BJD Interview with Polaire!

Finally getting around to doing this! I wanted to wait until I came home for spring break so I could refaceup/take proper pictures of my girls for this interview :) I was tagged by my wonderful friend Musume! I don't really have anyone in mind to tag, so anyone who reads this blog, feel free to write out an interview for any of your dolls.

cosplay completion

Finished my doll cosplay of the Kun version of the 화양연화/花 样年华 “In the Mood for Love” outfit from Blade & Soul! Fully handsewn and all patterns drafted by yours truly. If you’re going to Fanime in San Jose, California, I’ll be there from May 23-25th with Polaire so come find us! ^_^

And if you haven't heard of Blade & Soul, it's a Korean MMORPG with art direction formerly headed by Hyung-tae Kim. He's pretty famous in digital art circles, and chances are you've probably seen some of his work! I can't say much about how he proportions his characters, but I can appreciate his clear direction of style in the illustrations he makes.

 
❤ mura

cosplay update!!

Not that long since my last Porii update but here's what's new: shortly after I finished that last faceup on her, she fell and not only managed to chip off that BRAND NEW faceup I finished, but also acquired a very deep scratch in her leg. I'm looking into sanding options but as I am still at school right now I don't have access to a lot of things. Thankfully it's not that noticeable since it's in the middle of the thigh and I have her wearing socks/tights almost all the time =3=

I decided to give her yet another faceup, so here's how she looks like right now:

I'd say it's kind of in between the very first faceup and the last faceup I did on her. Still looking much less innocent than the first faceup (which is good!!). Anyway, here's the cosplay progress! I'm about 60% done - I finally got the materials to finish fitting and lacing the corset piece, and now I just need to finish the neckpiece and draft/sew the wrist guards.

Fanime is in 2 weeks! I gotta hurry =3=

❤ mura

makeover time!

It's been about 2 months since I received Polaire in the mail and I think it's about time she gets a makeover! Actually the real reason why I'm redoing her faceup is because she has a bunch of rubbed-off spots on her face that are really irritating me (remind me to bring a face mask the next time I take her on a plane...), so I spent my entire afternoon painstakingly trying to get her eyelashes and eyebrows right. Here's the finished product!

With darker makeup and more arched brows she finally looks older than Lenny. I'm not sure if she actually looks her age but I can say with certainty that she looks much more in-character than she previously was. Score one for me!

❤ mura

closet update!

Yesterday I got notifications for 4 packages, 2 of them being my things from Taobao and Nine9 Style. Unfortunately, by the time I was finished with lab, it was already too dark for me to take proper pictures of anything. So this morning I got up nice and early to take a bunch of pictures :)

 

This one is my favorite because it's by far the EASIEST outfit to put on. It's super cute, too! I bought it from 42workshop on Taobao, the same place as where I got Lenny's sweater/long black skirt outfit from.

This is the qipao that I waited weeks for! At the time, the seller only had the DD version of this in stock, but they later asked me for my doll's measurements so I suspect this is custom made. Sadly, while I really love the fit of this outfit, the part between the bust and waist is a little too small for my doll's relatively wide torso, and I'm scared that the seams are beginning to rip :(

 

Bought this one off a sales post on the BJD Addicts Sales and Commissions page. It's perfectly cute, but again, because Little Monica girls have a really wide torso for SD13 size dolls, it doesn't quite fit right. I might remove some of the snaps in the back and replace them with hook-and-eye closures to help the dress actually close up in the back.

Lastly, here is a cute denim dress from Rosemary Shop on Taobao! They're an independent shop that makes very cute and girly clothes for SD and DD. The wonderful shop owner even gave me a necklace as a free gift! Will definitely be ordering from them again.

I still have clothes in the box that I haven't photographed yet, but I'll be getting around to those soon. Also, did you notice that Porii has different eyes? I bought some very lovely high quality glass eyes from MaoDoll that I will be reviewing soon. :)

❤ mura

杏眼桃腮

The title of this blog post is a Chinese phrase literally meaning almond eyes and peach cheeks, and as you can probably guess, it's referring to a girl's beauty! I thought it would perfectly describe my lovely girl Polaire, who's the subject of my post today. I've been working on a project that I started almost a month ago, and only recently have I made some serious progress with it. If you refer to some of my previous posts, I've mentioned things about the origin of Polaire as an MMO avatar that I used for various game, the most recent being a game called Blade & Soul. Here's how she looks in game, if you haven't seen my post from earlier - and it just so happens that the outfit that I'm trying to recreate is the outfit she's wearing in that screencap!

Here's a stack of materials I've collected for this project:

A rigid satin taffeta, a white chiffon-like fabric, some shiny black stretch lycra, and braided elastic.

The outfit as I've adapted it consists of a corset/leotard piece, a shirt with balloon sleeves, two wristguards, a neckpiece, and a set of leggings with a lace inset. Some of the items in the original game outfit can't be translated into a practical sewing design, so I've made changes accordingly. For instance, I've omitted some of the detailing on the leggings and corset simply because it's impossible to create 3D details in such a small scale/I simply don't have the materials or skills to do so. Without further ado, here's my progress so far! I've completed the corset and the shirt.

