I've been bizarrely sewing-ly constructive inbetween readings and home assignments, so after I raged at my Friday lecturers for not releasing next week's lesson plans [thereby thwarting my study schedule] I said "Fine! I'll do Yana/Miko's ***!" and set out to cut interfacing. 15 minutes later I rummaged around and said, "I think I'm out of black drill." silencestation said, "What? Impossible!" and I said, "Yes, I know." and Jun said, "It's probably because our cloth is all over the place. Why don't you clear up the stuff, you'll probably find it sometime."

So it's about a day later and I have 8 drawers of tidied-up cloth and I have confirmed that indeed, I do not have any black drill on hand, nor any substitute like canvas or cotton. The irony burns at my past gothy tendencies; the black leather, suede, silk, satin and vinyl are all laughing at me. Whatever I'm going to get some tomorrow after class. ಠ_ಠ

Anyway, with this clearing I now have a pathetic little bin of the most hideous cloth [largely leftovers from the time the Spotlight ladies really liked me and gifted me scraps, or from cosplays]; I have deigned to submit and do sigh actual prototypes for stuff I sew....so that means for every piece of BJD clothing that henceforth shows up, you will know there is a horrific purple/hot pink version of it sitting in our house, awaiting burnination.

Right now I have Miko and his esteemable sister Rennes sitting on my serger in a pantomime of "ILU my little brother/Get away from me you ho"ness, and the Tsukasa headmould's ability to pretend to be the Mari/o headmould's sibling makes me happy. But I'm too lazy to take a photo of that so here's Rennes with a crapton of new shoes, assisted by mushrooms:



The irony is that we don't even like buying shoes. As it is, Rennes' shoes are occupying about 1/3 of shoe-drawer space. Women.

Time to check out the school system again, to see if my slacker profs have done anything about next week's content... #@*(#.

It's been two years or so, but I like to think that we're people who make things happen in the end. So tangled web finally happened again, on 070809.



This summer we really pushed for it to happen - many, many pages of photostories and shoots recoded, hours of retyping and days of coding and it's come down to a very clean, always-centerised presentation of our bjd crew; much more organised and much less cluttered [both visually and coding-wise].

Not everything is up yet - our initially novel 'closet', now 'wardrobe' isn't done, and gatherings are under construction, but the really bulky parts are. But there's no point noting all the new things; they're all listed in updates.

And NEW CONTENT - this is a key update - we've started a new photostory arc.



Please see if you like to keep up with our crew.
Okay, so the photos there were taken two years ago but still, aha.

It's difficult not to feel maudlin about tangled and sound subsequently annoying as hell, so instead my feelings will be summed up in hip point form:
- WOW WE'RE DONE
- WHOO NEW STUFF WE CAN POST NEW STUFF
- I am suddenly terrified of deleting all of old tangled
  - oh shoot, I'm going to have to change the url of stuff in forum posts and archives. doy.
  - hehehehe all the hotlinkers will be so pissed
  - it sure is taking forever to delete all the old content...
  - (hour later) my god, it's not all gone yet.
- It sure is taking forever to upload.
  - 4000+ plus transfers? Really? crap.
  - hmm.
  - hmm.
  - 2408 transfers to go.
  - hmm.
  - hmm.
  - hmm.
  - 1171.
  - almost.
  - sun is up. TAT
- AAAA IT'S UP AND THE SUN IS SO UP
- Ooo. It's loading and everything.
- [dedd by this point]

EDIT: Seems we have a problem with div layers showing up like they should in non-IE browsers - alignment, sizing, scrolling issues. We're working on it.
EDIT 2: Many sleepless hours later and no way of changing it. Some fixed pixel dimensions are increased in size in Firefox/Opera, which is in my opinion ludicrious but in Jun's opinion very, very sad. Will have to leave it as such with optimum viewing in IE until further notice. Sigh. Hope you enjoy it anyway. [If you're experienced in div and Firefox though, and could possibly help us solve some of its problems, it would be awesome if you could take a look at the source!]

The gits managed to stand [and stay still, though that's not too hard for them] for an estimated two hours, which is pretty impressive - particularly since the superghetto set-up was threatening to fall onto them and I think I ran them through 5 points of exposure, 6 white balance settings and three cont/sharp/sat settings [I guess that's why it took two hours, ahahaha].

Anyway, Yanagi's head is appley and edible-like.



Obviously I can never leave a good thing alone [wait for full effect].

