A "Happier" Chii

While perusing Mandarake a while ago, I happened to see a Beat Angel Escalayer, in "rough" shape. 

I was ready to say Hard Nope, but, looking at her face again, I flashed back to seeing Chii from Chobits, with her very happy face, exclaiming to Hideki about what she had done at the Bakery all day. 

Such exuberance! 

So........ I bought Escalayer. 

Fast forward, with conversations with other "Ecchizonans" on the Discord server, and hunting far and wide thru Etsy, I managed to find some 3D printed ear-pieces.

@ateliervanilla was an awesome help in making her eyes and relining her eyebrows from pink to a brown/blond-ish color to match! 

 

Her ear-pieces are from FantiiChiiCosplay on Etsy, designed for SmD, with a bit of Dremel work by me to fit over her ears a bit better. 

 

So far, so good. 

Here she is, at this moment: 

 

 

Not a perfect fit, but it's been commented in the Discord, that her hair should cover up any gaps. 

Currently waiting on her wig from DollsandCraft from Etsy, it should/might arrive in a week or so.. 

I've got a DDS body for her, along with this set from Volks: https://volksusastore.com/webstores/dollfie/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=13419

This will do, until I can find/commission either (or both) her brown outfit, or her Bakery Uniform. (or a reasonable substitute!) Or, just something awesomely Cute!!

 

Anyways, this's what I've been up to! I'll keep updating as things progress, so stay tuned! 

 

Rick

That sculpt is a great fit, I love her so much! And you're right, her smiles get so much less attention.

oh my gosh she really does make a perfect happy & smiley chii!! i'm so excited to see the progression of this project

yaaaaaaay!! Chi is so happy, i love her!

I'm delighted to see this. Escalayer is an underrated sculpt, in fact, had I been able to nab this girl I probably would have. So glad she went to the best home! She's making a fantastic Chii already- her face is perfect for the CLAMP style.

Edited March 5, 2023 by PolitelyNefarious

Oh my gosh, she is so adorable! 

Happy Chii is best Chii, I love her!

as someone who has adored Chii-chan since the early-2000's, i anxiously look forward to seeing your finished doll!!

i imagine she'll turn out to be exactly the Dollfie Chii 2.0 that us Chobits fans have been deprived of

since the days of the official 1.0, the better part of two decades ago now...

She is so cute! Super excited to see the finished product!!

She's already so cute, keep us updated on her progress!

A "minor" update, for now.... 

Chii's wig arrived Thursday, but it was a "Hot Mess"... It arrived in a flat mailer envelope, instead of a box, and what little paper stuffing that was inside the wig cap was literally flattened. 

So, I put it on her head, hoping it would "relax" somewhat. 

Today, I decided to give it a bit of combing, to hopefully straighten it out some: 

Not too bad, right? Well, as I was brushing it, (from the bottom up, a little at a time.) I'll admit it was fairly tangle-free. 

But this is what came from the comb, nearly at each and every run from bottom up: 

Individual wefts. I'm nearly afraid to brush/comb it any more, there's so many short hairs sticking out thru the main length of it:

 

This was even on the inside of the wig cap! Long hairs sticking through the cap, too... 

At this point, I'll try some hair care products to see if I can make it look better, but, I'm very disappointed right now. 

I'll be painting her ears tomorrow, after I sand the ridges from the printing process, so they'll at least look better than this mess. 

A minor setback, but, I think she's going to be worth doing it right! (OCD much?? LOL) 

Thank you for your patience, everyone! 

 

Rick

Ack! That's unfortunate, but think there's still hope left!

Back when I was dipping my toes into MH customizing I washed one of my girl's hair with a mixture of warm/hot water and fabric softener and that made her hair feel really smooth and silky. A dunk in hot water also helped straightening the strands. I'm not sure how applicable this would be for DD wigs, but perhaps someone else will have better input on that?

My Faker wears the new DD Saber wig, so I'm always scared of messing with it. There are some fly-aways, but I had good results using just a tiny bit of the Volks hair wax to smoothen things out again, so if a full wash isn't an option, perhaps some sort of pomade can help you get the wig back under control!

Wow she looks great. Shame about the wig. Cotindoll have quite a good Chii style wig but they've sold out of the best colours.

One of my first Dollfie goals was to make a Chii but we got seriously sidetracked. We have the pink princess jumper set which looks quite Chii-like.  I'd love to make a Freya too.

I've had big chunks of hair fall out like that before. It's not great, but it does happen on new wigs sometimes, especially lower quality ones or ones that really try to pack on the wefts. If the hair is still pretty thick i wouldn't worry too much about it.

