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。）

Sora, Xera and Aura Updates

Just another one of my short random posts where I’ll go over the minor modifications, clothes that I’ve yet to introduce and poses that I haven’t tried yet. I’ve noticed this blog has been getting a steady amount of viewers even though there are no new posts and want to apologize for those frequenters first of all. Life is anything but easy recently, sometimes working until midnight to meet the deadline and also searching for other opportunities on the side. Missed loads of doll meet that takes place at night during the weekdays and on weekdays but I guess this is part of life.
Anyhow, first up is the Nagisa-Sora outfit that’s been going under a constant modification in the last half-year or so. Not all changes were obvious but these adjustments do add up bit by bit. This time around, I’ve added an extra golden lines on the collar, chest pocket, skirt and shoes with golden ribbons that resembled the original material the seamstress used for this outfit. The uniform that Nagisa from PS02 and Ikaruga from Senran Kagura wore featured various streaks of gold throughout so I figured I increase them on Sora’s as well. Picking the right place where it wouldn’t look out-of-place was a difficult one because the original design of this uniform was very simplistic. Not much creases and folds on the clothes to work with.

（皆さんどうもこんぬつわ。相変わらず仕事で忙殺されていますが、気晴らしの為に娘達のプチアップデートをうp。先ずはここ半年くらい改造を続けて来たナギサ／斑鳩風の軍服ソラを紹介していこうかなと。）

Xera’s Day Off セラの休日

Kinda felt like I’ve been neglecting Xera as of late – like not bringing her to the studio photoshoot, not making a post about her for over a month…etc – so figured it’s time I put the spotlight on her for a change and take her out. Looking at her wardrobes though, everything seemed a bit too stuffy and the weather we’re having here in Japan would likely give her a heat stoke if she went out ^^; Given that gothic lolita fashion or dress with good breathability are hard to come by, casual fashion seemed like a good option.  Haven’t been very partial to casual clothing due to my low coordination skills and the lack of decent clothing in the market but with some luck, I was able to come up with a new image for Xera after spending several tens of minuteｓ rummaging through clothes at the Akihabara Azone store.

Newly bought items were the  black punk-style skirt which was 2100 yen-ish and the white blouse (?) 1500 yen-ish. The hair bow, choker, thigh socks, and shoes are something from her previous dress and the red glasses and bag you’ve seen Sora use them a while ago. Took her to Volks Yokohama for a short photo session but before we move on, here’s a few photos of Xera’s new look (‘ω`)

（暫くセラに構ってあげられなかったので本ブログでは滅多に載せないカジュアル服を見繕ってみました～。服の殆どはアゾンで調達。それ以外の小物は過去服の流用です。折角だったのでついでにセラと一緒に横浜某でデートしてきました(‘ω`)ﾃﾞｭﾌﾌ）

Group Doll Photoshoot @ Hotel Geihinkan (ホテル迎賓館)

Daughters were getting tired of having their pictures taken on my desk and so was I. Since outdoor wasn’t an option as Japan was in midst of rain season with serious mosquito infestation, an indoor photoshoot at a photo studio was exactly what me and my girls needed. When I heard that our small doll group was planning one to celebrate the coming of one of the member’s 1st daughter (Saber Alter) and saw the setup on the hotel’s homepage, there was simply no way I could miss this one out.

The Geihinkan Hotel has a couple of rental studios in their rooms and their price for a one night rent (20:00-10:00) fetches around 3-40000 yen. The studio/room we rented was a western style type that had two floors, 3-4 rooms, stair-case, chandeliers and also free lighting equipment/reflectors which I will touch up on later in the post. Wasn’t as expensive as we had 8 participants with over 20 dolls. Those participating were the usual Baradanji-san, Monokok-san, Arab-san, Yumemi-san, Last Nostalgic-san and some new faces such as Panda-damepo-san and Ento-san from twitter. This is probably my girl’s 2nd time at a photostudio but unlike last time it felt more “fun” orientated. Could be because of the rather eccentric members this time and also the fact that we were taking photos in the middle of the night XD Both were interesting to attend to nevertheless and there are always new things to learn :3 Not much Aura pics this time because she had her turn in the studio photoshoot last year and also because I forgot a couple of important accesories XP

（という訳で先週末は普段のメンツ＋新メンバー2人の計8人でスタジオ撮影してきました。集まったドール数は20超。壮観也）

Belated Encounter

I don’t write stories on dollfies as often as I did back when I was posting on figure.fm because I wanted to focus more on the quality of each pictures (posing, lighting…etc). Looking back at the past stories, I also feel embarrassed reading some of them^^;  Still, it’s nice doing them occasionally because it feels like I’m getting back to the starting point (原点回帰). Indeed, I wouldn’t have gotten far on DD photography without going through this process of thinking up of poses that’ll make doll more “lively/natural” in a way. Even if you’re not going to write a story, training yourself to create a “flow” of poses can be helpful in nurturing your improvising skill during photo sessions. Imo you’re much better off starting off with these instead of reading every inch of the manual on your camera or buying expensive camera/lens/photo developing software.

Well, anyways it was about time I brought up the story of the meeting between Sora, Aura and Xera so here they are. Was hoping for a more peaceful encounter this time but it seems it’s  customary for my girls to quarrel with their new member…(kinda like Toy Story lol).

Aura: You’re getting soft Sora. Soft and slack like Master’s belly.
Sora: ….

Lolified Xera and Dollpa Goodies

As much as I appreciate Volks for releasing their doll related products, one thing that I’ve always  found irritating is the fact that it takes them forever to release spare parts like the DD inner-frames should a girl with one break, or a MDD white bodies in case somebody with a limited/custom white DD starts needing them. Sora has broken both her arm and back in the past but because of the scarcity of inner frames in the market, I had to buy a whole new body from Volks to replace them. Xera additionally will have to wait until somebody puts their MDD white bodies on sale at YJA since her face-up was designed to fit a MDD. While we can still keep hopes up for the DD inner-frames due to increasing demand, the chance of MDD white bodies coming out is pretty slim given Volk’s poor reputation for after sales service and the fact that the there were only 2 limited MDDs with white bodies (Al Azif and Etheldreda).

Wish I’d known this ahead of time but thanks to my followers on twitter, I’ve found an alternate solution for a MDD white bodies. The process is quite simple too :3 All you need is a 40 cm body from a manufacturer called Parabox (related to Obitsu?) and a DD Head/Obitsu (40cm) neck joint converter which looks something like this. Although it’s from a different company, Parabox 40cm bodies are about the same height as an MDD and the skin tone is lighter than a MDD normal skin bodies (See comparison here). The body structure is also slightly different but fits MSD and MDD sized clothing (Was warned by an owner of a DD head/Parabox40 body doll that MDD sized ones might be tight around the legs).

Fortunately enough they had one stock left in their store in Yokohama and even discounted it by 15% rounding the price to around 17000 yen. Added with a MSD dress I found at Tokyo Dolk Akihabara, Xera here is finally completed…(*´ω｀)