Here they are, presentable. Still need proper clothes and eyes, but that's okay. They're really cute and cuddly. I need to find a more permanent solution to their ears since they're just pinned into the wig at the moment. I took more pictures of Blackie since he was completed first due to his short hair being much easier to work with. Ailbe looks so peaceful and sleepy. Their ears and tails have a skeleton or wire inside of them and they are fully posable! Their tails aren't visible in these pictures, but they really add to their characters.
Crafting Journal
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TBA
YY Doll Kiki
I received two of my anthro BJDs recently and I've been quite obsessed with this little one. This one is a 1/6 doll but uses a 1/3 head, which is a fairly recent style popping up in the Chinese BJD scene. Two other dolls comparable to this one is Gymnopedie No. 1 Okie and Mii and TinyFox's Tinyhux line. I think Gymnopedie will be opening their orders again in 2025 and I hope to snatch their new sculpt, Chee, which is a rabbit. YY Doll is fairly obscure, but I think they are related to the Dividing Line BJDs, or at least share the same sculptor. I think this was how I found them actually, but dont' trust me of whether they are the actual sculptor or whether there is any relation.
She arrived in a duffel bag with the YY doll name, and the second picture is the artist's sigil/icon/logo inside the headcap. I ordered Kiki in yellow, and she's yellower than the normal yellow resin used for standard BJDs, but I do wish she was a tad more yellow. She is the color of butter, her character namesake at least, so it works out. There were options for a human body, a human head (Kaka), dog head (Kiki), and a beast body. I chose Kiki and the beast body since she's an anthropmorphic dog and the pudginess of it fits better for a younger character. It also has paws for feet, which makes her match with her dad, who uses a Sprouting doll wolf body. Kiki has very small eyes for a doll head of this size as she has very narrow eyes that make her look sleepy or smug. It gives her quite a personality among sculpts of this type since I haven't seen one that looks like this. I think the upcoming Gymnopedie Chee might be the only competitor in smugness, but it's still very different.
Kiki comes with two ears and they don't stick well if there is a wig. One of my magnets fell out during transport so I slipped it under the wig and it works just fine that way and I am using another magnet to keep the other ear in place. Kiki's body came pre wired and this is becoming more common among Chinese BJDs as of late, especially among the 1/12 bodies. Her arms are double jointed and they will likely hold a pose well even without the wire. The knee joints are single jointed, which shocked me since it's been a while where I've seen a Chinese BJD sculptor use a single jointed body. Thought I was maybe missing something, but no, it's really single jointed. The wiring in the body goes through the legs, so little mods are required out of the box, but that was very unexpected. At least she'll be able to stand well even if I mess up her stringing. Her snout is in the shape of an upside down heart, and it's very cute.
She's got a very large head, and it actually causes her to fall over during pictures. The first picture is her with several other 1/6 dolls. Left to right: Fdoll which is a thin standard 1/6, Dividing line, our little puppy, and Tinyfox. The second picture is her compared to a 1/4 doll with around the same head circumference.
Overall, I say that Kiki is a cute little doll, although the magnet placement being in the inside of the head creates an issue for the ears, which are an important feature of the doll. The single jointed knees are an unusual choice and aren't the best engineered as she is very awkward when trying to set her into a non standing pose. She doesn't sit well even though she's fully wired and she is also very top heavy due to her massive head and two ears, so posing her will be a challenge. That said, I do like the overall sculpt and body, and I am happy to have her in my collection.
Parabox Otohime Cat updates
Sewing and Wefting with Real Wool
I went to a fiber arts convention some time ago and some booths were also selling some mohair, alpaca, or locks from other animals. I picked up some since they were dyed in the exact color I want for a character. It doesn't seem like you'll be receiving a lot of fiber, but you actually don't need that much to make a wig for a BJD. I tried making one earlier but it turned out terribly, so this is my attempt to fix it. Don't make the weft too thick or it's going to be a mess. I used a mesh fabric as the base for the weft and sewed the weft x4 with a fine stitch.
After thinning them out and sewing the wefts, I was able to start sewing them onto the wig cap. The ends are uneven at some points due to how I cut them, but I'll trim and brush them to make them look more natural. It overall turned out a lot better than I expected.
Parabox Otohime Dolls
I got myself two Otohime dolls from Parabox. They are on the boy bodies and the head sculpt are Fuuka on the left and Miu on the right. Quite the large doll, although it feels much smaller in person. I guess this may depend on your own size compared to the doll. The vinyl was more akin to vinyl toys as stated by others, and this made painting and sanding so much easier as a result. For those curious about their clothing size, they're in a strange spot as they have very narrow shoulders but are also quite long. As a result, they can put on American Girl clothes but they are faaar too short. They can wear Build a Bear clothes but they are loose at the shoulders. I have not tried on infant clothing but I heard that some baby shoes and clothes were able to fit Otohimes.
There was a lot of work that needed to be done since I ordered them blank. Most of the work was put into their mouths since they needed to be sanded off since the expressions I want for them requires no mouth part.
And they are now sanded and their faceups are done. I used acrylic paint and I should probably do a brown base layer first but it's fine for now. I'll likely scrub the faceups some time later.
And now onto eyes. I don't have any eyes in this size other than one that didn't quite fit their characters, so I made some using a 30mm glass cachabon and glued on the paper eyes I made with a thin layer of mod podge. I decided to draw some eyes instead and color them with colored pencils since it's been a while since I used art software and I need to brush up a bit before making eyes. I'll make better ones in the future.
So that's it for now. I do have some Monique wigs in their size, but I don't like the texture or the style nor are the right kind of hair for their characters. They're being used as temporary wigs, but I am waiting on Parabox to restock their store at the moment. I need to make some clothes for Blackie since I didn't buy anything that would fit him and Ailbe needs some shorts, but is otherwise complete sans wig. I do hope to work on them agian soon, but I need to do some other things before I sew their clothes. I also need to get their measurements. Once they get the rest of their clothes and hopefully their wigs, I'll update again on the dolls, but this is it for now of our Otohime catboys.