yagi is home!

What do I mean "home"? I guess I didn't mention it on this blog but I actually sent Yagi off to my wonderful friend Kayke for a little bit of tattoo work! Since she's based off a white ermine moth we thought it would be apt for her to have a moth tattoo. She now has one under her (rather sizeable) bust and I am so enamored with it I've been staring at it and taking pictures of Yagi all day.

I suppose I should probably put a "mature content" warning somewhere on this blog but it's dolls... whether it's box openings or photoshoots there's probably bound to be some nudity somewhere, right?

I also added a tiny bit of extra body blush in addition to the boob blushing Kayke did for me, I just felt like the torso was a little stark in contrast with the tattoo. And now I face the really troubling problem of wanting to keep her naked (or at least topless) to show off that lovely work. :')

P.S. I bought a F60 Celine in tan on layaway so you will probably see some news on Estelle soon!

❤ Kai

Tag: Sisterhood of the World Blog

Just got tagged by my friend Musume at My Dolly Adventures! It's been awhile since the last time I did one of these little question memes and I sure do have a lot to share with you guys :) I've also got some VERY exciting news for the future, but I'll probably share closer to the date of the event.

The rules for this tag are as follows:

1. Answer the questions.
2. Tag five people so they will continue the game.

I'm terrible at tagging people since I'm actually not too sure who follows me on what SNS, so if you're reading this consider yourself tagged! I'm also following Musume's format with the questions with my corresponding answer to each one, and then the questions repeated at the end in a list for easy copy-paste convenience.

1. Do you collect anything other than dolls?
Not as a hobby, but I love collecting other people's business cards and packaging with what I consider to be nice design. I'm also a hoarder in many of the games I play - I'm one of the completionist types who likes getting every achievement and every title possible, which is probably a little frustrating for my friends who play with me... :')

2. Why did you start a doll blog? 
I started one to document updates for my newest and only doll at the time (who happens to be my oldest one now!) It was originally supposed to be a "dolly and me" style blog because I'd intended to only have one doll but as my collection and position in the hobby changed dramatically it just became a way for me to sum up my activity and plans. Now it's basically a doll plan dump because that's all I do these days.

3. Do you have one particular doll that is the favorite in your collection? 
This is a really tough question. I try so hard not to play favorites with my dolls, but I think it is very obvious that I haven't been adhering to that at all. Usually my newest doll is my favorite for a good 4 months and I definitely love Yagi lots... but I still think that Polaire has been and still is my most stable favorite to date. I've just spent so much time with her image/character in-game and out-of-game that she's just kind of a constant? I don't know how to describe it.

4. Your favorite doll accessory?
My lovely friends gifted me this apron and frying-pan set from Volks for my 21st birthday this year! Here you can see my favorite girl with my favorite accessory set:

5. Do you know exactly how many dolls you have in your collection (you don't have to tell the number of course :-) )? 
I have a perfectly manageable collection size of 4 dolls, all SD girls! You don't want to know how many more I have planned.

6. Do you play any instruments and if so, what? 
I played flute for 8 years, but I haven't touched it since I entered college 3 years ago.

7. Where is your most favourite place you've ever been? 
Hong Kong during the winter! The weather feels like a brisk autumn day in California, and there's so much to see and do. And eat. All for a very low price, or at least that's how it was when I visited that one time. Recently I've only had time to go during the summer, so it's hot and sticky, and with all the recent events going on in HK the prices for clothing/makeup/toys haven't exactly been what I'd consider cheap.

8. What is your most favourite thing about yourself?
I'd also consider this a tough question because I spend most of my time on things I don't like about myself. I guess I could say I'm resourceful in that I'm generally good at making use of a bad situation, or improvising tools.

9. Favourite book or movie? 
I don't think I really have a favorite book but when I was a kid I really liked the Pendragon and Artemis Fowl series. Fantasy and mystery adventures have always appealed to me!

