My Kimono's Dream Came True

         A long time ago before my Immortals were born, I found a website one day that it’s all about the Kimonos. I remember that I went to that website almost everyday, kept admiring and dreaming of my own Kimono like that. I didn’t know who the artist is, but I only loved to see some colorful kimonos in different colors, black, red, gold, some colorful tiny flowers, cranes, and also many miniatures beautiful props and wigs in Oriental Japanese Styles. Until I have made my own porcelain BJDs, I started to dream about those Kimonos again. I, therefore, started making the Kimonos, trying to adapted and applied from what I saw. I goggled and bought some books that taught how to do the Kimono patterns. Finally the Kimono from what I have learnt from the books was done.  Umm what should I say?  I gave up and I kept it. I never put it on the website anymore. It might not be the right time for me to have the best Kimono like those. It came up to my mind someday that I should write to that artist and ask her to make a Kimono for my doll specially. However, I was to considerate not to disturb her until there was a destiny, a very beautiful destiny that made my big dream came true. As I said in some previous blog that how I got to this Kimonos artist, Miwa M, a very skillful kimonos making master of many different types for BJDs, now I would like to make a second review for her kimono in this whole entry of my blog here.

         It came to me one day that I went to Miwa’s facebook and I saw some pictures of her doll wearing the kimono, “Oiran” The topic said “If you play with Oiran, please learn a tradition. Uncouth is disliked by them. :P” This made me think that the maker has a really strong back ground of what she’s doing. A person who becomes “Oiran” should have some political knowledge, entertaining skills, musical, acting, and some performances as a kind of art. An of course, she must have a good personality, too. This is how she looks from Miwa’s vision. How do you like her? For me I love this doll with the kimono by Miwa so much!

a.

b.

         After I have seen some pictures from her facebook, I wouldn’t hesitate to write and ask her about the possibility to own this hand made Kimono. Miwa said  she could not repeat the same kimono again because each kimono takes time and the graphics on the kimono are always not the same. I feel it’s so special because the cutting and the pattern from the real pieces are not what I could learn exactly from the book at all. To make a complicated things like this, the maker must have a very strong sense of how to attach and combine the pattern wisely. I got some massages back during our conversation and it took 3 days that the kimono came to my place after the writing some long emails. Thank you very much that she shipped the kimono so fast and I didn’t expect that it would be that fast! How nice.

          The kimono came to me yesterday in the evening as I came back home and my brother said that there was a package from Japan. I realized that it must be that Kimono from Miwa. And it’s right. I slowly opened and saw things carefully.  I got a short massage from her, saying something about her work. She also sent some postcards, and they are very beautiful! I got so surprised that Miwa had sent me the small pillow for the doll, a green mat, and also the golden back drop as a beautiful prop! Oh my goodness, my heart was popping out so fast!

         The second thing that I saw was something in a plastic box. The box was carefully packed the decoration part for the dress. I didn’t know what to call these pieces. But they are golden. On the right pictures, there are 2 goldfish as a beautiful decoration on it. This shows how imaginative that the Japanese people have from the past until now.

          This shows the front and back of the 1^st layer of the dress. I really love the red and purple. These 2 colors are so fresh. I noticed the pattern and they are totally hand made! I couldn’t believe this! They can be a museum Kimono doll quality. The different needles colors were carefully sew on the dress pieces. I’m so speechless. It reminded me a surprised thing of a temple in Kyoto once I visited, that temple was built and constructed without any nails! It’s so gigantic and it amazed me so much. So did this kimono!!!

         And these show the outer dress that the front and the back is beautifully and equally cut and sew by hands. The birds on the upper left arm, and right arm, and also at the bottom are so equal! That’s so nice!

 

         The last thing that I would like to share us all here is the wig and the accessories. The wig is really neat and strong with the cap inside.It's called "Shimada" wig style. I like the small tiny double pins that the top has got small chains with the circular crafts at the tips. Needless to say, these special pins make the doll and the wig look very charming and truly beautiful!

         Now I just keep this Kimono very well in the box, and I promise that I will share us all here on day when I make another special doll that fits Miwa’s Kimono. I have a plan to make my private gallery one day in the future and I believe that the 2 kimonos from Miwa, Heian Period, and Oiran Kimono will display together beautifully in a nice glass box.I'd like to "thank you" very much for visiting the blog. I also would like to Thank You Miwa here for making my dream comes true. I have some other artists that I want to share here,too. But to night, Thank You and have a sweet dreams guys.

