Monday 28 February 2011

More custom orders :)

Hello everyone! :)

I'd like to let you know that I haven't abandoned deco sweets for the sake of BJD. I'm still affected by "the clay virus"! :D I've had couple more custom orders recently and here are some photos of my recent work.

I two large cookie pendants, decorated with whip cream and lushiness of sweets! :D I also made these little ribbon bows too. I was wondering if you'd like me to show you how to make them in very easy way? Let me know if you'd like a small tutorial about it :)

My customer (very sweet girl from Belgium!) also requested matching earrings and a similar brooch to the ones I've made for my previous order.

I really like to make these large fabric bows. The only pain with them is attaching them to my brooches, because of their three loops for adding chain and charms.

I hope that she will like everything :)

Thank you everyone for stopping by!

Sunday 27 February 2011

BJD's wig making & first face up

 Hi guys!

I've been getting into BJDs a lot recently and I also ordered my very first BJD too! :D It's not Limhwa Half Elf but totally different brand, although more human like too :) I won't say which one, I'll leave it as a surprise for you.

I also finally received my nylon hair order from Dollyhair and I was able to make my first doll's wig :) I would like to show you the whole process if you're interested in BJDs and wig making :D I've used this tutorial which I found on Internet. So first you have to wrap tightly your BJD in cling foil. I've used two layers, just to be sure that the glue won't go through onto the head.

 Then you take old pair of tights, the best one in natural skin colour, but you can use any colour you have :) You won't see it after you finish anyway.
Secure it with elastic band or just tie a piece of string around doll's neck. be sure that it won't slip off while you're gluing the hair.
I also draw the hair line to see where the hair should end. I used normal black pen.
The person that wrote the other tutorial, has used epoxy glue. I don't really like it, because it dries too quickly and I haven't got much time to apply hair strands slowly and precisely. Therefore I've used other glue, Evo-stick, serious glue. It was sticky enough and it dried quite quickly. I was considering Tacky glue but it didn't dry quick enough for me. I needed a glue that would dry clear in about five minutes.



First I started applying hair strands from the bottom. I was taking thin strands. First I was applying bit of glue on the head, then hair, a bit of glue again, and then using toothpick,  gently rolling it onto the surface. This way hair was covered in glue thoroughly and it kind of smoothed and "spread" itself on the surface. Remember to hold the hair strand with your other  hand, just underneath where you're applying glue. It gets really sticky :)


 
 After I finish first layer and it dried completely, I started applying next ones. I didn't apply it just above, I left a bit of space between them.



I also drew lines on the top of the head, to know in which direction hair should be situated.







I think I applied four or five layers of hair strands until I got to the top. And this is the trickiest part of the whole process. As you can see on the photo below, the top of the head doesn't look nice. It has little "nest" of dried glue (i don't know if you can see it clearly). I wasn't shure how to finish it and then i got the brilliant idea :) After the wig had dried completely, I took a need le tool and poked a hole in the middle of that nasty "nest". I took piece of wire (that was the only thing I had :), made a loop at the end and attached thicker strand of hair to it. Kind of like needle with the hole and hair in it :) I used this wire to pull the hair through the hole in the wig. Then I glued hair inside of the wig and cut the excess after it dried. I also applied a bit more glue too, to be sure that hair won't come out when pulled.

 
I haven't got any photos of this last process because my camera decided to die on me :(

The last problem I had to resolve was these hair on the top of the head. They looked a bit like a palm tree :D So i had to figure out how to keep them nicely flat on the top. I tried to wrap piece of thighs on the head for a night but it didn't work. But then I thought of more dangerous way of keeping them in place... iron! :D yeah it did work! You have to set up your iron on very low temperature so you won't melt the hair (I think it melts easily). Use tip of the iron and gently press on the top of the head. Being honest I melted a bit of her hair but you can't see it that much. I learn on my mistakes :D




Here is photo how she looked like when I finished.  I didn't bother with hair lenght because I knew that I will cut it and style it after. It's just easier  to work with longer hair that shorter.

