Search This Blog

Monday, March 17, 2014

How to Make Giant Strawberry Pocky Themed Polymer Clay Tools

So in the middle of shooting another tutorial video Saturday I realized my shabby tools aka: a pencil, a bobby pin, and anything else I use besides actual tools, look terrible. SOOO Why not make my own tools? I searched youtube and found terribly presented tools...I'm going to be using these tools every video. I can't have something ugly than what I was already using so I decided to get to work.
I have polymer clay that I don't use often so it was the perfect starting clay. For the handles I used cornstarch clay I will have to warn you so you don't make my mistakes. Even though the recipe for cornstarch clay calls for you to bake it at 175 degrees F for an hour this will not work on these tools if you make your handles as thick as I did. Bake it at 200 degrees F (TRUST ME) for 2 hours and 30 minutes. If you do it at normal time it will break because, the inside of the clay won't be baked all the way through. Now if you don't want to listen to me and use polymer clay for the handles you are welcome to I just don't like wasting polymer clay which is why I only used them to make the tips of my tools. I don't make a needle tool in the video but to make it use polymer clay for the strawberry part to stick the needle in. Trust me, it works and you'll love me for it.

Things you will need:

  • Cornstrach Clay Recipe: 2 tablespoons baking soda 1 tablespoons cornstarch, small amounts water until it is thick and shiny. Heat in the microwave for 60s in 30s increments to stir in between until it is a dough like consistency.If you want to add color add generous amounts of soft pastels and other substitutes while mixing the dough or after just kneed it in very well. 
  • Soft Pastels or Chalk Pastels (Makeup if you don't have either)
  • My template :)
  • Small amounts of Polymer Clay
  • Silver metallic craft paint
  • White craft paint.
  • Floral Craft Wire 
  • an OVEN
  • Optional: pink and red craft paints for added detail



Here's the video of everything you need to know and here is the template I made for my box you can download it here.







I didn't put the file in pdf format this time but for awesome display purposes I'm going to place it as a picture here below because *sings* It's my blog and I can do what I want to POST what I wanttt too.
Also Remember I'm on instagram at SeasonalFrostbite If you want to show off your work, get featured in my videos just go on instagram and type @SeasonalFrostbite Or #SeasonalFrostbite I love supporting other artists. If you don't have instragram I'm also On facebook just like the page and post a picture saying "Fan art" :) I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do! Thanks guys!

Monday, March 10, 2014

How to make doll food miniatures: Fast food: Chick-Fil-A sandwhich and waffle fries

So I decided to do a tutorial video for this week. Yayyyy!! Ha, I hope you guys will subscribe to my channel on youtube. I became an official youtube partner today which apparently anyone can dooo! I'm excited because I can further edit my videos and share my work and products with you on etsy. First off In my video I promised free printables to help you create your own miniature chick-fil-a meals. I will put the links to these files here.
I'm sorry the steps are so fast but it was all i could do to shorten the video. I desperately need a new video editor to make my life easier. OI! Anyways I hope you guys subscribe like and comment. See you soon! Oh and Just in case you guys don't have adobe reader. Here's the free template I made as a picture! :)

Friday, March 7, 2014

10 Uses for Knock off Monster High and Ever after High and how to buy them.


  Okay, I've been trying to explain to young kids using the internet on the importance of the knock off doll and why it's not copyright and why mattel does NOTHING about these knock offs. To be honest I have nooo idea except some minor concepts of where these knock offs come from, china. Mattel makes their dolls in china. Thats packaging, doll rooting, doll clothing, factory painting, and etc. If chinese factories chooses to make a knock off of doll well....they kinda can do whatever they want. Ha, can't blame them I'd do it too. Plus I LOVEEE KNOCK OFFS! Getting what you want and saving money. Now, I'm going to show you 10 things you can do with these knock offs because they are usually lame.

Use 1: Doll clothing. Usually the doll clothing knock off doll comes in aren't that ugly and aren't that well made but it adds variety to your doll collection. The knock off shoes can never go wrong luckily. They tend to be better made then the doll clothes.
One of my repaints is a knock off clawdeen. She is wearing midnight magic doll dress and a knock off draculaura jacket


Use2: Doll parts. If you saw my last post I use and reuse doll body parts. You can build new dolls of your own. Personally reuse the heads of the knock off dolls to repaint them, reroot them ((knock off dolls are not rooted fully)) and sometimes cutting them which goes to use number 3.




Use3: Experiments. If you saw my last post you can see how I made a monster high boy custom using two knock off dolls, monster high draculaura and midnight magic doll pippa. You can cut up the dolls to make their feet articulated by making extra parts or bake them to melt them I dunno but I can tell you I have done this plenty of times.
These dolls are made with pretty cheap plastic which you can cut off their parts with scissors really easily.
Yeahh..I cut off the knock off monster high dolls feet...to make them betttterrr!! I'm a mad scientist MUHAHAHAHA! *ahem* Sorry...


Use4: Practice. Yes, you can use these knock offs to practice your mad scientist skills like I do lolz. You can practice doing faceups and repaints on them until you get really good. OR you can practice making them articulated with your tools like my favorite tool, the dremel4000. Here's a short evolution of my repaints.
My first repaint, sucks I know
She was a midnight Magic Pippa doll.
Yeahh this one was my 3rd one, sucks too
It got better..sort of..