The corset consists of 13 pieces (and 12 identical pieces for the lining) and is completely handsewn because I'm at school and I don't have access to a sewing machine (I also suck at sewing with the machine, so I'd rather just not). My first few attempts were with the machine and they didn't work out, so this is actually Mark III of the corset =3= I'm still waiting on my black ribbon for the fastening so I'm temporarily lacing it up in the back with a few loose stitches.

 

Here's my most recent update! I finished the shirt just yesterday, and I just edited the shoulder ties a bit today, but I don't have pictures of that right now. The shirt closes up in the back with snap closures, and the sleeves have elastic stitched into them at the cuffs. So far progress is going really well considering it's only my second time sewing an outfit (the only other time I've sewn a major project is a red Christmas dress I made for Lenny)... I'm going to start drafting the other pieces soon!

❤ mura

doll profile: meet polaire!

name: Polaire (Porii/Polabear)

age: 23

gender: female
birthday: February 28

hair color: mint green

eye color: brown

skin tone: peach

occupation: department store floor manager (and somewhat of a lingerie enthusiast??)

character info:

Even though her birthday is in the month of February, Polaire is far from being a romantic. She's worked many odd jobs before arriving at her current occupation, and she's not about to stop there - she's got millionaire dreams to fulfill. She often stops by Café Amaretto during her lunch breaks and browses the net for cute lingerie and recipes. Polaire is generally outwardly respectful and tolerant of most people, but she'll definitely give you a hard time if she thinks you deserve it.

likes: designer lingerie and dresses, ferrets, anything with pumpkin in it, piña coladas, $$$

dislikes: summer, obnoxious customers, sloppy style, slapstick comedy

technical info

doll company: Little Monica

doll sculpt: Sophia (small bust)

wig: Leekeworld

faceup: Darjeeling Aesthetics (me!)

❤ mura

welcome home!

I finished my physics lab a little early today and ran off to my college's parcel center to find that my package from Little Monica had been delivered!! Look at this huge box. It's even bigger than Lenny's! Also here's a couple shots of her blank face and an informal skin comparison with Asleep Eidolon normal skintone - LM's dolls are a lot peachier and lighter (in weight) than I expected!

(why are her hands so much bigger??)

She came with a couple sweets, a teddy bear(??), picture cards, and a certificate of authenticity. Needless to say I got to work on her faceup as soon as possible. I took progess shots, too!

 

And here's how she looks semi-finished. I need to run to the store and buy myself some white glue so I can attach the eyelashes I bought. But she's almost done!! I'll be updating with a full profile and photoshoot as soon as I finish her faceup ^_^ 

❤ 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

[review] leeke LR-134 E in pale turquoise

I've been lucky enough to be part of what I think may be the fastest GO in the history of group orders. The order was placed on 1/28, arrived at the organizer's house on 2/1, and my part of the order made it to me today! That's literally less than a week =3= I guess our group somehow managed to order all in-stock items or something, because I've never seen anything like this before.

Moving on, here's a closeup of the wig I ordered:

It looks a lot bluer than it actually is, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it isn't a flat color! It's actually a mix of mint greens and blues. Fibers are well-combed and so far there hasn't been any shedding. There is one thing I'm a little unhappy about, but I kinda expected it to happen. For the most part, the wig is very good quality, but the wefts are a little sparse and if you look from the top of the wig, you can actually see the cap underneath. It's not too noticeable for the most part and I've heard that Leeke wigs tend to be a little on the thin side.

Here's how the wig looks like on a doll. It's not Lenny's wig, but she's the only doll I have right now, so she'll have to do! I'm really happy with how long this wig is =w= The character I'm planning to use this wig for usually has her hair in a bun, but there's so many styling opportunities with this kind of length! I can't wait until my new girl comes in so I can play around with it more.

❤ 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

ideas for polaire

After a 4-month long debate I think I've finally decided what I want for my next doll. Or rather, after two tumblr polls, asking all of my friends an unhealthy number of times, and a great deal of deliberation I've chosen Eris!

I've got a few qualms about her, namely the problem I have with her ears, and of course the problem that comes with dolls that only exist as heads - resin matching. The current version of Eris that's available has droopy ears that I'm not a huge fan of, but I think they're starting to grow on me. As for the resin matching problem, some kind DoA members have told me that OR-doll NS matches LittleMonica, Supia, and Spiritdoll well, so I've got a few choices. I'm planning on hybridizing with a LittleMonica small bust body though.

Now that I've decided on Eris, I'm going to have to change closet plans too... I had a full set of links for clothes that fit SD16 girls just in case I chose Siean, but I have to go find pretty corset dresses for "flatter" girls... I've listed a few of my ideas below.

 

Both these pretty dresses are made by ★Akatsuki☆ for Xaga-Doll, and I think they'll fit with Polaire's image pretty well :) I also found these really cute boots that apparently fit SD13 heel feet, which is absolutely perfect! Thinking of getting these in the red-brown color, since black and white are no longer in stock.

Now all that's left is getting enough cash for all of this. Oh boy...

 
❤ muramin