Hello everyone! As you’ve probably noticed from my last entry, I finally received my Bimong order from last May and got to work with her immediately. I spend the first day modding the torso and the next few days painting her and playing with her. And since I documented most of what I did (starting with the tail last April) I thought I’d make a post about it. For my own records if it’s not of interest to anyone else.
I’ve wanted a mermaid doll for forever. Actually since childhood: I quite loved my barbies and other dolls with mermaid tails. I even have Siren because the Soom Cass pieces at the time were pretty much the only things that came close and they’re beautifully shaped. But as I am now, I’m also very picky with actual mermaid tails. Most dolls either don’t have attractive jointing in them, the tail is too thin or too short or they’re only sold as giant fullsets and are too expensive for me (looking at you Asleep Eidolon and Angell Studio). Or then the dolls are just tiny and I wanted something bigger. But when I saw the Fairyland seahorse tail for the first time, I quite liked what I saw. It’s not that smooth or mermaid-y looking but the jointing is quite well hidden and above all: versatile. So yes, I knew I wanted it, and that brought forward this character.
So, once the bottom half was decided on, how about the actual doll? Initially, I thought I’d get a grey skin Withdoll for this character, but I already have most of the head sculpts I want from them and I’m not a huge fan of the torso of the girl body anyway. However, a cold blue tail with a grey torso would’ve made a really nice cold climate mermaid. But when Bimong announced his final preorder for Narae and Narin, it all clicked. I’d wanted a 408 head for a long time and also a tan Narae, so what better than to combine the tail, 408 and tan skin. She’d be more warm toned and kind of tropical for our climate but what the heck. xD
I originally hunted for the clear blue tail, but I let all the ones I could find slip through my fingers. I didn’t have the funds and I wasn’t looking at it that seriously as I wasn’t, at the time, sure what doll I would get to be on it. Well, when I finally was able to afford and seriously look for one, pretty much all of them had gone and the market started to be replaced with that steampunk tail -which also was clear, but I did not want the carvings and gears and stuff on it, so it was no good. Luckily I at least found one mint tail with all the pieces that I could buy, so that’s what I had to use. But it really needed to be dyed. :3
Continue reading “A 10 month project (working on and modding Naenia)”
