#sorry this guy is just one of the most fun and easiest creatures to draw

[bees-pees]

drew a bunch of different snufkins. idk much about a few of these so if i got anything wrong, dont bother telling me just think really hard about it and maybe i’ll receive your feedback telepathically in a week or so

OKAY EDIT because multiple people have mentioned it: IM SORRY book snufkin was only depicted with a harmonica. he has an accordion in some of tove’s standalone illustrations and i chose to draw like a very specific snufkin ive seen in a few drawings from her. the accordion was only for a fun comparison and also because accordions are awesome buut that wasnt a very good representation of general book snufkin my apologies

[terminally-karkalicious]

allow me to rant about the only thing that has been in my brain for the past two months and that is doll customizing babeyyyyy

i know there’s a 90% chance that you wont give a Shit about any of this but here we go anyways

SO first you gotta choose a doll. preferably one with a high range of motion to avoid creating new joints or having annoying limitations like not having elbow joints for some fucking reason. what the fuck mattel. give monster high dolls back their ball jointed shoulders and elbow joints. smh

the most common dolls ive seen used as bases are monster high and ever after high. most customs ive seen are highly stylized so the stylized face molds work well for those types of dolls but dolls like barbies are good for when you want a more realistic face-ups.

once you’ve got your base picked out you gotta wipe that bitch’s face off with like. acetone or nail polish remover or something strong like that. you can also use acetone to shrink doll heads which is cool as hell imo. n e way once the face is wiped you gotta chop off the hair and remove the hair plugs from the inside. ive seen this done several ways but the easiest and most common way ive seen is to dunk the head into boiling water for ~30 seconds until it gets squishy and malleable. once you’ve got the head back, you can use pliers (i think tweezers would work in a pinch) to pull out the hair plugs which are kinda icky because theyre covered in glue and other gross shit. ew

now you must decapitate the doll. dunk em back in the boiling water to soften them back up then just tug the head off. the neck pegs look funky and are usually a different color than the body so thats cool ig

once the head’s off, you can start the face-up which is basically just giving the doll a new face using stuff like watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, gouache, and a whole lot of other stuff. hell ive seen people use person makeup on these dolls.

next,,,,, hair. there’s about twenty million ways to do hair from gluing yarn wefts to sewing to rerooting with purchased nylon doll hair or yarn wefts but i’m gonna talk about the most common one ive seen which is rerooting and gluing.

before you can reroot, you need doll hair. which, as i mentioned, can be bought at stores like the doll planet or made at home with yarn in literally any color. have fun with it! make rainbow hair or something idk

to make homemade wefts, you take some acrylic yarn, cut it twice as long as you want the hair to be (keep in mind you can cut and style the hair once it’s been rerooted), fold them in half, and tie it to something sturdy like a wire coat hanger for the next step.

once you’ve got your yarn tied to your hanger, use a pet brush and brush the yarn until it’s wispy and looks like hair. then take a straightening iron and iron the weft flat. then remove from the hanger and boom. hair wefts. ta-da

to reroot the wefts onto the head, use a rerooting tool (which can be as simple as a needle with the eye cut at angle) (just google it please i’m shit at descriptions)) to poke small sections of the hair into the head. you can use the pre-existing rooting holes for your own reroot as they’re usually pretty reliable. to reroot, take a small length of you doll hair (about 10-15 strands), loop it in half, and put the middle of the loop into the reroot tool. poke the end of the tool with the hair on it into the pre-existing hole and remove the tool. the hair *should* stay in and fill up that plug!! also remember to plug thickly at the hairline and part of the hair where it's most noticeable. it doesnt matter as much in the center of the head as that’s not usually visible on the doll. once you’ve rerooted, squeeze in strong glue through the neck hole and squish around the head to make sure it covers all the plugs and secures them in place. then pour hot water onto the head to make the hair lay flat for styling later.

also, you can reroot yarn directly into the head to make thicker, more textured hairstyles. and since the yarn is thicker, you dont need to glue the inside of the head for the hair to stay in place!!

