Alchemic Labo Unoa Discussion Part 8

Just ordered an unassembled Lusis off of Mandarake! Hopefully I’ll be back on here in a week or two with pictures of her!

 

So I got a doll leaves body for my fresh skin unoa faces, but they're really yellow compared to doll leaves. I was wondering whether unoa is just more on the yellow side normally, or if I should try deyellowing them? I'm considering just getting fairy skin instead and blushing them to match

 

unoas tend to be more on the yellow side

 

Ah, thought that might be the case. Thanks so much, I'll just look into getting fairy skin

 

I don't know if you got a response, but from their posts in the Unoa Freaks Facebook group (since the question comes up every once in a while), yes they are on an indefinite hiatus, so it really is up in the air as to whether they will return to it. I hope so, but in lieu of an official post either way it's easy to see people being confused about it. It is tricky to order from their Japnese site but with Tenso I've done it before.
For photo tax, here's my chibi girl: https://www.instagram.com/p/CER62OSpeoz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link I was glad to find her on Dollyteria for a great price with a bunch of extra faceplates but I'm still looking for more chibi ones.

 

My tan L-Bi arrived yesterday I will get some pictures of him soon. I'm already thinking of a new boy in paradise skin as the colour is just so delicious

 

Finally put my Theo together (curly ginger hair). She's Jaimes sister!








Theo came with a couple of Lusis plates originally and I send those out for face-up as well because... Why not. But I kinda love the result and will probably have to get my hands on another Paradise Skin body.

 

I have an un-opened unoa faceplate with a thin layer of resin where the eye holes are. I have seen tutorials for removing the layer many years ago, but can't seem to find it again Would anybody be able to help?

 

It’s a bit scary the first time but as long as you have a tiny enough tool it should be easy to remove them. The resin there is so thin that it is very easy to just cut through, and to make sure you don’t leave it uneven you can use the finest of sandpaper and sand a bit on whatever edges might be left (if there are any). I don’t know of any video myself.

 

Thank you, Antika!

 

Hello, can anyone tell me the neck circumference for an Sist/Lusis? I have found the rest for the body but neck measurements are missing

 

After years of putting a b-el on my wishlist, and putting him off for other dolls, I just purchased an un assembled b-el on Mandarake. I was just looking at bjds in general and there he was still sealed in plastic bags, and his price was really good so I just couldn’t resist. Still can’t believe I have one coming.

 

I'm anxiously awaiting delivery of a paradise skin L-bi. I've never had one and I really want to see the tan in person. Hopefully, he'll work as my cute cat boy

@Antika - I love the lingerie you have for your girls? May I ask where you got it at?

 

Congrats! The paradise tan is not that dark imo, but it’s pretty. Hope you like it!

I ordered the lingerie from a girl on a Swedish bjd discord group. She doesn’t have a shop that I know of.

 

My boy arrived today! So awesome to finally, in person, open the doll box and see a Unoa in the flesh. I love the red velvet that covers the box interior! It makes me feel like I’ve gotten something really special (which I did). Sorry for all the gushing, I’m just so impressed. Now the joy of sanding, and I really do like sanding, as it’s relaxing. I will be wet sanding to keep the dust minimal. Wet, sore hands ahead!

 

Congrats! I do love their red velvet boxes. THere's something about the Unoas. Have fun!

 

@Rosslyn thank you! I hope you are feeling better! I’ve missed you, and am happy to see you posting.

 

aw thank you!

 

I finished sanding my boy. The seams weren’t very bad to begin with, so it was easy. Next step is stringing, which I don’t like. The instructions make it look easy, and aI hope so.

 

Just ordered some paradise face plates (mostly sist) secondhand, and I am so excited to start putting together a doll I’ve wanted for a very long time! Hopefully I can find some paradise elf ears but I will be color matching everything to fairyland tan the best I can, so if I end up with another color it’s not a big deal.

Hoping to order a buff headback sometime soon... I’m not sure when I’ll be getting the minifee body, though. Tan isn’t offered right now anyways so it’s not going to be immediate unless I find one secondhand I guess, lol. But it’s nice to have her finally started!

 

Do any Unoa chibi owners on here have issues with finding clothing, shoes, etc? Getting back into the hobby and only have experience with a Luts Kid Delf. Unoas are so beautiful to me, I love Lusis, but the Roron default face with the little smile is just so irresistibly cute to me! Are the chibi heads the same size as the girls heads, or would putting a chibi head on a more traditionally sized msd body look ridiculous?

