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Monday, February 28, 2011

Stripper Doll




So, apparently Bimong has decided to release a stripper-themed doll fullset entitled 'Passion on the stage'. I have always admired Bimong's work even if I did not particularly like the sculpt itself. There has always been a realistic personality and beauty to all of his dolls. I admire him even more for his handling of the disaster that was Dollfair, sending the orders of dolls to his fans even if the orders were placed through Dollfair. But this is exasperting to my feminist sensibilities. Somehow, instead of evoking a sense of liberated feminine sexuality, this doll speaks more to the fans of lingerie Barbie.
I wonder if she comes with the pole and the disco ball?

Friday, February 25, 2011

Assembling the Zero - NSFW, NAKED DOLL

(All of my lovely faceplates, the eyes, and the wig... )

So, in case you didn't get the memo, this post is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. It contains nekkid dolls and their nekkid parts.

Now that that's over with, allow me to explain. I recently obtained an Unoa Zero by 'trading' my Kurumi (selling, buying). I was really terrified of putting her together, but to be honest, it was a LOT easier than I thought it was going to be. I took pictures of the process and it's really just like stringing any other doll. The only part that takes explanation is the slots and the small part for the knee capsule joint, and that's only because I was being dumb. The arms were assembled for me, by the previous owner, but the strings were too loose and I ended up redoing those (sans picture-taking). The included directions were spot-on, that I could see!

And without further ado... :


Just took some pictures of the parts that I had out.

I started out with eyeing the slots in the capsule joints... hmmm...

By carefully studying the picture in the instructions, I got to this point. I didn't thread the wire through the hole in the small slot piece, I threaded it through the capsule joint itself.

Both wire ends go up through the leg...


... and are twisted together securely using little needle-nosed pliers.

Basically, after that, it's just like stringing a normal doll. This is me using a retarded red twistie-tie to push elastic through instead of some smarter tool....

Fold the elastic until it has four even loops, like a four-leafed-clover... then, make sure to somehow secure them at the midpoint. I used another twistie-tie. Then, thread the ends to the bottom of the leg and hook the foot around the end of the two loops. Bottom half completed!



Here she is standing: as you can see, her knees don't quite fit into the tops of her shins.... :(

After threading the loops through the arms in the same manner as the legs, the top half of the torso is completed. All that is left to do is hook the bottom of the last piece of elastic around this huge hook in her abdomen, and then thread it up through the torso and the neck to secure her headback/headplate.

She's all together now! As you can see, she can stand, but not without some magical trickery... her bottom just wants to throw off her balance due to the lack of strings connecting her legs/torso like on other dolls.

I have already sanded her nipples off. I hate it when doll nipples poke through clothing, so I figured I'd head off the bra-buying problem at the pass....

Her lovely sleeping Latea face. I used it because it looks so tranquil, even without a faceup.

Overall, I like the Unoa Zero body's shape and sculpting aesthetic, but the balance is all off for me. People hail Araki as a genius, but I have seen Fairyland do better with their engineering. He is no doubt talented, and I absolutely adore my Zero! However, the quality is lacking for the price he demands. The knees have the characteristic Zero chipping, the resin is uneven around her arm joints, and the bottom-heavy construction makes it hard to really take advantage of her wonderful capsule joints when she's standing up. The resin also looks very plastic-y compared to my Bluefairy SF May, and my Switch Hahwa head. Also, color-wise, she is paler than my Switch head, which is supposed to be a good match for Volks Pureskin. I know that she's not easy to hybrid due to her neck, but for anyone looking to consider, I do not think it would be a good idea to pair her with a volks head without some light blushing.

I hope this helped anyone that was curious about the Unoa Zero's assembly and construction! I'm going to do her faceup in around a week, so I'll try to post some photos of that, although I think I'll just end up rushing through it so that she feels 'completely here'.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Braveheart





This is Rafen's cat, Braveheart. I guess that makes him mine, too, but he's the most uncuddly cat I've ever met. And before him, I didn't believe in uncuddly kitties. He acts really cute so you'll pet him, and then he'll bite/claw your hand 2 seconds after you start. And he only meows for company when he wants to use the litterbox. -_-

Belated Valentine's Day!

