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

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

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

april/may plans!

Some decisions have been made and I'm making a very very slight change of plans! First on the agenda is the official announcement that I'm going to be getting Yagi before Estelle since some golden opportunities have come up, and I'm more set in what I want for them more than what I want for Essie (plus with Withdoll releasing a 60cm line soon, I'll have to reconsider the Luts Nina as my choice sculpt).

I've had this SQLab Navi bookmarked on the DoA marketplace for a few months but I hadn't thought of anything I wanted to do with it for the longest time, until I recently made the realization that her face was super similar to Gloomy Sarubia, one of my sculpt candidates for Yagi. The listing has the full doll with 2 extra pairs of hands for only $410, and it's located within the USA so not only would I save on shipping, I'd also save on time!

Here's the mockup of the listing photo with the faceup I intend to do:

I'm so excited! My friend is letting me borrow her nail stencils for the star eyebrows, and the seller has kindly put the doll on hold for me until I'm ready to pay. I hope I can buy her by the end of this month!

I've also compiled a sort of style collage to get a better feel of what I want for this doll. I'm going to be doing something a little different than usual (read: not a massive contemporary-styled closet) so it's going to take a lot more work! In this collage I have (starting from top left): lip designs by Light Limner, iridescent glitter flakes, a tulle tutu on Small Yabi painted by blandbilker, an Etsuna Otsuka dress, styled Serenade Doll Nuns, and Tang Dynasty ruqun taken by 当小时. Even though Yagi's base concept is an ethereal alien moth I'm basically taking inspiration from celestial motifs, Chinese hanfu, and cult party-kei findings. I'm probably not going to be able to find this kind of stuff readily available in doll size, so I'm either going to have to get crafting or find someone to commission!

❤ Kai

new & revised doll plans!

I'm back!! But only for a little bit. School has moved into the "literally-a-midterm-every-week-until-finals" phase, so between that and commission work I haven't really had a lot of time to myself. I've cleared majority of this month's commissions though, so I've managed to nab a little bit of free time to 1) create an art piece and 2) make some mockups for some new doll characters I've thought of!

I'm really happy that I changed up my doll plans because while I DO love all of my "bees" I think I'm more comfortable buying and shelling out feminine characters. I've also changed the sculpts that I'm intending to get so I've managed to break my chain of every new doll being more expensive than my last.

Here's a familiar-ish face! I've selected a different sculpt for Estelle Cerana - I've decided that she's going to be a LUTS Delf Nina in Real Brown Skin rather than a tan skin F60 Celine. She's now only $522 including shipping! I decided to go with Nina because I'd have the option of choosing LUTS' brown skin over Fairyland's overly red tan, as well as a body shape that fits better into my aesthetic preferences. I'm really not a big fan of the Moe Line torso or leg shape, and to mod that would be both too costly and a pain with tan skin.

While I was deliberating my plans for Essie I also managed to create another character by examining the new Peakswoods-exclusive Oscar Eyes and sitting in front of my tablet for 3 days straight. I haven't really fleshed out their specifics yet or decided exactly WHAT they are besides the general descriptor of "moth," but here's Yagi as a drawing and as a mockup on two different LittleMonica sculpts.

 

Cropped version of Yagi the moth.

(I have pictures of Yagi as Chloe and Sarubia respectively, but I've basically decided to go with Chloe as the designated sculpt.) I'm not exactly sure whether Yagi has a gender or not yet, but my basic idea is put them (her?) on a Sadol Love60 body in white skin and just see where the theme of glitter, lace, and flowers takes me. A moth princess would work. A genderless insect alien would also work. In either case, Yagi's a pretty big departure from what I'm used to and I'm really excited to see where I go with it.

P.S. A LittleMonica head + Sadol body is only $500 including shipping.


❤ ｋａｉ

+ 2015 doll plans +

Happy 2015 everyone~ I know I'm 10 days late but it's better late than never, right? I suppose you could say I'm pretty happy with my small collection of three for now (that and I'm kinda broke after basically buying two dolls and all their clothes in the same year...) but I do have plans to add to my collection in future. Maybe not within 2015, but I'm probably going to start saving for stuff starting now :')

But first, a height comparison chart! "DJ" (Darjeeling) and Polaire are both dolls in my current collection, and while the stock images on the comparison site look nothing like them they've got the exact same body/measurements for reference. As for everyone else, I'll be introducing them shortly!