Sorry if this is too many questions!

 

I can't say anything regarding chibi clothing etc but I've seen people but unoa chibi heads on msd bodies (either with them on a Sist/Lusis body with the original backplate, or getting a buff headback) and they look good Summerbird has this photo of a comparison of a Unoa Chibi on the Minifee Moe body next to her doll Viola.


Viola Hybrid Compatibility

 

This is really helpful! I was actually interested in the minifee moe body, and I'm glad it doesn't look out of proportion. Definitely something for me to think about if I decide to go with a body bigger than the chibi set one. (It would definitely be easier to find clothes for.)

Thank you!

 

For clothing- not really. They fit into slim MSD/minifee clothes very well. Their tops are more yo-sd sides and their hips are minifee size, so pants might be long, but overall they're fairly easy to dress.
Chibi have the same wig/eye size (6-7 wig, 10-12mm eyes) as regular unoa. You could put a chibi faceplate on a regular unoa body with a small modification (chibi faceplates have small prongs on them that regular unoas don't. If you have instagram, check my page milky.teeth, I have a "unoa" highlight where I have pics of this )
Chibi's feet are the tricky part- bigger than Yos and smaller than minifee. They fit into some other doll's shoes though- I've had luck with some Monique shoes. Otherwise I'll put my minifee sizes shoes on my chibi and just add a pair of socks to keep them snug.

If you have any more questions I'd be happy to help in any way I can! I have both boy and girl 1.5 unoas, and a chibi unoa on the roron body (small bust/pear shaped body)

 

Thanks for your reply! I had a look at your instagram, I don't have a doll account there but your unoas are so lovely! Just looking at them makes me want an unoa even more! I looked at your insta story and can see what you mean now. When the prongs are cut off, does it effect the stability of the dolls face? I'd hate to have a beautiful face plate be at risk of sliding off.

Looking at the 1.5's and chibis together makes it more difficult because I think I love both sizes in their own way. (The 1.5's being a nice more standard size, and the chibis being so cute and small.) Perhaps I can dream of owning one of each some day!

I do have another question for you, I see you own a A-line minifee, I presume all your unoas are on unoa bodies, which body do you prefer? Are you ever tempted to hybrid your unoas, or is the unoa body good enough in your opinion?

 

Thank you so much for your kind words!
If you want to hybrid or worry about faceplate stability, I'd check out Buff headbacks! I have one myself and it's lovely, fits both 1.5 and chibi faces easily, the only "downside" is that is definitely fits a 7-8 wig rather than the standard unoa 6-7.

On A-line vs unoa.. that's a tricky question. In my honest opinion, Fairyland's quality has noticeably gone down through the years. The minifee body I currently have is from 2013 and probably the end of around the time I would trust a body from them. With that said, the unoa body also hasn't been updated since the early 2000s, and is floppy at best, but I adore the aesthetic of it.
I don't think there is a "right" or a "wrong" body! Both have double jointed elbows and single jointed knees (minifee has strange faux double joints there..) so I rank them about equal ability.
With that considered, I'd go with whatever body YOU find more appealing

 

Alas, I sew for mine, but @MaudMAryFlynn is accurate as far as I have found. I do adore the chibi unoa body for being so sturdy and the aesthetic just pleases me. Here's some Chibi spam for you!

 

Oh, I love your chibi unoa! She is soooo cute! Especially with that fizzy hair and big smile!

 

I'm sorry I can't be much help, but I remember the Unoa Freak magazines had some chibi unoa patterns in them. Not much, but if you like sewing, it can be a start.

 

THanks very much!

 

Thanks for your input! Love your girl! Did you dye her to achieve her skin tone? It's a really nice colour!

 

THanks! Yeah she is dyed a deep brown.

 

I got to ask... is there just a general term for "Unoa Lusis/Sist"?
Roron and Lilin can be called just "Unoa Chibi," and then there is the "Unoa Elder Sisters," etc. I suppose someone could just use "Unoa Quluts Girl"? I have always assumed that Unoa Sist was always sort for Unoa Sister but I am not sure... just thought I'd ask since I am going to be using Lusis & Sist plates interchangeably on the same doll since they're virtually identical sans expressions anyways, but I wasn't sure if there is a broader term I can use rather than just Unoa Lusis/Sist for tagging purposes.

