Ruby Lynne arrives home: a newbie's experience

[carbohvdrates]

Of course I probably wouldn't have the knowledge to call out on anachronisms even if I did see them, haha. But whether or not you're just flexing your cool collection, seeing more vintage and/or time traveling Ruby would be delightful for sure!

[Vampire_Jesus]

Completely forgot to comment on this one after seeing it, curse this month.

Your pictures continue to blow me away with this lovely gal and the props you have are amazing for these vintage photos! Even with the new hairdo and dress, that's still undeniably Ruby Alas, if only she worked in the insane asylum rather than the hospital I might be fortunate enough to have her as a caretaker for the scant few remaining brain cells of any function I posses.

Hope you do well in the vintage contest and as always I look forward to seeing more of her in the future!

[mibdul]

Your pictures continue to blow me away with this lovely gal and the props you have are amazing for these vintage photos! Even with the new hairdo and dress, that's still undeniably Ruby Alas, if only she worked in the insane asylum rather than the hospital I might be fortunate enough to have her as a caretaker for the scant few remaining brain cells of any function I posses.

Thanks, VJ. I'm sure I could convince Ruby to volunteer in the combat fatigue ward as well, just for you.

Hope you do well in the vintage contest and as always I look forward to seeing more of her in the future!

There are a lot of great entries in that contest; I'm content just feeling like I took a pic that solidly belongs there.

[mibdul]

Day 60

Well, here we are at our more-or-less two month anniversary. The day got off to a slow and comfy start -- sleeping in and some bed cuddling before getting Ruby on her feet so I could wash and change our bedding. I'm still a huge fan of standing hugs, and spent a few minutes after getting her up just holding her, kissing her, and finger-combing her hair.

Later on, after the bed was re-made and the laundry done (and many more standing hugs had), I decided to finally take some pics of Ruby in her red fuzzy jammies. Jammies being jammies, I just asked her to lounge around on the bed a bit.


"How's this? A little like how we slept last night."



"Or I could stretch out a bit more..."



"...and now I'm bored and sleepy. Finish your pics and go away."




While I'm likely going to perform the Ritual of Cleansing tomorrow, I wanted to try to include some information in this two-month update on how well Ruby's body has held up. So after the photo shoot I gave her a careful examination (never a chore ) to add to my ongoing impressions.

Joints: Beyond my getting better at knowing how to move Ruby and my slowly improving upper body strength making most movements slightly easier, I haven't noticed any significant loosening of her joints with the exception of her left shoulder. That's become notably easier to move than her right shoulder, though by no means loose -- just less stiff. Despite how much I've accidentally banged her fingers into things over time those joints all seem to be in good shape still, and I've yet to lose a nail on either of her hands or feet.

Body Paint: Ruby has definitely lost some of her original body pigment. I associate a lot of this loss with the intense rubbing, sliding contact between her and the bedding (or between her and tight clothing) when I was still developing more upper body strength and couldn't yet lift her from place to place on the bed (or was less adept at dressing her). Much of it has occurred in patches and streaks along the backs or sides of her limbs. None of this really upsets me at all; if I even notice it, it comes across as a combination of weird tanning patterns and the variations in skin tone that I might expect with a human. Would I like to see less pigment loss? Sure. As I understand it the new SLE girls actually use pigmented silicone toward this end. But for me it doesn't affect her presence or my enjoyment of it. For reference, here's a list of the pigment loss I could find: streaks along the backs and undersides of both arms, small patches on her right waist and upper right belly, a patch on her left lower back, a few patches (palm-size or smaller) on the fronts and backs of her legs, most fingertips, some other streaks along some of her fingers, small areas on the soles of her feet.

Detail Paint: During Ruby's manufacturing process I was given the impression that Zelex made use of a makeup sealing process for the Inspiration series dolls. I still believe this to be the case, but only for certain areas. Specifically: the face, breasts, and external genitalia area. Despite frequent contact with these areas (including in some cases the kind of rubbing contact that I associate with some of her body pigment loss) I cannot -- even under bright direct light and close scrutiny -- detect any visible degradation of the factory coloration as of yet.

