Meet Mai (and Mochi)!

What brought me into dolls started with a webcomic that I plan to unveil publicly down the road It'll be a unique mashup of cooking, comics and science, starring Mai and her little sister Mochi.

Mai started out just being a narrating character I created to stand in for me, but she quickly took a life of her own in the comic, and it wasn't long before I wanted to create a "figurine" of Mai in real life. This led to me discovering the doll hobby, and after testing the waters with a smaller 1/6 doll, I went all in late last year and created Mai in doll form.

It takes time to setup my photo stuff since it's all stored away, so it's more of a treat when I get to do it. I'll do more once I get some props that Mai needs for a convincing cooking scene.

For now, enjoy a pic that I took tonight!

 

Behind the scenes...

Edited December 12, 2024 by chef_mai

What a bundle of joy! Thanks for sharing~ 

I took a few pics while it was still bright out and found a way to make Mai look good in Rena's uniform. I've written before about how it didn't fit, but with some shrewd arm posing to cover up the belly gap and the addition of a tied up cardigan, I covered up the parts that don't fit well while adding a cute touch. 

Edited December 12, 2024 by chef_mai

Ah, she is adorable!

I upgraded Mai to a 3-piece torso this week. Along with that, she's got new legs! It makes her skirts look a little shorter now. :3

I did a schoolgirl-themed photoshoot for the occasion.

Edited December 12, 2024 by chef_mai

Mai got new clothes and hands of all sorts today, so I did another schoolgirl-themed shoot.

Edited December 12, 2024 by chef_mai

You’ve gotta heat up the hand parts longer to get them over the stubs (I had the same problem), unless you want them like that to take them on/off easier.

8 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

You’ve gotta heat up the hand parts longer to get them over the stubs (I had the same problem), unless you want them like that to take them on/off easier.

Good eye! I'm in the process of ordering several spare wrist joints (ouch) since I can't use a blow dryer at night to swap the hands due to the noise. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by chef_mai

6 hours ago, chef_mai said:

Good eye! I'm in the process of ordering several spare wrist joints (ouch) since I can't use a blow dryer at night to swap the hands due to the noise.

I did the same thing after someone on here suggested it. I bucked at the cost at first, but heating them up every time you want to change them out is a waste of time and effort, so it really is worth it.

Mai is now an Angel Philia girl. I'm happy to have her back to 48cm height and converted her for better leg flexibility and for those chonky legs.

 

Edited December 12, 2024 by chef_mai

SHES SO CUUTEE!!! and WOW, you're not lying, AP bodies really can move!! Look at that squat!!

The webcomic you mentioned in the first post is also really interesting ^w^ i hope all goes well with that endavor

I've been struggling a bit to make Mai look good in casual clothes thanks to her new proportions. She looks great in uniforms, but in the casual clothes she has, it's been a mixed bag.

In the end, I grabbed a piece that Mai didn't look great in before, and what a difference the AP body makes! Dressing like this is a little out of character for her, but it was fun trying something different.

Edited December 12, 2024 by chef_mai

7 hours ago, chef_mai said:

Dressing like this is a little out of character for her

Maybe add a pleated knee length skirt? Or maybe blue jeans. 

She's such a cutie!! I love the look you have for her.

Definitely interested in a webcomic w/ her as the star 🤩

Edited March 22, 2022 by Starwaia
grammar Dx

Thighology!

Mai is so cute! I can't wait to see the web comic you're making! I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to make their OC into doll. I hope to one day make my two main characters into dolls, but I'm so new to this I'm not ready to start that project yet.

That girl that's like KAPOW with the heart attack thighs...... but is totally aloof and doesn't know she's Kapow with heart attack thighs. Or even knows what heart attack thigs are, but dresses to show them off with out knowing she's showing them off! lmao!  I love those boots and socks though!

Mai is so cute 

On 3/9/2022 at 4:21 AM, ragnamuffin said:

You’ve gotta heat up the hand parts longer to get them over the stubs (I had the same problem), unless you want them like that to take them on/off easier.

