some of you may still remember those early days when sd released the jewellery design studio. looking back i think this was the time when dollywood took a new turn, for the good or the bad is a question everybody has to answer for themselfs. in my life outside of sd i'm not really cool around change, i like it when things stay the way they are but at the same time i absolutly know that change is something nobody can escape from. so not even our sd community can stay the way it where when first opening its doors in 2007.
stardoll 2007
stardoll 2014
looking at the above pictures i'm somewhat glad about the change sd has going through these past ... wow almost 8 years!
however while the side has changed the medolls have changed so much too. which leads me back to the above mentioned jewellery design studio. the creative members took this new tool sd gave them and used it for something entirely different.
here we can see some wigs created with the feathers which where part of the jewellery design studio. feathers which where suppused to be used as charms for earrings and or necklaces suddenly became hairstyles. the sd community always tried to get a wider range of haistyles but sd never fullfilled those whishes pushing their creative users to find another way to make those hairstyles available.
now they seem really … not very pretty. but thats just because today we have the actual hair styling studio. something sd only created because they must have saw their users need for it after seeing all those creative wigs created with feathers.
so after months of creating and buying the craziest jewellery wigs the sd world got gifted with the hairstyling studio, which lead to a split inside the sd community. on one side we have dolls who stick to the hairstyles sdprovided them with (beautyparlor and tress up) and use dot make up to create a unique face for their doll. the other side not only uses the new wig tool to create their very own hairstyles (some really nice looking and realistic and some kind of freaky looking).
sorigugu in one of her wonderful wig creations
wig by xxxlachellexxx and xxxlachellexxx herself
xxxlachellexxx and sorigugu are two members makeing wonderful, sophisticated and advanced wigs proofing that sd did the absolut right thing by integrating the hairstyling studio into the stardoll experience. at this point i thought about showing you some funny examples the hairstyling studio brought us but then i thought i might hurt some people by posting pictures of their dolls on my blog and talk down their personal style but i think every one of my readers has stumbled upon those "scenekids" who hangout around dollywoods more darker places and had to smirk just a little bit about their very individual way of using the hair styling studio.
besides wigs sd users got creative again and also crafted another accessory to make their dolls even more unique. introducing the face masks.
this face mask was done by the more then talented and very creative _tombstone_ who sadly seems to have retired from the craft of making those wonderful masks. masks that besides make your medolls face look more firm can also be tricky because you can really over do it and make your doll look like someone who's suffering from a nipping and tucking gone wrong.
creating a unique and somewhat realistic looking doll faces, also seems to include your dolls lips. so no worries those are being created too. it seems as long as you have the talent and patience there is nothing you can't create for your doll. all those things changed the way our dolls look. some may stick to the more traditionl ways but even those changed.
a change even i have to admit was a good thing. it gives the dolls a softer look, the only bad thing about it is that those new noses and lips (and so on) are mostly for superstar members, i know those people paying real money to sd and therefor should get some privileges but face attributions shouldn't be one of them.
from kind of quirky looking feather wigs to realistically done wigs, face and lip masks and stardoll designing new mouths, lips and even eyes i saw myself facing a wall of change i couldn't escape from any longer. having all those new ways to make your doll look more lifelike made me uncomfortable, my doll is my doll and she doesn't have too look like a human being. so when i finally decided to gave my doll the "update" i did it because of the stardoll from 2007 and the stardoll today (one website and another website at the same time) and promised myself to keep it medoll like which means not to over do it with the masks and search for wigs that are done with care and love (sounds cheesy i know).
A_Horror
A_Horror 2.0
she looks so different but maybe thats just me. i like them both and i can't really say if this change is final. for those who are curious this is what i changed: mouth, nose, eyes. the eyes i changed a while ago so thats why there is no difference between the eyes of a_horror and a_horror 2.0 .
however i searched some hours to find the right wig, i wanted one who looked nice and i can't really discribe what kind of nice i mean here but i found a nice one (haha) at the bazaar of sorigugu, and then i searched for masks and found one too (sadly i forgot where i bought it ... sorry). one that was plain and not too much. now my doll still looks like herself but also completely different which at the end of the day was my plan all along. so misson accomplished.
i wrote this post not only for you but also a tiny bit for myself because when i looked at my kind of new doll i wanted to remember the old one as well and suddenly wanted to sum up all thoses changes that are going on in dollywood these days. maybe you kind of see those changes too and maybe you also are kind of not clear on this whole wigs and masks thing (or you simply don't care at all) let me tell you that it's always good take a step back and think about what is it you like about your old self or your old medoll and than try to figure out who to keep those good old things alive without suffocating the new good things and that is something that goes for your stardoll world just as much as your outside world. after all those talk about change and medoll transformation you may could shape your own opinion about it or you had a clear stand about it from the beginning ether way feel free add your thoughts to this post by leaving a comment in my medolls guestbook or don't it's your decision.
(couldn't resist posting this here … this song is way to good to be associated with stardoll
but on the other hand who cares anyway)
so long