"Bee king" (who currently does not have an actual name) started out as a joke during one of my draw streams but I'm starting to really like him? I just drew a guy with really long hair and a hanfu for fun, but the more I look at 古装 for dolls on Taobao the more I want to make this guy a reality. I'm going to have a hard time trying to fit him in with the rest of my collection, but why can't we just have him be someone who spends too much time on the internet researching and cosplaying ancient fantasy China clothes? If I were to choose a sculpt I'd probably go with Little Monica's newly released Grand Harmony Luke. He's on the taller side of things but I might be able to put up with it if it makes him look good in hanfu.

"Bee prince" is based off a drawing I completed some time in October. I did, in fact, continue this as a running bee joke from my experience with "bee king"... except I actually managed to create a definite image for him. His name is Aster Cerana, as in Apis cerana, the Eastern honey bee. Literally a bee. I imagine him to be a snobby little brat, but the same time, I can't see myself having an MSD-sized doll in my collection at all. DIM's Jullis is exactly what I had in mind when I drew that picture, but alas... I'm not sure if 42cm is going to cut it for me. If I DO decide to modernize and size him up, I'll probably go for a LUTS SDF65 Carmine and see if I can do a My Choice to put him on the regular SDF body or Delf body.

And last but not least I've got plans for another girl! I'm so terrible at planning boys because I never intended to have boys in my collection at all, but if it's for the bees I'll do it... Estelle Cerana probably has the highest chance of being bought right now, but the price tag is a pretty hefty one. I'm aiming for a F60 Moe tan Celine from Fairyland and everything including shipping is approximately $670 :') I want a girl who loves pastels, spikes, and skintight clothing and looks nothing like the rest of the bee royal family. I've started an inspiration tag for her, but I have no idea where on earth I'll be able to find actual doll-scale clothes in the style I want, let alone any that fit a 53cm FM60...

...And that's a wrap! There's no way I'll be getting all 3 this year, or even one this year, but I do love plans and I DO love bees. Who do you think I should set as my goal first? Let me know in the comments :)

long time no see!

I know, I know. Every time I make a new post it ALWAYS starts with something like this. However, it's been almost exactly 2 months since my last post and guess what that means? New doll on the way! SWITCH sent me a shipping notice just yesterday and she's going to be on a flight from Incheon to Los Angeles really soon. Hopefully if customs isn't going to be mean, I'll be able to see her by the end of this week.

Yayyyyyy!

In other news I've settled back in La Jolla for the new school year, but due to space limitations I'm only keeping two dolls with me. With one doll on the way, that leaves only one doll I can keep with me before the new girl gets here. Since Lenny already stayed a half-year alone with me, I'm keeping Polaire with me this time. I've given her a fancy new face and manicure for her troubles :)

I've also... spent a ton of money on doll clothes for all of my girls, namely from various Etsy shops and Promise of the World. If I'm not feeling too lazy I might do a full review of everything I've received so far. That's it for this time's update! I'm thinking my next post will probably be a box opening.

❤ mura

who's that girl?

Just two days ago I placed an order on the SWITCH website...

I've actually already got her first round of clothes from my Taobao order - all that's missing is a proper pair of shoes and some eyes in the right color. I've already got a mori girl/"cute" girl and a fashionable chic girl, so I thought it'd be interesting to try some alternative styles like punk and gothic lolita with this one. Might be a little bit cliche but majority of her closet is themed in black and red, as is she :)

I bought two sets of the school uniform on the right so she and Lenny can "go" to the same school. Looking forward to meeting my new girl soon! If you're curious about my plans for this doll you can go ahead and check out these posts :)

❤ mura

new doll plans

Can you believe it? I can't believe myself. It's only been < 2 months since I got my new doll and I'm already thinking about the third one, though I guess it already has been a couple months since I've started thinking about this one.

Some of you might already know what I'm talking about! She goes by the name Darjeeling (although I've recently decided that she should probably have a "real" name too - her actual name is Haerang Yoo/유해랑) and she's a classmate of Lenny's who's rumored to be a witch with magical powers. I'll be developing both Lenny and Darjeeling's stories in time, since they're both very closely tied together :)

The doll I have in mind is a SWITCH Shiho on the HD57 B-cup girl body, making her slightly shorter than both of my girls. I'm really excited!!... to save up $600+ not including all the stuff I have planned for her closet...

