Nightgown Xera ネグリジェ幼女

Quality MDD clothing are hard to come by these days (possibly due to the lack of new official character MDDs) and you usually have to pay an arm and a leg to get detailed pieces on auction sites like YJA. Luckily though, I spotted this delicate nightgown/negligee/one piece dress at Doll Show 37 held last week for a “relatively” decent price ^^; This nightgown features golden bijou and is pleated from chest down. The satin used gives it a nice glossy look/silky texture and you can read more about it on the dealer’s blog (B.C). The 2 new black hair ribbon was from another dealer at Doll Show and the strap thingy around the thigh and neck are from her previous outfits. And yes, this coordination was again inspired by the loli goddess Kobato - all except for the huge sword on her left hand resembling Gut’s Dragon Slayer from Berserk. Xera herself also went through a couple of maintenance too. Unlike limited DD heads made with paint masks at a factory, custom made DDs like herself needs an occasional re-makeup and an anti-gloss spray treatment. I’ve also renewed her wig with the same product and styled it the same way. Anyhow, below are couple of photos I’ve taken in her new clothing and a few snaps taken at meetups in the last couple of weeks.

(MDD系ドールは服難民必至ですが、最近漸く納得の行くクオリティの衣装を先日行われたドールショウで入手。今回はネグリジェ姿の小鳩をイメージしてみたので黒ワンピ、黒リボンと太ももストラップという構成になりました。ついでにドルパでふと買ったMDDサイズのドラゴンこ○しも追加してみたらなんともカオスなコーデに…(ヽ’ω`)セラ本体にはチーク付け足し、艶消しスプレー再塗布、ウィッグ新調(前々回と同タイプ)などと少しばかりメンテもしました。)

Aura’s See Through Sweater (透けセーター)

The weather is really starting to warm up here in Japan and while I try to hunt down Aura’s ideal kimono, I figured I give her something more casual and revealing for the time being. She hasn’t had anything but military clothing/battle outfit for over half a year nor appeared in the blog properly for some time now. Anyhow, as the title says the latest acquirement is Crobi doll’s see-through knit sweater I picked up at Dolk Tokyo for 2000-3000 yen. It’s intentionally torn here and there to give that used look and depending on the size of the doll’s bust, the opening is wide enough to reveal one or both shoulders. The clothing pretty much fits any 1/3 scale doll and leaves enough space underneath for your doll to wear a camisole, tanktop or whatever comes to mind. Not sure if this is how see-through knit sweaters are supposed to be worn, but for Aura I chose the black bikini with choker and the checkered skirt to give it a sexy/cozy house-dress look – from skirt down her feet are bare. Hard to notice but I also slightly modified her hairstyle using the black hair clip to hang some of her hair on her ears (reference pics here).  Had I an older sister, this would be her ideal look…(‘ω`)

(アウラに合う着物は依然として見つかりませんが、外も漸く暖かくなってきたので先日DOLKでこんな物を買ってきました。部屋着の揺るっぽさとセクシーさを出す為に透け透けセーターの下には以前撮影で使用した黒ビキニのトップ、チョーカーとチェック柄のスカート。足は素足。ヘアスタイルもミニヘアピンで耳に髪が掛かるように地味にアレンジしてたりします。自分の姉の理想像はこんな感じですかね。いや、実際はいないのですが…。)

Sora’s Kimono Arrangement and Doll Meets

After “another” month of blog hiatus, we continue with the kimono theme and this time I’ll go over the several modification I’ve added to Sora’s clothing over the last few weeks. Like with the military clothing, kimonos are quite augmentable and leave you with lots of space to customize and make-do. In my case I’ve folded the suso inwards to enable more mobility, modified how the obiage was tied around her waist, made a obikazari out of spare parts and bought a flower decoration/sensu/2 additional obi strands/miniature hanya mask/Geta. I’ve also fiddled with the kitsune mask so that she can keep it on her head without having to use the white rubber band – the band though smooth makes a mess when I try to put it on her long black hair. Kinda hard to notice but I’ve also renewed her black wig and modded her bangs in the usual style as well. There’s just so much to work and plethora of arrangement examples to get inspiration from too. The only difficulty with kimonos are the limited poseability. I had to adjust the same pose dozen of times and retake that shot in many different angles to get some interesting shots which is partly the reason why it took so long for this post to come up. I was also occupied with the things that came up in my personal life as well. Family stuff, job stuff and etc. I suppose they’re heading in a good direction but with new privilege comes new responsibility which could mean even less time to update this blog ;P

