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

meet tamako!

Through an unexpected turn of events I've managed to secure a body for one of my floating heads, so I'm rolling out the doll plans a little bit earlier than I expected. A huge thanks to my friend sabotendoll for doing this ridiculous FM60 Celine split with me, because now I can finally bring my dream girl Tamako to life!

She's currently borrowing clothes and wearing a temporary wig/eyes but I'm excited to have her completed soon. It just seems that with every new character I make it gets harder to find the clothes I want for them. Essie was already difficult to tackle, but Tamako has to have practically everything custom-made. I'd better learn how to handle a sewing machine!

Here's just a few of the items I'd be trying to make in miniature size:

They're really cute but there's no way I'd be able to get them without the help of a seamstress custom-making them for me, sadly. At the very least she'll be getting her wig and skates pretty soon so I hope to have her basic look ready for an update within the next month or so.

❤ Kai

rebranding, planning, and more updates

Wow! Two posts in the same month? I shock myself sometimes, I know. Things are coming along interestingly for me these days so I thought I'd touch base with all my followers here! I've been doing much better and I'm finally back in my element thanks to my much freer schedule this quarter.

I know it's been barely a year but I've become pretty bored with the layout of my current branding and I've been upset about not having a proper logo for... well, basically three whole years. So I finally got around to making myself one after weeks and weeks of Etsy browsing and getting lost in local stationery stores. I now present to you my official Darjeeling Aesthetics logo!

It's pretty simple but it's also really versatile. I've had fun changing the leaf colors and text colors to suit the background of the pictures I use the logo on, and it seems to work fine without ruining the integrity of the design. Here's some examples in action:

I'm also trying very hard to up the level of my photography. Even with my faceup portfolio pictures I'm focusing less on a precise, manufactured look across my pictures and more on flattering angles that make my work look good. It's been strange coming out of my very clinical, science-y way of looking at things, but I'm making progress! In other news, this new logo means I'll probably be making new business cards sometime this year, maybe featuring some gold foil for extra fancy goodness. I'm probably also going to be changing a few of my SSN handles for more consistency between my accounts.

Coming out of my quarter-long slump has been very difficult but I've realized that looking at the hobby with my own goals in mind really helps the situation. I've still got a few February waitlist commissions to tackle, but essentially all the commissions I've accepted for the future are all sculpts that I handpicked from my want-to-paint list. I'm really excited to be just sitting back and catering to myself (essentially) for once :') In other news, I've got the doll plan wheel grinding again, and it looks like I've managed to get myself to a grand total of 11 dolls... I drew this chart up the other day picturing all my current and planned characters.

So far everyone up to Prunella is complete, minus Lenny who might be getting reshelled into a Delf Ann sometime soon. Tamako needs a FM60 body in NS to complete her (I'm still looking for one for sale! Or maybe I'll do a split?) and the rest of the dolls I have planned will come slowly in their own time. Julian is currently planned as a Switch Waseon on the HD65 body, Mie will be either a Daydream Noah or Grace, Aster a DIM Jullis, and Edan (my poor excuse to have another tan doll in my family) will either be a LUTS Carmine in Real Skin Brown on the Delf body or a Little Monica Eden in brown skin. Looking forward to spending... say... the next 10 years of my life amassing enough money to bring my doll dreams to life?

That's about it for this update. I'm debating whether or not to wipe Polaire's face and redo it before Doll North, but I think she'll tell me when she's ready. By falling into my camera like last time, or something.

❤ Kai

updates from the household

Long time no talk, everyone~ It's always like this. I recently received a message on my faceup shop Tumblr asking if I'd quit blogging - the answer's no, I just tend to forget about this blog sometimes and only post when I have something I feel is worth posting about :') I've also been pretty busy as of late, with graduation coming up soon and a spectacular commission backlog I've managed to rack up due to having almost no time to work at all last quarter. Things have been a little bit rough on me but I'm slowly coming back, and my new doll purchases are helping me out quite a bit. The commission queue is up and running again, and I'm hoping to have whatever's left in my drawer cleared out by the end of April. There's also some huge news I'm very excited to share, so this is going to be a pretty info-packed update on my end.

First things first - new dolls! Back in November I signed on for an exclusive collaboration with Sephie Doll Shop, a few of my faceups in exchange for one of their dolls. Earlier in March a package from Spain came in and I got to working straight away.