if youre not doing body modifications (which are also cool as hell) then it’s time for clothes but clothes are boring and i like body mods more so i’m gonna rant about them instead

the material ive seen most doll artists use is apoxie sculpt, which is like play doh on steroids. it comes in two parts which you gotta mix together for some reason. why dont they sell it pre-mixed. what was the reason. also once it’s dry it’s super super strong and you can sand it, drill into it, paint it, and all kinds of stuff. very nice and i want some for myself.

you can use hand saws and drills and shit to whack off doll limbs to make stuff like digitigrade legs or new joints. also dont be afraid to use other mismatching doll parts when customizing like heads and bodies and forearms and hands and shit. it literally does not matter if youre gonna recolor the doll anyways so have fun with it. make frankenstein’s doll if youre feeling spicy

accessories my beloved. stuff like tiny beads and clay baubles and shit will literally transform the entire doll plus they’re adorable and multi-purpose

i suppose i must talk about clothes now. ah well. you can find great clothing patterns if youre new to customizing on other customizer’s etsy shops and probably google although those will probably be lower quality than paid pattern pieces. and keep in mind that if it exists as clothing irl, you can likely make it doll-sized. there are literally no limits to your clothing options as long as you can execute your idea.

the once all your components have been made, you can assemble the doll again!! and finally see what all the parts look like together!! very cool 10/10 stars.

ight that wraps up my doll rant. i could really go into more detail on certain parts but thats a whole other rant for a whole other day smh. sorry for fucking flooding your inbox ender ahaha……………. you asked for this

little did you know that dolls have been one of my favorite things since like ever. if i can read a 25 chapter long fanfic i can read this B)

mattel definitely fucked up by completely ruining MH doll designs and just stopping EAH, alot of their profits most likely came from people who collect and customize dolls and by changing MH doll designs/Stopping EAH dolls they 1. most likely lost a small (or big if we're not jus talking people who customize dolls) part of their profit and 2. made it harder for doll customizers to make dolls/get commissions out rather quickly because they probably have to waste more time making joints or learning how to make joints.

EAH/MH dolls (specifically MH dolls) had AMAZING MODELS because there was so much variety with height, face shapes, etc (my favorite molds had to be the short/tall dolls and the cat molds because of the tails) and doll customizers really went all out with enhancing a molds unique features. The only "downside" abt MH dolls is that they (or atleast most)(from what i remember)) had slimmer faces but wider eyes while EAH dolls have wider faces with slimmer smaller which left a canvas for the face and not the eyes (and vice versa for MH dolls)

I've never seen any videos where a barbie is customized (maybe because i absolutely despised barbies at the time) so I'll definitely have to check those out but they seem to be good for realistic makeovers. I've seen like like semi realistic makeovers for EAH/MH dolls that were pretty good too tho (pretty sure mostly EAH dolls since yk MH dolls were used for creature makeovers while most EAH dolls weren't)

yeah i was always amazed by the head shrinking with acetone. honestly i still am?? idunno i have no idea how that chemical bullshit works. Ive seen a few of uh makeovers that just pain over the face (in multiple layers ofcourse) but that's usually when they're painting the entire body a different colour (again usually when they're turning a doll into a funky little baby man). I've also seen a few that just chop the hair off and take out the hair plugs yk without uuh like softening the head or just go straight for the hair plugs after taking off the head (i used to do that it was funny to me??). i always really liked when they used watercolour pencils or just colour pencils in general to draw/sketch on the face cause like wow ur drawing on ur doll without ruining it?? kinda epic maybe even poggers and pogchamp?? oh god my brain is failing wjshsmsj.

