Aesthetics Yokai Apartment (Tanuki, Oni and Water Spirit)

A change for this thread! Originally it was intended for Holly, my DollLove May to become a Tanuki.
She will still be in here and propably the main doll for a while, as I am still waiting or still have to order the missing members of my Yokai* Apartment!

Spoiler: Hiiragi aka Holly-chan

For Holly to fit in the Yokai Apartment, I wanted her to become a supernatural being as well. At first I thought about making a fox spirit, but somehow ended up liking the idea of her becoming a tanuki more. A tanuki is also known as racoon-dog and in folklore they are known to be shapeshifters.

Holly is not as noisy as the other members but usually cheerful and very sociable. She is very caring and with this ended up looking after the rest of the household members. She enjoys crafts and sometimes might make clothes for one of the other yokais.

Doll: DollLove May 45cm

Spoiler: Bao He

As Bao He is a full set, there is not so much to do for me I fell in love with him at first sight! His proportion don't really work with Holly but as they are all demons, I just blame his shape shifting skills. :P

He is the Water Spirit of the group. He is in Japan on a Yokai Exchange Program (YEP) to learn more about water demonienes and bringing good luck. In his original form he is a Money Toad also known as Jin Chan. His job is to attract and protect wealth. As not to feel too alone, he brought his pet tadpole.

Doll: Loong Soul JinChan Shine 40cm Full Set

Spoiler: Kiritarou - Oni

The original plans for this doll, were something on the line of a european forest spirit...but after holding him in my hands and working on Holly for a while, I decided that he shall become a yokai as well! His horns made it kind of obvious that he would be an oni tiger pants!

So far without a name, this little oni (ogre), is very energetic! He tends to be cheeky and enjoys playing pranks on other people.
Once he grows up he is going to work in Japanese Hell punishing sinners for their bad deeds. But for now he just wants to enjoy himself.
The only one he listens to obiently is Holly - propably because the plant can be used a guard against oni.

Doll: Loong Soul Little Thunderbull Aman 26cm

*(Yokai are Japanese Demons or supernatural beings, they are not ghost and are more used to describe natural phenomenas - if anyone is interested, i can reccomend some good and fun literature about Yokai)


Things to do/make/organize

• face-up for Holly (I need to find an artist, recommendations and even ideas for a possible face-up are welcome)
• tiger pants for [oni]
• and iron club [oni]
  
• clothes [BaoHe, oni]
• underwear [BaoHe]
  
• props
• japanese diorama (if time)

So far done:

• wig - finally cut! so far I like it, but I am not sure about the color theme
• tail - hand felted, held with a magnet, not sure about the color theme
• Yukata - the first one is done! I would like to make some more though, maybe with lining
• Hakama - done, but two more in white and red on the list!
• tiny leave for the head - done! i just always forget to take a picture of it @.@
• change eyes (?)
• sculpt and flock ears

Here are pictures for now ( ´△｀)still so much to do...
Sorry if the pictures are not in the best quality but tablet seems to hate me lately whenever I take photos with it.

Spoiler: Pictures

Here with her wig, made from yarn. I decided to use three colors: brown, beige and light grey. Still needs to be cut a little shorter and then styled a little bit more. Ignore the clothes
Holly New Clothes by Uli Merker, auf Flickr

Cut the pattern for the Yukata - i made it a little bit shorter than usual, so it would work better with the hakama.
Kimono Wip by Uli Merker, auf Flickr

 

@EdwardInsane Thank you very much! ヾ(´▽｀*)ゝ another yokai-friend! I shal check out your profile after this tiny update! Maybe I get some inspiration! Aaand here I tried to peek at your dolls...but I could not find any doll profiles! too bad (о´∀`о) I was hoping for some inspiration...

@Dark Angel
Thank you for your comment! Yes I have been thinking about that too. But i can't make up my mind, whether I want a strong face up or a weaker one...so...more like a 60%percent version of a bandit mask...ah so difficult to explain.


I also have a tiny update!
Her Hakama is still not finished but I thought I post the pictures anyway. This is a Hakama-Skirt (so not pants) from one of my cosplay-patter magazines. I took the measurements and devided them by 4. If anyone is interested let me and i can try whipping up a pattern or a simple draft (。・ω・。)ゞ

enjoy!
Holly_Hakama_wip by Rum Dilly, auf Flickr

Edit: I am not sure, if you can see it or not but there are three broken pictures shown - ignore these! there is just this one picture!

 

Good Evening (or Good Morning! Depending where you live and when you read this...)

It is time for a tiny update!

I cut Hollys wig and I think it looks much cuter now :3 for now i am satisfied with the wig! I might play around with another one soonish....lets see.

The part that I finished is her tail! it is needle felted with a wire base inside. I used the leftover fluff from her wig making, and while I am not 100 percent satisfied I think the tail went ok. I might feel like remaking it with another technique, but not sure.
The tail is attached with a magnet, the other one is taped to her back. It works better than expected.

I worked a little bit on the ears but I am not satisfied with the clay, so I plan on remaking them!

Seeing the pictures today I also thought, that lining for Yukata might be nice as well as an Underwear-Kimono.

Holly Tail by Rum Dilly, auf Flickr

 

@Dark Angel thank you so much :3 I have to say it sticks rather well to her (*^▽^)/★*☆♪ so glad it doesn't fall off all the time!

A quick new update!

I made super tiny 'Hanafuda'-cards for my doll. Hanafuda is a japanese card game I am rather obsessed with lately and I decided that Holly, as a japanese Yokai will need japanese traditional games!

So here it is! You could even play a real game with it!

hanafuda cards by Rum Dilly, auf Flickr

 

@Leo Pheonix
wow thank you so much! Another Yokai-enthusiast! Please share your Kitsune pictures! I wondered if I should make one too...but somehoe I'd rather make an otter-yokai.

Do you know the books by Matt Alt? Yokai Attack or the Japandemonium! I really like them especially the latter one leads through Sekiens works and was very interesting :3

 

You might have noticed that I changed the title and the first post of this thread. This is because I recieved my other dolls and rather than opening a new thread for all dolls individually I decided to keep them together as on big project - the Yokai Apartment


@hawkfry Thank you very much! I love the Hanafuda cards as well and they were surprisingly easy to make!

@RenDemel Actually making the cards was easier and quicker than I expected the "worst" part was using a black pen to color the sides so the white of the paper would not stick out so much. My hands were black afterwards...
Thanks a lot for your kind comment!

@Rosslyn Thanks a lot! I have seen that Anime and I shall have a closer look at the Tanuki-Girls again Thanks for that helpful tip!

@Wolfie Pie Thanks so much! I was acutally worried that is a little bit too exploded...but for my first wig I am happy with it! I might remake it at some point...but for now it is ok!

I also have some updates regarding Holly! I finally finished her ears! And she has new eyes, which suit the Tanuki-Theme better I think...
I need to move her ears a little bit more downwards, but all in all I am satisfied with the end result (for now :P)

2017_Holly_Tanuki_2 by Rum Dilly, auf Flickr