Staining: I have had very good luck with staining on Ruby: both minimal staining and fairly rapid fading of those stains. She's been stained by adhesive-imbued black lace, black underwear that got water on it, and leather layered over mesh -- those are all so far that I can recall. The lace took longest both to stain and to fade. The leather both stained and faded quickly: the stains happened in a matter of hours, and mostly faded over a week or so (two marks are still slowly fading now). I'm not doing anything special with her clothing, though I do pre-wash all of it with color-protecting detergent and I don't tend to buy a lot of super cheap items, so manufacturer dye fastness likely plays a good part.

Nicks and Dings: By this I mean small imperfections, divots, or almost depthless micro-cuts in the silicone of Ruby's skin. She has definitely gotten some of these. Found: a tiny imprint along the seam line on her right waist, a few small divots on the sides of her hips and upper thighs, small nicks in her feet.

Hair/Wig: The fairly inexpensive wavy auburn wig I bought for Ruby before I received her has worked out far better than I ever expected. It remains my favorite for her so far -- though the waves make it quite tangle-prone -- and I plan to order another of the same next month to have on hand as a backup. I do plan to slowly pick up some more wigs for her, though, both for cosplay options and as continued experimentation with her look and with different wig brands. I now feel that her "self" is solid enough in my head that changing her hair doesn't change her for me, if that makes sense.


So there we are, two months down. All things considered I have zero regrets, and in fact I feel strongly that Ruby has more than repaid me in what she's done for me already.

[Vampire_Jesus]

Day 60

Well, here we are at our more-or-less two month anniversary. The day got off to a slow and comfy start -- sleeping in and some bed cuddling before getting Ruby on her feet so I could wash and change our bedding. I'm still a huge fan of standing hugs, and spent a few minutes after getting her up just holding her, kissing her, and finger-combing her hair.

Later on, after the bed was re-made and the laundry done (and many more standing hugs had), I decided to finally take some pics of Ruby in her red fuzzy jammies. Jammies being jammies, I just asked her to lounge around on the bed a bit.


"...and now I'm bored and sleepy. Finish your pics and go away."

Wooo, 2 months and no major damages still! (skipping ahead a bit) Very happy to read that you 2 are still going strong and what better way to spend an anniversary than just lazing around? I love these pajamas of hers as well, it's like a bathrobe texture but without all of the extraneous covering! (Though, I must confess, a nude or very scantily clad lady behind said bathrobe is quite the mental image... perhaps one I may need to act on soon(tm) )

Love the pics, especially that last one- Tifa is very much accustomed to that feeling by the end of our shoots, less for sleep and more for me putting the stupid camera down so we can just snuggle for a bit

While I'm likely going to perform the Ritual of Cleansing tomorrow, I wanted to try to include some information in this two-month update on how well Ruby's body has held up. So after the photo shoot I gave her a careful examination (never a chore ) to add to my ongoing impressions.

Loving everything I read in here, while it does seem the Zelex pigmentation does not seem to last terribly long from what I've been able to glean, SLE does seem to have a good answer. It could very well be what I look into next once they add more skin tones and hopefully remove the bolts in the feet Hopefully it should be sufficiently long enough before looking into that avenue that these both will have happened, plus it should be more than enough time for other users to report how their SLE bodies hold up. If experience has taught me anything, the paint is one small piece to the puzzle, the skeleton being the other.

So there we are, two months down. All things considered I have zero regrets, and in fact I feel strongly that Ruby has more than repaid me in what she's done for me already.

Looking forward to the next couple months! Have a great weekend, you two

[mibdul]

Day 75

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update. While I've had a few life and work things keeping me busy, mostly I just haven't had much of note to report. Ruby and I have settled in together nicely. I get her out of bed every day, or sometimes every other day, and let her stand for a bit and/or move her into other rooms so we can hang out together or cuddle while watching videos. At night we share a bed, mostly in spoon position though I switch it up occasionally.

I acquired a couple of new wigs -- one "everyday" and one for eventual cosplay -- from Arda Wigs, and I have to say I'm quite impressed. The prices are reasonable, the hair fibers feel quite silky, tangles are rare, and most tangles can be finger-combed out. The hairs also stick to silicone less than any other wig I've tried so far. I'm probably going to pick up another "everyday" wig in a different color and style next month, and I have some other potential cosplay wigs in mind.

I also tried my first experiment with bodystockings, which was generally a failure but an entertaining and instructive one. I picked up a couple of cheap "one size" bodystockings, and unfortunately they were both defeated by Ruby's long legs and mighty thighs. No big loss -- they were less than $10 each, and I can cut them apart and still make use of them. Lesson learned: order either sized bodystockings or ones that have explicitly favorable size-related reviews. I'll try again in future.