Many of the conversations that my braindead self and several others had often culminated in this question. This particular conversation sums it up quite completely: a concerned "So what time did you sleep last night?", an extremely sheepish bleary-eyed smile, and "Oh, I see; not at all. Gotcha."
Again, I'm really terribly sorry if I said anything bizarre or confusing to you. My sleep hiatus can basically be summarised in a resort holiday description: 3D2N.

I guess it really could have been worse. It went much better than it could've, considering that we managed out four technically five-piece OOAK outfits in completion for the event – so it makes sense that we would be totally late and uh only finish totally setting up at around 3 or so, about 1½ hours after event starting time. There's nothing much I can really say about this other than: oops, classic Tangled…


So this year, as displayed on the TDA site, was going to be revolving around the Crane Wife legend as butchered by Colin Meloy [I love the man I'm serious]. This only came about on the second-last day before registration as our collab partner unsuccessfully tried to wager herself out of her good friend's wedding [by the way don't identify yourself here, talk to me laytah and I hope that wedding went well]. silencestation and I were standing in the MRT and debating. Bathoom, Crane Wife was born.



Our set-up, the graphic poorly pieced together because I was evidently too stupid to actually just step a few steps away and you know, zoom out. But anyway, you get the gist. Crane Wife display mournfully labouring away. Outside, kids play – with the exception of Sana shoveling snow. You're a good man, Charlie Brown.

( Crane Wiiiife. )

And the OOAK outfits for sale. All of the faux-kimono sets had:
1. Inner Gown/Dress
2. Kimono Coat
3. Obi [/+ obijime and obiage for girls]
4. Neck-tie
5. Headpiece

( Faux-Kimono Sets )


And where's Sei again? Oh right:

( Sei can be quite funny. )

My only complaint was the terrifyingly late booth map and information for the vendors. I was seriously worried there that I didn't get it or something, and with the light-intensive setup it was a big worry. Thank you for accommodating our request! Hopefully next year the information will come out earlier and that'll be fine. :D

We've got people to thank of course:

( Because I'm longwinded. )
and personally, to silencestation, thanks for everything of course. I'm glad I could do the headbands to your satisfaction.

All in all, zomg one week to school. Damn.

My agony and misery finally culminated on the 29th, last Saturday, as we rushed to The Doll Affair and reached 15 minutes before the event opened due to a *$#@ing traffic jam. "Do you think we can set up in 15 minutes?" Djinn mused. "I think so." I said, with much misguided positivity. Well, we sort of did – if Petr would just touch Sei's hand instead of drawing it away in reluctance, if Si Ye would stop falling back and be a little less gay, if Ren would just settle into suwarikko. Amongst the terror of setting up in 15 minutes, my delightful cosplay buddies raydance and ivoryfox were deviously and annoyingly prodding me about the time, while night_child80 was gleefully announcing the number of seconds we had. Thanks a lot, guys.

( Aaaaargh and long elaboration. )

The stuff for sale in the event, therefore, was :
1. Actual Clothes [SD, SD13 Boy, YoSD] x3
2. Chokers [SD] x5
3. Postcards [Sei x15, Petr x15]

Here's how our booth – weenier than we imagined initially, which made Djinn panic the night before as she marked out the space on the floor – looked like, excluding the little corner selling postcards and jewelry :



On the left, [unfortunately you can't see more of the moon, the snowy night, Giselle's grave, mound, rose petals and that amazing Spanish moss] the display setup inspired by the second act of Giselle. Petr is our prima ballerina Giselle, the engaged-girl-turned-wili [lady spirits who were supposed to be wedded – oops.]. Seishurou, the guilty prince pretend-pauper Albrecht coming to visit Giselle's grave and condemned to dance to his death by the wilis, and Tsukisou, who is the angry Queen of wilis who really, really wants Albrecht to die. I know it looks more like Tsuki is rly jealous, but shhh and try to imagine, okay? XD;;;

For those who know the story of Giselle and their visuals, you'll realize that Tsuki's outfit, unlike Sei's nancy tights and Petr's expansive skirt, is not similar to the actual Queen outfit. This is because ours is ah, a reintepretation of the Wili scene. We felt that for our visuals, a parallel dynamic would work better for the Queen and Giselle. Our queen is thus based off a darker colour palette, but like Giselle has some flowing torn fabrics and a long veil of the same design. That's our excuse story and we're sticking to it.

On the right, is our happy little display of the outfits for sale! That'll be detailed under the cut because I'm sure the non-doll people on my flist are sick of my lengthy elucidation.