After much delay, I finally got the spare wrist joints today, but to my dismay, while some slip on relatively easily, some of the hands have too small a hole to slip on. In fact, I notice that for these, I can't even get them to the half-on position without some heat, let alone entirely on.

Should I start using a knife to scrape the holes bigger?

25 minutes ago, chef_mai said:

After much delay, I finally got the spare wrist joints today, but to my dismay, while some slip on relatively easily, some of the hands have too small a hole to slip on. In fact, I notice that for these, I can't even get them to the half-on position without some heat, let alone entirely on.

Should I start using a knife to scrape the holes bigger?

Lots of heat (from a hair dryer) and lots of wriggling should do the trick.

If you have enough wrist joints for every hand, there are few reasons to ever take the hands off again.

28 minutes ago, chef_mai said:

Should I start using a knife to scrape the holes bigger?

Ideally, I would recommend using jewelers files. I believe they would remove smaller amounts, and, reduce the chance of cutting too deeply, especially in such a small area as the inside of a hand-hole. 

Most craft/hobby stores would have a selection of size and shapes in a "kit" of three or more for a pretty low cost.

 

1 hour ago, Tierparkzone said:

If you have enough wrist joints for every hand, there are few reasons to ever take the hands off again.

Cannot recommend doing this enough.  It's what I do and it makes changing out the hands take less than five seconds and I never have to worry about damaging the vinyl trying to get it on and off.  

3 hours ago, chef_mai said:

After much delay, I finally got the spare wrist joints today, but to my dismay, while some slip on relatively easily, some of the hands have too small a hole to slip on. In fact, I notice that for these, I can't even get them to the half-on position without some heat, let alone entirely on.

Should I start using a knife to scrape the holes bigger?

If using a hair dryer, you might have to heat them for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the strength of the device. Everyone says 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, but that’s not nearly long enough in my experience. They’re super pliable and easy to get onto the rods when hot enough, so if you’re still having trouble it just means they need more heat. They’ll go back to their original shape as they cool down.

Supposedly you can also boil them, but I’ve never tried. They can take a lot of heat so you don’t have to worry about overdoing it unless you’re setting them on fire or something.

You could cut them with an xacto knife if you want, but if you think that might bother you after the fact (maybe the cut is uneven or you didn’t want to modify them after all), then I would stick to the blow dryer method, but it’s up to you.

Here’s a post I made in my early days when I had the same issue:

 

Thanks everyone! I'll give it another go this week. Thankfully, I have enough pairs of wrists for a 1:1 pairing.

I used the edge of a small pair of scissors to scrape just a little bit of the excess vinyl off (it comes off in tiny shavings similar to micro-planed parmesan) and hope that it makes the process a little easier.

I've alluded a bunch to a second girl I've been working on for quite some time now, and it's finally time to pull back the curtain!

This is Mochi, Mai's younger sister. While Mai's all about cooking, Mochi's into baking and sweets. Although she appears shy and reserved in contrast to Mai's bubbly demeanor, she's quite mischievous, which can get her into trouble at school.

In contrast to Mai's tomboyish style, Mochi is a bit more fashion-conscious.

She'll show up a bunch in the cooking webcomic as the deuteragonist, showing up frequently and sometimes starring in her own comics when something baked or sweet comes up.

(Does anyone have tips on how I can manage her hair better? It doesn't show up much IRL, but I find it hard for photos to deal with those stray bits.)

 

The Nitty Gritty [this no longer is the case - she's now a MDD]

Spoiler

 

Mochi is a hybrid in all respects. Her base is an Azone 45cm, but I swapped her lower torso to AP-C for better flexibility and plan to swap her bust in the future to an AP-C1 to maintain the size but visually match better (the skin tone's off rn). AP-C is similar in size to the lower torso of AZT-45 but with the soft feel and nicer sculpting.

Her upper arms are Obitsu 48/50 length, which makes her fit better in tops without looking too wrong. I got the mixed-arm piece idea from a Japanese owner.

Mochi's head is a custom DDH-27. Eyes are done by ivoryteal. Her wig is from Pengin Workshop.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2024 by chef_mai