Kool Aid, my epic hair dye fail

I may have mentioned it on my blog - I don't know for sure, but any one who talks me has heard more than once about my really frustrating allergy that I developed towards hair dye. I think I have already mentioned it, but I will say it again because saying it has some sort of venting power. (Like if I say it loud enough, with enough feeling, enough times, the hair gods will hear me, be moved with pity, and will right this egregious wrong.) It also explains my stubborn determination with trying kool -aid to color my hair.

Now, it works. With mixed results for various people, depending on natural (or starting point) hair color. It also depends on how much and what colors of kool aid you try. In theory, the lighter your hair color is, the better kool aid takes to it. In theory. My hair is in the dish water blonde category, so *in theory,* mine should take to it much easier than say, someone with dark hair. I have tried 4 different colors, with 4 different methods. And here are my (unfortunately) photo less results. (I wish I had pics of it all, but never took the time to really try except once to capture any of the colors.)

First off, I went with grape. (Come to find out, that is a harder color to actually have success with. Should have known I was doomed for failure from the start.) I first tried the "make a paste and mix with conditioner" method. I let it sit for over 4 hours. I couldn't take any more of the smell after that much time, so I was pretty much like "the hell with this" and rinsed it out with conditioner only, per instructions. (Later I found some people advised only rinsing initially with water. I did that later....)

Result: nothing. Maybe a slight, slight frost look that managed to mellow out the grays (yep, I got them) and that was about it.

Next attempt landed me with choosing - yet again - a very hard color to get results with. Orange. (I have a fantasy of having orange and black hair. More achievable than my ultimate fantasy of black and white/silver.) This time I boiled some water, made a paste and brushed it via a tooth brush on to my hair. I let it set the recommended 45 minutes. Then I heat set it with a blow dryer, and washed it with conditioner. (No, its not color safe conditioner.)

The result:
A little color stayed, albeit, predominantly on my scalp. But, it did give a bit of orangey tones to the blonder hairs that have an orangey tone more naturally. It was more visible in he sunlight. This washed out when I did actually wash my hair with shampoo.

Attempt number 3. I went with Black Cherry. Surely if success was to be had, it would be with red. After all, people have had it last for MONTHS merely dip dyeing their hair! So, I did followed the instructions which said to bring water to a boil, add the kool aid, boil for one minute, then soak for 20-30 minutes. I did have a slight hiccup in my prep time, but I figured I'd go ahead with it. So, after soaking my head in a large plastic bowl, bent over on my knees, and the allotted time had passed, I was extremely excited. The color of the liquid was beautifully bloody, and I had visions of having this deep blood red hair. I also heat set it without washing. And then I looked in the mirror.

The result:
Barely a thing. I did not wash my hair out that night, figuring I would leave it until morning. I ended up leaving it longer as I wanted to keep that slight burgundy frosted look. As soon as I washed it, it was all gone. (Save again, the stubborn residue on my scalp. I don't have a shower which would make it much easier to wash out than just having a bath tub.)

Final time - the vinegar method! I went with blue. (2 cups water, 1-2 T vinegar) This time I boiled the water, then added the powder and boiled for the suggested 10 minutes. I let it barely cool before dunking my head, and stayed put in that uncomfortable position (which would have been so worth it....) for 35 minutes. Once that was done, I heat set it once again, and left it in my hair to be taken care of in the morning. This was my best attempt.

Result:
It ended up not being that gorgeous shade of blue, but instead turned almost greenish teal-ish. (Not unusual.) It did not color my hair over all, but just sort of gave a sheen to it. Some strands had zero color. Some were teal, and some a frosty silver blue. When I did wash my hair with shampoo and conditioner like normal, most of it washed out. A little color lingers, which you might only be able to see in certain lighting.

I have definitely given up on kool aid at this point. People might say I did this or that wrong and that's why it didn't work for me. There are quite a few different tutorials on how to do it (believe me, I have spent way too much time researching this), and I tried 4 different methods. So I think at this point, I will throw in the kool aid towel. If it works for you, good for you. (grumble, lol)

I will take my impervious- to-kool-aid-hair and just go the henna & indigo route. I really only want black hair any ways. The reasons I have not done it yet have been the concerns over the messiness, from application to washing it out, as well as where to buy it to begin with.

Gareth Pugh in BJD form

I thought I'd already blogged this. I guess it fell into the "meant to do long enough it became already done in my mind" category. So, here goes!