( the Giselle pre-launch outfits! )

( Multitudes of Thank Yous )

There we go! Like said, thank you all very much for making our TDA lots better, and we hope we'll see you again next year. :D

But before I go – we still have some chokers and postcards for sale!

( Chokers and Postcards [Sei, Petr] for sale! )

Phew! I'm done! XD;

So the prelims will restart again in two days, and I've already had a nightmare about the prelims. This must denotate an anxiety which is uh, not so subconscious.

The other subconscious dreams that I've been having are things to do with protruding and crumbling skulls [ie. mine] and dislocating lower row of teeth which dislocate with the gum [also mine], so I guess the other subconscious anxiety I have is uh, calcium deficiency.

One side of my ribcage seems to have swollen and has been so for a while now, but I've no time to bother with it - hell, I haven't even had time to cut my hair. [It now is messily layered and flips up slightly behind.]
__________________________

So all this ramblin' [ramblin' man!] is really to post this :



[photoshoot on DoA | tangled]

Because I had a vision of the last photo, and so I constructed the photoshoot around it. I tweaked around the settings until Djinn double-approved of the colours and slacked off for an hour to take photos. The clothes aren't made by me, by the way, they're from Amelie Tailor and they're falling apart, but it looks real good. XD
__________________________

In other doll-related and cosplay-related news - well, not that it matters to anyone, in all honesty XD;; - guys, Djinn and I [and subsequently Tangled] will not be at EoY this year. [That delays dolly Suzumiya Haruhi till next year.] If we can manage to make it for The Doll Affair, I know I can't handle the workload of both the con and the dolly event. Nobody's going to miss us at the con, anyway. [And again, this is said in all honesty without any pretense. There're so many lovely doll setups and we've been so out of the loop.]

So there we go.

[DJINN is reading T*********** fanfic.]
MAE : [wheels over] What kind of guilty pleasures are you indulging in?
DJINN : It's not pleasurable.
MAE : Alright, what kind of self-mutilation are you engaging in?
__________________________

Okay, past that, this entry is all about shameless promotion. I've got BPAL to post, but it's horrendously long and I've got to get the shameless promotion over with first, so here we go.



[Photoshoot on DoA | on tangled web]

I know, I know, Tsuki all a sudden? I just popped him out of the cupboard for a photo to laugh at him about being '100% woman' but then it morphed into a photoshoot. With him just sitting there! [That's why they're all photos of his face, him lookin' like a 50s starlet.] Oh, TsukiTsuki. Despite how old and queenie [though no one beats Si Ye] you still are lovely to me. Oh and witness the power of Tangled Old-skool - the thread languishes well! XD;;

The photo I really took for sd_sg's photo theme of '100% Woman' was Rennes : ( she's always a woman to me )

I like the way that almost all of the pics for this theme so far has flesh all over the place. We're so darned sexist. XD
__________________________

Finally, I know it's horrendous form to pimp a webcomic two times in a row, but I have to show you yourbrains's latest strip, please please please. I'll give you a hint - there's more than meets the eye. XD

Also, photoshoot of Renren on DoA. Keeping quiet is absolutely no issue when they're not here yet, but I'm so pathetic at keeping them a secret when they're here - especially this time for Ren, since she came as a head and I was full of great disbelief and joy when we picked her body up from sassystrawberry; right now is still the "::passes by her:: OMG it's Ren on her own body! ::joy::" sort of stage. With that event, I could not pass up taking photos, so here she is.

She's sitting in the corner with a mini Pullip Leprotto in her hands, and I'm just so happy she's complete. I guess this tells me we'd better not get any more heads before we can get a body. Thankfully, the 50 Year Plan Excel document tells me that the odds are low since most of them are FCS.

Only one thing left to go this year, dollwise. ::gets to work::

The very first update in the monster in which you know as Tangled Web was this :

"23rd December 2003 5.33am
The site is finally finished. X_x Not as contentfull as we would like, but it'll have to do for now..."

This means that Tangled Web is now approximately 3 years old. Approximating everything because I'm far too lazy :

1. Kinjyou Seishurou and Suiya Tsukisou are 3 years old. [Old men!] These two arrived during our Europe vacation, and the first pictures we saw of them were in a Virgin Record Store's web access area. Sei's first pictures made me cry. [Not of joy.] But when we opened their boxes, I couldn't recognise him.

2. Ruka is also 3 years old, chronologically arrived before the two old men. He was the first Sweet Dreams Lucas we saw when the limiteds arrived in Domuya and we helped to unpack, and he ended up ours despite the fact that we asked to see both of them to pick.

