Yes, I want to make a Pullip doll inspired by an ancient Egyptian queen. I was recently admiring photographs of the famous Nefertiti bust, and watching some documentary material about this queen's life, complete with facial reconstructions by contemporary artists of what she might have looked like. I see so many possibilities now for a doll based on her timeless beauty.
If it turns out well then I might make a Pharoah Taeyang doll to accompany her. It would be my first attempt at making a male doll. I collect lots of boy dolls, but just haven't built one yet, but I know that I can do it!
I also really want to make a doll inspired by a Japan's Heian period.
I already have the right body type. It's super pale, almost grey because I want this doll to look like she is wearing white oshiroi face powder.
I have also got the perfect wig with the appropriate hairstyle. It's a glossy black one that's in a hime cut-- I was overjoyed to find something so specific on eBay. I will work perfectly to give the doll that medieval look I am searching for.
The real trick though is going to be dressing the doll, because I want her to wear a junihitoe, and I have never seen such a thing for sale for the measurements of a Pullip, Barbie or Monster High. I have seen kimonos or the red hakama and white kosodee that a Shinto shrine maid might wear, but nothing quite like this. I think I might have to sew. Currently, I don't have the ability, but my mom says she can teach me, if I really want to know how to do it. She can sew really well, on the level of professional costume construction and design. When I showed her pictures of what I want, she didn't seem phased, she said this looked very simple to actually make.
She would have made it herself, but because of the doll small scale it can't be done with her sewing machine, and since my mom is handicapped today it would exhaust her to do the repetitive sewing motions all by hand at this point in life. She says she can show me exactly what I need to do though. I look forward to learning, and ordering some nice fabric for the project. Unfortunately, in bad economy some of the go-to arts and crafts stores or fabric shops have gone out of business in our local community :( I can buy some nice materials though from Etsy when I get paid through, and still support a small business that way.
How old were you when you first started doing a DIY toy hobby ?
Probably about 5 years old building with lego sets, I remember hotel resorts, homes and gardens, airplanes etc. I was fascinated by blocks as a kid, and my thought that maybe I would grow up to be an architect one day, because whenever I saw them anywhere, like a play area at the pediatrician's office that had building sets in the waiting room-- I would immediately start constructing something.
It it a DIY toy hobby you still do?
Alas, no. We moved to California when I was 8, and a lot of my Lego sets didn't come with us because we couldn't carry all that stuff on a plane in a suitcase. A few things like some sets of clothes, bedding and a handful of favorite stuffed animals and dolls were later shipped to us in boxes by relatives. However, because we were now living in small studio apartments as my mom went back to school we couldn't bring our whole house. Some things my mom donated to the less fortunate since we couldn't take it all with us, which was a good idea, and other things we owned like some of our furniture and her art were either left in safekeeping with friends like in their homes and garages, or put into storage centers. I was under the impression that my blocks were stored somewhere, I remember the sad task of having to disassemble things that I had to made so that they could be packed, and yearned to have use them again one day when we had more space, but when we finally where in a home environment where we could have more after a few years, I never found my Lego sets, so either my mom gave them away, or the boxes with them just got lost during the move-- I am thinking the latter, because my mom knew how crazy I was about them, so I don't think she would have donated that without asking me. Also, the storage center and moving company we used were really negligent and bad, and lost other things that they had to compensate us for, and make mix-ups where we got items that belonged to other families by accident in some cases, and they probably got some of our stuff. So after so much time going without my blocks, I just moved onto other hobbies, but seeing all of these awesome creations by Rekoil is making me nostalgic for those days :)
