I forgot I wanted to add this: http://www.monsterhigh.com/  This is a link to the Monster High colls I was talking about in class.  Certainly I did not steal any content from them, their dolls are very unique, both in concept and design.  However, considering the popularity (and COST) of these dolls, I could see if BWS ever did come out with their own dolls how they might be very marketable right now.  There is a movement in girl's toys towards the gothic or darker side which is apparent considering the popularity of these dolls.  They are owned and manufactured by Mattel, who is also the maker of Barbie dolls.  If anyone gets the chance, check out the Monster High dolls, they are very interesting.

Its been a busy weekend! Im pretty excited for Thrusday & really happy with how all my work has been going. Its just now--I have to know when to stop! I added some new features to my doll.. I wasnt quite pleased with her dress & I wanted her fingernails painted. So added those touches. I changed her dress.. I didnt sew one, but I took a Barbie dress and modified it, along with a pair of shoes & a box. I am not going to post any pictures of the final doll, I want to wait to reveal her on Thursday. But I am going to show some in-process photos just to give an idea of what Ive been working on. I also finished up my bubbles, bubble gum & nail polish labels. I decided to not do the blister pack of gum since I decided to work on a box to put the doll in. Also I have som little hair thingies I may add and a play scene I am trying to decide whether to include or not. I also have the charm guide, gift card & tips/tricks guide I am still working on. My last item is a label for the front of the cauldron to just tie everything together. So that would make my kit include: a doll (with dress, shoes & broom-all which have been modified, painted, etc by me), a jar of bubble gum, a container of bubbles, tips & tricks guide w/gift card included, 2 nail polishes, the cauldron w/label, a play scene & the hair clips. I think that is more than my original plan, even with the exception of the blister pack of gum. Below are some in-process photos I have been taking & some jpegs of my PS files.

This is Hazel after removing the dress, with the dress, shoes & box I chose to work with.  Her broom was already completed.

 

Close up of shoes I had begun to work on:

 

Painted fingernails!

 

 

The dress I chose work with, which I covered in black paint & then sparkly finger nail polish, sounds weird, but looks super cool.

 

Supplies to paint my box (I chose to do it this way just for cost.  This box & the doll inside cost 3.00 at Big Lots.  I was able to take the dress off the doll, the shoes & the box & discard the doll cheaper than if I would have tried to print out the box with the plastic acetate.)

 

Here is an in-process shot of the box.  Trust me, it turned out better than I expected!

 

Here is a shot of the charm guide.  I started with the old photo template I created for baby ampersand & modified it in PS w/ the clone tool, the burn tool & C/P.

 

Here is an in-process shot of the whole thing.  It will have the charm guide on one side & the tips/tricks on the other, with the gift card at the bottom.  The charm guide is pixelated right now, I am going to have to redo that text by hand.

 

 

My bubble gum wrapper with the text: (I also added ingredients & the BWS logo, but I was already uploading as I continued to work):

 

 

 Witch's Brew Bubbles (same story as the bubble gum):

 

 

And this is the play scene.  I hope to get it laminated, or onto something that will convey the idea I have.  We'll see if it happens before Thursday!! :)

 

 

 

 

I've put a lot of work, a lot of time & a lot of effort in to this project, but its been the most fun I have had on a project in quite a while.  I've really loved this assignment & I hope the final product conveys how enriching I've found this whole experience to be!  It was really nice to be able to use some techniques and skills that I hadn't utilized in a really, really LONG TIME & to find out they had some practical use after all!

Since Thursday I have been working on my Launch Kit.  I decided I am going to be making a "Bublle Witch" doll, and am super excited about it.  I wanted to make the doll green, but unfortunately my attempts to dye the whole doll did not pan out.  I tried a few different things, and only ended up dying the crease of her neck!  I gave up, lol and moved on to paint.  I really liked the effect of the paint and I am going to stick with it.  I was also able to find a cauldron at the Dollar Tree (SCORE), not as nice as the one I foudn online, but about 11.00 dollars cheaper, so there ya go.  I was also able to find the perfect jar and gum balls for my "potion jar" bubble gum & found the perfect purple bubble container for my Witch's Brew bubbles.  I also procured a bottle of green & black nail polish, but labels will have to be made for them as all attempts to remove the labeling on them has failed.  I also came across a witch's hat I really liked, but am unsure how or if I will use it.  All ina ll its been very productive.  I also spent some time working on my labels further, but am stymied by the search for a font.  I couldnt uncover a "Bubble Witch" font, and while I found some i liked, when i added them to my label I wasn't so hot about them anymore.  I have some screen shots below of my progress:

 

Here is the My Scene doll donated by my wonderful daughters, I have removed her factory face paint & am optimistic about dying her green!

