#chibi unoa

[kosomolski-dolls]

Maírín was out in my mum's garden and I feel like she's a bit of a farm girl...

I can see her cuddling with some cows.

[littlewalken]

Charlotte in a quick yarn wig to keep her head from getting cold. The struggle is finding the right shade to go with her freckles.

This is a simple crochet skullcap with strands done in a lark's head knot (like a latch/locker) around the horizontal bar of the stitch.

I didn't finish filling the cap because it's enough hair for her and I was repurposing the yarn. This is giving me thoughts of a mesh cap of sorts and using lark's head knots for strands of doll hair.

[lemondread]

I’ve been working on some fancy beaded corsets for my little fairies, here’s Pix with hers <3

[cian1675]

I made a new skirt after watching a Youtube video and wanted to dress Pebbles up! Without her usual layers, I think her look today is a bit more cottagecore and less mori girl, what do you think?

[bon-bon-blog]

Unoa Freak 1, 2 and 3 [Review]

Summary

The Unoa Freak series is specifically written to celebrate and discuss Unoa dolls. Created in 2003 by Gentaro Araki, founder of Alchemic Labo, they were one of the first BJD available on the market. They are not as popular as they once were but Unoa dolls come in many common sizes, making these books a great resource to this day. The books also contain tutorials on face-ups, manicures, modding, stringing and more.

These books have been created with so much love and creativity, from the beautifully illustrated covers, to the fashion editorial style spreads for the patterns. They are one of my favourites to take off the shelf just to flick through the pages.

The number of patterns varies by book and each one has been created by different artists, so do take a look at the tables below before purchasing.

Details

Language: Japanese Author: Graphic Sha ISBN-10: UF1-4894253720 UF2-4798600261 UF3-4798609021 Patterns UF1: Pirate set,Mod set,Country set,Babydoll,Punk dress,Traditional fabric set UF2: Freie Shirt, shorts, socks. Honeymeryl corset body and skirt. Silver butterfly Jumpsuit. Elolita jacket, dress and bloomers. Dollsdrugkingdom Blouse, skirt, petticoat. Atri corset, garter, skirt, bustier, bra, stockings and miniskirt. Sekiguchi uniform set for girl and boy UF3: FLC shoulder bag,FLC Pants,FLC Socks,FLC Beret,FLC Suspender pants,Poupee Mecanique pants,Poupee Mecanique shirt,Silver butterfly jumper skirt,Hanon onepiece dress,"Galum shorts, sailor shirt, socks, beret",FLC Blouse,FLC Tunic,FLC ruffle shoulder blouse,FLC piping shirt,Atri bustier,Atri tutu skirt,Atri Skirt panties,Atri Panties,SilverButterfly sleeveless dress,FLC Cropped Pants ,FLC Denim pants,Poupee Mecanique pants  Sizes included: Unoa sister, Unoa boy, Unoa Zero, Unoa Fluorite, Unoa azurite, Unoa Ani, Unoa chibi

Visual pattern list

UF1

UF2

UF3

Pros

Gorgeous cover art with a partially transparent layer

A real must if you love Unoa dolls

The photography is superb

So many patterns for any size of Unoa doll

Includes a few accessories 

Tips and tutorials for common doll styling and mods

Cons

Minimal instructions for the patterns, sometimes just a couple of drawings

The patterns in the book don’t work for every size of Unoa doll, usually each pattern is designed for a particular body sculpt (cries in Unoa Zero)

My copy of UF2 had a few pages come loose from the binding - not sure if it's a common problem but something to keep in mind

Final thoughts

I don’t think I would recommend these as pattern books for beginners, as the patterns are sized so specifically and the instructions are quite minimal, but if you are an experienced sewer I think you will enjoy the variety of styles here. My main reason for recommending these books wouldn't be the patterns though - it's the peek into BJD history that make them special. I think they are a great addition to any bookshelf. 

[maleficentmrsofallevil]

Using Buyee proxy shopping service

I purchased an Unoa Alchemic Labo Chibi Ririn/Lilin and three pairs of hands via Buyee, because the doll studio does not ship to the US directly. There were three fees: the "plan fee" of 500 yen, Buyee service fee of 300 yen, and shipping fee from the studio to Buyee for 970 yen. Shipping from Buyee to me was 3,988 yen via DHL. It was the second-cheapest option (the cheapest being air mail, which is considerably slower). With DHL, the doll took three business days to get from Japan to BFE Midwest USA. I like DHL.

I was very happy with the service. Buyee lets you download a PDF of your order with an itemization of all fees paid and the prices of items ordered. I noticed there was a definite attempt to "steer" me into choosing a slightly more expensive shipping option, but there was also a link where I could compare shipping options by price and speed.

The transaction was a breeze. There's a Google Translate button top right so that the webpage is automatically translated into your language of choice. Buyee offers coupons (excessively) for various websites, but if you don't want to buy something from their partner websites (Yahoo Japan auction, Yahoo Japan shopping, Mercari Japan, Rakuten, etc.), you just put in the link of the item you want to buy in the "Other Sites Information" section after you create an account. Buyee will confirm that your items are available to purchase, and then you pay for your items, plus an additional 800 yen for two of the fees. Shipping is charged after the items arrive at the Buyee warehouse, at which point, you are notified by email. Payment is via PayPal, which will translate from your currency to Japanese yen (at the WORST possible conversion rate, but that's a different post...). Buyee will hold your items at their warehouse for up to 30 days from arrival. After I paid for shipping, my items were on the way within a business day, and I got an email notice that my order shipped.

If there's one downside to using Buyee - boy, do I get a LOT of emails from them. Easily two to three a day. I'm sure I can opt out. But I'm lazy.