Hugs/Nune 

c.

credit pictures a, b, and c: http://www.facebook.com/miwa.maruta

Queen Victoria's Captures

         I got a short break to the sea with my family about a week ago. It was very wonderful as I have a full rest, sleep and eat! I also got some new inspirations while I was laying down closed by the sea shore. I saw some tiny birds walking closed to me and maybe they needed me to feed them some food. I slowly closed my eyes and felt asleep. Suddenly, my eyes opened and the fascinating trip from the sea has gone as I came back home and saw a big pile of letters and stuffs sending from my friends and customers. I realized at that moment that it was time to work again!!! 

         The first day back to my hometown was to rush to the main factory to do the final fire for the Queen Victoria. This morning I just went to pick them up and I slowly tried to put the wig and the crown on her head. What do you think? For me, I love it so much. Especially, the neck collar decorated with the lace, tinsels, some tiny beads, and diamonds made me get so happy. It is so elegant and truly beautiful.

Victoria's Head Caption

         From the picture above, the red wig is decorated with tiny synthetic pearls, pinching with the silver pins to hold the position of them. The center part is decorated with the real silver string and attached the water drop pedant. I thought it was so luxurious to put it on this way (at the forehead) because it was perfectly fit with the Swarovski earrings. 
         And when I put the collar on the completed costume, it really made me think of the 16th century costume, so royal and imposing. 

Victoria's (almost) Complete Costume

         And this is a good news. From the beginning that I started making doll project, making the card of authenticity with serial numbers, and also the thank you card caused me some problems because the postcard company did not give me a clear detail of the paper used for making cards. As a result,I was so upset a bit because those hundred cards  I got hundred were disqualified enough. 

         A trip to the sea gave me a chance to visit to a shop in the big mall, Martha Stewart, and I found some tools that I can use to modify my cards now. I spent time 4 hours to choose and pick some tools that I thought they would be useful for my works, and they really worked!!!

" My Lovely Card "

         This is not a postcard from heaven or an invitation card from the Queen. But it's a card, "Authenticity Card" as well as the "Thank You" handmade card that are made from my heart:-)

 

 a: on the left; if the owner is a female,the picture of a woman will appear after the cover.

 b: in the middle is the crown, a paper that is cut from the previous card, that this gives a shadow when the light shines through.

 c: on the right; if the owner is a male, the picture of a man will appear after the cover.

          Yes, things go so slowly and all the problems need fixing gradually. Please do not get bored to wait for the Queen Victoria in complete:-) Thank you very much for visiting. 
Hugs/Nune

Victoria's Reveal

         The rain keeps falling down and the weather has been changing so recently, this caused some problems for the mold making. The Victoria face has been remade 3 times that I found some problems here and there on her face sculpts. The works go so slowly and I sometimes feel that lucks didn’t come to my way much. Now, I have another processes of the Queen Victoria to show us all here. As we know that she’s the Queen, Victoria is supposed to have her own crown. Originally, I had an intention to have a crown with no much of decoration. I have talked to a person I once met in the Doll fête in Bangkok, K.Siri ,through the Viber that I was making a doll theme related to Queen Elizabeth I costume. He suddenly sent me a picture of a model (could be Lilly Cole if I was not wrong) wearing an elegant crown. That crown in the picture looked so special as it has some small tiny branches ( straight wires come out from the crown) and there are some stars, small kinds of planets at the top of the wires. It could symbolize that at that time England was like the sun that it’s the centre of the universe. (This is just my opinion). So I came up to the idea that I should do this kind of crown that it has small branches like the picture that K. Siri has sent to me. Thank you to him here.

It seems that the crown needs more branches.

         It’s good that the branches piece can be removed as a separated item to the main crown. The crown has 8 line parts and each part is decorated with violet, pink and white diamonds. At the front line part, there is a big cross figure as well as at the top of the crown, too. When it attached to the small branches part, it looks very elegant, and also when it stands alone. 

I love this crown in real:-)

         So now let’s see The Queen Victoria’s costume. I choose the silver-grey synthetic silk and all the materials, such as beads, tinsels, threads, and modals in silver and grey color, to make an elegant costume for her. From the picture, I decided to add the neck collar to make the costume become more beautiful. At the beginning, I tried to use the wire, cut and bent them in the shape, U shaped like a fan for the neck collar, but I found it’s not strong enough to hold the neck piece. Now I have another plan that I will share with us all again here when it’s completely done. (Yes, it’s now on the beading works:-) At the upper arms of the costume, I slowly put the laces and then add some silver beading works in a small line between them. And there's more beading works at the sleeves as well. However, I think the triangle chest part, the scale is quite small. So I need to make it a bit more longer than this one...sign

It needs chiffon, and some more beadings around the lace.

          And the final thing that I'd like to sahre us here tonight, is the doll's shoes. For her shoes, I need to coat them into silver so that the costume and the shoes will perfectly fit each other. The shoes contain of the diamonds color group as the crown piece; violet, pink and white. These are the current shoes that they have the highest heel that I have ever had. They really look fabulous and I have tired them on a doll and I got so happy, very happy to see something so beautiful like a fairy tale.