 

Optimism misplaced: plastic body resists my dying efforts, but creases in neck are green!!

 

I went ahead with my green plan & painted the face & upper torso green.  Her hands & lower arms will also get painted this same color of green.

 

Just another angle.  I cheated by choosing a doll that already had red hair!  Her legs I am going to try and paint with black & white striped to simulate striped stockings.

 

This is the image I started off with, taken from a Bubble Witch fan site.

I used content aware & the clone tool to get rid of the witches and make a clean template to work with.  I had this done in class before I left on Thursday.

Over the weekend I moved the to the middle and fleshed out the tree to be "whole" using content aware & the clone tool.

 

I sticthed together a few more panels and made the label longer for my bubble container.  I was able to single out the word "witch" but looking for a matching font has been a problem so far.

I just beat level 49!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So stinking excited!

Thats right.. only one other person is ahead of me in BWS (my MOM) and I beat her high score, ahahaha!

So, here I am! :)  Sadly I missed last weeks blog post (wi-fi wouldnt co-operate with me), but Im here now!  Ive spent my time wisely working on this lauch kit assignment, and Im really excited about my ideas.  Im sure no one remembers my game which was (the) Bubble Witch Saga.  I researched the game (I may have in the past YOUTUBE-d some video to help me "defeat" a level) and found there is lots and lots of content out there, fan pages, etc to help you advance through the levels, but not any backstory about the characters, mainly the witches.  Not that I could find, anyway.  Here are some to help anyone who hasn't ever played get a feel for the game:

Bubble Witch Sage is -extremely- addicting & fairly difficult once you get upwards in levels, and even before this assignment I was -shhh- level 49.  For me to get committed to a game (especially a VIDEO game) is extrememly rare.  I am going to admit, here, on my blog... once upon a time, I was a fairly serious tabletop gamer (role player, yes I admit it!!!)  But computer games, video games, etc never really appealed to me.  But (the) Bubble Witch, oh I do love it.  After several straight days of playing Im still.. maddeningly enough, level 49.  Im haunting by the things I have done for an extra life, but so far I have resisted the urge to pay for anything (like charms, spells, extra bubbles, etc).  BUT... if there were something like a launch kit offered for this game, and it included items such as:

-a special edition "Bubble Witch" Doll
-exclusive bonus outfit w/hat, broom & shoes
-Witch's Brew Bubbles
-"Witchy" Bubble Gum either in a pack or
- Collectors Edition Potion Jar
- TEN DOLLARS of BUBBLE WITCH "CASH"
- BONUS "cheat" codes, special "hidden" level codes, etc
- ALL IN A COLLECTOR'S BUBBLE WITCH SAGA CAULDRON

I'd be all over it.  Its my own idea and I'm so excited I want to run out and sit in front of Game Stop like it's Black Friday. 

Now, the next question?  How much of this is feasible?  Well, all of it.  Many years ago, waaaay back before I decided to put the nebulous idea of going back to school into action, I was really into Barbie collecting & OOAK dolls.  That meant I liked to collect Barbies and also take them, strip them of make-up and recreate them in my own way.  I've rewigged Barbies, re-painted them, re-outfitted them, etc.  Its not easy, but I'm excited to make my own "Bubble Witch" doll.  And outfit.  Thats going to be the more idfficult part, but Im willing to work through it.  The bubbles, "gift certificate" and codes shouldn't be too difficult, nor should the bubble gum package for the bubble gum sticks.  The gum balls & potion jar might present more of a challenge, but I haven't decided which I am going to attempt.  The Witch's Cauldron to put everything in... well, Halloween is in a little over a month, so that shouldn't be too difficult to find (a plastic one of course).  There will of course be some type of label or wrap on the cauldron, or it may end up painted, etc. 

I'm so excited I already started trying to dye a Barbie green, like any good witch should be!

So since Thursday I have been working on my empty book project.  I decided to go with the "&" because, honestly, I really love the ampersand.  Its a story Ive always found fascinating, but not so much anyone else Ive ever shared it with.. so a "Thrilling Tale", its not.  For most, anyway.  For those who don't know, & used to be considered the 27th letter of the alphabet and was placed behind the "z".  (Your eyes are already crossing with boredom... you dont care where the & used to be, I know!)  Four years of Latin taught me "et" translates as "and", and the ampersand is a ligature mark of the letters "E" and "T".  You always knew it, even though you didnt know you knew it... almost everyone writes "and" by making a mark that on close inspection... it looks like an "e" and a "t"! 

