Friday, July 27, 2007

I've been tagged, here are 8 completely pointless things to know about me!

Baxojayz tagged me, so let's play along, shall we?


To start:

1) Post these rules


2) Post 8 random facts about yourself


3) Tag and name 8 more bloggers


4) Let them know that they're tagged at their blog


Here we go:

1)My name was supposed to be Giulia, but then my parents fell in love with Ilaria and so that was it. In case I was a boy I was supposed to be called Riccardo, apparently! My father decided I didn't need a middle name: he said it was pointless as one name was more than enough and so it was better to avoid confusion. I actually like my name, so I guess I'm lucky, as so many people I know really can't stand theirs... but I just couldn't imagine myself being called anything but Ilaria!

2)Technically I'm an accountant: the thing is that I hate accountancy and I know absolutely nothing about it. I don't wonder how the hell I managed to take my high school diploma simply because I know how Italian School works: if you heaar that our system is superior to others from a cultural point of view (Italians tend to believe this happy crappy), well, that's just bullsh*t: I went through 3 years of accountancy and bank subjects and I never studied any of them... and yet I managed to get my piece of paper and with quite a nice final grade at that! My real passions are artistic subjects and languages!

3)I used to make soaps from scraps! Big, chunky ones made with caustic soda, olive, almond and coconut oil, cocoa butter and a lot of other nice ingredients. I use to cut them up in pieces and they almost always had a lot of stuff in them: flower petals, glitters, bits of soap in other colors and fragrances... I had a lot of fun making them and they also made very pretty gifts. But I had to give up as I picked this hobby up while living in UK: back to Italy it was really hard to find the raw materials I needed (except for the olive oil of course) and it became quite expensive. So I stopped and a little later I picked up Garage Kits instead! Either way, when I need to relax I have to go creative: messing up with colors, materials, tools and whatnot really helps me unplugging from everything else. This of course doesn't mean I'm good... it just means I enjoy messing up my room (or my kitchen, when making soaps).

4)In London I used to live in a purple room: it was an attic, and I had my bed just underneath the skylight... it would have been very nice if I lived in a country where you could see the stars every once in a while! My friends used to say that my room looked just like me: when I moved in the walls were a horrible yellow, but after a couple of months I decided to paint them purple... well, more like wisteria, I guess! Anyway, it's always been one of my fav colors and by mere chance the door was already purple at the time, so I got a nice lampshade made of tulle the same color in Covent Garden and... well, some paint and brushes. I also used to have tons of candles burning and a blue light pointing at a row of circular mirrors hanging from my skylight, so at night it felt like a cross between an aquarium (and besides, I did have 3 goldfishes, Pippo, Gippo and Carmelo) and a cathedral. I miss that room, it was a mess, but it felt right for me!

5)Got a 3 and 1/2 years old black cat named Akira. Well, at least on the Vet's papers that's his name, but in truth we never call him that since my mother never liked the name. So... well, we usually just call him "gatto" ("cat") which sounds a lot like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany, I know! What can I say, not everybody shares my passion for Japan and Japanese culture, apparently not even my cat since he doesn't come if I call him Akira!

6)I used to play the guitar: I've never been that good at it but I could manage a summer bonfire with my friends or a couple of hours to entertain myself. I love the folk one, although I'm dying to get an electric one too, but I never really had a chance... besides, unfortunately I live in a condo and my neighbours are already in love with my compressor, which I use mainly in the late evening/early night! I haven't really played in a couple of years, but lately I did find I miss it and so I intend to pick it up again. So a couple of days ago I went to get a new set of strings since mine were really old and one was broken. I couldn't find my usual brand and I was advised about this other one, that was supposed to be even better in quality... Well, as soon as I started the tuning process I broke one, and then a second too... that set sucked, and I also hurt myself with the first one! I wish I had the time to go back to the store and strangle the owner with the remaining ones, but unfortunately I was in a hurry as I was moving to my summer house for the rest of the season... so here I am, with a guitar and no strings! I still hope to find a shop here so I can buy a new set, but I'm so pissed off that the first appointment I have on my agenda in Sept is with that shop owner!

7)When I'm asked which is my fav movie I never know what to answer as I don't really have one. I love to watch the ones I like over and over until I know them by heart and I can act over them, even respecting the pauses and all ( I wish I could really act though!).
I'm really eclectic: among the ones I like the most are Gone with the Wind, Dawn of the Dead (the G. Romero one, 1978), Heathers, Amelie, Thelma and Louise, The Crow, The Godfather, Tootsie, Battle Royal, Breakfast at Tiffany... I don't even remember all of them! Why stick to just one kind when there are so many stories out there to be told? And the same goes for music, books, anime...

8)3 years ago I had eyes surgery: I never got used to wear glasses and I abused contact lenses, so that at the end my eyes were rejecting them. I'm a cry-baby when it comes to pain and so I was pretty scared, but I was also sure I wanted to go for it as I was oh-so tired! The whole operation lasted a couple of minutes per eye, but it took the doc some 15 minutes to have me ready as I kept shaking, and I wasn't supposed to move. In the end it went very smoothly, it was quick and quite painless... but what I'll never forget is the smell of something burning while the laser was doing its job, and thinking Oh my goodness, this is my eye burning! That really could have freaked me out, but in the end I didn't have the time to panic because everything was very fast!
Now I'm perfectly happy and I advise all my friends (well, all my glass-wearing ones) to go for it, but I tend to not to tell them about the smell... I mean, why freak them out? Besides, it was a rather... interesting experience! Let them find out by themselves as I did! Afterall, nobody told me!