Look at all that BLACK AND RED. I almost named her Hongryeon (홍련/红莲) because of how much red is in her closet theme... Oh, and here's a picture of what her character design looks like, extracted from a piece I'm working on ;)

❤ mura

mockups mockups

I'm not sure how many of you follow my personal Tumblr and have seen my massive spam about Blade & Soul. It's a Korean MMORPG that I've literally waited years for and the Chinese server is region-free and free to play! So naturally, I've been spending a lot of time on it. Maybe even a little more than I should.

Blade & Soul has really excellent character customization and I've taken this opportunity to perfect one of my favorite characters' looks. I actually created her almost 2 years ago on a different game and she's the character that I'm shelling into my incoming Little Monica doll! Here's how she looks like in-game:

 

Remember awhile back I was stuck between Angell-Studio's Lan and Little Monica's Sophia? I realized that I've unintentionally made my B&S character look a lot more like Lan (and I almost regretted my purchase for a moment there!) Today I took a little time to do some mockups to make sure that the doll I've chosen is a good fit for my character. Here's the results:

I messed up a little on the eye placement on the LM Sophia mockup. To be honest, I still like Lan's face more... But in terms of what I like more in general, I like Little Monica as a company more, plus their bodies are much more poseable than AS's. So I guess I won't be canceling my order?? Whew... =3=

 P.S. Her name is Polaire. I guess I just like girls' names that end in -ire or something. o(´^｀)o

❤ mura

getting taobao orders in

Hello everyone! I've been posting a lot recently and I'm happy I'm finally breaking the long breaks in between posts habit I've been fostering over the past year or so. It's probably because I'm gearing up for my next doll's arrival sometime in February =3=

Her name is Polaire and she's a fashionable, classy girl (at least on the outside). I'm only getting her 3 outfits for now but like Lenny's closet it's probably going to expand into something massive eventually. Here's what I've picked from Taobao for her!

It bothers me a little that the product images are different proportions but I'll have to make do, I guess. I also have a pair of socks and some cute shoes on the way as well. I hope the next Leekeworld GO gets going soon so I can order her wig too!

❤ mura

new doll coming soonl!

My goodness it's been a month and a half since I've last posted here! Season's greetings to all of you even though it's already almost the new year =3=

Good news: after doing all those faceups, I finally gathered enough money to order my next doll! Everyone who's supported me along the way, thank you so much for helping me achieve my goals ^^

The order page says it's currently in item processing and Little Monica has already posted a notice saying that items ordered during the winter event period probably won't be delivered until sometime in February. It's going to be a pretty long wait...

Bad news: awhile back I paid for an order from what I thought was a neat little shop called Promise of the World. They have such adorable clothes! I even made a post about them here. All the images are gone because I think they changed their address to promiseoftheworld.com awhile ago. Unfortunately, even though my order status was changed to "delivered" on November 18, I still haven't received my package and the seller/admin isn't responding to my messages. I'm not the only one facing these problems, either. Some other folks on DoA made a huge group order and they haven't received any of the items or any correspondence from the seller. We're all hoping that they're just backed up on orders and are slowly working their way through them but with no communication this is very hard to confirm. I'm hoping for the best...

❤ mura

finalizing doll plans~

Long time no blog, everyone! College barely gives me enough time to do the things I enjoy, but I'll make do for now. Anyway... I've been reaching new goals with my faceup shop and I might finally have enough money to order my next doll this Christmas! I've been waiting for well over a year and switching back and forth between several dolls, but I've finally made up my mind to do this.
The doll I'm getting is a LittleMonica Sophia and after this round of commissions, I'll have roughly $500 out of the $624 I need to pay for her and ridiculous EMS shipping to the US.

I haven't quite figured out a good style for her yet (I'm kind of stuck between posh girl and Harajuku "neo gal") so it's going to be a while before I can get her a decent closet. As for wigs, I know I want to get her something in a mint green color, but her hairstyle really depends on what kind of things she's going to wear. I'm not sure which of these two Leekeworld wigs I like more, but there's plenty of time before the DoA group order ends, so... (if you have opinions you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them, though).

❤ mura