 

If you want to know more about the real story of ampersand, heres the wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand. 

 

Otherwise, back to my project, which is what you folks are really interested in (Im assuming!)

 

So I started with this idea of poor &, all alone in his big, old mansion, forgotten by the whole world.  He used to be SOMEBODY, the 27th letter and now he's... well, he's just something lazy people use in text messages.  And not even, now they just use "n".  How far the mighty have fallen!  So my cover is just going to be a large &, maybe with a top hat and a sparse title.  But lots more work went into this book cover than that.  I needed a font that said... avant garde and lost grandeur, that conveyed the feeling of old money & cobwebs.  I settled on Birch Standard after roadtesting a MILLION fonts it felt like.  I wanted a "thinner" body on the &, and I wanted to achieve it without warping the letter in PS.  Also I want on the back a portrait of good ol' & in his glory days, along with a photo of him with dear ol' Mom. 

 

I have most of this finished, except for the portrait.  I also have it on both a white background w/black text & white brackground with the text knocked out.  I also am tossing around the idea of making part of the text red.

 

Here's where I started from:

 

 

 

Yes, thats a photo of my grandmother in front of the Fuquay Springs High School.  Fascinating, right?

 

 

 

 

And here, you have a blank template.  I used PS and made just a blank, vintage photo background.  Guess whats going to go here?  Baby &, you got it!

 

 

Look!!  Its baby Ampersand and his dear ol' Mom.  Yes, when Ampersand was a baby, he was in fact Garamond.  Good eye!  Anyway, I spent a while on this... all the elements are crafted out of Garamond typeface letters, regular and italic.  I messed with it a bit, making sure all of the nice vintage-y parts really came through.

 

 

And this is what I have so far, on the white background.  (Disregard that hat, Im going to make one of my own, its just a place holder for now).

 

I really love the black one, although I think Mr. Persand looks thinner on the white.  Also, I think if I choose the black, a pop of red (whether from a hat or text) is going to be necessary.  I actually love it, so far... but what does everyone else think?

 

(On the back there will be a wood portrait of &).

 



Well I have been sort of struggling with this weeks assignment.  Its not that I dont get the concept, because I do--and I actually love it.  A blank book is very witty & leaves a lot of room to be creative and to think out of the box.  Its just with so much going on in my life right now... its tough to break down the walls of that box & get out!  I really loved some of the ther ideas presented in class, and I actually really like my concepts as well.  Its just... how to take the ideas & turn it into a witty title?  Not only that but I sort of feel like in my portfolio I have really represented the fact Im a mother repeatedly, along with my love of anything tropical.  If Im left to my own devices, it would always have a palm tree, white sand & sunlight as far as the eye could see.  But I dont want to put myself ina  corner & become a one-trick pony.  That being said: my two fav concepts deal with this idea of sunbathing/moonbathing (along with sand, palm tree & moonlight) & raising perfect kids (or perfectly balancing your life).  Sometimes you cant keep fighting what resonates, I guess!  I know we're supposed to have nailed a concept by now, but Im still trying to sort out which I like best, so I included four of my fav sketches for each concept.  (As I write this blog I have also started to sketch another b/c for some reason I was so caught up in the carnival/photo stream that I missed out on the whole idea of "balancing".  A counter with some kitchen scales might work for the "happy kiddos" concept).  Anyway... here are my sketches! (which I added upside down & am now fixing!!)

 

 

 

 



In other news I am (not) pleased to report that I have been working on my comp for Thursday for our 16 week project (my topic is anxiety/panic).  My project is going to revolve around a campaign/educational effort to make teachers, parents & peers more aware of the effects, etc of panic/anxiety on tween/teenagers & I wanted to start with something that would sort of help kids with this problem communicate to someone they were having a "bad day" without actually coming out and saying.. "HEY I think Im about to experience some moderate to severe anxiety and/or panic attack and I would like a little space."  Some after thinking it through I came up with this idea of a bracelet (unisex of course) that kids could wear & it would be something that didnt cause too much comment or bring any attention to the wearer.  One side would be blue & the other red (blue = all's good & red=not so good).  So I tossed out this idea of using two rubber bracelets that I would fuse together somehow... maybe glue them, or sew them (As Tyler so kindly suggested).  Well, so far, no such luck.  I was able (luckily) to buy several from work (and save Aine the disappointment of her Mom destroying her stash, which incidentally I paid more for, so better all around), but.... gluing, sewing & double-sided taping have -NOT- worked.  Im going to continue to experiement b/c I am committed to having something tangible for class on Thursday night.  Wishing everyone else good luck on their comps as well !!