Tagged:

Machine Mess

Annya

Christopher

Sophie

Gmobile

Pitanga

Kyle

cwmodels

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Rug?

I might have found the right one... I mean, it is perfect, but the store usually sells wholesale and I'm not sure they'll make one single piece just for my pretty face! Besides, it seems to be very expensive... maybe leaving out the fringe will cost a little less?

Otherwise I found a very nice selection of Turkish rugs for dollhouses: they are surely cheaper but they are rectangular, and I don't like that a lot because with the shape of her skirt Shinku really needs a round one; I could settle for a square if the size is right, but rectangular? I really wonder! (?_?)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Shinku with Kun Kun - Completed!

Done! Well, sort of, since I still need to add a base, but as said that'll have to wait for Sept.
Gee, I really suck at taking photos... I'll try to do better with the ones for the contest, with base and withouth watermark.

Anyway... well, it took longer than I expected but still nothing compared to my standard times... there IS hope then! ^_^
Ja ne!



Shinku with Kun Kun Wip - Stage IV - photo


Shinku with Kun Kun Wip - Stage IV


I've managed to repaint her legs/shoes and, while I still have to perfection my rendering of white, I'm truly satisfied with the effect I achieved on her varnished shoes.

KunKun is also painted (he needs a little shading though) and I touched up her back bow, where some paint came off, and her sleeves.

I'm still not satisfied with her eyes, need to work on them a little more.

Pics will follow, didn't take any last night (^_^);

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Not much to report because...

...yesterday I had a very busy day and so I was just too tired to paint last night. Too bad: it was too good to be true for me to finish a model in 2 days... oh well, welcome back to reality!

My cat has a mycosis (a fungal infection) and we have to treat it, but with him it's just impossible: between my mother and I we couldn't slap some of that purple crap on his paws and now I wonder, since she's moving to Palinuro tomorrow, while I'll follow next week, how the hell she's gonna handle it alone! (?_?)

Thanks God tomorrow is Friday!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Shinku with Kun Kun Wip - Stage III

Left to do: legs, Kun Kun, eyes (what you see is just a color test), some touch ups on ribbons and sleeves/hands where some color bled. Assemble it, of course. Since I work at night these photos are taken with flash as usual, so you can't see the shading done on the hair... I'm pretty satisfied about it actually: I was considering adding some chameleon gold to it, but then I decided I like it as it is, maybe with just some more highlight. If everything goes as planned tomorrow she's finished and I should be able to post up some decent photos in 2 days.



The base is another matter: I'd like to try and sit her on a carpet, but that's a little complicated and it will probably have to wait till September.
Well, this is it for now!

Monday, July 9, 2007

Shinku with Kun Kun Wip - Stage II

It's really going smoothly... I hope to be able to keep it going like this, and I might actually use Shinku for one of the many contests running this year.
Ok, some tecnical details: she's being airbushed with Createx colors, although I'll probably use Americana too at some point. For her dress I used Opaque Red, Clear Dark Brown for the shadings, Clear Leaf Green and Clear Forest Green for the bows.






More to come tomorrow... hopefully! It's a Monday of a horrible week starting, but at least I'll manage to relax a little with Shinku and Kun Kun!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Shinku with Kun Kun Wip

Although I already have some models to finish, I just couldn't resist and tackled this one too. Shinku is the first original I start: the cast is quite good, barely noticeable seam-lines, pinholes only where they will not be seen, some cleanup to do especially on her ponytails.


Here she is, cleaned, washed and pinned!



More to come!

Rozen Maiden Models

Rozen Maiden is my latest discovery anime-wise, but needless to say I found out about it through Garage Kits. I've just finished watching both seasons plus the OAV and I also gave word to my comic shop guy to start looking for the manga for me (I only have #4 at the moment).
Here are the kits I got so far:





I got these 2 from Yahoo Japan because I couldn't find them as recasts... they cost some $$$ but it was totally worth it! This Suigintou is the most beautiful one around IMO and Shinku is just too cute and peaceful looking. I already started the pinning process on her because I couldn't resist.
To place Rozen Maiden models scale is quite difficult and they are often refered to as non-scale. These 2 are quite large, I'd say a 1/5 scale maybe if they weren't supposed to be dolls. Since they are though, and thus they are smaller than average anime characters, they are then to be considered even bigger. However all this is too complicated, so let's just say they are a very nice size to work with! (^_^);
The followings are recasts I already ordered and paid for (after sorting my credit card problems due to the trip to Spain) but I'll be getting them on September because in a few days I'll be leaving for Palinuro: another Suigintou, sitting on a street-lamp with a real light inside, my fav character Suiseiseki and another Shinku.





This one is still in preorder: there aren't many models of the boyish doll Souseiseki, twin sister of Suiseiseki. This one is nice, although I suspect it's rather small. So I'm on the hunt through YJ to find some more.




Wishlisted:





Geesh, if I lived to be a hundred and worked on models everyday I couldn't finish all the models I already own, let alone the ones I preoredered... well, it will be my legacy to some lucky one!

Friday, July 6, 2007

Shoot...

Almost a month with no new posts!
I just came back from Spain last night, and the truth is that lately I've been so busy that I couldn't update my blog nor finish poor Holiday... and to think she was supposed to be ready in few days!
Anyway, I'll try to post something about my trip soon, including the goodies I got there! (modeling-wise, i don't think anyone would be interested in seeing my new skirts and shoes and stuff like that! LOL)