This is Prunella, my artist-cast Sephie Doll Shop Trébol in sugar (white) skin. Cloudburst Dolls & I worked together to create her unique peachy hairstyle. She's an adorable little peach fairy with a penchant for mischief. To be honest, I had no idea what kind of character I would create with her since I've only owned SD girls up until now, so it's been difficult imagining what I would do with a doll of such a small size. I'm glad everything worked out, though!

Here's my latest impulse buy - an FLA60 event head whom I've decided to shell my character Tamako into. I'd originally imagined her as a F60 Chloe or if Fairyland chooses to ever release one, a F60 Mio, but I thought it would be fun and interesting to try doing a faceup on a less popular event head. I've also taken the liberty of giving her some scrapes and bruising on her cheek, which I've never done on any of my own dolls? I can't wait to get her a body, maybe sometime this summer :) She'll be the same height as Essie, but even shorter because she's always wearing Converse!

Tamako's a tough girl just like Estelle - and maybe that's what drew them together. Born and raised on the streets of Los Angeles, Tamako is no stranger to confrontation and altercation. Her backstory is kind of a mess right now, but the general concept I'm going with is a pizza delivery girl on roller blades who spends her paycheck on raves and vintage records. It's a bit fanciful, but given that she's really inspired by video games, internet subculture, and chiptune music (aka my side project Kazoo Quest) it's really not all that surprising :')

Lastly, the big news:
I've taken a temporary "hiatus" from some portions of the hobby, so I don't post pictures of my dolls regularly or accept new faceup commissions (the latter is mostly because I'm so backed up on work). Burnout's been eating at me since August and I'm glad that last quarter gave me the chance to take a break even though it wasn't the most favorable of conditions. I've been really stressed out about my internet presence, my identity, my future after graduation - everything just kind of fell on me mentally for the past couple of months and it ended up being too much to handle. I'm currently getting professional help and things are starting to pick up again for me so I'll work my way out of this funk eventually...
There is some good news though, and this is something I've kept secret for a good couple of months now. If you're going to Doll North at Anime North this May in Toronto, I'll most likely see you there! I am attending as a featured guest and I'll be leading two workshops: one for faceups, one for doll manicures, and I'm really looking forward to being able to do this for everyone who attends. It's going to be an exciting (and kind of scary) experience for me, but I've got high hopes for it nonetheless.

That's probably the lengthiest update I've posted in awhile. I'm signing off before I fall asleep at my PC.

❤ Kai

hello essie...

Starting off the new year with a new faceup for my newest girl! The other day I accidentally hit her chin with my thumbnail while repositioning her head, resulting in a huge, obvious chip that went all the way down to the resin. Naturally, I broke my commission queue to give her a new faceup (don't worry, I'm going to get back to work soon!) and I'm pretty happy with how she looks now!

I might even be a little bit grateful that I ruined her last faceup. Her new look feels more natural and balances out her facial features. The lips are colored more evenly, eyelashes less densely packed, and the eyebrows have a more delicate arch while still keeping the same expression. I also changed her eyeshadow a little bit to accentuate her crease and added some white and gold liner to brighten up her eyes. I'd say it's actually a vast improvement! Now I just hope this faceup will last longer than the last one...

❤ Kai

liebster awards

Is it that time of the year already? I've been tagged by both my dear friends Orion Cain & Musume, so I've double the questions to answer this time! Thank you so much for nominating my blog, even though I don't update very often. As always, I tag anyone reading my blog who wants to do it because I'm awful at choosing people to single out (with the addition of a few people on my blogroll who may or may not have been tagged yet). I hope my questions are fun and interesting for anyone who wants to try.

The Rules

1. Thank the person who presented you the award and link back to their blog.

2. Post the award image on your blog.
3. Answer 11 questions posted by the presenter.
4. Nominate 5-11 blogs with less than 200 followers.
5. Create 11 questions for the nominees to answer.
6. List these rules in your post.
7. Inform the people you chose of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog and link them your post.

an ending to 2015

It's time for my monthly update! It's still New Years' Eve for me here on the west coast of the USA so this'll be my last post for 2015. It's been a wonderful year in this hobby for me, watching my faceup business skyrocket in popularity over one winter, seeing my doll family grow from 3 to 5, and meeting so many new friends. I've also picked up a couple new skills along the way - I've finished filming for two videos' worth of content and I'm about to get started on editing them so I'll have things on my brand new YouTube channel for the new year.

My newest girl Estelle is finally coming together with her new clothes and new eyes, and the others are always a joy to see again when I come home. I've got a couple other posts that I haven't finished typing up yet (like New Year's resolutions, updated doll plans, and Essie's bio) so I'll have plenty of nice new content to start 2016 off with. I've also got a couple of close-up shots of my crew! If anyone's still reading this blog feel free to tell me which of my dolls is your favorite. I might feature them in my next video!