3. Sanada Mikado and Yanagi Mikoto are 2 years old. [Oh my god!!] Also ordered together at the same time, Sato babies, the F08 had just been released without any official pictures except for small, blurry web-camisque ones. We were also told, a little earlier that there would "Never be MSD FCS!" HAHAHAHAHAHA.

4. Lin Si Ye is 2 years old. We got him despite being late from a typhoon from Dolpa 13 by a Volks miracle.

5. Small Yanagi Ren is nearly 2 years old, the first UFK of AngelRegion. We were worried they'd never have it again. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

6. Chaitanya is 1 year old, Djinn's 21st birthday present greatly assisted by Cassiel [thank you!] and loads of lovely people who donated to the cause - our first sunlight and our first SD boy.

7. Teaberry/Wintergreen is 8 months old and was the first doll off YJA [thanks to Evildolly] we have. Djinn was pining and pining and moaning and pining and I told her, if there is a Kasumi with the 02 Wings that you want, we'll get her and lose all our money. GUESS WHAT?

8. Big Rennes Yanagi['s head - the girl you guys asked about here] is 2 months old, off a Tsukasa Konoe with a Link SD13 body and a SDKen box. A BIN matter off YJA with help from Evildolly once again. Finally, our little Ren grows up. I've been waiting for this.

The total count right now is 10 dolls, of soon which to be 9 dolls, and of soon which to be 10 dolls again. Perhaps in an interval it will be 11 dolls. And the most creepy thing, is that about half of our doll list is fulfilled. But I'm sure we can drag it out till we're 50, since the rest are a lot harder and BOY do we have a lot of stories to catch up on. Also, most of the rest are FCS, so NO MORE UNPLEASANT SURPRISES. [Like the next one.]

In any case, re: the 'not as contentfull' - HAHAHAHAHAHA STFU DJINN AND I, STFU. The current count stands at :

1. 78 photostories [not including roleplay/gathering/cosplay/travelogue photostories] up, 11 mini events.
2. 35 travelogue photostories
3. 2 'movies'
4. 59 photoshoots, 14 songshoots
5. 5 cosplays - Guilty Gear X, Prince of Tennis, Loveless, Alichino, xxxholic

36580 hits as of today, a generous estimate taking off my own visits.

What's this all about? This is me having put off doing this stat count for a couple of years, and to say that officially, yes, we will be renewing Tangled Web. To be - WHITE. and CLEAN. And NOT JAVA-SCRIPT LOGGED. and SEMI-UPDATED. Also, to acknowledge all the dolls we have, how long they've been with us [we never do the birthday thing, we always forget XD;] and that we have too many dolls to do this individually anyway. WE'RE SCREWED because we have too much stuff to do and plus the internet on the computer with all the Tangled stuff is down, so we can't even do our last update on the old layout. Gah. [HOMEWORK WHAT HOMEWORK FUCKING HISTORY ESSAY THAT THE TEACHER SAYS YOU READ THE QUESTION WRONG SUCKERS NYAH WHAT FUCKING HISTORY ESSAY.]

Also, thanks for actually caring about our dolls, what we do with them for all these years, and if it hasn't been all these years, however long you've been with us. It is constantly and adoringly appreciated, and if you haven’t already, do make yourself known to us sometime so we can thank you properly. XD

In any case, happy 3rd belated birthday, Tangled Web. And Merry Christmas and all other holidays to everyone, I hope you have lots of fun despite the fact that a lot of you seem to be a bit down this holiday season. Despite what it could’ve been, it seems this Christmas may not be so bad for us this year.

Everything is calm today.
Djinn and I are evading work and Azri is back in the house, sleeping on the homework and smelling a bit like flea powder.

I was primarily ecstatic to see Milan [Baros] in the lineup finally for Czech vs Italy, but I soon found out why Czech lost to Ghana. Wow, the match was utterly dismal. The entire first half had Milan attacking on the Italian side of the pitch - alone. I was semi-annoyed that he was fumbling over the ball a bit, but how can anyone expect him to score if he's the only one in that half of the pitch being marked by at least three men?

Needless to say the 2-0 scoreline, after watching the first 30 minutes, wasn't unexpected. I do like the Czech, but lordy, if half of the team is walking for 60 to 70 minutes...

