New School Uniforms!

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I had been meaning for a while to get matching school uniforms for Sona and Lulu, but I hadn’t until recently found a uniform that fit what I had envisioned for them and was not cheaply made or overpriced. Then I stumbled upon this little site called Promise of the World. They had previously been on etsy and moved to their own website within the past year. They are also on taobao, and what first impressed me first about them is that they don’t inflate their prices for the western market and their stuff is adorable and well made!

I ordered the two sets of uniforms last week on Monday and they just arrived to me today (the next Monday). They had listed on their website that everything was in stock, and apparently it was! The quality of the items I received also was very good and just like the images on the website. The outfits are super cute and very well sewn, though nothing is lined which I know isn’t typical, but the more expensive brands are often lined so I thought I’d mention it. My Sona’s bright pink camisole showed through the white fabric, but what can you expect when it’s bright pink, lol. Either way the problem was easily solved by just removing her cami. A particularly nice touch was the fact that each bow is threaded onto a silken ribbon with a slip knot in the back, so you can easily attach it to your girl’s clothing under the sailor sash. What’s also really nice is you can kind of mix and match your sailor uniform parts to make something a little more unique for you. Aside from the red ribbons, I also purchased two of the pale blue scarves so I could switch out if I wanted.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase, it shipped fast and is quite lovely. That being said though I didn’t get a shipping notice and I was actually prepared to contact them today about when my order might ship, but then lo and behold I got a text from DHL telling me my package was going to be delivered. So in the end I would recommend them and I would probably buy from them again if they had some things I liked, for the price it can’t be beat!

Withdoll Taren’s Box Opening!

So, my Taren arrived somewhat unexpectedly today. I knew from tracking that he had landed in Chicago and I figured that since it was a holiday that I shouldn’t expect him until Monday, but lo and behold he suddenly appeared here today and on Black Friday no less, haha. Anyway I shall now dispense with the photos.

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Well hello there shipping box. 😉

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And the actual doll box. Withdoll has a nice simple box with their logo stamped on top. For some reason a simple brown box is always appealing to me. Maybe it’s because it has a eco feel, or maybe it’s because The Sound of Music taught me that brown paper packages tied up with string are good times. XD

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And inside the box is the funny doll shaped foam cut-out, heehee. He also came with an extra set of hands (in different poses) and a nice pair of acrylic eyes by Glib in a hazel color.

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And removing the foam we get the first view of Taren snugly packed and without eyes lol.

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Here’s a shot of his default face-up…this is the softer type A face-up on realskin UV. Overall it was what I was expecting, though the lower lashes are a bit more subdued, which is perfect actually. The brow is a bit lighter and the lips a bit less pink, but it is ok and really it’s a quality face-up. The eyes are the Glib ones I received with the order since the aqua colored glass eyes I selected for him were too large despite being 12mm. TAT I may experiment with 10mm eyes for him, since I think the 12mm fill up just a bit too much of the eye for me.

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Here he is next to my Lusis. I like the way they look together, I think their scale is perfect. I’d also like to point out that he’s wearing M3 studio jeans that fit him well. Unfortunately I do not have a shirt for him yet. ^^; I intend to make a t-shirt for him soon. I’m not sure what I think of the wig I bought for him. I still have to mess with it some more. I am thinking though that he might look a bit better in black.

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And here’s a group shot of him with both of my MSD sized girls. You can kind of see how the realskin UV compares tone wise with Dollmore resin and Unoa resin, though both my Sona and my Lusis have some yellowing.

I’d also like to mention that I am really pleased with how my Taren poses. He is not strung super tight like some companies so he can hold half bent arm poses without slapping himself in the face. His knee joints too are well constructed as he can stand with one knee half bent in a very natural pose. The upper torso joint is also very smooth working and I like how the hand is magnetized and you can twist it off for an easy changeout with the spare hands. Now I hope that they come out with more option hands to buy like fists and pointing hands because I would have a lot of fun with it!! Overall I have to say that this doll is exceedingly well constructed, especially for the price. I have not had a doll who posed so well out of the box without needing sueding. You will wait a good 3-4 months to get a doll from Withdoll, but when it arrives I think you will be very pleased.

Finished a Unoa/MSD denim jumper set. :)

So I finally finished that denim jumper set I was talking about earlier in the month and I’m super happy with it. 😀 Also if it is now available for sale in my etsy shop! The full set includes: denim jumper, t-shirt, over knee socks, legwarmers and a flower brooch. Anyhoot on with the preview pics.

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After finishing this set I kinda started becoming obsessed with making little fabric flower brooches, lol. They are so tiny and hard to make, but in the end you have something really pretty so all the time is worthwhile. 😀

https://www.etsy.com/shop/tsukiyono

New Face-up for Luli

My Unoa Lusis had been in need of a new face-up due to the fact that somehow I had managed to accidentally chip off some of her blushing under her chin. I imagine it happened when she was being changed in and out of clothes. In the future I am going to have to be more careful, and I should probably remove her faceplate before fitting new clothes on her. Sadly her body blushing is much worse for chipping, so eventually I plan to just remove it all except for non-problem areas like the bust and tummy. I’d really like to have some blushing on her hands and feet though so I guess I’ll just have to be sure to topcoat it really really well.

Anyhow back to the face-up….I wanted to keep her similar to what she was previously, but I ended up lining her eyes a little more darkly, and I don’t think I got the blush vivid enough this time, but I still think she looks very pretty overall. Below is a shot of her faceplate before I glossed it and put it back on her head.

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And here she is, all ready to go….

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While I was doing her face-up I also thought I would try to do my Zaoll luv’s face-up as well, but I ended up screwing up the lashes, so in the end I decided to wipe Zaoll’s face. Actually I felt that working with the Zaoll Luv sculpt to be kind of difficult, and it made me realize just how much I enjoy working with the Unoa sculpt. I’m not giving up on my Zaoll Luv though, I will conquer her sculpt eventually! Though I need to get some more sealer. I think I may try to go see if my local Hobby Town USA carries MSC, if not I’ll probably pick up some more Testor’s Model Masters. I’m really curious to try MSC though since everyone raves about it.

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Well here is a comparison shot of the two face-ups, the old one on the left and the new one on the right. I kinda miss her lazy looking eyes in the old one, lol….but I do like her new face too. 🙂

Unoa and MSD Denim Jumper Project

I saw a really cute denim jumper dress online for people that hung below the bust and I wanted to try to see if I could create something similar for Unoa and my other MSD sized girls. Below is the fruits of my labor! 🙂

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It took me a few tries on muslin to get the pattern cut correct and in this picture is my finished prototype in denim. I really like the red topstitching over the dark denim. I am also hoping that it’s baggy/roomy enough without being too roomy. The original people sized jumper dress was pretty roomy looking! Also the original human sized jumper had a distressed look. I may start researching how to distress denim so I can have more variety in my denim outfits.

I should also mention that the gray t-shirt is also another prototype. It’s a simple pattern that I added a collar ruffle to and I sewed a few seed beads on for sparkle. I might like to try to find more silvery looking beads though, perhaps there will be some sales tomorrow! Eventually I plan to make a denim jumper set to sell on etsy, so if you like this outfit, you may keep an eye out for it. 😉