Favorite movie is a tough one for me, it's a tie between Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. And Princess Mononoke. Maybe When Marnie Was There? Or the only non-Ghibli movie on my list, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? If you haven't already noticed, I'm incredibly indecisive.

10. If you could design your own doll, how would it look like? 
I would import the model for my Blade & Soul character, make modifications to her body, and 3D print that. 😂

Here are the questions again:
 
1. Do you collect anything other than dolls?
2. Why did you start a doll blog?
3. Do you have one particular doll that is the favourite in your collection?
4. Your favourite doll accessory?
5. Do you know exactly how many dolls you have in your collection (you don't have to tell the number of course :-) )?
6. Do you play any instruments and if so, what?
7. Where is your most favourite place you've ever been?
8. What is your most favourite thing about yourself?
9. Favourite book or movie?
10. If you could design your own doll, how would it look like?
❤ Kai

bee news

I posted awhile back about some "far-off" doll plans that I wasn't going to attempt for awhile, but it looks like they're not going to be that far-off anymore! This is one of my recent drawings and he probably doesn't look too familiar because I've never posted a completed illustration of this guy before.

His name is Julien Feng aka "bee king" - I'd originally planned for him to be a LM Luke but after re-evaluating my plans I might have him be a Luts SDF Winter '14 head instead. As much as I love Luke's face, I really couldn't get over how close together his eyes were in the end. Luckily for me, my friend has managed to find a secondhand Luts head for me at a pretty decent price :) Here he is next to an F60 Celine I painted:

I can't wait to see him in person so I can try some faceups on him! He's going to be getting a wig (in black) and probably a hanfu like the one pictured in my next Taobao order. The only question remaining is should I get him a Luts SDF65 body or go with the Switch HD65? Suggestions and resin matches welcome!

❤ Kai

Moving on...

That's one doll out of the way... so what's next? I currently have 3 more dolls planned, but 2 of them are on the backburner until I can solidify their faceup and wardrobe concepts (plus, they're boy dolls. I'm not good with boy dolls.) I'm going to be continuing with my original plan prior to impulse buying that SQLab Navi - chasing after a good sculpt for Estelle!

Illustration by me procrastinating on studying over the weekend

By the looks of the illustration, I'm probably going to be canceling all plans for a Luts Nina in Real Brown Skin and going for an F60 Celine in tan. I think I want a little more variety in the faces in my collection, even if I'm not completely sold on Fairyland as a company.

Oh! And my wonderful friend who sent me her tan Celine a little while back let me try Essie's faceup on her doll just to help me out with my decision. It's what the illustration's based on, in addition to the purple wig I managed to snag off another friend.

The only real changes I'll be making is switching out the gold snake bites for silver ones and keeping the ears unpierced. Otherwise... color palette, brow shape, etc. is essentially set! I won't be able to afford this girl for awhile since I'm going to be ordering her with extra heel feet and hands (I hate the default hands Moe F60's come with because they barely have any nails to paint on!), all in tan directly from Fairyland :( Wish me luck!

❤ Kai

Mystery moth at 80%

Ta-daaaah! She is done :) Well, not quite. My friend is sending me some stencils to paint her eyebrows on, the little sequins I've glued there for now are only placeholders for her white star eyebrows I'll hopefully be doing later on this week! Her eyes are also photoshopped since I don't have her Oscar Eyes yet - they'll be here sometime in June, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her 100% complete. This is actually the second faceup I've done on her! Her previous one had a different lip style and white eyeliner instead of black. I've just made some very small improvements including some gold accents on the lips and refined white lace designs around her eyes.

And here's her second manicure! The first one was a lot less complicated - I only had mint nails with golden crescents at the nail base, and the star sequin on each of the pointer fingers. This one's a lot more blinged out :) I also duplicated this manicure on another set of hands since she came with 2 extra pairs when I bought her.

For a secondhand doll I think she looks really lovely! I've put in a lot of time and effort perfecting her look and fixing her up even though I'm already her third owner.

❤ Kai