I found a WTC post on DoA for a Gareth Pugh outfit. I had seen this outfit before - in fact, it is the same one someone is planning to have made for their recently ordered Ringdoll. She offered me the project for when her doll came in. Sadly, I do not have the right doll size for it at this very moment, and so I feel that it would require too much adjusting to achieve the right fit. (I have plans to right this horrible wrong, though, as I have found a doll I want....) I always get very disappointed when I am unable to sew an outfit that is really inspiring for me, so, when I saw a WTC for that same outfit I was already so in love with, I had to message the person.  Then I proceeded to go through the (self inflicted) agony thinking it must have already been snatched up when I didn't hear back from her within a few hours. (Sheesh, self, patience!) In the end, I got the project. (No, no one else got there first. My devastation was overblown as per usual.) The doll this project is intended for is an IoS 70cm with measurements pretty similar to my Dollshe Hound.

I am sewing the tunic part in pleather, with the skirt in gauze. The outfit also includes some black knit tights. Or maybe leggings would be the more appropriate term. I love the affect of the crisp pleather with the soft flowing gauze.

This outfit is just gorgeous. I love the detailed piecing of the bodice, and sleeves. Here is the inspiration pic:

I really enjoyed figuring out the pattern for this. It was sort of like building a puzzle. Here's the outfit on my Hound. (Please forgive the less than perfect pics.)

 Ambrose looks just.....amazing in this. I have dreamed for so long about having a Dollshe, and here is my very own Hound. In something I made for him that I love THIS much!!! It just makes me so happy. I'm so proud of this guy. (Yep, he still needs a face up. I just need to decide first on what I want to do with him!)

Work has since commenced on my actual commission piece. The above you see on Ambrose is pretty much my test run, so the outfit my buyer will get will be much more perfect. (I did a quick partial bodice in cotton, and just went onto the pleather. Its one of those outfits that I felt I needed the actual fabric to see how the pattern was coming together. Sometimes this is for fabric weight, sometimes it is just to get the right aesthetic idea, and since cotton is so different than pleather, it didn't work as comfortably for me.) The gauze skirt on her's is much fuller and a little longer, which is definitely an improvement. I'm going to get some more gauze and re-make one for my doll.

The  IoS doll I am sewing for has bigger shoulder and chest measurements, which is actually - normally - a very quick adjustment. Somehow I fumbled that one, and made a dumb mistake that I kind of knew at the time was a mistake, but I did it any way. I would have already had it done by now. *face palm* As it stands, I have fixed my mistake, which was simple since I knew darn well what I had done. I should have it completed *hopefully* at the end of the week. So excited to get this to her gorgeous boy! :D

Now that I have seen one outfit designed by Gareth Pugh on my Hound, I think I will pursue recreating some more for my boy on down the road! He has some seriously amazing outfits. I love the post apocolpytic, cyber, vampire, goth sort of look.

Asylum Chic and Halloween Industrial...for the mice??? *Picture heavy*

Yep! For the Cheese mice. :) Instead of working on the Dark Mori outfit I intend to make for my Hound for the Project Journal Round on DoA (my plans, my plans, I never stick to them) I got my critters out yesterday, wanting to come up with some sort of idea that I like, will continue to like, and that will give them each a defined style and presence. I have tried different things for them - more like have come up with different plans for them, but nothing really has ever stuck. Yesterday after doing some sketching that went nowhere, an idea clicked in my head.

I decided to start with Blueberry. I had already made some simple little black twill pants back several months ago. So for this guy, all he needed to have was a shirt. I decided to try and make the mummy, asylum chic style of shirt (no, this isn't original) similar to one I started making for SD size (and consequently, have never finished in the last couple of year - yikes.) I thought it would be pretty simple, and while it was, I had no idea it would take me as long as it did. O.o

Basic pieces in white cotton. I sewed the shoulder seams together before I should have.

Next step, the tiny little strips. There were 18 on one sleeve, 17 on the other.

I tried to figure out a way to make more blind stitches, but do to the size, and the fraying tendency of the fabric, I just took small running stitches. At first I was disappointed, but the more rows I did, the more I decided it was perfect, and added to the effect. Below is the finished right sleeve.

And now the front and one back. As you see, I did take the shoulder seams apart in order to better sew on the strips.

And just a cute pic of Blueberry holding his finished sleeves in excitement...(Lovely background, eh?)

4 hours later, it is finished. My regret is not taking the time to fray check the strips before sewing them on. I love the shredded effect, which got  more shredded in my struggle to turn those loooong sleeves inside out. (It wouldn't have hurt to have made them a wee bit wider for that reason.) I luckily only managed to pull off one strip which is some sort of miracle. I was having visions of having to toss out the whole thing at that point while I tried - as gently as I could - to pull those sleeves through. What a relief when I finally did!) I had put a slit in either sleeve so he could get his paws through to use his hands, which not only looks cool, but helped greatly in the turning-the-sleeves-inside-out drama.

