Meandering on Mamegomas!

Miette and Dae have called a truce in the name of Mamegoma riding. It's an activity best spent with your frienemy, after all. ;)

Happy Thursday everyone!

Dae and the Mamegomas belong to my friends Arvie and Lala.

Miette lives with me.

Brick by Boring Brick

There hasn't been a lot going on with me dolly-wise recently. I've been saving up for a Feeple60 girl, so I'm cutting down on my spending, which means it's gonna be a while before Blair and Miette get any new stuff haha! Sorry, girls. ;)

I did purchase a couple of stuff for Blair before my spending hiatus, and this fabulous Foxybrowny set is one of them. It's freaking adorable! The prints kind of clash but they still manage to look so pretty together. It's all so very hobo-mori chic, which I love. ♥♥♥

Costume Embroidery for Game of Thrones

The third season of Game of Thrones concluded this week and now I don't know what to do with my life. LOL. Just kidding. In all seriousness though, I have a small hole in my heart where the show used to be. I can't believe us fans have to wait for another year for the new season to arrive! :(

Replace with "I NEED GoT IN MY LIFE!"

Even though the wait will be hard, the show is one of the biggest TV productions there is nowadays, so the wait won't be in vain. Every little detail is carefully planned and designed, and the amount of work and dedication put in every set and costume is astounding.

AND THOSE COSTUMES. My gosh. I recently stumbled upon the website of Michele Carragher, one of the costume designers of the show. She's done incredible embroidery work on some of the costumes! Her attention to detail is ridiculous. I was blown away.

It's too bad we can't see much of it in the show, so here's my little tribute to Ms. Carragher's work. Below are some of the costumes she's done for the show. Click on the photos for a better view. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Sansa's wedding dress was one of my favorites in the third season. Love the little story on the embroidered sash. It starts out in the back, with the joining of the Tully fish and Stark direwolf (Catelyn and Ned's wedding), then the war between the Starks and Lannisters, symbolized by the intertwined direwolves and lions, and how the Lannisters now have a hold on Sansa (hence the lion on her nape).

Cersei is probably the character with the most wardrobe changes in the show. This dress looked simpler than her other looks (I'm talking about that gorgeous armor dress!), but check out all that embroidered detail on her shoulders and sleeves! It's so opulent, which is perfect for her character.

I always thought Catelyn Stark's costumes were more austere than the other characters', but seeing this photo makes me wanna rewatch the show just to see her other clothes. I thought the scarf was a plain one, but wow, they really put a lot of detail into it. I love the Tully fish embroidery!

The Qartheen costumes were some of the more colorful ones in the show, but I never noticed that there were bugs on their clothes! Kinda cool, kinda creepy. I guess it's a clue about Qarth in general: looks can be deceiving.

Who knew even pirates had luxurious clothing? Salladhor Saan's costume is proof that even pirates dress fancy!

And now we arrive to Dany. I gotta say, initially, I was disappointed with her wardrobe this season. For a good part of the season, she's been seen wearing the same dress... well, that's what I thought. It turns out that they're all different! Notice how in the first dress, the "dragonscale"-like pattern is isolated on her shoulders.

After she sacks Astapor, the pattern grows and crawls down to her chest. It's a subtle hint of her transformation from wannabe queen to full-fledged conqueror.

And by the end of the season, she's become the mother of an entire nation. Now the scales are all over the upper part of the dress, with added gold embellishments. Stunning, just stunning.

Definitely a dress fit for Daenerys Stormborn, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, and the Mother of Dragons!

 

There are a lot of other costumes from the show that I want to feature, so you can look forward to that in the future!

Photo source:  Michele Carragher's Official Website

Interview with Fairyland

Fairyland is a ball-jointed doll company based in South Korea. They release dolls sculpted by Cerberus Project, the sculpting team who first gained popularity through LUTS with their Delf and Minifée lines.

Through the years, Fairyland has arguably become one of the most popular doll companies around. It's no surprise why: they almost consistently produce high-quality dolls that are both beautiful and have great engineering. It also helps that their aesthetic is reminiscent of anime and manga, which is a sure way to win the hearts of a huge chunk of the BJD-loving population.

I'm a huge Fairyland fan myself (my first doll, Blair, is from their company), so I got extremely excited when they indulged me with an interview! I was hoping to get Cerberus Project to answer my questions, but they're too busy, so Fairyland's head administrator, Steelknight, answered the questions instead.

Blossom in the Briar

Just some photos of Miette on a patch of briar. She looks like a little flower bud, doesn't she? ^^

ManikaManila's Pool Party

Aaahh... nothing's better than having a nice swim to beat the summer heat! This is exactly why Blair, Miette and I attended this year's ManikaManila Pool Party meet. It was held in Constantine Place, BF Resort Village, Las Piñas – the same place where last year's Sun-Kissed Meet was held. This meet was also held to celebrate the launch of MM's official forum! Everyone was required to wear summery clothing like sundresses, bikinis and board shorts.

For a major meet, there weren't that many participants. There were only 20 attendees, which is actually small compared to our usual turnout lol. XD Despite that and the godforsaken humidity, we still had lots of fun! Most of the folks took a dip in the pool, some did photoshoots and some sang at the karaoke machine. :'D

For more photos of the meet, click on the link below!

Faceups // Souldoll Issac for Kanis

My first male faceup ever! I'm so glad with how he turned out. It took me several attempts to turn him into a grumpy samurai, but all the effort was worth it. Now his owner is happy with him and that is more than enough compensation for me!

Totoro & I

When Cyristine of Cyristine's Creations put up this adorable Totoro hoodie for sale on her Etsy, I knew I had to have it! Good thing a friend of mine decided to hold a mini group order. I got it a couple of weeks ago and Blair's been wearing it since then. I normally change her outfit once every two weeks, but the hoodie's just too cute so I made an exception.

The makkurokurosuke hairpin was made by my friend Madz of Dear Resin. It's part of Blair's Totoro costume from Halloween last year. It looked cute with the hoodie so onto her head it went. ^u^

Please excuse the repetitive shots! I was hoping to do an outdoor shoot of Blair with the Totoros but it's been excruciatingly hot recently and the thought of going outside in the sun sounds like torture. Blair being cute with the Totoros and fake bokeh will have to suffice for now haha!

Kingdoms of Twilight and Magic Doll Show

The STRYCHNIN Gallery in Berlin, Germany will be holding an exhibit titled "Kingdoms of Twilight and Magic" featuring talented doll artists such as Marina Bychkova of Enchanted Doll and the Popovy Sisters (whom I featured in an article here).

The show will open on May 10, 2013 at 7 p.m. Here is what the gallery has to say about the upcoming show:

"More and more artists have established themselves as doll makers and it’s grown to a truly worldwide community; and why not? These are highly talented artists, so multidisciplinary that only through this medium can they incorporate their vision of fashion design, sculpture, illustration and character design.  Thus, many of these artists also work in film and animation production; “bringing to life” what other can only imagine. This we wish to present the audience with the unravelling of “Kingdoms of Twilight and Magic”; an insight into the world of fantasy production, a place where dreams can come to life in the form miniature sized “movie-set”, where the viewer can take a journey “behind-the-scenes”, paying respect to the likes of Jim Henson, George Lucas, Brian Froud, Loreena McKennith, J.M.Barrie,Terry Pratchett, to name a few."

Below are some works from the artists featured in the show:

Marina Bychkova

 

Forgotten Hearts

Christine Polis

Katya Tal

Visit STRYCHNIN Gallery's website and blog for more information.