life at home

Just graduated and moved back north over the weekend! It's been a busy week for me and I'm still unpacking essentially four years' worth of accumulated junk. I've also got exactly 32 heads between my side commissions and trades to work on so I've basically got my entire summer cut out for me. I did however manage to squeeze some time out right before grad weekend to redo Estelle & Polaire (first faceup by me on the left, newest faceups on the right):

Polaire's is heavily based on the mockup from my last post, while Essie's is just a renewed version of her previous faceup (not the one pictured on the left) with more detail. I wouldn't have wiped her at all if she didn't have that chip on her chin that was still bothering me, but since I was planning on redoing Polaire anyway I ended up wiping her as well.

My first business after coming home was to give Lenoire & Haerang a much needed makeover since I hadn't done anything to their faceups in over a year. This also served as a practice run with my home setup and new brushes before even trying to tackle the backlog. I'm glad they both turned out as great as they did. I also did a small mod to open up Lenny's eyes a tiny bit more. Honestly, with the modded eyes I think she's managed to narrowly escape being sold... I was originally going to wipe her and reshell her into a Delf Ann because the last faceup I did really ruined her for me (it just seemed like no faceup would ever make her look good!) Thankfully I've changed my mind and she's here to stay for a long, long time. Both Lenny & Haerang are sporting brand new manicures I finished yesterday, too! Improvements all around for everyone.

 

And here's Yagi. She basically hasn't changed at all - I just added some more blush to her cheeks and maybe overblushed her nose a little. 

That's about all I've got. We've come a long way folks!
One of these days I'll have everyone standing up or posing in one picture all together again, maybe when Tamako comes back from Canada ;9

❤ Kai

post-doll north update

Hi again! It's officially finals week as I'm writing this and I'm so ready to graduate. I've also got a lot of plans for doll stuff now that I'm free of school and I'm excited to share them with all of you.

Last weekend I had a blast at Doll North at Anime North in Toronto - really just all around great people and an experience I will never forget. Getting to there and back was a little stressful (I've never gone on an international flight alone before) but being at the con was so worth it! I met tons of my followers, led my first workshop ever, and made tons of new friends, including Merry Doll Round's sculptor. Since my admission for next year is free I'm looking into going again next year and hopefully bringing a few of my friends along for the ride!

Unfortunately my newest girl Tamako managed to get her face chipped on the way back home so she's getting wiped after only 2 months of having her current faceup. I do however want to commission a new wig for her though, as her current soy fiber one actually doesn't really stick to her head too well so I'll be sending her whole (blank) head to one of my new friends in Canada for a brand new alpaca wig. I guess she won't be showing up in any videos I make anytime soon, but she'll have her own separate one once she comes back and I have her painted up again :)

As for the faceup commission side of things, I know there's tons of people waiting in line and there's still a few non-trade/non-private commissions that I have to tackle once I move home, in addition to all the people who contacted me regarding my "want to paint" list about a month ago. I've also got a couple plans of my own that I've probably mentioned before, i.e. reshelling Lenny and pouring more money into the hobby for more dolls I don't need.

You should be able to recognize at least one face in this mockup dump. If you need help, here's a link to an earlier mockup on the exact same image (I think my Photoshop painting skills have improved quite a bit in the past 2 years!) Quick breakdown of the dolls pictured in clockwise order: Daydream Noah (Mie Takanashi/buncho hime), Daydream Grace (Aster Cerana/bee prince), SWITCH Waseon (Julien Feng/bee prince) and my favorite girl Polaire, who was voted as first to get made over once I get home!

I'm excited to be putting all these plans into action as soon as I humanly can. There's just so much to do and now that I finally have the time and space to do it I just want to do everything! I'm also working on expanding Darjeeling Aesthetics to more than just faceups and customization (hence the change in the name of this blog) and I'll be giving this place a facelift very, very soon. Wish me luck!

❤ Kai