#oshi-nui

Designing their hair was the last major hurdle to clear before I would be able to start working on the dolls for real. This was the part of the process that I was… not dreading necessarily, but knew was going to require a lot of patience and a lot of time fiddling around… kinda like with writing where there’s a big nasty mess of text you need to edit, but the only way over it is through so you just gotta roll up your sleeves and dive in! (Haha creative processes is the same.)

First up: figuring out Patroclus’ beard. These doll designs have eyes and mouths that are placed SO close to the bottom of the face… very cute of course but it meant I didn’t have very much space to fit in another facial feature, plus a couple of sewing darts to consider, plus it would be have to be something I could pull off with my current skill level. I figured the only way to make absolutely sure I could pull it off was to just make an entire head, so I did haha.

I kind of wanted the excuse to experiment with colors on Patroclus’ eyes anyway so it didn’t feel like a drag to fully embroider a pair of eyes just for this prototype (and it allowed me to procrastinate longer on the harder bits lol.) Luckily I think the result came out adorable and I’m actually glad I took the time to do it because it would help me visualize with the rest of the hair design process later on.

Piyopicco, whose patterns I’m using for this project, has several videos describing her doll hair designing process and I probably watched them a billion times in preparation for doing it myself. I didn’t have premade hair templates to work with so I really had to trace and draw all my own patterns from scratch, and since I didn’t use a computer program for it I had to rely on good ol’ pencil and paper.

I rarely draw for fun anymore but being able to utilize it for this purpose was nice at least. It took several days designing and prototyping, one hair piece at a time (each of them have 4-5 different hair pieces) and as expected a lot of hours were spent making adjustments and redoing prototypes. But in the end I think I did a good job expressing each of their characteristic curly hair shapes from flat 2D drawings to 3D doll hair. In particular I’m obsessed with the way Achilles’ fillet hugs at his hair and makes that bulging curved shape, so I had to make ABSOLUTELY SURE to include that in his design, hahaha.

Anyway I do kind of wish I had simplified their curl designs more and idk I may still do that, since sewing in the final hair can be delayed pretty far into the doll-making process, but we’ll see. Mostly, I’m just nervous about doing embroidery on my sewing machine, something I’ve never done before and might be a little difficult. I might have to practice and make some more adjustments as I go.

But at least for now, tackling this step meant I could finally get started on this project! It’s happening guys, I’m finally beginning!! 😂

Yay! It's done!

I had the idea to incorporate achillea millefolium into Achilles’ eye design (I chose to give him a hazel-green/gold palette rather than the blue eyes he has in Hades) and since I wanted to do a matching design with Patroclus, his eyes will have forget-me-nots in them, inspired by the ice blue/hot pink color palette of Elysium.)

Patroclus’ design for the most part I felt happy with right away, which is why I only made one lol… meanwhile I’ve been fussing over Achilles’ colors a lot more. I THINK I finally settled on a color combination I like after all these tests, you’ll just have to wait until I do it for real to see what I decided on 🙂‍↕️ I am open to suggestions and opinions though, since I’m not exactly in a huge rush either 👀

Next challenge is designing their hair. I have some ideas but I’m worried about the complexity of drawing up the designs (I’m doing this all analog baby!) Hair also includes Patroclus’ beard, which hopefully will be as simple as gluing or fusing some cut fabric to his face (I’m not really planning to make an embroidered design for it but if my A plan looks like dogshit then possibly…?) Anyway, at least that will be the last major step before I can start making the dolls for real. And this is the part where the practice bodies I completed last fall will really come in clutch because they’ll be able to model the mockups for me <3

Speaking of which, I found a bag they can both fit in (and it was only ¥990 at the craft store!) so I’m pleased now to have something to carry both dolls together once they’re finished 🥹

In my area, this kind of thing has been popular for a while now There are simple patterns available for several common sizes, and if followed exactly, anyone can make them. BTW, the clothes are ones I got from a friend(It's apparently leftover from last Halloween)

After admiring the ones I’ve been seeing online for ages now and then finding various tutorial videos & books on how to make them, I’ve begun an oshi-nui doll-making journey for Hades Achilles & Patroclus \(^o^)/

I’ve been having a lot of fun the past several weeks researching tools, picking out & ordering fabric colors, and beginning to brush up on my sewing and embroidery skills. The challenge of this craft was the reason I initially looked into whether people just have them produced before realizing handmade is doable… and in Japan at least, this doll-making is currently an ongoing fad, so I discovered that the craft stores now contain huge display tables of supplies, as well as pre-made costumes & accessories!

Anyways after some careful effort, I managed to complete two blank practice bodies without too much grief… some mistakes along the way but still not bad for a first attempt, I think. They are very small and cute and I put magnets in their hands so they can hold hands and just like all the ancient artworks depicting greek mythology characters, they have been lovingly ｃａｋｅｄｕｐ🍰🍑

From here, the plan now is to use these dolls to test out colors and prototypes as I gather more materials and design their hair, faces, and costumes (including their spears, for which I inserted magnets in their other hands as well) and continue to practice the embroidery necessary before making the final set. Like with my writing projects, I don’t have any particular deadline of when to have them done, but it will probably take me several more months before they’re completed. In any case I’ve got tons of ideas for how to make them unique and I’m looking forward to getting creative :’)

(Hopefully you read that title in a movie trailer announcer voice 🙂‍↕️)

I started working on the final dolls at the beginning of the month and progress has been going smoothly. I was off for the golden week holidays during the first week, so I was able to work on the project basically as much as I wanted… I cut out new sets of body parts, embroidered heart nipple and belly button details on the torso pieces, and perhaps most importantly, I embroidered their faces and inner hair parts.

It took about a week to finish the embroidery on both Achilles and Patroclus… I worried a little that the “pressure” of doing this “for real” would make me overly fastidious and consequently make them look overworked, and although there are some flaws and parts I wish I could redo here and there, the practice I did was time well spent and I’m happy overall with how they turned out. I probably could have gotten them finished even faster if I had done the hair embroidery on the sewing machine, but tbh I’ve been procrastinating on pulling it out for as long as possible. Consequently, satin stitching with the machine is the skill I still have yet to practice with, which makes me nervous. Honestly I wouldn’t mind doing all the work by hand, but some of the hair parts will be double sided and I’m not really skilled enough to make satin stitches as neat-looking on the bottom as they are on top, and so from here on I yield my work to the speed and convenience of modern technology.

In a way, I’m almost sad that the most involved, labor-intensive part of the project is already over. I sewed the body parts together afterwards and it felt so quick and easy in comparison (I finished both in about two days!) At this point, seeing their adorable little teddy bear bodies being completed, I feel like I’m already reaching the light at the end of the tunnel. It’ll probably only take another week or so to embroider the rest of the hair, assemble the heads, attach them to the bodies, have them stuffed, and apply the finishing touches. Fingers crossed that no catastrophes will occur in the process, lol. But for now, it all seems to be coming together! <3