My grail - DD Takane has arrived!

For a while I prioritized looking for SmD Twilight/Kurenai/Moonlight because DD Takane is just way more accessible, just pricey. I fell out of love with the SmD sculpt for...a multitude of reasons, but the Takane sculpt was ever beautiful in my eyes. I saw her brand new on AmiAmi for a slightly lower price than usual and it was totally an impulse buy, no regrets though! I wanted her for quite a while anyway.

I have trouble bonding with any dolls that I haven't customized myself, so I immediately began working on a new faceup. It was...not fun. I guess I was just particularly nervous working on a grail? My tremors were particularly bad too, so I screwed up so badly that I just started from scratch the next day. I think I spent like 5x more effort and time than usual, and it was my first time painting teeth. It was about as frustrating as I imagined it would be, but I'm glad I miraculously managed it. I know I wanted to give her a beauty mark too, but wasn't creative enough to think of a placement and went with my own little teardrop. My mom asked me if I was making myself....AHAHAHAHA no, I'm not that pretty and I have the stereotypical anime eye mole on my other eye as well.

Excuse my rambling, here she is! I decided to name her Tomoe, thought that was an Ito Junji character and reconsidered, realized it was actually Tomie, so she is indeed Tomoe (朋枝).

Her sculpt is so pretty even my wonky faceup looks pretty good! xD Will I try again after more practice? Likely.

I was apparently supposed to received a Shibuya Rin head, yet another impulse buy a rescue project, in the mail today (according to tracking), but she's still on the other side of the country...........Well, chaos is the new norm. 😅 I was hoping that through another miracle she'd arrive and I could work on the two together, but oh well. Another ramble for another day, I suppose. Thanks for reading/looking!

She’s really, really pretty. I normally like cuter dolls, but that mature facial lining and the eyes make her look stunning. I think you did a good job on the faceup. I like the eyes. With more practice I’m sure you can do teeth easier too. I think that’s really the only part that stands out as “fixable.” The rest is fine. 
 

Congratulations on your grail!! Enjoy her!
 

I finally got mine too—Emilia!  She’s on an f3 frame though. 

@Ui- Thank you so much! I truly appreciate it. And congrats on Emilia! 🤩 She's beautiful. For some reason I didn't like her during release and now I've done a 180. Probably because Volks photos don't do her justice. 

Congrats on your grail 💕 I wish you lots of enjoyment with her!

Wow, you did an amazing job on her faceup! Her eyes are especially captivating. I didn't realize how gorgeous Takane's sculpt is! 

Did you also do your girls nails yourself? Manicures on that scare are super cute, but I figure they are also hard to do ;;

@Rizukaa Thank you! And yes, I did a rushed job on Tomoe's nails actually, I forgot to mention. I was too tired and left one hand unfinished lol (just need to file into a nice shape). I guess I do a really sloppy job at first but then file them down. I want to try black nails eventually but I assume mistakes are far less forgiving with anything dark.

 

And to not double post here is Shibuya Rin! I thought she'd be in delivery limbo a bit longer, glad I'm wrong. 

(also please excuse all my desk lamp shots lol) 

She's second hand and more of a rescue project. The last owner left several stains (including a tiny second beauty mark), yellowed, really weird damaged ear, and smells like cigarettes. I'm looking into getting a big earring to distract from the damage. Still, she's another lovely sculpt that I'm happy to own. Name is still undecided and she's borrowing a body right now. 

My poor Murasaki has become a floating head...

12 minutes ago, SakuraRose said:

really weird damaged ear

Rin’s ears were predrilled for earrings, and it looks a bit odd if she doesn’t have earrings in her ear. Not sure if that’s what you are seeing. 

@BeyondTime Unfortunately, that's not the case. One side has a lot of scratches on her earlobe, and I think it's because the previous owner tried to fully pierce it and messed up. Other side is only slightly scratched up. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by SakuraRose
Didn't tag properly

Wow she looks so mature and beautiful!

Congrats on getting your grail! Your face up really brings her features out! ❤️

Omg she's beautiful!! Congrats ❤😍

What a gorgeous girl! You really put personality into her. Love her!

You know, if you wanted, once you got a body for your third, You could always get you some elf ears for her. Or make her a beast girl, I/O cat girl, inu girl, wolf girl, fox girl, or bunny girl, just get a really full wig to cover up her regular ears. Just a thought. All three are lovely girls BTW!  

Your Takane is unfairly cute! Congrats! You did a lovely job on her face up. 

On 6/20/2020 at 3:48 PM, ShadowXM1 said:

You could always get you some elf ears for her. Or make her a beast girl, I/O cat girl, inu girl, wolf girl, fox girl, or bunny girl, just get a really full wig to cover up her regular ears. Just a thought. All three are lovely girls BTW!  

Murasaki, you mean? I actually do have fox ears and a tail and put it on her along with a hakama at one point. I had trouble bonding with her because I kept the default face up BUT that look really did suit her. I think she might look even better in it now. I guess the sculpt just really works well kemonomimi for some reason. She's normally wearing the default Ruri hoodie with a cat dress (she is indeed DD Ruri). I might just make a doll fam thread and post it there. And also, thank you! 😊

Now an update on Shiburin though...I couldn't resist and did her face up again. I went with the flow while I painted her but I just wasn't feeling her personality. Since I had no MSC left I tried some old Vallejo that I had experimented with before. I think the bottle went bad though and it brought the yellowing even more. 😱 And looking at it again, the varnish DOES have a yellow hue. 💀 

I'm feeling a lot more personality now! It's unfortunate though...I do actually like this one a lot but I'll have to do it again someday when sealants restock. And improve her teeth lol. This might be the one time I want some staining so I could just trace over my work like the way I reuse my essays in university. I kid, I kid! I just reuse research materials. 👀

~~Please excuse my lame joke. ~~

4 hours ago, SakuraRose said:

Murasaki, you mean? I actually do have fox ears and a tail and put it on her along with a hakama at one point. I had trouble bonding with her because I kept the default face up BUT that look really did suit her. I think she might look even better in it now. I guess the sculpt just really works well kemonomimi for some reason. She's normally wearing the default Ruri hoodie with a cat dress (she is indeed DD Ruri). I might just make a doll fam thread and post it there. And also, thank you! 😊

Now an update on Shiburin though...I couldn't resist and did her face up again. I went with the flow while I painted her but I just wasn't feeling her personality. Since I had no MSC left I tried some old Vallejo that I had experimented with before. I think the bottle went bad though and it brought the yellowing even more. 😱 And looking at it again, the varnish DOES have a yellow hue. 💀 

I'm feeling a lot more personality now! It's unfortunate though...I do actually like this one a lot but I'll have to do it again someday when sealants restock. And improve her teeth lol. This might be the one time I want some staining so I could just trace over my work like the way I reuse my essays in university. I kid, I kid! I just reuse research materials. 👀

~~Please excuse my lame joke. ~~

Hahaha! Good one! XD Looks pretty good actually! Yes I've been there too, not being happy with my faceups of the girls I've made before. Don't let it get you down, if there's one thing I've learned it's sometimes VOLKS takes their sweet time to get stuff back in, but so worth it when it does, cause by then, you've got some even NEW ideas in mind most of the time. 😄