Belated Valentine's Day!
Belated Valentine's Day! by Serenia on Polyvore.com

I just bought these Classiques heels! I wish they had been out around Valentine's Day, I would have liked to have worn them on that day! I love Polyvore. This set also reminds me of Just Be Friends.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Goodbye, Kurumi








I'm sending my beloved Kurumi away. The Unoa Zero's body and faceplates suit my dolly needs more at the moment. But Kurumi will always be a dream doll for me, and I'll get her again when I have more money in the future! I miss her already, looking at all of these pictures of her. T_T


Tryphosa and Crewcuts


So, my wonderful boyfriend, henceforth known as Rafen, gifted me with Tryphosa for Christmas!!!!!!!!! I know, late posting. XD And this Valentine's Day he gifted me again with beautiful Enchanted Doll #24 eyes for her....!!!! I adore the way they photograph, and they sparkle in such a lovely way in the light! So, I was thinking of her style, and what clothes to dress her in....

Immediately, I thought of Crewcuts. In addition to everywhere else in the world, I've worked at J.Crew, and I always lamented the lack of Crewcuts in our store. Crewcuts is the amazingly styled J.Crew kidswear line that I am currently obsessing over.

Aren't those the cutest little girls EVER?!??!?!!?


I want all of the Crewcuts clothes for Tryphosa! I'll probably be trying to copy some pieces/styles for her. I've found her style!

Chibi-lilie's Deviantart


So, yet another great photographer appears on this blog! Chibi-lilie was discovered while I was thumbing through my DA notifications. :3 I love the soft, colorful style of this photo, and the focus is just right! (If you haven't noticed, I fangirl good bokeh!)

The angle and tone of this edgy picture is spot-on. I'd love to have this on my wall - speaking of which, she has a few prints for sale, so check those out as well (great transition, I know, lol).

All of her dolls are based off of her original characters (or OCs for short). They are much beloved, and she even has a contest going for her watchers to draw her doll characters! If you're interested, you can see her DA for details. It ends on the 15th of March.

Her coloring and composition is usually excellent, but in my opinion the quality of her work tends to vary, with lighting and focus issues being the main reason for my comment. However, you could never tell from these example pictures, which are all from her gallery. I look forward to seeing more work from her, and I can only imagine how amazing she'll be when every photo is consistent!


Monday, February 14, 2011

Strawberry Rosebud


While perusing the marketplace on DoA, I stumbled across an interesting little shop that sold lolita skirts made using the owner's (Duofan's) own print illustrations. Impressed by the quality and the price, I did a little looking into it and found her website, Strawberry Rosebud.

All images in this post come from her website! In addition to being a great photographer, the Canada-based enthusiast makes jewelry for dolls and people. Using her wonderful design skills, she bases her own lolita creations off of brands like Angelic Pretty, BTSSB, etc. Above are some dolls wearing her skirts!

The artist in the flesh! I love her red-highlighted hair and adorable outfit (the one on her, not the doll XD). The website is easy to navigate, and its appearance is clean and professional, so it's very easy to place an order and find the answers to any questions you may have.


This is an example of one of her print illustrations.

She takes orders through both the website and Den of Angels thread, and has wonderful feedback! I'd love to see pictures from anyone that owns one of her beautiful skirts. :3


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Doll Fashions


So, I have stumbled across these desirable platform Mary Janes, and someday wish to add them to my own collection of shoes. I love the color and the styling, and I'm sure they're more comfortable than some stilettos due to the platform and the thick heel. I wanted to have them for me, and for my bjd, Kurumi.

I started thinking about similar shoes that would substitute for hers, but none came to mind. She already has BTSSB rockinghorse shoes, but their bottoms are a yellowy, plastic substance not at all comparable to wood. I began to wonder about doll fashions in general, and how they compare to human fashions. Due to the fact that I am much more interested in female fashion than men's fashions, I will choose to focus on those aspects of the fashions whose representatives are stereotypically female.