Watching them putting the hair back on the doll was, other than the face stuff, was the BEST part for me. Favorite type of hair was iuuuuuh was either thick yarn or brushed out yarn. Literally worship the people that would reroot the hair, theyre the most patience people on this earth!! it's literally insane but i guess that's what happens when you've been doing that for years? you guess kinda get used to it. when they put glue into the head does it just become stiff?? like it's just a clump of dried glue or does it like..hollow out again??

dude you literally cannot convince me most of the supplies used for doll makeovers. APOXIE CLAY LOOKS SO FECKING GOOD. its edible and i will die on that hill. The body mods are literally so amazing!!!!! it's so impressive how theyre able to imagine certain features THEN LIKE ACTUALLY MAKE IT LOOK ACCURATE TO WHAT THEY WANTED TO LOOK LIKE AFTER LIKE ON TRY (or many yk trial and error is very necessary for..everything). Absolutely loved when doll customizers would saw off a dolls legs and use different ones or just completely get rid of the torso to use a different one. it's like uuh that one big guy that's mismatched and sewn together. very cool. The accessories are so fun!! just small little details you seen really need but can add because it's your feckin doll!! I used to be absolutely obsessed over the doll clothes i would find on etsy, so much so that i started sewing shitty shirts and dresses for my uh "customized" dolls (they were absolute HORRORS idk WHY my mom let me feck up my dolls like that).

Thank you for this!! i haven't been able to talk about any of my interests for a while and this just really made me happy!!

Question fer u my fellow MH/EAH enthusiast: what was your favorite MH/EAH movie/episode and doll series. Mine was The fusion dolls (MH obvi) and that MH movie "Haunted" cause we got to know more about Spectra :D

[hekate1308]

Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now

More Siren!Cas Au. Enjoy!

Dean sometimes forgets that he’s human. Not in any dramatic fashion – he doesn’t try to snare anyone or explode people who annoy him or anything like that. No, he just automatically thinks of himself as part of the monster group of their suburban paradise, maybe because not only do mostly monsters live in their neighbourhood, but because...

Well... in a way, monsters are easy to get. It’s people who are difficult.

He’s reminded of that again when he’s trying to explain to Mr. Adler why it will take a while to get the parts for the car he wants restored.

Most days, he loves the fact that he could finally open the shop of his dreams. When he’s dealing with assholes like this, though...

“Mr. Adler, I have told you that –“

“Oh, Dean, sorry, I didn’t realize you were busy” Gilda apologizes, stepping into his office.

“It’s quite alright.”

And it’s then that Mr. why-can’t-I-have-my-vintage-Lamborghini-yesterday proves just how big of an asshole he is, mumbling “fucking fairy” under his breath.

Dean is about to deck him when Gilda asks gently, “Do whom do you address this insult, please?”

Adler stares at her. “What?”

“It could apply to both of us – to Dean because of his marital status, and to me because I am, indeed, a fucking fairy. In case of the latter – you should learn to treat others with more respect, yet I don’t care that much. If it’s the former... I suggest you leave the premises quickly.”

Adler stares at her, mouth wide open, before he all but flees.

“Nice one, Gilda” Dean says.

“I’m sorry if I scared off your customer.”

“Guy deserved it, and I still have the Lamborghini. He’ll be back. But what were you planning to do? Making buttercups grow around his feet?”

“Something like that” she answers pleasantly, but they both know the threats of a fairy are to be taken seriously at all times. They are not nature spirits for nothing.

It also means Dean is rather more important to Charlie’s girlfriend than he realized.

In the end, he invites Gilda to lunch.

That evening, Jody knocks at their door. Dean knows just from the expression on her face that Adler is enough of a bastard to –

“Sorry Dean, but there has been a complaint.”

As the only human Sheriff brave enough to take care of monster stuff, Jody has long been a respected member of their community. Dean lets her in.

“He called Gilda that?” she fumes after he’s explained. Dean nods.

“I’m not surprised. Guy’s a jerk. She put the fear of God in him, but that’s it.”

“Good to know. I’ll let Mr. Adler know what the police thinks of people who curse at innocent citizens.”

“I think” Cas says quietly after Jody has left, “It’s because we haven’t been citizens all that long. Fifty years ago, monsters weren’t even considered animals.”

“Yeah, but we weren’t even born then! This is ridiculous.”

“I wish everyone was as wonderful as you, my love.”

