It’s a blast from the past y’all! Back in 2011 I posted these photos to Flickr/Facebook, but I don’t think this girl ever got a proper blog post. I thought it would be fun to use her “anniversary” to post all the studio photos together. It’s Topsy! Topsy is a Zombuki that I made as a challenge to myself; I wanted to take a design that was really punishing, in this case a checkerboard pattern, and execute it to my satisfaction. Now, exactly two years later, I might be ready for Topsy to find a home. The photo above is the last studio photo, from May 22nd 2011, the rest of the process is below. (Update! Topsy has been adopted.)

04/16/11 The basic foundation for the checkerboard eyeshadow, for some reason I actually find it much easier to paint the darker color first, I’m not sure why. I think it may be because my eye has an easier time focusing that way, with the lighter color first the optical illusion created by two sharply contrasting colors makes my eye jump around.

04/17/11 Half and half! The checkerboard is half clean and half rough here to show the difference between the two. Honestly the checkerboard looks so junky until it’s done you just have to go on faith that it will turn out looking nice.

04/17/11 Checkerboard from another angle. Remember you can click the photos if you want to view them larger.

05/22/11 Back where we started! I gave her an army green lip because I love this color for lips. I also hand painted her eyes because I like how creepy it looks. It really took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do between the last two steps (perhaps obviously). I think it was because I didn’t have as much of a plan for Topsy as I usually do going in.

Hope you enjoyed these throwback studio photos! I’ll post final photos of Topsy soon – posting her photos has actually made me want to make my next girl a circus sister …

Yay! Along with Khione I worked on the second unicorn sister this past weekend. I wanted her glitter chips to match Bianca’s so I used the same style glitter (transparent) from the same brand (Art Glitter). For the glitter effect you mix the glitter with Sparkle Glaze (Delta Ceramcoat used to make it but they’re under a different name now) and apply it generously to the back of some Cool Cat clear eye chips. Viola! Glitter eyes! I think it’s a very sweet, feminine variation on the blank eye.

One of the only things that was specifically requested for this commission was that the girls have feather eyelashes. There’s no way I’ll say no to that since feather eyelashes are probably my favorite kind. I wanted the two girls to be similar but not have anything that was exactly doubled, so I’m using these white and brown patterned, very thick feather lashes. Looking back and forth between the two eyes I feel like these lashes really make the difference!

Next it’s eyelid painting, blushing, sealing, and assembly. We’re in the home stretch!

I’m excited to present Khione, who you’ve been seeing in studio posts, as the 67th Zombuki doll! She is inspired by Greek mythology, as the daughter of the North wind and an Athenian princess, Khione is a nymph of winter.

Her wig is handmade mohair, but I cannot remember where I got it; the clear body is Obitsu, but I’m fairly sure they are discontinued; and her eye chips are from Cool Cat. Her shoes are Jun Planning, the shorts are Obitsu (I think), the ruffle shirt is Brand New Purezza stock, and the jacket is by the ever-amazing Art Plonsjeroze.

I hope you enjoyed the photos, I definitely had fun taking them! Khione has been adopted, but I’m hoping to start another girl soon so stay tuned.

Long (long, long, long) story short is that the Zombuki dolls I make now I make only because I love to – it’s fun, it makes me happy, and it’s as simple as that. I’ve always loved making them, of course, but now that I’m not trying to set up shows or make a living off of them I can reduce the price. If you’ve hung in there with me through any part of the last seven years and your only complaint was that you can’t afford $600-800 for a doll I hear you, and I thank you, for still wanting one.

Now instead of $250 for the Little Heads and Monster High dolls they will be $150; for Blythe, Pullips, and all other Groove dolls the price will go from $800 to $400. Older dolls that are in my shop have been priced at slightly less.

I think somehow, at some point in that block of years, I started to forget what a honor it is that people want my dolls in their homes, and I got caught up in some of the negative aspects of the doll community. That’s incredibly embarrassing to admit, but I realize that it is sadly true. Reducing the price is re-remembering that it’s a privilege to have my customs adopted into people’s homes. This will make the Zombuki affordable, I hope, to just about everyone who wants one. I want these strange, creepy, colorful dolls to make people smile, including me, and for some reason I feel like dropping the price is part of leaving a lot of negativity behind me.

I’ll be making the dolls all summer, but once Fall semester starts I’ll have to slow down a lot or put a pin in it. I’ll post updates here and on Facebook, you can also have blog posts emailed to you (click “Follow” button on the right hand side toolbar), or follow through Bloglovin’ or another feed reader. Alright y’all! That’s all I’ve got for today!

If you have any other questions the FAQ is now up, or you can leave a comment, or contact me!