（私生活や仕事でバタバタしていた関係で暫く放置していたブログですが、ソラの着物アレンジは以前と変わらずボチボチと進めていたので今回まとめて報告です。）

Samurai School Girl Sora

Originally, I was going to continue with Sora in her Miko outfit and get creative with it – making her pose with bows and arrows or doing some random ecchi poses – but quickly lost interest after stumbling across this beautiful figure by Max Factory. The combination of sailor uniform and a Japanese sword is very orthodox but the addition of gauntlet and belts going around her torso made it an interesting subject for the next cosplay project. The character has many names such as “Samurai”, “Samurai-ko” or “Katanako” and comes from a small niche game called “7th Dragon 2020” where she and the special organization “Murakumo” fights dragon in Tokyo. I’ve yet to play this game and have very little reference but figured I can somehow render her outfit utilizing the Volk’s Sailor Uniform set and a couple of things I had lying around the house. Had tons of belts, straps and strings leftover from the military outfit customization and doll stores were now finally all back from their New Year Holidays. This is still an ongoing project and still requires a few modification here and there -most notably the socks colored in dark red – but will show you the progress I’ve made so far :3

（という訳でセブンスドラゴン2020の「刀子（カタナコ）」フィギュアに触発されて家にある物を掻き集めてソラにコスプレさせてみました。セーラー服ｘ日本刀と実にオーソドックスな組み合わせですが、片手の鎧と胴回りのベルトが良い味を出して入るなぁと。まだ色々と試行錯誤中なんですがとりあえず途中経過を…。）

Belated Happy New Years

This post is kinda random and will hardly be as seasonal as some others out there but might as well make one while it still lasts – not sure when a Shogatsu/New Years Holiday ends for most people but mine ended last Wednesday (‘ω`;) Looking back, a lot has happened in the past year with me graduating from college, becoming a 社会人 [Shakaijin=member of the society] and switching jobs. Not everything went as planned due to the external forces, but all things considered I guess I should be grateful that I’m still able to continue this hobby as I’ve been for the past 2 years. Dollfie Dream is an expensive hobby as its body parts, clothing, accessories and related events can cost a bundle and even lead to other addicting hobbies like camera or traveling – both which thankfully I’m not much into…yet. The comments, favorites, retweets and reblogs were also what helped me continue this hobby so many thanks to everyone for their support. Just realized that the stats hit 100,000 (views/visitors?) over the weekend. And of course, my girls were also equally important and have to thank them for posing/being stuffed in a carriage bag hours on end. IMO, Sora was the MVP last year so I’ll be posting several pics of her in the military uniform and a few in the black & white miko outfit just for the occasion. There’s also a few photos taken at Volk’s new photobooth with comrade Jeremy at the end of the post along with other random pics.

（皆さんどうも明けましておめでとうございます。挨拶が大分遅れてしまった上に正月とは全く無関係な写真ばかりになってしまいましたが、漸く時間に余裕が出来たので最近撮った写真や娘達のアップデートを近況報告。先ずは個人的に去年のMVPだったナギサ／斑鳩風のソラを色んなポーズでパシャリ。）

DD Selvaria Bles DD セルベリア・ブレス

Been itching to make this post for weeks and months but now Aura’s Selvaria Bles DD project is finally complete. The idea has been with me ever since her twin sister, Sora began wearing the Nagisa-ish military uniform and became confident of the dealer’s ability to take on this commission after sampling one of their latest works. The cost was somewhere around 40,000 yen, almost equivalent to the price of 1 dollfie dream, but a small price to pay to have my own (or possibly the only?) DD Selvaria Bles. I’ve always loved the character from the anime and the game and felt Aura would be the perfect model. The production began late September and the clothes arrived at the beginning of this month. The boots however got delayed and took another 2 weeks, just in time for Dollpa 28. I was supposed to have much more time for this post but will publish it anyways before anyone else does (Not sure if anyone would understand but I just couldn’t bear the thought of other people uploading pics of her before me after all this wait…^^;). Will probably beef this post up later with more pics and maybe even the blue flame effects using photoshop when I have more time. Might even start creating the spear and shield of Valkyria when 3D printers become more feasible – $2000 is still a bit too much. Anyways…like I said it’s a short post but pretty much covers all the features of this costume.