Dean blushes fiercely.

He’s gotten used to it, really. There are quite a few people who will stare and sneer and take jabs at him once they find out he’s dating a siren. Some of them assume that Cas keeps him around like a hypnotized pet to feast on, which... ew.

Sometimes, he wryly thinks what Sammy would think of all this and smiles. The brother he walked out on because he wanted to study and was convinced Dean would only end up like dead... He certainly couldn’t have seen this coming.

Warm arms wrap around him. “I don’t like that look on your face” Cas whispers against his neck.  

“You can’t see my expression.”

“The window... there’s a reflection.”

Dean chuckles. “My very own Sherlock Holmes.”

“My Boswell.”

He shakes his head. “I was just thinking about Sammy and Dad and... you know how it is.”

Cas nods. “My family stopped speaking to me as well.”

“I’m still very sorry about that. Cas, if there’s a way...”

“I have everything I could ever want.”

A thump on the roof. Dean rolls his eyes. “Even with –“

“Hello boys.”

“Crowley. What the hell were you doing on our roof?”

“Relax, it’s close to Halloween. Just thought I’d put up some extra protection. Excepting yours truly, of course.”

Of course. Life wouldn’t be the same without their demon neighbour being able to zap in whenever he wants.

“Good thinking.”

Halloween can be... chaotic. And by chaotic, Dean means even for them, and that’s saying something. There’s just something about having so many monsters and magic practitioners in one place that seems to make the pull of the night even stronger.

This year, it almost ends in tragedy.

At first, it’s fun. They throw a party – even Rowena attends it in a sparkling red gown – and they’re handing out candy to the monster and a few brave human kids who come to their door.

It’s about ten pm when Jody calls. “Dean, there’s something – I can’t explain it. But there are about three square inches in the street that have just – disappeared. There’s nothing there. As if one was blind...”

Dean listens carefully, then turns and explains the problem. Several enthusiastic voice pipe up, but it’s Rowena who calls out, “I know! It’s a soul eater. Takes the soul and leaves nothing. Don’t let anyone near it.”

“Good God” Jody mutters. “Halloween. Alright, will do. Could you just hurry, please?”

“Of course.”

“Hasn’t it been hundreds of years since the last soul-eater came to earth?” Crowley asks as he, Dean, Cas and Rowena stroll down the street.

“It has, but with the recent concentration of people like us all in one place... the world is turning into something more magical again. Normally I would be happy about it, but a soul-eater always means business.”

“How do we defeat it?” Dean asks.

“That’s the tricky part” Rowena says. “The spell has to be performed in the vicinity of the creature, but it would attack anyone who dares come near, unless...” She trails off.

“He has something else to snack on” Dean says flatly.

“Afraid so.”

“Let me guess. They like human souls the most.” Just his freaking luck.

“Don’t worry” Crowley says smoothly, “Yes, it will try and devour your soul, but that takes a while,. And I’ll interfere if there are any problems.”

“As will I” Cas adds quietly, “Although I wish you didn’t have to do this. What if I –“

“Sorry, Lorelei, it will feel that you have power over other souls, and if there’s one thing a soul-eater doesn’t like, it’s another predator.”

“I don’t prey on people” Cas insists.

“That may be” Rowena replies, “But you still have the powers. And the soul-eater will know that. You probably shouldn’t even go near it.”

“But Dean –“

“Hey” Dean says, taking his hand. “You heard Crowley; I’ll be fine. And you have to help Jody keep the humans away from that thing. It’s Halloween; there’s bound to be some trouble makers around.”

“I trust you, Dean” he says, drawing him into a kiss. “But if you don’t come back to me, I’ll have Rowena resurrect you so I can smite you.”

“You two break my non-existent heart. Can we go deal with this, please?”

“Yeah, yeah Crowley” Dean mutters, pulling back. “Way to ruin my dramatic hero exit scene.”

“There’s not going to be an exit, didn’t you hear me?”

“How do you three get anything done?” Rowena complains. “Now let’s go before we waste the whole of Samhain!”