After everything has dried, I took it all of her head and cut the excess with small scissors. I had to be careful not to cut any hair off :D

Then was the nicest part of everything, cutting and styling! I don't know anything about hair styling nor I have any hairdressing abilities :) i did my best and so you can see how she looks on the photos below.  I've also made her a make up because I've finally got my Mr Super Clear :) I know that she doesn't look perfect. It's just my practise head, as I'm still waiting for my new heads from Miniwoo. Looking at her I can tell that I made her eye holes too big or maybe I should use 8mm eyeballs instead of 6mm.  


Btw the styling of the nylon hair is pretty easy :) You just make it wet in room temperature water, use hair curs and then let the hair dry. I was a bit impatient and I used hair dryer on the lowest setting. I was also a bit silly too :D I don't have any hair curlers so I used the closest shape item I had: hot glue sticks! Thank God I noticed in time what a mistake i made using them, before they melted while I was drying hair with hair dryer! :D Silly Mini Mo! ^__^




I think that her face up looks a bit dirty. I had problems with applying pastels on her face. I don't think it's easy to do it on the vinyl head. Pastels don't stay easily on soft plastic :( and I didn't have any paint thinner to use acrylics). I also added eyelashes.  I can't say that I like this final look, but it's the best I can do for now :) I can't wait when I get my proper BJD made from resin and I will be able to make proper face up! It's just so hard to do it on such a small head made from vinyl :(



Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this rather long and clay-sweets-not-related post! :D 
Thank you for stopping by!


Thursday 24 February 2011

How to make cookies: 2 basic mini video tutorials

Hi guys!
I've been asked by Emma to make short tutorial about how to make cookies. I know that most of you know how to do it but there are many who are just starting making clay sweets and things that are obvious for us, are not that clear for begginers. So I've made these two short videos, first about how to cut basic cookie shape, and second one how to "bake" it, meaning how to apply shading on cookie.

Please forgive me quality of the video,  my mess and horrible hands! :D I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm really clumsy and I hurt myself all the time! :D My boyfriend calls me "Space Caddette", because I'm so spaced out from reality! :D I honestly scratch, cut and bruise myself so often that I don't really notice my scars any more :)

You also have to escuse me my English :D You know, I'm foreign and I'm really shy and these are my first videos where I acctually speak at loud :) So I could mumble a bit... If you won't understand something, please feel free to ask  in the comment section below :)


Monday 21 February 2011

Giveaway results!

Hello everyone!

Giveaway has finished yesterday and today it's time for results! :)

This time lucky winner will be announced by mascot made by me, my little Mokona! :) Can you see already who has won deco frame?............

Ammorin !!!

Congratulations! ^__^


I will be contacting you soon and I will post your prize as soon as possible :) I hope you will like it!

I also would like to say thank you to all of you who participate in this giveaway! All of your comments were lovely and they gave me so much confidence in myself (which I'm usually lacking! :D ). But the main reason of all these questions, was to give me some directions on how to run this blog in the future. I will try my best to fulfill your requests :) I already have some ideas for new posts and subjects, I just need to find some free time! :D

Thank you again guys! :)

Mini Mo 

Friday 18 February 2011

BJD with eyes

Hey everyone!

First I'd like to say thank you for all your nice comments! :) They gave me lots of ideas for new posts and I already have some in mind :)

Today I'd like to show you some progress I've made with my bjd. As you can see on the photo she's got eyes! Finally! But unfortunately this head will probably be only the test head just because I had so many problems with it. If you remember, I mentioned before that I've stained it and also I made it really dirty. I gave up at the end and started playing around with it and trying out different face ups, using chalk pastels and pastel pencils. I've also been told that I shouldn't at any cost use acetone on bjds, but I've already ordered it from eBay. So knowing that I've ordered some new heads, I decided to check this pure acetone on my poor violated Obitsu head. I even had a nightmare where I used this acetone and I totally melted my bjd's head! :D So feeling brave I applied acetone with cotton bud and surprisingly it cleaned all the dirt and other crap from the head! The only thing that stayed were these bloody yellowish stains, on top of the nose, eyebrows and ears, and a bit of lip tint. I'm not sure if you can see it on the photo.