（何かと時間が掛かったセルベリア・ブレス大佐のDD用オーダー衣装が漸く完成して届きました。本来こういった記事はもっと枚数を用意するもんなのですが、ドルパ前夜という事で今回は手短に。とりあえずオーナーである自分が誰よりも先に写真を公開できれば十分満足かなと。専用銃のRuhm、ヴァルキュリアの槍／盾が今後の課題…。）

Group Doll Photoshoot @ Kingyo Studio

Situated in the quiet alley of Ikebukuro Tokyo is a small photostudio called Kingyo Studio where me and 12 other doll owners got together to do some group photoshoot. Participants were Baradanji-san, Monokok-san, yumemi-san, ento-san, arab-san, fino-san, ken-san, pandadamepo-san, Ruise-san, mat-san, yukkco-san and mujip-san. I went with the same’ol Sora but others came with their new daughters some DD and even SD/cast-dolls which we seldom see in our little group. The studio consisted of 2 floors – one with a bar-like atmosphere and the other a mix-n-match of all kinds of theme. As with most studios, it was cheaper if we rented the place during the night so like the one back in July, we took photos throughout the night from 11pm~7am. Besides the cheap price, costing to 2,300 yen per person (30,000 yen total), the place was also pretty resourceful with plethora of props, a convenience store nearby to get some nourishments, lighting equipments and even doll-sized beds and sofas in courtesy of the studio owner. The only setback was the dim lighting on both floors and the rather small room space. I myself did okay I guess and got the most out of the time by remembering to bring my own reflector and not falling dead asleep on the bed like last time^^;

（先週の土曜深夜〜日曜早朝に掛けてきんぎょスタジオにて開催されたドール撮影会に参加してきました。今回は薔薇男児さんを主催に総勢13名が集まり、うちのぷちグループも一年前と比べると随分大所帯になったなぁとしみじみと。）

Workspace 机周り 2012/11/5

Some diary-ish post on my otaku room and a couple of other things – It’s been almost 2 months since I started working from home and one thing I came to notice was how quiet the house was during the day and how long or maybe short that day was – you wake up in your room, work in your room, eat in your room, sleep in your room and the cycle goes on. Being the indoor type, I never minded environments like this and rather welcomed it. No need to ride the super-congested trains in the morning too which was great. However as the days passed, it’s come to my attention that it’s not always easy keeping your concentration up and working efficiently when you’re in a room with no windows and stuck with the same scenery. It’s not much but to alleviate some of the ongoing situation, I’ve spruced up my workspace over the few weeks by adding more lively figures, plants and some gadgets. Thought I lost my passion for figures after the dolls (Sora, Aura and Xera) came but it’s still there alright :3

Doll Show 35 有料卓

Belated as usual but here are some pics taken at Doll Show 35 display table last Sunday. Because of what little time and space we had, I’ve only had the chance of photographing a few of the dolls on this floor and none from the dealer’s floor above. For those interested in a more thorough report, you might want to take a look at Linz-san’s doll/figure blog. His event reports are most detailed and usually with dealer’s names as well. Getting back to the subject, there weren’t much doll stuff that caught my interest this time save for one set of MDD-sized clothing but was again surprised by how many doll owners gathered at our table. Must’ve been at least 20 dolls and the numbers seem to be growing after each event^^; Also getting harder to keep track of the doll’s names and their owners. Many thanks to Ento-san who got here first and secured the table for us.

（先週末のドールショウ35有料卓の簡易レポートです。時間の制限、卓の間の狭さ、カメラのブレ等でうp出来なかった娘さんは多数あり。また、もし写真の掲載で不都合がある場合には即刻削除しますのでご連絡ください。）

Light Saber Girls ライトセイバー系女子

Whilst lurking around the Star Wars part of Youtube at home with my daughters, I was suddenly reminded of the lightsaber chopsticks by Kotobukiya that could coincidentally (?) be held by 1/3 scale dolls. As a fan, I’ve always wanted to add them to my girl’s collection of weapons and they’re considerately cheaper (940 yen) than most doll weapons you’d find in the market. Further lurking then led me to this tutorial video that explained how you can easily photoshop boring looking lightsaber toys close to a real one. The process is quite simple and you can do this by first creating a new screen layer, select the blade part with polygonal lasso tool or linear tool, fill the selected area with white, duplicate it into 3-4 layers, add Gaussian blur with different radius to each layer, merge those layers into one,  adjust the color balance to your desired lightsaber’s color and add a few other effects. Despite not having much time for creative posts like I did before, I took the time to go to Yodobashi Camera Yokohama to retrieve the chopsticks, take photos and edited the photo anyways. It might’ve been because I was a bit stressed from life and needed a break, but I mostly blame the force for guiding me into making this post ;3 This post will be short though since the last post had 60-something pictures in total.

（どうもです。漸く重い腰を上げて前々から気になってたコトブキヤ製のライトセイバー箸なるものを買ってきて少し遊んでみました。価格は￥940と一般のドール武器と比べれば格安で、グリップも持ち手で十分な程。とはいえこのままでポーズさせるだけでは地味でつまらないので拙いながらもフォトショで加工してみました。）