Monday, May 14, 2012

Monster High repaints





These little dollies all started life as off-the-shelf Monster High dolls from Mattel. They're ostensibly for children, but seem to mostly be popular with grown-up Goth chicks such as myself. A "repaint" is any mass-produced doll that has had its factory paint removed and new paint applied. Popular subjects include vinyl baby dolls and Barbies. Monster High dolls are petite (about 11") with big heads and skinny, Tim Burton-y proportions, and their arms and legs are removable. These are four of my repaints; I have a few others in the works. All of them have been rehomed except the little skeleton girl, who is on Ebay right now.
I really like repainting Monster Highs because they're so accessible--they cost $12 to $20, instead of the $100+ for a resin ball jointed doll. And I like their weird little body shapes.

Some of my ball-jointed dolls



I seem to keep acquiring these things, despite my reduced circumstances. I was the recipient of unbelievable generosity from the doll community when my dolls got stolen last year. And of course, layaway, baby.

Below: The grandly named Dulcie Bourbon Saturday, in two different looks. Dulcie is a tan-skin vampire Akasha from the Impldoll company--I bought her on layaway from my darling friend Nina, who wasn't bonding with her. She came blank, and I painted her face and made the long brown wig myself.








Below: Jenever, also made by Impldoll (this sculpt is called Antonia). Her facepainting was done by BJD artist Jisatsu and her neck modification is by Catdancer. She was a generous gift from Nina and another friend. I made her dread-lock wig and her clothes.




Monday, May 7, 2012

The Secret of Happiness

OK, not really. But I promise this recipe will make you slightly happier. If you like mayonnaise.
You will need:

A little jar (I used an old pesto jar)
1/2 cup of regular mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
small clove garlic 

Plop that mayonnaise into your little jar. Add curry. Whisk around with a fork until the curry is blended in and mayo is a nice yellow. Crush the garlic in a press (or chop really fine) and mix in. Give it 15-20 minutes in the fridge for the flavors to combine. Boom, curry-garlic mayonnaise! It's the best stuff on earth. Use it anywhere you would regular mayonnaise--on sandwiches, in coleslaw, in salad dressing... it also makes a great dip for steamed vegetables. When I was little, my mom's curry mayo was the only thing that could induce me to eat broccoli.
Curry-garlic mayonnaise is even slightly better for you than regular mayonnaise! It has vitamin C and antioxidants in addition to all that yummy, yummy fat and cholesterol.  You may even find yourself using a little less of it than regular, because it has a stronger flavor. Plus there's that helping-you-eat-healthy-vegetables thing. (It's also delicious on plain white rice, but let's pretend I've never done that.) Truly, curry-garlic mayonnaise is a glorious foodstuff. Go make some.