I have to say that I'm quite happy with the outcome. I know, the eyes are not inserted properly :) I just wanted to see how the head will look with them and I also wanted to try silicone ear putty, which I think is great for diy eyes :)

Like I said I'm waiting for my three heads delivery from Miniwoo, the same Obitsu, smaller one and Gretel for 27cm bjd, so I don't know if it will fit (but it already has eye holes). I will do all of this eye cutting again, but this time I will know what I use. First really, really sharp knife/blade (surgical probably), and then mini dremel with pointed engraving and rubber tips. They do better job than sandpaper although you have to be really careful not to smooth it too much, as this tool is really powerful.

I know that she might look really funny, sitting there with bald head! :) I'm also waiting for my nylon hair so I could make a wig for her. The dress in the picture is also made by me. It's not finished yet, it's just a temporary outfit, as I didn't want her to get cold in this English weather :)

The last thing I want to share with you guys is my great saving goal. You probably know that I'm quite impatient :) I haven't even properly started customizing my little bjd and now I want to buy large, resin bjd! I know I shouldn't because it's so expensive but I really felt in love with them! I've been working six days a week now (on my request! ^__^ ) and I've been selling more things on Etsy too, so I will be able to buy one :) I've spend many evenings searching on Internet for my perfect "girl" and now I found it. I just need to know if I can order it and which skin to choose. Here is her photo:
Beautiful isn't she? :) The one on the left is human version and the other one is half elf, with slightly different eyes and slightly pointed ears. I'm not sure which one I should choose. But it's not only the face I love in her. It's mainly her body. My first and the most important criteria was the shape of elbows and knees. I'm really picky and knowing that I will spend stupid amount of money, I wanted it to be perfect. I may be new to ball jointed dolls but I don't like these fake looking knees and elbows. They look silly when bent and not natural. For me the body is the most important part of the doll because it can't be easily changed unlike the head. So here is photo of her in nudity (under aged, please don't look! :D ):
I've already send the company that makes them an email asking if they are still taking orders. I'm also not shure which skin colour I will choose. There are three options: french resin, beauty white urethane, and normal beige urethane. I want to choose the one which will make buying another head easier in the future.
And here are some more photos of this beautiful doll :) :



I'm really curious what you guys think about this doll :) And thank you for visiting my blog!

PS The photos are not mine and they belong to the Limhwa company: www.limhwa.com

Sunday 13 February 2011

My Inspirations

Hello everyone!

First I'd like to say thank you all of you who already entered my second giveaway! Your comments made me really happy and gave me so much self belief! :) You are great guys! I will definitely consider all of your advices on what to write about in the future. I want to make more tutorials too, but my problem is that I usually create things randomly and sometimes I can't reproduce certain things or techniques. And I usually improve the ways I make my sweets, so everything is constantly changing. I will still try to post more tutorials here, although it's hard to teach things that someone else already hasn't made tutorial for  :D


First I would like to show you what usually inspires my work. What could it be you may think? Real food! :D What else could it be? To be honest, when I started making clay sweets, I was browsing through Japanese and not only blogs, but after some time I realized that their "food" is actually inspired by real patisserie and desserts. How amazed I was when I saw picture of real macaroon! :D I honestly believed that it was something totally made up by Japanese people! :)

So if you want to create something original and one of the kind, search on Internet for French desserts, patisserie or even sweets or candies :) Even if you will think that they look so real and you will never make anything like that, it might give you ideas on clay creations that no one ever thought before! And you don't have to make them look as realistic as the real ones. Change colours, add pearls and blinkies or anything you like!