Lolita - BJD and lolita seem to have been made for each other. All feministic 'infantalization' controversies aside, both ball jointed dolls and frilly dresses gained popularity first amongst Japanese enthusiasts, and then spread to the rest of the world's subcultural awareness. Lolita fashion looks great on the dolls, who are often proportioned like shojo manga characters (although Iplehouse's EID line and Fairyland's Chicline/Feeple 65 break the mold, no pun intended).

(An early Dollheart Alice outfit)

A very large portion of bjd fashion seems to have been influenced by the frill; Dollheart, Cheerydoll, and a myrid of other bjd clothing companies sport endless quantities of the fluffy lolita look. I suspect that this is largely due to Volks' early and ongoing relationship with both anime fans and famous Japanese clothing brands, like Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Atelier Boz, and H.Naoto Frill and Jelly, among others.

(Here, Hazuki from the anime Moon Phase shows off her lolitaness. I admit, I watched the show. In dubs.)

(Volks' first collab with BTSSB. There's a human size of this exact outfit, too :3... I wants.)

The healthy amount of cross-pollination occurring between anime/manga, street fashion, and doll culture also immediately produced another common doll look...



Punk - The black-chain-tartan wearing crowd also seems to have adopted ball jointed dolls (or is it the other way around?). Given lolita's relationship with visual kei and punk, I can see why this would be the next natural step. And in any given shoujo manga, the beribboned lolita character may well have a pierced boyfriend (Parakiss for please?).
Relative to lolita, examples of punk in anime are few (to my knowledge). It may be owing to the fact that clothing chains and tartan are harder to draw consistently than frills in a solid color, but that's just my theory. More often the punk 'personality' shines through in character interactions.

(H.Naoto creations...*drool*)

H.Naoto, the designer known for his punk/goth/gothic lolita creations of wonderment, has also collaborated with Volks to produce doll clothing.

(It's my beloved Kurumi!)

SDG Kurumi was the first to be produced from this collaboration, followed by similarly H.Naoto-clad SDG 'Ran', MSDG 'Yui', and MSDB 'Hewitt' (3rd Edition). Individual outfits were also produced, spanning a range of sizes. Most of the girls' outfits focus on a gothic or gothic lolita look. The boys' tend towards a gothic or punk appeal.


Mori Girl - Okay, no smooth transitioning into this one. But mori girl, the up-and-coming subcultural darling, is also seen mixing into doll fashions. It could have been the ease of cross-pollination between country lolita and mori that started it, but whatever the case, it is definitely present in the bjd world.

(Arcadia Dolls produced this country-lolita-mori-natural-kei hybrid line called Twilight Garden. Unfortunately, their site is currently closed to orders...hope they come back! *tears*)

Aprons and long overcoats over long floral frocks have long been a part of natural kei fashion, and they are an obvious choice for the owner who wants their dolls to have a cute, girl-or-boy-of-the-forest look. Mohair wigs with flower accessories, resin flower jewelry, and scrunched down lace or floral socks are among the accessories of choice for owners of mori-oriented dolls. Volks recently made an outfit set for SD16 and another for SD10, obviously referencing the mori style.

I believe that these are the major fashions that influence doll clothing in the current market. I would like to see more varieties of casual doll clothing, which are mostly produced by Sadol, Ajumapama and Nine 9. I wish for pleated cropped trousers in a khaki silk or linen, silk shift dresses, more varieties of patterned tights, etc... maybe some styles like J.Crew/Madewell carry, and which are found in higher-end boutiques. Of course, I'm going to get to sewing those things for myself (someday! I'll be good at sewing someday!) but I would love to see a company like Dollmore start to move clothing in that direction.




(As you can see, though, Dollmore has already made some headway on that whole 'contemporary fashion' thing with their recent line of Model Doll shoes.... :3 )

I did skip over fantasy, but I am not very interested in fantasy dolls or anything related to them, and so I had nothing to say about armor and period clothing (like Marie Antionette or Medieval inspired clothing). What do you think? Which fashions or fashion trends would you love to see for your dolls? Post some clothes and shoes you'd like to have for them! Pictures and comments always welcome.