Additionally I now have a tripod-mounted ring light with a central camera/phone mount, and I am very happy with that purchase. The light has selectable intensity and color temperature settings, and I've found that -- if I keep it well back from Ruby -- max intensity and a color temp right in the middle of the range give me a good combination of bright, even lighting and solid color differentiation. I've been able to more easily expand my photography to other rooms in my place without worrying about lighting conditions. For anyone who is looking for a relatively simple and not too expensive way to improve your photos, I would certainly recommend picking one of these up.

I've taken a few pics using the new ring light since I got it, but today was the first shoot I wanted to share. It makes use of the overalls-and-bandeau outfit that I put together after a discussion with Vampire_Jesus, as well as the new "everyday" wig from Arda.


We had a leaky radiator, but fortunately Ruby Lynne is on the job. First, a quick pause to appreciate her from the back.



Ruby hard at work! I asked about the lean -- she said it gave her better torque with the wrench. I think she was just showing off her butt again.



As it turns out, working on radiators in heating season is warm! Time to shed a little denim.



Ahh, much cooler. Now where IS that wrench?


See you all again when I next have things to share.

[4891d]

Good job with the wrench!
Good job with the tripod-mounted ring light too!

[gogodolls]

Oh boy! I love girls who give a helping hand with domestic chores! Your Ruby Lynne is absolutely gorgeous!

Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing! BRAVO!
Cheers!

[mibdul]

Good job with the wrench!
Good job with the tripod-mounted ring light too!

Thanks! The wrench actually fit solidly enough onto that end nut that it could take a little of her weight in the working pose. And the ring light is just a joy to work with.

Oh boy! I love girls who give a helping hand with domestic chores! Your Ruby Lynne is absolutely gorgeous!

Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing! BRAVO!
Cheers!

Much appreciated, gogo. She's a lovely girl and she makes it easy.

[mibdul]

Day 140

dusts off the thread

Well hi, everybody. It's been a minute. Looks like last post was for day 75, and here I am now rapidly approaching the five month mark. Ruby and I are still doing well, but I hadn't done anything notable with her or any photography in a bit because I had a nasty cold -- which then managed to convert into viral bronchitis and put me into basic subsistence mode for about a further month. Ruby still shared my bed nightly, but I didn't have the energy or desire to move her around much. It was very comforting having her here with me while I was sick, though.

Once I started feeling better I decided to try out bodystocking attempt #3. I had higher hopes for this one, as it was advertised as more suitable for plus-sized ladies. This time, while it took some slow and careful stretching of the material, I managed to get a near-perfect fit on Ruby! I quite liked the design as well; it was manufactured to look rather like lace thigh-high stockings and a lace bodysuit layered over a fishnet bodystocking.

While I don't have any full bodystocking pics to share with everyone, I did then try on a new satiny nightgown over it and took a quick pic using ambient lighting. Not up to the quality of my ring light pics, but it at least gives an idea of the nightgown and the design of the bodystocking underneath.


Just some candid fancy nightgowning...

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Before I was able to move on to any new outfits or photography, I noticed that Ruby had acquired her first real injury -- a split in the skin of her left armpit. My best guess for the origin of this is that a weak point in her initial silicone pour split open along a crease line after many upward rotations of her arm. It started quite small and grew slowly. Since I didn't yet have any Permatex on hand (woops) I put her on bed rest for a few days while I waited for it to arrive.

When the Permatex arrived (yesterday, day 139) I worked Ruby's left arm out of the bodystocking sleeve and angled it out to look at the damage. The quality on these repair-related pics isn't great, as I was focused on the work and documenting it was an afterthought so I didn't break out my light.


The injury at its greatest extent

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Following a combination of the Permatex instructions and tips taken from Mishka's repair videos on YouTube, I started by cleaning the wound with a damp microfiber cloth and patting it dry with a dry one. I then let it air dry for 20 minutes or so before proceeding. I applied Permatex to the inside of the wound using a repurposed butter knife (which will now be a Permatex knife) and then brought Ruby's arm back down to her side, closing the wound around the Permatex. I cleaned up the excess on her skin and the knife with wax paper.