I've purchased a lot of stuff from Mandarake, whose shipping tends to get pricey. I feel pretty confident that it is cheaper to order via Buyee than it is to pay Mandarake directly for shipping, especially if you want items from two different Mandarake stores.

So: two big thumbs up from me. I liked the service. They were fast, communicative, and nice to work with. If I buy anything else from a Japanese store, I'll most likely use Buyee.

[havraniko]

The oyasumi faceplate that arrived on Monday caught me off-guard. When I saw it listed for sale, I thought for a moment that it's chibi unoa - because it's smiling and has, as it appears to me, chubbier cheeks compared to regular Sist's face. When I unpacked it, I was astonished and blunkly gazed at this face for a while. It's so peaceful and serene. Can't imagine this face for the same personality. They're so diametrically opposed.

I also got modded madoromi Lusis faceplate. She's... breathtaking (those lips!). I didn't intend to, but I'm afraid I'm going to need one more 1.5 body.

Why buy other dolls, when there're Unoas.

[mxsuperclear]

Hi! My name is Elora (they/them), I’m 24 and autistic with a special interest in dolls and toys of all kinds. welcome to my doll sideblog! This blog is mostly for resin BJDs but I occasionally post about other dolls here too.

I also have a more toy/plush centric sideblog (@skinned-furby) if that is of interest to you! I follow from @mothstan.

My BJD family consists of:

Leekeworld GeeYu (An)

Impldoll Triton (Unnamed, “Ocean Man”

Minifee Mika/Mir (Oliver)

Minifee Juri 14 (May)

Unoa Quluts Sist (Unnamed)

Charm Doll Circe (Finch)

Souldoll Junia Animal (Junia)

Dollmore Calvin (Unnamed)

Chibi Unoa Roron (Poppy)

VOLKS SWD Kaede (Kaede)

5StarDoll Jadite (Clover)

Soom Opel/Lier (Plume)

Hujoo Freya (Unnamed)

Hujoo Freyr (Unnamed)

Hujoo Nano Freya (Unnamed)

Batchix Mini Machina (B-TR15 “Beatrice”)

…as well as a few other floating heads and 3D printed friends!

[bunnyscribblesbjd]

@queenofsquids you actually can get the zest and xyle heads separately- they're on the alchemic labo e shop website. you have to get the faceplate and headback (it's the same one as the chibi unoas use and it tends to only be listed in that section of the site) separately. It looks like they only have the tan/paradise rn so a hybrid may need some more complicated color matching for the huajing resin colors :o

also allegedly if you cut the tabs off of the zest/xyle faceplates they fit on the regular headbacks so you don't have to deal with the wonky neck joint thing that the 50cm unoas have but Im a coward and have not tried that myself.

Ok I'm looking for more mature msd heads that would suit this muscular body! Suggestions greatly appreciated 👍

[smallwonderdolls]

I’m planning to take advantage of 11.11 sales to order a pair of Doll Legend 1/6 hands for this boy... I haven’t ordered them before because I’m not actually sure they will fit, or if the resin will match. XD;  I do like all my dolls to have at least a pair of “loose fist” option hands (the official Alchemic Labo fist hands for Chibi Unoa are more like boxing hands...)

[kosomolski-dolls]

I acquired a cutie today 💕

The 3rd chibi unoa to join my crew 🙈 i can't regret it, they're just too cute...

And she already made friends!

I just realised Hailey's dress is made of the same fabric as the new girl 🤔 I got both of these (well, the bunny 9 body at least) from the same person, I'll have to ask if she made them maybe!

[littlewalken]

My Chibi Unoa. She came without official factory papers so I don't know what skin tone she is (it's even the lighting in this room sucks) and she has all over body blushing with freckles. The small card is one of the COAs from her face-up and body artist. Bought her at a doll show so I'm at least her third owner. Found out the face plates are the two default Chibis.

The large card with the squares is a digital color card.

[lemondread]

I made my first successful pair of bloomers! :D

[catfishy2u]

Cidette

[cenricthecerberus]

BJD Box Opening - Chibi Roron (Right now I want to call them something colour changing related)

This little one came with SO MUCH STUFF. I’m really impressed. The wig they came with is super soft too! I’m not sure how to get the eye bits and mouth bits out of the other faceplate though, if any experienced Unoa owners would like to give me some advice I’d love to hear it :D

The one weird thing about this one though, is how much the colour changes. When I opened them, they looked purple. Maybe slightly more blue then I was expecting but still purple. As I pulled each piece out all of a sudden they looked completely blue, to the point where I wasn’t sure if I’d actually gotten one of the purple ones after all. The photos don’t like though (well they do in terms of colour compared to the real thing) this is definitely violet! Still it’s a gorgeous colour, I’m definitely happy I went with this one, might just take a bit for me to work out a colour scheme that works for them in photos and in person.

I was going to take a photo of Sienna in the box but she doesn’t care about boxes at all

[maleficentmrsofallevil]

Er mah gerd.

Doll nudity.

Yes, my desk is a mess. I'll clean it up later.

Unoa Quluts Chibi Lilin! I've wanted one for a couple years now.

I've had an Unoa Lusis before - I know that these dolls are a little old fashioned and don't pose as well, but Lilin is not getting rebodied. She's staying exactly the way she is.

I am... a little shocked, TBH. This was supposed to be an unassembled kit, but damn if she wasn't fully put together in the box.

And they gave me free hands? Who gives away hands??

Like - a bunch of hands.

I am thrilled. Can't wait to do her face-up.

SHE'S SO CUTE ER MAH GERD.