I get inspired by real food so much and then I try to make my own little desserts. Recently I have made my new "collection" (hahaha, it sounds so serious :D ) inspired by real desserts and Valentines :) I will show it to you soon, when all of it will dry and I will varnish it. I hope you will like it!

Thank you for stopping by!
And I hope you got inspired! :)





PS None of these pictures belong to me. You will be redirected to original websites by clicking on the photos.

Saturday 12 February 2011

Second Giveaway is here !!!

Hello everyone!
Hope you're having a great weekend!

Do you remember my first mega giveaway? I enjoyed it so much and I wanted to make another one, I just needed an excuse to make one. And now I have it, 20 000 page views! I don't know if it's a lot, maybe people just get lost on the Internet and somehow end up here :D Anyways, it's a nice round number and because of that I would like to give for free one of my photo frames to one of you :)

The photo frame is black with white whip cream and lots of sweets.  The frame measures approx. 18 x 14 cm, and fits a 13 x 9cm photo. 

I was thinking what kind of requirement I should include in this giveaway. I didn't want to ask everyone to just follow my blog, FB and Tweeter. To much hustle to check all my accounts :) So I came up with these three simple questions:

1. Why do you like/follow my blog?
2. Which item I've made do you like the most and why?
3. What would you like me to write about in the future?

If you'd like to enter this giveaway just answer these three mega easy questions in the comment section below. Just please be honest, it's not like I will choose the best and nicest answer! :D I just want to know what you think about my blog :) I will draw one lucky winner from all of the entries, so everyone has equal chance :)

And please, please please ADD YOUR EMAIL TOO! The only thing I didn't like about my previous giveaway, was trying to figure out who is who, so now I won't include entries without email address! Comments need to be left under this post before Sunday 20th of February, and the winner will be announced on Monday.



Good luck everyone! :)


Friday 11 February 2011

I totally don't know how to title this post :)

Hi everyone!

I've mentioned in my last post that I would like to organize second giveaway and I think I might announce it tomorrow, as my page views counter will probably hit 20 000! :) Thank you all for your interest in my blog! I already know what prize that I will include. It will be just one prize but large one and I hope you will like it :)

Alissa White-Glutz

And talking about bjd, the hole face up thing made me really annoyed. I get annoyed and frustrated really easily, especially when I want to make or create something and it's not working. Just like last night, trying to learn how to sew mini clothes. I got furious searching for pattern and tutorials and after swearing for a while I put myself together and started sewing on my own.
Today was a similar scenario. I bought clear spray for face up for bjd and I tried it out on the back of her head. It appeared that Windsor&Newton Matt spray varnish  is not suitable for bjd face up, because it's a little bit glossy and it stays sticky... Total failure!

I gave up with spraying (I will give it back) and I started smoothing edges of her already cut out eye holes. I bought acetone varnish remover but it wasn't strong enough so I switched to fine sanding paper. I don't know if it was a bit dirty but after a while I noticed that my bjd's face got stained with yellow patches! I nearly cried.... I had to order some more heads and now I have to wait for them two weeks...

Click on photo to see their FB Fanpage :)
I had to relaxed myself after all of these little failures. And what relax more that music? :) Here I'd like to share with you what music recently puts me in perfect mood. It's Canadian metal band, the Agonist. I've discovered them some time ago and I fell in love from the first song I've heard! You might think, looking at my blog, that I'm all pinky and girly, but in reality I'm pessimistic most of the time and I don't look like a cute girl :) So my favourite music is metal and now the Agonist is first on my mp3 playlist. I won't post any videos here because I don't want to scare anyone off :D If you're interested visit their Facebook page or check their videos on Youtube. This one is my favourite one :)

I hope you enjoyed reading this huge blog post and thank you for stopping by! ^__^

Wednesday 9 February 2011

My first commissions :)

Hi everyone!