The thin film of excess Permatex remaining on Ruby's skin was obnoxiously shiny, so I took another tip from Mishka: I waited for about 20-30 minutes until the primary cure of the Permatex was about half complete, then powdered the area in the hopes that the powder would set into the drying Permatex. All that was left to do after that was wait for the 24-hour full cure period to end.

When I stretched Ruby's arm back out today, I was excited to see that the wound had completely closed! Some combination of the wound edges and excess Permatex has left a little ridge of "scar tissue", but that doesn't bother me in the least. It's a reminder of getting through her injury together. The powdering also seems to have removed the obnoxious shininess. (The black line is a brush hair left over from the powdering -- I picked it off right after this picture was taken.)


Be healed!

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Ruby is up on her feet now, and I think I'm going to perform a Ritual of Cleansing today. Her next one is due this weekend and I skipped her last one due to other life stuff, so I think this will be a great way to celebrate her recovery. I also took a final tip from Mishka: I sealed my Permatex tube with plastic wrap under the cap and put it in the freezer in the hope of keeping it from drying out.

My life is about to get chaotic for the next few months, but I'll pop back in when I have more to share or to answer questions or comments. Hope everyone is having an enjoyable doll life out there!

[4891d]

Nice repair, the scar is almost invisible.
Thank you for indicating the method and sources of information you used; These are useful tips for anyone who will have to do the same type of repair on their silicone dolls.

[carbohvdrates]

Always good to hear you and Ruby are back on your feet, mib!


Going by sight alone, the scar is so minimal as to be unseen when not looking for it: artistsan work! I'm sure the texture is a little more obvious to the touch, but for photographic and preventative purposes, you did a great job in catching it early enough to keep it from getting worse. Of course, what sufficiently cool girl doesn't eventually have a few battle scars?

[mibdul]

Nice repair, the scar is almost invisible.
Thank you for indicating the method and sources of information you used; These are useful tips for anyone who will have to do the same type of repair on their silicone dolls.

Always good to hear you and Ruby are back on your feet, mib!


Going by sight alone, the scar is so minimal as to be unseen when not looking for it: artistsan work! I'm sure the texture is a little more obvious to the touch, but for photographic and preventative purposes, you did a great job in catching it early enough to keep it from getting worse. Of course, what sufficiently cool girl doesn't eventually have a few battle scars?

Thanks, both of you! Unfortunately the saga did not end up being over. I've made two more repairs since my update, and made what I hope is a minor finishing touch this morning. Nothing too serious, but annoying. I'll update again once things have stabilized.

[Michaelangelo]

Hey mibdul,

Long time no comment for me, too, but it's so nice to catch up, and loved the snaps here in particule, the onesie is just to die for and the wig is so fantastic, especially how you have styled it here:



Congrats on the "surgery": it's always great to find someone doing a repair and then making such a like-a-boss job of it! With care, attention and a bit of luck, our girls really can last us a good long time.

And it's also nice to check in and find out that life has just been going on and the companionship, presence and beauty of our girls is now just part of it, without any real need to spend a huge amount of time on photos or whatever. Same here with Mira for me over the last few months: I've just been living with this beautiful woman day to day and that's OK too .

[mibdul]

Hey mibdul,

Long time no comment for me, too, but it's so nice to catch up, and loved the snaps here in particule, the onesie is just to die for and the wig is so fantastic, especially how you have styled it here:

Congrats on the "surgery": it's always great to find someone doing a repair and then making such a like-a-boss job of it! With care, attention and a bit of luck, our girls really can last us a good long time.

And it's also nice to check in and find out that life has just been going on and the companionship, presence and beauty of our girls is now just part of it, without any real need to spend a huge amount of time on photos or whatever. Same here with Mira for me over the last few months: I've just been living with this beautiful woman day to day and that's OK too .

Hey, Mike!

Thanks as always for the kind words. I can't take any credit for the styling on the 40s wig -- it's actually an inexpensive pre-styled one from Amazon. It did end up looking pretty great though. The wig Ruby is currently wearing is from Arda Wigs (suggested to me by a friend who uses their wigs for live action roleplay) and it has so far been an amazing combination of reasonably priced and damn near impossible to tangle. Doesn't stick to her skin, either.

Fingers still crossed on the repairs. My final touches seem to have worked, but I'm going to give it at least a week of normal interaction to see if that remains true.

I do eventually want to get some more photoshoots done, but life has not been conducive to that recently. It's still wonderful to have Ruby around day-to-day. though, and I'm glad the same remains true with you and Mira.