 

@Epona Someone who is more knowledgeable can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Lusis/Sist girls are "Quluts 1.5" (or 1.0 for an older body version) in particular. I've seen the Chibi options easily referred to as "Chibi", but I think that *technically* the Chibi are also "Quluts Chibi" .... I'm not sure about why or how those name designations came to be!

Alchemic Labo naming is confusing.. lol ... I copied the reference materials from the reference page in the Wiki here in DOA into my own notes because it definitely feels like a situation where if you know what the names are, you know.. and otherwise the rhyme or reason is proving challenging to suss out haha.

 

Hello!

Hoping for any longtime Unoa owners to chime in!

I recently received a 2005 Unoa Lucis (I think? That's the one with the mouth closed, right?) doll from Mandarake. I haven't done any face up or body blushing yet, which I want to do before creating her profile, so...

Anywho. I've tried to attach some pictures from Flickr. The resin, especially on her face and hands, is quite shiny. Is this normal? Will matte MSC get rid of the shine, or is there sanding in my future?

The only doll I have to compare is a new Iplehouse Mari in a darker color, so I don't know.

Candace 1
Candace 4
Candace 3
Candace 2

 

This is Sist. Lusis is the one with the open mouth. Their resin tends to be shiny but it should be matte once you apply MSC to it. In adition to early Sist and Lusis, I have B-el and Cream & Mocha. The resin on those is shiny too.

 

The names can be confusing, I agree. ☺According to the official website, Lusis and Sist are called "Unoa Girls" or "Unoa Girls 1.5". Unoa Quluts is the "brand or series's name".
I often though Sist is for sister, I wonder if it can be possible?

 

Hi! I’m wondering if there’s places other than secondhand market to get a paradise or tan skin Lusis? Not sure if the sculptors do pre-orders (that’s what I heard in passing but maybe I’m wrong anyway). I love Unoas and would love to get a Lusis someday but I’d need to save up for a target date lol

 

Unfortunately, there is no pre-order, AlchemicLabo always sells what's in stock. On top of it, Paradise skin is sold as a "special" skin and most likely it is on sale during summer.
You can always try Mandarake, though.

 

Seconding Mandarake. The age of some of the dolls there is apparent, but I got a great deal on a Lusis there that I'm VERY happy with considering the cost (or lack thereof)!

 

I'm having a wretched time with my B-El
I've owned him for more than six months and I'm just. Not feeling it.
He's been sueded and restrung and everything but he's still unpleasantly kicky and his elbows wanna velociraptor. It's really frustrating how the body is so cute but then won't Do The Thing.
I guess this is why people hybridize them...

 

I've heard that gently sanding the joints can actually help more than sueding when it comes to unoas! Gives a more rough surface to "grip".
With that said, there's nothing wrong with hybriding! Maybe a minifee moe boy body? I've never handled that body personally but it's got that same cute, slim look as the unoa boy You should be able to be happy with your doll!

 

Does anyone have experience buying Unoa off Y! Auctions? I've been watching Mandarake a few months but nothing tempting has popped up, and I'm used to proxy services for stuff from Y!/Rakuten/Mecari JP so I decided to give it a go. I put in a bid for a set of 3 faceplates (Two Lusis and one Sist, still with their original packaging.) and won them for a good price. I was thinking if anything I could use them to help buff up my faceup skills, and if I become attached I can maybe find a second hand body. It was also a lot lower stakes investment that trying to proxy buy a new unoa off the offical site.

There's a part of me that's nervous I made the wrong decision just because they were there, what if they're in bad condition, or more yellow than the pics, or fakes, or that I'm just going to be stuck with these plates forever without a body!!! I couldn't talk to the seller due to the barrier of language/it being through a proxy. I think I'm just being paranoid, but I'd like to hear other peoples Y!/Mecari/etc experiences!

I guess also hearing from people who bought off Mandarake would help too, as they're also a japanese second hand site.

Thanks!

 

@bliss5 That was kind of my thinking when I bought faceplates as well ... great to be able to practice on and switch out! The one thing that caught me lightly off-guard is that my faceplates came without primer yet. I think this should be the case for yours too if they're in their original packaging. Nothing sticks to them until they have been primered, even sealant coatings. But once you've got that taken care of, it should be smooth sailing for face up practice.

 

No, but I would love to hear more about it. I got what I thought was the Lucis - turns out I got the Sist, and it's the 1.0 version (I was hoping for 1.5) via Mandarake. I've signed up for email notifications for Lucis faceplates, but I'm also interested in other sources, too!