It will have a chain sewn onto the shirt, and also the pants. I *know* I have one around here somewhere, but I have no idea where it is. I really don't think I used it for something else, unless it was Ambrose' bondage pants....I'll just have to get another one. And then it will be perfect! :D 

I do intend to try and go in there with a tooth pick or something to maybe add some fray check to it. I'll update later if I did, what I did, and if it worked. Even if I don't, it is technically fine. I'll just handle it with care.

And here he is with his twin, Grape Jelly. I'll do a separate post for his outfit, as I have WIP and the story to tell for that one too. :) 

Went to Nashville yesterday, visited the AG store!

Which is about 2 1/2 hours from where we are staying. They have an AG store there at the mall, so we were really excited to get the chance to visit. For some reason we had this hair brained idea that we could stop by there on the way to KY on our move here - yeah right. Like we' re going to even want to stop there on a 4 (and it ended up being a 5) day move? It was a fun thought initially, but I am definitely glad we waited.

We got a pretty early start, fueled up on gas and coffee (32 oz cup for me!) and we were on our way. My Freya (a gift from a friend - thank you so much - you know who you are!) came along with me. She's been rather needy since her arrival. She's wearing a Blythe dress that no one else is needing, and I think it looks cute on her. Blythe clothes are slim picking 'round these parts as sewing for them seems to always end up on the bottom of the stack of priorities. Eventually I will get my Freya named, and dressed in clothing special for her. I'm just not sure what that is at the moment, so she will stay as she is for now.

We got to the mall around 11:45 -ish, just in time for lunch. We brought along deli meat (sun dried tomato roasted turkey is really good) for sandwiches, and once food was downed, off we went.

The Cool Springs Galleria mall is quite large. A 2 story. We came in the mall through Macy's, and once we located one of those mall map thing a ma bops, found that the AG place was in the upper story and all the way on the other side of the mall. Like I said, it was a big mall, so it was quite the walk to get there. I wanted to stop by Hot Topic of course to check out what goodies they might have (I miss the one here, which closed down years ago.) They were having a store wide sale (yay!!) and I looked pretty quickly and ended up heading on to the AG store with the intent to come back later on to make my purchases.

The AG store there is really fun. It's all one level, as opposed to having the Bitty Babies and modern girls on the bottom floor like they had in D.C. (Actually, Tyson's Corner in VA.) I prefer the one floor. There were a good spattering of customers, but it wasn't too terribly crowded. The employees could hover annoyingly at times, but again, not too terribly bad. (I had one employee do the "Oh, I just love your coffin bag!" as she obviously craned her neck to make sure I wasn't stealing. *sigh* I totally understand why she would do that. I made sure she saw the inside of it to see for herself there was nothing underhanded going on. Why do people have to steal things?) I took a few pics of Freya checking out all the models and displays. Here is my favorite. I think she found a friend she wanted to take home with her. Maybe next time.

I ended up getting some fun stuff on my second trip to Hot Topic. (I know I took forever. It's not a big store, but the really low lights makes it hard to see everything, lol.) I got 2 awesome awesome sweaters with skulls on them (one is long and black, the other is a cream and black stripe) 2 bottles of nail polish, and 3 sets of jewelry.

While I was walking along, I saw a child - probably around 7 maybe? - point at me. Totally normal. I don't mind. Recently I had a 3 year old boy point and me and say "Look, a bat!" (Not sure how I resembled a bat, but I was like "aw, he called me a bat!") I never know what I'll hear, but something along that line, or maybe just a gasp. But this child? She pointed at me, and then, here it came. "Mommy, look, an EMO!" Emo??????? Seriously? I have never been called that before. I guess that's her title for black make up and clothes? (It's not completely untrue, but still, I am no emo.) *face palm* Ah well, what do kids know?

Next came the drive to Bowling Green where we got lost trying to re-find the restaurant of choice for dinner. The food was terrible. That's one thing we'll have to re-adjust to. Around here, there are no decent Mexican restaurants. It's not exactly the right demographic for people to really have much appreciation for good Mexican food. It's okay, though. I truly do not enjoy eating out, and since I am here, if I must, just give me some Long John Silvers, and we're good. :D

Some more pics from the AG store:

I love Mary Ellen more than I expected to. I think she might be coming to live with me at one point!