Aesthetics Project Journal: Creating Phainon/Khaslana!

Hello everyone~ I'm Azu. It's my first time posting in a while, so bear with me, I guess? :')

I'm starting to create (or put together) Phainon from Honkai Star Rail! My beloved husbando~

His references for those interested: Phainon BJD (Sourced from Dragalia Archives!)
I won't be making the body for his Khaslana form, just his head and maybe the wings if I feel up to it.

It started when I was browsing around on Taobao for Phainon merch, Boom! Some BJD bodies came up, and then I was like... Why not make a BJD of him? So here we are, lol.

What I have planned:

• Body: Dika Doll Kui Lang body 78cm Lean version in beauty white (link to Weibo) - Purchased (26/02/2027)
• Head(s): Yu An by Dika Doll (link) for Phainon & DOKI by AoLingShi in white (link) for Khaslana - Both Purchased (26/02/2027)
• Face-up/Body-blushing/Wig: I can't do it myself due to logistical constraints (I literally have nowhere to do these things at home, especially face-ups and body-blushing lol), so I'm planning on saving up to commission people. Though it might change if I somehow find a way?
• Clothes: I plan to make myself. My family has a lot of spare fabric lying around that I could repurpose for clothes. As for his canon outfit, I'll have to go out to a fabric store to see what's best. With the details and decor, I plan to either paint on the fabric with fabric paint (Pebeo is a great brand!) or try my hand at embroidery. I'll be taking my time with these, since quality matters more to me.
• Others: I'll probably make a storage/travel bag for him, too, or maybe it'd be cute to lug him around in one of those transparent cat backpacks? xD

I'll use this post to document my progress and maybe some more ideas~ It's my first time doing this kind of thing, though.

Thanks for reading~

 

Thank you! The challenge is the wait. For now I'm just gonna be watching a ton of videos and tutorials.

 

Thank you!! I'll do my best.

I also found out that you can use Liquitex matt varnish as an alternative sealant instead, so I'll definitely go that route~ Since I have pets and I'll have to body blush anyway because of his birthmark~

I also ordered some nice soft pastels and I hope to try them out on a practice head when I can buy one, hehe~

 

Ahhhh thank you so much for your kind encouragement! Yea, embroidery is going to be hard and slow, but I might as well do something with my time while I'm waiting for the body to arrive (3~ months), so I'm planning on getting some embroidery kits and working on it in my free time. It'll be a long journey for sure, but I'm sure it'll be worth it~

 

A small update~

Someone really should give me a scope knife, haha~ I decided that instead of commissioning someone for the face up and wig, I'd decide to try my hand at it myself. For the wig making, I decided to try my hand at ventilating a wig for him, though I think styling will probably be the most difficult part. I'll try making a long hair wig first to like, get used to the process first before doing Phainon's shorter hair >w<

 

Another update~ I won a giveaway from Danzhi!!! She will make Phainon's wig for me, so that's sorted~ I'll still try to ventilate my own wig though, as I have another doll I wanna make. >w<

As for what I did and plans (aka rambling):

I've started a few embroidery projects to get a feel for the craft. It's a really relaxing thing to do, to just put on some music and sew away! I planned out what colour embroidery threads I want to ideally use for his clothes! But I'm not sure if I'll try to do embroidery for his coat cause 1. It's asking for death by never becoming finished from the sheer amount of decor 2. With my noob skills, I don't think it would give a result I'd be happy with, since I'm a little worried it would "pop out" too much. But, I won't rule it out entirely, I'll give myself more experience first and see. I'll make an exception for Aglaea's floral pattern on his sleeves, it will definitely look better with hand embroidery! I want his cape to be made from silk, so I'd need to use silk thread for it, too~
If it does fall through, as an alternative, I can paint on the embellishments with fabric paint, I have some experience and leftover paint from another project where I made my own kimono for a cosplay!

Unfortunately, because it is a Mihoyo design, how some of the characters actually put on their clothes is a mystery (especially for Phainon). For his coat I plan to use a twill/cotton type of fabric, and when making the front leather armor on his abdomen I think I'll connect it to his coat, and it seems to fasten/tie together on his back. The shirt with the popped collar seems to be separate, and there's also a very thin long sleeved shirt underneath all of that. (from what I can see of the reference images)
As for his leather shoulder armor, since they have different shades, I think I'll do some more research first? but I think I'll have a base layer, and then cut out the different colours to applique/glue on to it. Since I know someone who has a 3d printer, I might just 3d print his metal armor pieces along with the other bits and bobs and paint those.

I have no idea where to start with shoes... but I'll get there. One at a time~

 

Ahh! Thank you very much for your kind advice~ I shall look into it!!