I've never heard of Y! before. I have seen a few BJDs on Mercari, but they're either insanely overpriced or counterfeit (i.e., recasts). And if you try to set up a search, I can tell you from personal experience that you will be bombarded with doll sized "food" crafts. Someone went wild with the resin arts and crafts.

 

Yeah, especially since the unoa plates are so expressive I think building my face-up skills will be fun!

These three plates came blank in their original packaging (The packaging that's the small plastic bags with the bubble wrap/promo picture card and instructions in.) so they definately may have the issue you had! Could you tell me what primer you used to fix it? I have Mr Super Clear, is that what you used or do I need something else below it? Thanks for mentioning this, if it is an issue with my plates and I hadn't known I might have freaked out!

I've heard Mandarake can mislabel sculpts due to them just not being experts, which is annoying. I haven't set up notifications there so maybe when the good stuff pops up I just miss it!

Y! is Yahoo Auctions is basically japanese eBay. I've bought a ton of anime merch from there over the years. If you're into japanese stuff you can get a ton of great deals. I use FromJapan as my proxy and they've been great for me (I've used Buyee too, but FromJapan has a free package consolidation fee. I only use Buyee now if it's for something from JP Mecari.) but keep in mind you have a second payment to pay. FromJapan also includes other sites in their search like Surugaya, OTAMART, Rakuten, Rakuma, and you can request stuff on their custom form from most japanese sites.

I wouldn't say it's the best for dolls/doll stuff. I just happened to find the plates on there. There's definitely some unoa parts on there that look like good deals but the full dolls I'm not sure about...I think I'd rather buy a full doll from the official site or buy second hand from a UK/US/EU seller on here unless something unbeatable came up. You can search 'ユノア' on there wade through to find them, or grab some other keywords from the unoa website in japanese and have a go looking through. I'd definitely be on the look out for recasts on there but there seems to be some legit stuff.

I'll definitely post pics of my own plates when I get them, but it will probably be a few weeks due to shipping!

 

@bliss5 I'm realizing the way I phrased my statement there sounded like I've gone through the whole process! I actually am speaking from a combination of both first & secondhand experience (riding some of the coattails of my husband's knowledge) but hopefully this is enough to be helpful in tracking down a product....

When I got my Unoa faceplates, I went to coat them in sealant (an equivalent to MSC), and it just beaded right off of them... my husband saw it and immediately identified it as them not being primered due to his experience with painting miniatures. I ran right off to Blick art materials and purchased a clear primer.... which I painted on enthusiastically and when it dried, it peeled off in a big layer! Turns out there's specific materials that different primers are made for, and the nice cheap one I had found was for "EVA foam, thermoplastics and 3D prints," so it was this kind of stretchy layer... not what I need.

I've since set them aside, but I "know" what the answer is. Just need to track down a clear primer that is made for resin. MSC is sealant, not a primer. Too many materials to keep track of

 

Well, this is timely, as I am getting ready to do a face-up on mine.

Google says... Krylon? I have a couple cans of clear but I can't promise I'll be trying it out anytime soon. It's either been too humid or too cold where I live for effective adhesion.

 

@MaleficentMrsofEvil If you get antsy, I think you might be able to do a quick run of a hairdryer over your plates to heat them up and then a quick spray. Obvs no pressure - haha - but I recently took a face-up class where the instructor was actually heating their resin heads on low in a toaster oven to help with adhesion of their sealant as well! I've yet to try it myself, but evidently it also serves the purpose of eliminating fogginess on darker-toned resins, which I thought was awesome! I'd never heard a workaround for some of the "residue" on tans and dark skin tones.

 

Interesting.... I just happen to have a tan Iplehouse Mari, and I was thinking of tackling her body blushing after I finish the Unoa face up.

Thanks for the suggestion - I may try it tonight! I've been impatiently checking the weather, waiting for the right conditions.

 

Thanks for this info! I might try a normal spray when my plates come, and if not I’ll try your suggestion! If you find a definite solution for this please post it back hear for others, I’d love to hear about it.

Sorry to always be on this thread but is there a way to guess by eye if a second hand unoa on places like Mandarake etc, where that info sometimes isn’t there, are a yellowed fairy skin or a yellowed fresh skin?