                  And this is the other picture of the side look of the shoe.

Looks like a fairytale's shoes?

         The shoes have not been coated yet. When they are finished, they would be so shiny and perfect for Victoria. The costume and the accessories for my Victoria doll almost have been finished. But,. well the doll face and body are still in the porcelain slip process and they need to be put into the firing process. They are waiting my hands to slowly give body blushing, face painting and wigging. How can I move on while the rain keeps falling down??? Poor me:-(

Thank you very much for you time to everyone here/Nune

More Works

         Last night, I just posted a picture about my latest sclupt of my Victoria on my Facebook, showing my failure ( I mean a result that dissatisfied me for the a big numbers of my rough paint test on my doll face) to my friends there. It's a kind of disappointed to me as I worked really hard on it and hoped for the best that it would be another nice one for my own doll making. However, I didn't know why the blank sclupt looked very nice indeed, but the result of painting was very disappointed to me. My I Phone has more than 200 pictures of if and I kept all the records, and angles to see all the results every time I was free. (I watched them so many times before I went to bed, woke up, and etc.) I tried some experiments with the photo shop to check the facial balance, finding mistakes as a home work and then woke up in another day and rushed to improve it. I must Thank You for many nice friends there to encourage me and that really means a lot for me. Now I'm making on another new head, trying to find and correct the mistake I have done. I hope, really hope that this head will gives me a big smile.

         Now the accessories, and the costume are on the way to finish. But how can I make the whole things now? I wish I could have time, a lot of time more than this. Something needs to stop for a while, and doing something instead. I work like a bee now. I woke up today and then started to make another sclupt. It's been now 14 hours that I work on it. I put the sclupt tools down and them updated a short blog about my latest progress of my works. My friend nice friend who does the magnificent paintings said sometimes she didn't understand of something wrong and not knowing what that something is... Yes, I really didn't know what's wrong with that and why. This is the picture of a blank costume of Victoria that doesn't have any beading works. I should explain the details here but it seems I have a very low motivation to mention about it now. ( I also didn't talk about any of my inspiration until now..I'm sorry about this)

A long way to go,...

        

         And, this is the crown, my Queen's crown that is almost done. There are a main pieces of this crown, but it's my top secret not to share you here. I believe that the crown will be so magnificent when it's done and I will put it on her red curvy wig.

 

In the wax process

         

         I think I should stop this entry now. Yes, it's time to answers the emails. Have a wonderful day everyone.

A New Diorama for My Queen

         Making a doll diorama is another thing that makes me have so much fun. I haven’t figured out the name of my Queen yet. But a rough design of her look and her costume colors are good references to help making a good composition for my doll’s diorama.  I love to see my previous works that they gradually show me some development of my photographing techniques and the beauty of each particular theme.  I enjoy searching for the furniture that are useful for my work. (Now my house starts to get smaller as there are getting more props about the dolls around my house, here and there. What a messy!) I don’t know why I cannot use the same furniture twice or more than two times. Or is it my nature that I always keep looking for a new doll furniture (and also Human) all the time?

Does it look like a ship wreck?

           Talking about this one. It’s a big preparation for my Queen (?___?) that she has to live in a very elegant and luxury castle. I have found a small cabinet that made of a real wooden and carved with gold color. It’s really beautiful indeed. I also found a vintage mirror in a square shape that I haven’t decided yet that inside the frame should be some kind of painting or a refection of a real mirror.  I have placed an order of elegant wallpaper in a very tiny scale for my doll. There are 2 main colors for this wallpaper, silver and grey. For the base floor of the diorama is a really huge porcelain polished tile that it’s coated like a real marble. Now I haven’t found a right rug for the floor yet, but I do have a classic vintage chair for my doll.  I just bought it a week ago and I decided to take out the support as its color wasn’t pleased me enough. I’m not so sure that I need to spray it in a golden color (so that it will be matched with the cabinet) and then re make a more beautiful supporter for the Queen.  Now it’s time to search some small props to make it look more real when the doll is in the scene. The scale is very important. There are so many things left to go on with this doll. 

It took 3 weeks to wait for it. So Long!

I hope you will enjoy it.Have a good Nite:-)

Nune

Always Busy But Always Happy:-)

My Sketch of a New Doll

        

           After releasing some Pocahontas dolls, I had a short break for myself. I didn't go out of the city, but driving around in town and having dinner with a few friends. Waking up early in the morning, I have to work on with many things about the dolls. Until late in the afternoon, I always have a short nap, 1 and a half hour. Then back to work and work normally. It seems that I'm always busy, but it makes me get so happy:-)

         Now I'm moving on a new project. If you have visited to my official website, you'd probably see my doll costume category ( a flash pops up) with a doll in white costume, red wigs, lips, and her face has some freckles. Yes, it's Elizabeth. 