Eee! I’m always so excited when I get to this stage, assembly time! The neck peg for the clear body was actually too long so I had to shorten it, but that was really the only hiccup. If you’re wondering, the floss is there to loop through the springs on the eyelids to keep them out of the way and make it easy to re-attach them to the eye mech once it’s been installed again. Nothing works better than floss!

Finished! I had some feather eyelashes that match her hair exactly, but I thought they would just be overwhelming, so I opted for the black with feather tips. I’m crazy about this mohair wig too, it’s such a great color. The clear body is perfect for her, but apparently it just cannot handle the weight of the Pullip head. Sitting she displays perfectly, standing it looks like she’s the Doll World Limbo Champ. When she goes home she’ll get a regular Pullip body for her in addition to this one so it can be swapped out.

I named her Khione, the daughter of the North wind in Greek mythology, Boreas. As her father is a cold, winter wind, so Khione is a nymph of winter. She is a nymph (or minor goddess) instead of a pure goddess because she is half mortal; her mother was an Athenian princess. That’s why the clear body is so perfect for her story! So say hello to Khione – next step is photos!

Khione has been reserved, but if you would like to commission a Zombuki just contact me.

Clear! This new girl, who I’ve just been calling Windy or the Zephyr, is just about done. I worked on her for a bit this past weekend, but when you get to a certain stage you’re just touching things up. While it takes a long time to get things just-so it also makes for dull photos near the end. I took the photo above before I started working. I’m planning on using the clear Obitsu body on her, though I’ve wanted to use it before and it never looked quite right. The heads with the wigs are usually far too heavy, but I think the mohair will make it light enough to work.

Later … here she is at the end of the day, her eye chips coordinate with her lips nicely, I think. I used the pupil gray for her eyelids too, since I wanted to break up the blue-on-blue tone around the eyes. I know I should probably add some (painted) eyelashes, but I really like the design without them. I’ll have to see how I feel once I’m in the studio again. After that it’s just adding lashes to the eyelids, blushing, sealing, and re-assembly before it’s photo time!

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

I spent last Sunday working on dolls on the porch-studio again, it was really nice out. Last time her right side design had just the barest preliminary coat of paint on it so my first step was to add layers to that and fill in the blue that’s right against the eye.

Then I added the scalloping – since it doesn’t have the eyelashes I feel like the two sides have a really different feel. Sometimes I hesitate to add details like lashes, but I’m glad I did for this girl. Next step is choosing the lip and eye colors. I’m kicking around some ideas for the lip color, but I’m undecided about eyes. They’ll need to be glitter eyes like Bianca’s though, of course.

Thank for reading, all!

Can I just go on record for a second and say that I hate taking photos at sunset? It makes colors all wonky and even though I obsessively adjust them I still never feel like I get them “just right” again. Okay, enough about my personal problems … photos! This Pullip is a commission that I started quite a while back so I’m really happy that I got to work on her again. She’s the sister piece for Bianca, so where Bianca was hard, I wanted this girl to feel soft.

Of course Bianca is “hard” with “soft” pastel colors, so this girl (who I’m naming Sierra) has a “soft” design with “hard” colors. Not harsh, just gray-toned instead of pastel. I also did something different with her design, I added a very thin, scalloped outline to the loops.

Here’s my stopping point for studio day 2 with her! I’m hoping to work more on her this weekend, finger’s crossed. Since this gal is a commission so she won’t be available for adoption, however, I will have commission spots open over the summer, so feel free to contact me if you’re thinking about adding a Zombuki to your home!

PS: The wig in the last photo is Leeke, it’s so pretty, even prettier in real life. I’m kind of obsessed with their wigs, ha!

After a school-based hiatus many months I finally start working on this custom again last weekend. It was really nice out so I decided to move my supplies out onto the porch and I ended up painting out there until sunset; it was really fun. This custom is inspired by the mythological wind spirits; I wanted to do something that felt like my older dolls too, with the painted eyeshadow and large design paired with a small lip. Her eye chips are going to be gray so that’s why I picked the light gray color for the lips.

I still have work to do touching up the paint, evening things out on each site, making things more symmetrical. This weekend will be busy already but if I’m lucky she’ll be ready to photograph by next week.

I am actually working on her and another doll – a commissioned one – at the same time, which I haven’t done since the Valley of the Dolls show. It’s nice to feel that inspired though. If you’ve noticed the signature on her head you might be wondering about it. I actually never sign them before they’re finished, but this doll is based on one that I finished and hated so she’s been re-customized. Don’t worry, it’s not one I’ve ever published photos of.

She will be available for adoption once she’s finished so if you’re interested now feel free to drop me a line and remember to click the images to view them lots larger. Thanks for stopping by all!

Yes you can now (I think) follow me on Bloglovin, which I’m considering switching to now that Google reader is going bye bye. I’ll be posting new dolls soon, some of which will be available for adoption, so I hope you tune in again soon!