I’m looking for fresh skin dolls and plates but it seems fairy is the more popular one over in Japan. I was wondering if anyone had some comparisons or ways you would guess. Like, are yellowed white skins more ‘luminous’ yellow etc?

 

@bliss5 @MaleficentMrsofEvil I wanted to follow up on the sealant discussion - after spending a couple more days on some on and off research, I'm starting to think that the base sealant thing is ... not right. Also, I see too many people reporting that Krylon Matte gets sticky a few months down the road which isn't something I am personally willing to risk.

At this moment in time, now I'm really not sure why my typical faceup sealant was beading off the faceplates, but I have at least one conjecture. My thought is that the face plates may not have been cleaned when removed from their molds, so they may be covered in mold release, which would also cause most anything to not stick to them. When I have a spare bit of time I'm going to try cleaning one of my "untouched" faceplates and try sealing again. I'll report back.

 

Feeling a little sheepish, because I still haven't gotten to the doll yet. I'm painting a BIG toy horse as a prop, and it's taking forever. It's there biggest toy horse I've ever seen...

My Unoa is super yellowed. Originally, I was thinking that I would keep her that way, but after putting a white wig on her head and realizing I'm seeing some sort of blue fairy, I'm going to try lightly sanding her to remove a wee bit of the yellowing. So thanks for the update. Sticky face would make me sad.

 

Thanks for the update!! I actually received my plates in the mail yesterday.





I had to take an scalpel and a magnifier and gently shave off some excess resin around the eyes and open mouths. I panicked a bit but upon reading a thread on here I saw that some unassembled full kits come with these and instructions about shaving them off. I think they're a mellowed out normal skin but I'm not sure.

The only problem is one of the mouth pieces just doesn't seem to sit to well in the face. It seems to struggle to get in a good position. (I think it's the lusis wink face piece.) I might have a go shaving or sanding it until it fits better!

I'm thinking of washing them incase they have the sealant problem. I saw someone in the Unoa assembly point out that the instructions on the kits say to wash them before assembly, so maybe your residue mold release idea is correct!

 

I'm not sure how much I can help, but after reading the conversation here, I dug out my Unoa Freaks and checked it (I thought, "hey, if there's anyone, they should know it").
There is a page in one of the volumes where a Lusis faceplate gets a faceup. It says (in Japanese) that the faceplate was first washed in a "resin wash, (G-color series, T-03)". Then, it got primer, which was a Volks spray (GK surfacer). I'm afraid Volks no longer sells such because I couldn't find it on their homepage and, well, the Unoa Freaks are a bit old...

I will do a bit more research when I have some time, but I hope this information could help.

 

Hey guys, I've had my L-bi, B-el and Lusis for years but got a Chibi from Dollyteria last year and I've had so much trouble finding shoes. The feet are a bit big for my Yosds shoes but too small for my minifee/MSD shoes. Do they fit moe line shoes or anything else standard? She fita a lot of the new Barbie clothes so well (example of my cheeky girl here: Login • Instagram ) and most slim mini clothes everything else is hit or miss but it's fun to experiment.

 

Don’t take my word for it, but I’ve heard they might fit Mini Dolfie Dream shoes. They both have the same foot length but I’m not sure about width. Some mini dolfie dream shoes are labelled ‘MDD’ but not ‘MSD’ because they’re small and thus don’t show up in MSD searches. Maybe something to consider if you can find out about the width of MDD vs Chibi Unoa feet! I would be interested too since I want a chibi one day.

 

Hey all! I am considering getting a Unoa Lusis ^^ Is there anything I should know about the body?

 

Eyes can be a pain to find, between the eyewells being 12mm but her having heavy eyelids, 10mm leave a litlte gapping, 14mm don't really fit at all.
Large bust can be hard to find clothes for. The hands are beautiful, but because they're posed as they are, it can be hard to dress, many sleeves won't fit over them. I've seen people mod their dolls to have magnet systems, or make littler hand filler things to hold the string while dressing.
A lot of people find the body floppy, which I suppose it is! I haven't done it myself because I like the body, but I've heard that instead of sueding, the body reacts better to sanding the inside of the joints to add texture/grip
Unoas are such fun, versatile and classic little dolls! If you have any questions, please do ask

 

Thank you! This is super helpful! I've always loved Lusis but have been scared to get her because I don't know where from, with all the recasts out there. Seems unoalchemy is down.
Do they come with CoA's, or is it just the box? Where can I buy legit and avoid a recast?