Microkini Aura and Desk Update

With the summer heat kicking in and room temperature climbing up to 30-35°C day and night, daughters were in need of an even more revealing outfit and during my occasional visit to Akihabara, I came across this black microkini outfit at Volks. Much smaller than the white microkini outfit Aura had on last year and it just barely cover her important parts – which is splendid :3 While I didn’t have a whole variety of silver/black/red beads and accessories, I gathered bits and pieces I had lying around the house (volks black headphone, 3 bracelets, thigh bands, a ring (many many thanks to Otakusan), rapier belt and etc) to give her a summer look. No stains so far but probably best to remove them whenever I can as the summer heat softens the vinyl and makes it more prone to stains. My workspace also had a few minor upgrades (display cases, dry boxes, figures and etc) in the past couple of months so will go over the changes in the latter half of the post.

(最近購入したアウラ用のマイクロビキニのプチレビューと机周りのアップデートについてあれやこれや。)

Sora Updates and NEX-5R + SEL24F18Z

Long time no see (‘A`) It’s that time of year again with the stuffy climate, smelly trains and swarming mosquitos. Of all the seasons in Japan, I despise summer the most but one thing there is to appreciate are the girls in bikinis and one thing I do each year to keep myself motivated is to dress up my daughters in these alluring outfits. The bikini Sora has on this year is the same black one manufactured by Azone, but to make things a little more interesting, I managed to muster a few accessories to add into the mix. House is loaded with beads, chains and what-not that my mum collected over the years as an arts & craft teacher and it just so happens that many are perfect size for DDs. Sora’s military outfit also went though a few minor changes so I’ll cover that along with the new camera gear I mentioned on twitter. For now here are the details of Sora’s update.

(どうご無沙汰しています。バタバタしていたら前回の更新からあっという間に2ヶ月が過ぎて7月に・・・。自分は夏というものが大の苦手なんで、少しでも涼しく居られるようこの時期には決まって娘達に水着を着せています。今年ソラに着せている水着は去年と全く同じのアゾン製50cm用黒ビキニなんですが、それだとつまらないんで髪飾りと同じ要領でネックレス等も何点か自作。記事の後半からは軍服の改造や新しいカメラについてもちょっと触れてます。記事の写真の順番と実際の撮影日はバラバラですが、一応一番目の写真が最新版です。)

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。）

Kimono Sora and SEN Studio Photoshoot

I’ve always been a fan of girls in kimono (most notably my first waifu Enma Ai from Jigoku Shoujo) and wanted one for Sora to wear but never had come across a kind that suited her style until just recently – A lot of kimonos in the market had an odd mix of fruity flamboyant colors/patterns and lacked details. This Oiran-style kimono I picked up however had the whole works including a nagajuban decorated in green and pink sakura patterns, a black furisode with asanoha patterns on the collar, a triple ribboned obi, a colorful uchikake, a hair ornament and everything seemed to fit into place. I admire how while the black furisode gives a solemn atmosphere, it’s balanced with the red used in various parts of the set to give off a vibrant feel as well. The black kitsune mask and the red bangasa I had lying around my room looked suitable for the red and black theme so I also incorporated them into the set. The seemingly out of place katana is there because Sora insisted ^^; All I’m missing now are the Getas (sandles) and maybe a couple of those doll sized tatamis and shojis as the kimono theme is surely here to stay. Although dangerous to the wallet, one of the great things about kimonos is that there is plethora of doll sized apparatus for this theme :3 Below are the review pics and also some pics taken at SEN doll photo studio situated in Abiko, Chiba prefecture where I found this gorgeous piece.

（長らく冷めていた和服熱ですが、最近漸くソラのイメージに合った着物がSENスタジオで見つかったので試着早々に購入。花魁風といっても赤と黒が基調で、派手ながらもシックに纏まっている感じが良いですね。以前購入した狐のお面、番傘、刀を追加したら中々様になった気がします。記事の前半は今回購入した服のレビューで後半は何時ものメンツと行ったSENスタジオ撮影会の様子です。）

Recent Doll Loots and Doll Show 36

Not every parent will accept or let alone become supportive for their son’s otaku hobby especially when it comes to doll but I’m glad mine were those lucky few who does. One of the latest doll acquisition is this miniature 1/3 scale  blue and white porcelain tea set given to me by my good mother who is into vintage dish collecting, glass beads crafting and etc. This was one of her collection and heard this set was made by a famous company…or something. It’s not as flashy as the miniature tea set I bought at Volks Yokohama for 3000 yen but displays a mature look and feels genuine in a way. Another new item you ‘ll see is the customized DD-sized chair I bought at Doll Show 36 last Saturday for 12000 yen. The chair has no arm rest (which allows my girl to sit with their sword on their waists), comes with a tall decorative back with red cushion and was available in very limited quantity (x2). Both items were a pretty lucky find and think I might restart making my own photobooth :3 I’ve snapped a few pictures at Doll Show so I’ll include that in the latter half of the post.

（最近入手したドール小物やドールショウ36のプチレビューです。ミニチュアティーセットはアンティーク皿集めが趣味の母から頂いた物で、ソラが座っている椅子はディーラーから買い取った特注の大型チェア。ドルショ自体は一時間ぐらいしか居られませんでしたが、自分等の有料卓と近隣の卓の写真は少しばかり撮れたので記事の後半に貼っておきます。）