Haerang & Lenoire, the lovebirds

Polaire & Estelle, best pals

Yagi, lonely moth goddess

Cheers, guys! Hope you have a great new year :)

❤ Kai

san diego bjd con recap

Long time no see, everyone... I'm late with another entry, yet again! I was originally going to do something for Pro BJD Artists Day this year but I've been scrambling back and forth for the past couple of weeks with either schoolwork or convention preparation. I finally got free time this weekend to work on some commissions, rest up, and eat!

Anyway I thought I'd do a quick little recap of my experience this year at the San Diego BJD Convention. Last year I was there as an attendee, and I stayed for only a little bit after checking out the dealer's room because I was right in the middle of midterms at the time. This year I managed to attend as a vendor and share a table with my friend Cris from Blue Bird Doll Shoppe, and I just so happened to be sandwiched between her display and my other friends' from La Esperanza Doll Shop.

As someone whose involvement in the hobby is primarily based on faceup commissions, I didn't have too much to show at the convention (unlike my friends who had huge displays for their clothing shops). I just brought a few of my freshly made art prints, some old doll clothes I wanted to get rid of, a physical portfolio of my faceup work, and a bunch of forms for people to fill out. Business was a kind of slow but I still managed to sell out of the slots I prepared for the convention. :)

My display was super tiny, just a box of old clothes, my handmade pennant flag banner, space for my display dolls, and a tray with sample prints and business cards. It was simple, but I think I still managed to make it look pretty good for a first time vendor display! Overall it was a fun and positive experience for me - I didn't get to attend any of the panels, but I enjoyed the door prize raffles and lunch/dinner events. I'm a rather shy/reserved person so I tend not to interact too much with my clients, so it was really interesting to actually see my clients in person and have a little chat with them. Hopefully I gave off a good impression!

I'm going to be trying to finish up all the SDBJDC commissions I took before I leave for home for winter break while juggling final projects and term papers. Can't wait to see my little doll family of 5 once I get home!

❤ Kai

new arrival!

I'm officially at doll #5 here! I'd planned to slow down my doll plans for this year but this was an opportunity too good to pass up. My best doll friend helped me find a Celine on the DoA marketplace for only $575 including default faceup, sleeping head, heel feet, and black resin heels. Shipping was an unbelievable $15! There was absolutely no way I could've found this deal by buying direct from the company or even a dealer. Here's what she looked like before I gave her a makeover:

I never intended to keep the Fairyland default faceup, but after seeing it in person I knew for sure it had to go. The airbrushed pink blush clashed so strongly with her orangey-red lips! Her new look is far fiercer with ombre lips and strong eyebrows. I also decided to double-layer her lashes for a fuller look.

And here she is from today! I gave her a couple small finger tattoos: a heart and ribbon on the right hand, and the word "love" and a honeycomb on the left in addition to rings and a triangle on both. Someday when I finally have matte varnish and the tools to restring her I'll be giving her a large bee and some floral tats on her body, too.

I also did a quick comparison shot with Polaire, the other girl I brought with me for this quarter. Essie is a lot shorter even with her heels on! I think she's even shorter than DJ with flat feet...

I'm so excited to finally be able to share Estelle with all of you! Now to wait for her clothes and real wigs to come in... :)

❤ Kai

belated bee news

I can't believe I'm posting twice in the same month! This is pretty novel for me. To be honest, this "news" is actually older than my recent post about Yagi, but I figured since I'm already on this blog finally being active again, I may as well post it.

I received his head about 2 weeks ago from my wonderful friend in Michigan, who managed to nab one for sale from one of the people in her local community. Here's what his first faceup looks like:

It's only his first so it's likely not staying. The eyelashes definitely feel much too long/dense for my taste, and the only reason why they look like that is because my sealant's been getting very gritty on me recently. What ends up happening is me going over my lines over and over again to make them look even, instead of doing light wispy eyelash strokes like I am usually able to. He definitely has the "look" down though! I'll probably do another faceup in the same vein once I'm able to get him a body (I'm aiming for an AprilStory Senior boy body as of now).

Here's another picture comparing him with Polaire, my Little Monica Sophia. Do you like her better with him? Or with Celine? ;) Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: that Celine doesn't belong to me, my friend just let me try the faceup I wanted to do on her doll before doing what she actually commissioned me for. Fear not, I have my own Celine coming sometime in September!

❤ Kai

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