Eventually I got the hang of it thanks to practice on my knock offs and I got to work on a real monter high doll.
And this Tyler was born after All these practice dolls.
Use5: Models. I use the knock offs to model doll clothing I'm making, usually the dimensions of the dolls are the same as the doll they are mimicking


Use6: Collection Filler. Add them to your collection...simple enough right? Lolz, they make great cheap additions, I'd recommend the Midnight Magic dolls you can get at family dollar. Perfect filler doll right there.



Use7: Ruler. If you want to make furniture like I do for dolls then you're going to need a size guide/model to measure how tall or how big to scale your furniture.

Use8: Donor Doll. Usually the doll hair in knock off dolls have a very nice quality,You can donate the dolls hair to your future reroots. I have found when you pay 30 dollars for ever after high dolls the quality of the hair is so terrible I have no idea why it costs 30 dollars especially if she only has one outfit.

Use9: To give to a child. Trust me, kids really don't know the difference. Meaning 5 and up. They usually don't care, just make sure the knock off is pure solid, they will never know the difference once they are playing with it. To be honest I have given away knock offs but I repair the things that make them noticeably different for example: I had to articulate the hands on my dolls.

Use10: Take pictures. Ugly or not these dolls are a great find to post on instragram for likes. Who doesn't like a good knock off?

How to Buy

Best places for finding these knock offs are at Family Dollar and online in wholesale stores such as aliexpress. I ususally get mine from these places. There are key quality things to look for when buying knock offs. Key tip, Search for the doll in aliexpress by using the brand's name.
  • Price, Sometimes the dealers are trying to trick you into believing its a monster high doll so the price is stupid high like 30-40 dollars. You should only pay 10-20 dollars for knock offs and they should all come with more than one doll. for 10 dollars you can get 4 knock offs and so on. It's like buying in bulk! :)
  • Quality based on price. Now they may be knock offs but they do have quality. Some knock offs are 8 for 4 but the dolls are not articulated while some are 17.99 free shipping for 4 dolls but are articulated in some areas then you have ones that are the perfect matches to monster high and are around 20 dollars for two. Go with the for two if you are looking to replace doll parts.
  • Look at the pictures closely. Look for the doll poses. Are their hands bending in the pose they are making? Are their legs visibly articulated, are their heads sitting on their head correctly? When I got my Monster High knock offs I didn't do these things and ended up with Dolls with terrible neck articulation ((I had to fix this)) and knob hands instead of articulated ones ((Fixed this too))
  • Search. When searching type in the brand's name to find them. They will be obvious knock offs, and yes they have started making monster high and ever after high hybrids. I'd show them here but I don't own the pictures So I won't. 
Now you're all set for getting your dolls happy shopping!!!


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Finished Project. How to make a custom Monster High Boy out of Old doll parts and cornstarch clay.

This project was a lot of work but it only took me a day to build the body.
You will need:
  • A 5 dollar midnight magic doll
  • A knock off monster High doll OR a real one which ever u like to cut up
  • floral wire
  • doll hair
  • A really strong glue such as E-600
  • craft paint
  • satin finish coat
  • dremel4000 
  • cornstarch clay
  • caulk
The first thing you need is a doll design. I designed mine after a pullip. Once I've done that I started to work on my Torso. See, The dolls I've told you to have on hand to recycle are female dolls. The monster high boys are way to bulking for my taste so I figured I could make my own. I made some cornstarch clay and added soft pastels to the mixture to get color in the dough. I wish I hadn't deleted the videos of this process, its a longgg storyy. Sooo Let's put on our imagination caps. 

Using my dremel4000 I cut off the arms and legs of my two old dolls. If U cut carefully into the dolls torso you can take off the arms without damaging the Midnight Magic doll arms and just pop them into the torso, Of course I used my dremel to sand and get the parts to fit perfectly. 
After baking my parts needed I added cornstarch clay feet and ankles to make him taller and as you can see I attached  the parts to the doll. I used the E-600 glue to close cracks for the cornstarch clay created when I sanded the torso and other pats down and also to smooth out the areas where I attached my homemade doll parts. 
I used tape to hold down the parts I glue until they dried completely, Here is what the doll looks like before I painted it. As you can see this is a knock off monster high draculaura doll, head and a midnight magic doll arms. 


I did the doll facial lift I showed you guys before and moved on to painting the doll body and WAAALLAHHH. Custom Monster High boy

here's the doll finished, rerooted, facial lift and ready for clothes
My girls loveee their new playmate lolz. I think I should make more boys. 
I'm sorry this post wasn't as detailed as I planned but my camera just sucked...really sucked...Better luck next time...Hope you don't mind. 



How to make a dollhouse out of Cardboard and Caulk: Factory loft update

So assssss you should know if you're reading my blog and stuff I have been working on this dollhouse working with cardboard and caulk so todayyyy I have updates. I have been going through a lot of stuff that's preventing me from finishing up furniture thats for sale. I'm moving so slow I'm wondering If I should get a sweat shop LOLZ. Anyways here's what we got so far.




So With the bricks I painted them then took white craft paint and dry brushed it over the bricks to look more realistic and I painted the walls the same way to get the factory affect.
I added wood flooring from scrap book paper and painted the rest to look like concrete.
Here Are my dolls to scale :D 



I also added these wooden beams to the ceiling. 

Can't have a factory loft without metal vents
But thats all for today!! :) I'll update again soon