        Now I decided to make a "Period Costume" again. Now it's time to do a new face sculpt by the picture I have sketched. Things have to be well prepared. I'll explain more details about the costume and the some inspirations in the next blog. Thank you for visiting:-)Nune

There She Is...

      
         I finally did it!! Yeah the Pocahontas photo shooting is already done! I have been dreaming for so long that I would have a tan skinned doll of my own. Finally she came and happened to my life in real. I look at her everyday, spend time to test and play with her. She really means to me now. I'd like to share us here about my experience when I went photo shooting at the Intanon mountain a couple days ago. I loaded the whole things into my car, a camera, lenses kits,dolls,some props and snacks! It took 2-3 hours to drive to go the place. 

         When I reached there, I noticed that there weren't so many tourists like before. On that day, the weather was so cold, and I started to bring things out and head into the woods. ( I arrived there around 11 a.m.) I walked around to investigate the location for taking her pictures. My fingers started to press the button almost in the afternoon. Taking photos in the day time was quite so fun, but there were some bugs that kept irritating me. Some flying around and touching my head, my ears, and some parts that of my uncovered skin. I was so annoyed why there are so many many bugs and insects in the tropical forest here! Some trying to fly to get closed to my eyes and some crawling around on the ground. I was so lucky that I wasn't harmed by any!(but I was bitten by 2-3 forest mosquitoes.A kind of  insect vampire blood sucker).

         To photograph indoor is much more convenient than the outdoor photo shooting. I love to to take the human portraits pictures so much and this can be a gift that I take this skill into my beloved dolls. I like the sunlight from the sun as it's really soft and beautiful when it touched the object that I need in the right direction and position. I quite didn't like the neon or the spotlight as the light as not as fresh as the light from the nature. It's good for taking pictures indoor or in a studio that you can control the lights and spend the time as long as you're patient enough. However, this put door photo taking trip quite was not as I have expected. I learned a lot from Adriana as I went to the sea with her that the strong sunlight by the sea cloud kill and destroy my skin. But the sunlight that shines down from the top of the trees, is quite not enough to press the button.   ( I just thought that it would be 4 hours enough to spend time there, but I though wrong.) That's so terrible when I couldn't control the sunlight as it kept changing by the time and the clouds that sometimes it covered the sun. I brough the lens kit and lense soom in and out, changing these lens all the time. No huger, no tired, until the time passed by that the sun was set!!! My Pocahontas doll just kept looking to the right and she said nothing. She even didn't remind me that I should stop and start to pack her and things to get back home. The forest got more darker, the wind blew more stronger. I forgot the time and I heard some sounds that started making me fear. In the distance, I heard some strange unfamiliar voice of the wild animals and my hair stood up so many times. I was wondering and asked myself what I was doing here. Why I did I have to make it so complicated and difficult. The weather got colder by the magic shadow  of the high trees. The insect voices started to stop and there were a few points that I could see the sunlight. I told myself that I should stop now or I might get in to a kind of trouble. It's not about a spiritual thing, but it can be a danger that caused by some unexpected thing. I'm not superstitious but safety comes first! I carefully packed my dolls into their places and collected the props and things into the bags. I slowly walked out from the area and hardly to looked back. Luckily that I didn't forget anything and had to go back there. The forest in the late evening time is so strong and powerful that I hardly to imagine. This experience really memorable and I got so many nice pictures as I have expected oh yes! 

My Tiny Bird in the Woods

         
         I got home around 10 p.m. and my plants and shoes were dirty by the mud and some wet from the ground. I spent a day to choose some pictures and started sending to my friends and customers last night. Now I just finished a short clip (1 minute) of my own vision of my Pocahontas. ( I have sent 3-5 pictures of a nude doll, that I wrote and call her "Doli", in the Native American, it means " Blue Bird". I decided to give her a call as " Doli" as a nude doll is unappropriated to call "Pocahontas". But the doll in a very beautiful completed costumes, yes, she's my treasure Pocahontas. Please  understand my point here.)I hope you will like the clip that I just finished making and would like to share to all of my friends here. (The song credit is by Henry Jackman)

"DoLi" or "Blue Bird"

         Now, it's time to pack my dolls for the Doll Festival in Bangkok. I will display them there for a day: 24th/Mar/2012. There will be Sahara, Bai Suzhen, Evgenia, Adriana, and Pocahontas there. If you see me there, please drop by and say "HI". I will be very happy. Ok Have a good day everyone. Thank you for visiting.

Hugs to you all/ Nune