For the first time, Dean wonders why she suddenly decided to spend the night with them instead of joining a coven for the celebrations. It must be some form of honour, a witch choosing to celebrate Halloween with you.

By the time they reach the street, the soul-eater – the nothing – has grown. Jody has organised several men and women to keep others away, a necessary precaution since “we’re all drawn to it. No one can explain it.”

“A soul-eater with snare magic.” Rowena clicks her tongue. “Castiel, you should definitely stay away. It won’t like your powers at all.”

Jody isn’t all that much in favour of their plan when she hears it. “I’m an officer of the law, I should –“

“Exactly. And you’re the only officer who thought to call us, who ever looks out for the monsters. If we want this to work, if we want humans to grow accustomed to us, we need people like you.”

“You’re human too” she says softly.

Dean grins. “Yeah, but I hardly count as one anymore. Just ask Adler. Just – Jody, we can’t afford to lose you.”

“And you’re expendable?”

“No, but I’m the only human here who has a lot of experience with the supernatural.”

She sighs and acquiesces. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll still shoot you.”

“Get in line, Cas already plans to smite me.”

The power of the thing, Dean muses as he steps closer, truly reminds him of Cas’ snare, back when he was still affected by it, but it’s not quite the same thing. A siren’s powers, whether they use them deliberately or not, are still there to provide them with food and leave the victim unharmed. Perhaps it’s all a bit... unethical, but it’s not evil.

This thing, however? There’s a malice buried deep in the call that makes Dean’s feet walk right up to it.

He takes a deep breath. Concentrate on the important things, Crowley said. Hold on to your soul.

Demon’s creeping in the shadows behind him, so the soul-eater won’t notice him.

And then he feels it. An almost indescribable sensation, as if something’s chipping away at his very core, as if things are slowly growing less important...

He shakes his head. The important things.

Quick. What’s important? His job. He likes his job. He thinks – he’s not entirely sure what he does –

No. Sammy. Sammy’s important. But then why can’t he remember where he is, exactly?

Quick, man, the important –

Important –

Something falls in front of his feet. Dean looks down.

A small black feather.

Feathers, Crowley’s voice says in his head, and there it is.

Cas. Cas, his boyfriend, the love of his life, the siren he’s going to propose to, he decided not so long ago. Their friends already agreed to help him...

And suddenly, it’s the easiest thing in the world.

Cas in the morning, eyes sparkling under his bed head, making coffee –

Cas, laughing as he watches the ghoul children play fetch on the street –

Cas, holding him close at night, writing stories on Dean’s skin –

Cas.

The sensation vanishes as suddenly as it has come, and Dean blinks, noticing Crowley next to him. “I assume the feather was your idea?”

The demon nods. “Thought you might need a little reminder.”

Dean clasps his shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

“Dean!”

He turns to find his boyfriend hurrying over and opens his arms to receive him.

“That was very brave” Cas says as he kisses him.

“Please, have you seen yourself?” Crowley grins. “Dean, you should be sorry you missed it – Cas felled a six-foot drunk body builder who wouldn’t listen.”

“I just did what I had to do.”

“And as always you were amazing” Dean tells him, “I’m sure of it.”

After Jody has thanked them, they return to the party, arriving shortly before midnight.

“Well” Dean says, getting them drinks, “No one can say we didn’t have a scary Halloween.”

“Yes” Cas answers, looking down. Dean frowns.

“Cas? You alright?”

He nods, looking up. “It’s just – Dean, if you hadn’t met me, you wouldn’t –“

“I wouldn’t be the go-to person for soul devouring if we weren’t dating, is that it?” Dean shakes his head. “You know what, sunshine? I’d face one of those things every day if it meant I get to keep this.”

He means it, too.

Cas looks at him, his blue eyes sparkling and, as always, full of love. “And I’d have my whole family denounce me again and again if it led to the same.”

“See? We’re well-matched.”

He kisses his boyfriend and thinks of the ring he’ll create.