(It can also happen if you brush really hard, for any newbies reading. Bottom up, a little at a time, is how it's meant to be done!)

For the flyaways, have you tried a toothbrush? They're great for smoothing hair out once it's untangled, maybe it'll be able to tuck those back into the main body of hair so they won't show as badly.

👆  I second this. All of it. Toothbrushes are my go-to for brushing most wigs. You can always tell the lower quality ones due to the sheer amount of static- if the flyaways are resistant to the toothbrush, more brushing usually doesn't help. It sucks that the seller didn't pack it well- I'm sure they didn't imagine it getting misshapen in transit though.

 

However, there's nothing that says you can't buy a better wig in the future should this one not work out. If nothing else, this can be a temporary until something like a CotinDoll, Penguin's Workshop, or Leekeworld comes along. I sometimes wait years until the 'right' wig appears at a good price. At least she's looking good- the shape frames her face nicely, and the colour looks pretty spot-on. I hope this wig fixes up for you and the ears go well, because so far she reflects the manga Chii unmistakably.

My current update on the munchkin! 

First, I want to thank all of you for the positive energy you've sent our way! Your comments are awesome! Thank you! 

Yesterday, the Ecchizonans had a "Grump/Brat" day, so I brought Merri along and was able to see quite a lot of cute Grumpy Brats! 

Chii tagged along, because my fingers aren't able to do her hair-spool any justice. Luckily, @Poofiemus was willing to apply her particular nimble-Fu, and Chii benefitted awesomely!! 

(Merri stealing sips of my beer while Chii is getting her hair done)

 

Even without her hairpieces, she got lots of attention at the park, before we decided to get out of the sun! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've held you guys up enough, right? 

(shamelessly copying the teasers from @baldylox!!)

 

 

 

Here ya go!!: 

She's home, safe and sound, just chilling on a shelf above my computer, for now. 

And already pestering me about the next time she gets to go meet the Ecchizonans again! 

Thank you all for following along on our journey!! 

 

 

 

Rick

(and Chii!!)

Edited May 1, 2023 by battrastard
Fat-fingers FTW!!

....as an oldskool CLAMP fan ..... this is just *wipes away tears of joy*

4 minutes ago, Anna-neko said:

....as an oldskool CLAMP fan ..... this is just *wipes away tears of joy*

Thank you!! 

 

she really turned out so perfectly, and is just beyond cute, oh my gosh!! i can't wait to see more pictures of her out and about in the future !!!

1 minute ago, littleclover said:

she really turned out so perfectly, and is just beyond cute, oh my gosh!! i can't wait to see more pictures of her out and about in the future !!!

Thank you! There's a few Cons I'd love to take her to here in AZ, Phoenix Fan Fusion and SabotenCon, (possibly Con-nichiwa down here in Tucson, as well) for sure! The other Ecchizonans will more than likely have a couple more meets this year, as well! I'll make sure to get more pics of her then, too! 

Yess bring her to Fan Fusion! She almost certainly will get recognized, which will be so fun. 

You're quite welcome about the hair. Though I do wonder about the ear pieces. . . maybe it'd be possible to add a second magnet to the bottom, to hold them on a little stronger? As they are I'm not sure I'd personally feel confident they'd stick on properly during a whole convention day. Though maybe adding some poster tack/eye putty to the hollow part might also help give some 'gription'. 

What's next for this girl? A maid outfit to represent her time working at the cafe? A floofy pink lolita outfit?? I must knoooow

20 minutes ago, Poofiemus said:

Though maybe adding some poster tack/eye putty to the hollow part might also help give some 'gription'. 

That's an awesome idea! I'll have to get some more, just for that. 

21 minutes ago, Poofiemus said:

What's next for this girl? A maid outfit to represent her time working at the cafe? A floofy pink lolita outfit?? I must knoooow

Those are some wonderful ideas, too! I'll need to start looking for both! 

She is so much cuter than the Volks version, I'm utterly charmed. Imagine a little Pure Neemo Sumomo for her! 🥰

Wow! She exudes that 2000s anime vibe... Amazing custom!

19 hours ago, honooko said:

Imagine a little Pure Neemo Sumomo for her! 

Thank you! I've been putzing around with the idea of finding an STL file of Sumomo and Kotoko to have 3D printed, so they can both sit on her shoulders, or in her hands. 

3 hours ago, meteorite said:

Wow! She exudes that 2000s anime vibe... Amazing custom!

Thank you!