First I'd like to welcome all new followers to my blog! Thank you so much for adding me to your favourites! :) I also noticed on my statistics that my blog soon will hit 20 000 views and I think this would be a great opportunity for another giveaway! But I don't know what prizes I should include so if you have any suggestions, please let me know below this post :)

The other thing that makes me really happy is my Etsy shop. I've opened it in September last year and it was doing well, but recently I started selling more things and many people got interested in it, which gave me a lot of self belief :) Thank you all for your lovely complements, they mean so much to me! ^_^

 I've also been asked recently to do two custom orders. I was  a bit worried because I've never done anything like that. But it all went well and now I will be definitely more confident taking custom orders :) It's great because it gives me challenge creating things I wouldn't normally make, like this pink and black Nintendo case. All the deco is handmade by me, from strawberries and ice cream, to chocolate and resin pink candy :) I went for polymer clay with most of the deco, just to be sure it will be durable as the cases like this are usually carried in bags etc. The cream is modelling paste, because I don't use silicone and modelling paste can be varnished, where silicone can't. It all will be varnished soon (it's still drying on the photo).

These three cute brooches are my second custom order. I've sold one of my brooches I've listed on Etsy, and I was then asked if I can create something similar but in girly J-pop style. I don't know much about it so after browsing on Internet, I've decided to go for something Lolita like. I made fabric ribbons and then added clay cookies with band (or girls from bands?...) names as requested by my customer. She also said that she likes Hello Kitty so I made a little cookie in this shape too :)

At first I was a bit sceptical taking these two custom orders, but now I know that creating something different that what I normally do, broadens my abilities and forces my imagination to work harder and go out of my creating comfort zone :) For example I've never made fabric bows by myself and now I know how to do it :) I would love to make some more custom order . It's a nice feeling making something unique and personal ^__^

Thank for stopping by and reading it!
Mini Mo

Friday 4 February 2011

My First BJD!!!


Hello everyone!

I was thinking about the name I chose for my blog and now I'm really happy that I went for "Sweet & Tiny" because it can mean so many things, not only sweet and tiny clay miniatures, but also small dolls. And talking about small dolls, I would like to share with you with my new (and another ^_^ ) obsession: BJD dolls! I found out about these cuties when I was surfing online and searching for information about miniatures.

I knew a little about Blythe dolls, but I was never interested in them, because of their large head and tiny body, which I found quite creepy... Many people like them but it's not my cup of tea :) I prefer more natural types of body shape and so I bought this adorable set from Mimi Collection (eBay): Volks white 22cm body, Obitsu head, pair of blue eyes and eyelashes. I'm not sure if these eyelashes will fit, they seem to be quite big, but I can always trim them a little :)

As you can see the doll is not painted and I will decorate it by myself. The reason is that I can't really afford and justify spending small fortune on already painted doll with wig, so I decided to do it by myself :) I couldn't find heads this size with eyes open so I bought normal head and I will cut them out (I found cool tutorial how to do it). I also want to try to make a wig by myself, using cap and nylon hair. I plan to make some clothes for her and accessories too :)
Please forgive me random photos here but I have no clothes for her yet as I got her this morning. I also censored her feminine bits knowing that I have younger followers too and I felt obligated to do so :) On the other hand you can easily see how the Obitsu head fits on Volks body. Both of them claim to be white colour but the head seems to be a bit brighter, maybe because it's made from soft plastic/rubber, where the body is made from hard plastic. I don't think this will bother me much, as I want to add some shades to the head and I'm sure it will blend in nicely. 
I also noticed that the ball joints feel a bit stiff and from what I've read before, I will have to adjust them. I don't know how yet, I will have to find out... If anyone knows how to do it and if I have to do it, please, please help :) I'd rather listen to someone experienced, rather than break this precious thing ^_^


I hope you enjoyed reading this and thank you for visiting my blog! ^__^