getting Phineas (her car) legal and in her name, 3) paying off debts (including back-rent), then finally 4) having fun. if she attempts to deviate from this set of priorities i will firmly, but as kindly as possible say something along the lines of "bitch please! you haven't earned your freedom yet, work this debt off first!" xD because i am a kind and gentle big sister like that.. and if i can't afford to have fun, damned if she will. XD in a few months i'll be more willing to say "go for it!" if she wants to go do something dumb but essentially harmless, it's her life after all. but for now while i still own a good chunk of her soul financially, i will totally step all over her dreams of new ink, or clothes, or toys, or WHATEVER. like for serious, with her tax refund she's all "ooh, i kinda wanna go get a new tattoo!" i honestly have no problem with tattoos, but my answer was pretty much "the way i see it, you can hand that refund check to me to pay off some debts, or buy the new computer you need." she's all "but this is FUN MONEY" me: "i think it's fun when you don't owe me money, that counts, right?" xD yep, i'm a satan, but when everyone has been paid back and feels like her word can be trusted again, i think she'll be a bit more grateful to my iron will. xD but yeah, yay potential full-time employment for Moose!

just letting people know, ANOTHER move is looming this summer. not sure exactly when, but sometime in the June-August time frame, Moose, Kyu and i will be looking for a three-bedroom elsewhere. our current place has gone to crap. we've had 4 property managers in 6 months, and nothing good is ever done. the current manager is NEVER THERE when anyone needs to talk to her, and problems reported regularly are ignored in favor of towing cars at 3am on a Monday. there's another place some friends of ours live, the rent is low, it's bills-paid, the floor plans are generous, our low credit scores (or lack of credit at all) won't be held against us, and by all accounts, problems are resolved within a reasonable time frame, if they pop up at all. we're not even gonna apply until closer to the end of our lease, but we did go by and tour and speak with the managers. both were friendly and courteous and legitimately helpful. we're thinking a three bedroom apartment there will give moose space, give me and kyu space, and give us an office for painting/ sewing/ Warhammer-whatever. all safe from doggy chewing and shedding. i'm cautiously optimistic. xD

i've been thinking about using my free time to develop a business. nothing full blown crazy-ambitious, but fellow Iplehouse JID owners have lamented that the gorgeous more-realisitc bodies are considerable harder tho clothe. there has also been much bemoaning that Iplehouse sells gorgeous mature styles of clothes for their two bigger sizes, but not for the 45cm. i've been contemplating drafting up patterns for JID clothing similar in style to the EID/YID options. not ripping them off, because plagiarism sucks, but grownup clothes to suit the grownup curves. at this point i'd be mostly pattern-drafting and designing. no real bulk-type production for sale would happen until after the move this summer, when we should have the space. i can handle design work and some pattern drafting in the very little space i currently have, but any decent production will have to wait until i have SPACE to spread things out and make sure i'm doing things right. if i do decide to go for this part-time venture, i think i'll bite the bullet and finally buy a GOOD sewing machine (not just an okay one) and a serger. there are people who feel okay selling things that have rough, unfinished edges. i'm not one of them. Roro does amazing hand-sewn works of awesome, and mom can knit like whoa, but i'm too impatient. if i'm gonna sell something, i'll have to finish edges with a serger or hem them on the machine. i figure Barbie-standard is what i'll hold my product up against. but i think starting with semi-bohemian office wear would satisfy people to start with, after that i could take requests. i'm pretty determined to not do lolita or steampunky things, because that's more time than i feel i can expect myself to invest. they're too detailed as a whole for weekend production. i think quality casual wear that doesn't look designed for a child, and properly fitted business wear options are corners of the market that have been essentially left alone up till now, especially for the JID crowd. it's the safest place to stick my toes in the pool and see if i like it. dolly cosplay is also something i'd seriously enjoy, but i dunno that the demand is all that high, especially for American superhero cosplay. xD i've noticed the BJD crowd favors anime and manga in general over western comics. i have some ideas to start with though, and a basic bodysuit pattern would lend itself to pretty much any costume, so it's something i'll look into.

i suppose the first step for any JID sewing, personal or for profit, is to figure out workable patterns. their body proportions really are vastly different from any other 45cm doll. i love how it looks, but i can already see how much it'll annoy me having to adjust everything to work around the curves.. much like real people sewing. xD

i know there's no way i'd have the initiative to sew people-sized things, but i think i can motivate myself enough to run a part time dolly clothes venture, so long as i state up front that it's a part-time thing for fun. no requests or custom work, initially at least. i think if i start out doing it because it's fun, i'm more likely to stick with it later as things become more complex. i also think getting all the boring difficult fussing out of the way before i announce my plans in any broader sense will ease any pressure. if i have pattern pieces already scaled and i know a+b=fitted tank top and so on, it'll be easier to tweak things to get a+c+d+g+mask= HUSH costume Huntress or whatever, you know? mix and match pattern parts will really simplify any custom work i may decide to take on. the good sewing machine is the other requirement as it doesn't matter how much i streamline the drafting process if my machine eats anything i start on. this is also where the serger enters into things. i think starting with pattern drafting for now while space is limited is smartest though. i enjoy the puzzle-like part where i get to figure which pieces match with what. i'm less fond of the part where i have to figure out how to allow for body type adjustments and still have my seams meet as they need to. i'm hoping getting some basic SD/MSD patterns will work as a starting point after a little resizing. i'd really rather not have to draft everything from scratch. i think that having basic pants, shirt, and underwear forms to start from will be enough to make the rest bearable.

but yeah, that's what's on my mind today. we'll see if i have any thoughts left for another post later this week. xD