Well, I think at least Milan can play next FIFA. D:

On the other hand, now I sport [haha] a Germany icon! [I was looking to find a good image for Becks and Gaz, but Djinn took the only good pic where Becks isn't bald nor wearing his nancy hair up looking bald...]

I wish we had the chance to watch the Bundesliga because I suspect supporting Werder Bremen is a lot less painful than supporting Liverpool. Liverpool is just wrong now, Houllier is gone and Mikey in Newcastle?! Man U also makes me want to retch, so I think watching German football will be a lot happier. DD:

On the other hand, I hope my common test doesn't turn out as dismal as the Czechs, because that would be a hell lot of dismal.
______________________________________________

Oh, and another unrelated note : Does Ren [as in, our Ren, AR Ren] look even remotely like a DoD, Luts Shiwoo or otherwise than an AR Ren?

Also, PS : Ren was NOT modified. I was all suprised and giggly to see her, but I'm not so sure now.

::fwooshes around from nausea:: oddly today I feel a terrible urge to hurl. This isn't good, because tomorrow I'll have to run 2.4 km, take a math test and confront my english oral and my examiner, Mr Adrian Chan. I bet it was my dad's cooking - of all the kinds of prawns to buy to dump in a lot of ginger and fry, does it have to be fertilized prawns?

I suspect I sound dour in the beginning of every LJ post because I'm constantly listening to alt/emo music. XD;;; which is where I get all my totally awesome entry titles from.

After being inspired by embryophyte's post on Star Wars M&Ms, Djinn and I went out to Find the Force, or Eat It. I'm on the Jedi's side - I don't eat dark chocolate. Djinn reasons that means I must be on the Dark side, because I keep devouring the Wookies and the Jedis. I started to feel a little happier because it makes more sense for me to be on the Dark Side, and Djinn to be on the good side - she eats the dark chocolate M&Ms.

On the other hand, tangled has been updated and probably won't be updated for the next month or so, because Djinn is going to have her exams, and after her exams, it's my exams.


Dollygirl is one of the new photoshoots for today's update. Djinn and I meant to post the mini-Pullip with full explaination a while back, but then we both were too lazy, so so much for that. I'll post it when I do.


Annnd constipated little git of the day. XD This is how he used to dress at home back in Japan, his mother is Caucasian. A picture from the photoshoot Princeling.


Last image, I promise. From the second Japan photostory we just uploaded.

Djinn should be setting up Renren's Pinky Street site after her exams - it's called Avenue P. [Just one off from Q!] All the Pinkies in this picture is involved in elaborate, yuri relationships. Except for Rei Ayanami.

Also, Djinn and I have finally jumped off the deep end. First, Static Shock. Djinn just had to get back to reading comics - as in, $5 a thin booklet monthly-type comics, DC type comics. She started out all Marvelly, and feels kinda bad obsessing over Static Shock and now the ex-Young Justice and the new Teen Titans, but then I remind her "Marvel totally screwed us over dude, like Scott with Emma Frost? What's up with that?" and then she feels all justified and then buys all the Teen Titans off the shelf.

$5 a month may not sound very dangerous, but it is when you suddenly get into it after it's been going on for a year or so. You accumulate all those, and then realise that Young Justice is before that and it went on for about a year or so, and then you accumulate all that and then I realise that I suddenly need to clear out another closet shelf for all the comics that just hopped out of the "Absolute Comics" bag.

( How getting back into comics sucks. )

( How I still love Robins. )

( How I show my love for Robins. )

On the other hand, I found my perfect Richie sweater and I'm going to edit it as soon as I can - probably after my midyears. Djinn and I have somewhat been active in the_gas_station, which is a Static Shock community. We're already chalked down as "the dude who does nice art" [Djinn!] and "the dude who does animated icons" [Me!]. I've done about six icons and Djinn's done two fanarts, both coloured by me because I love doing it and Djinn would never finish it otherwise. XD I think we both haven't posted it on our personal journals because no one would be interested and everyone is probably pretty sick of us all over Static Shock already. XD;

Also, if anyone would actually like, do commission me for art done with Copics. XDD I enjoy doing them, and I'm quite quick with them, and I'm in need of money for the Unoa girls. ::looks at shinigamid:: don't forget! Please don't ask about commissioning any SD clothes or kimonos around now, because there're a lot [in my opinion ^^;;] of commissions I have on my hands right now that I can't do because sewing takes more time and effort. Thanks a lot if you even thought about it though! And thanks for all the people who commissioned me so far, and assured me you don't mind waiting. ♥

If you're wondering about my icon, it's made out of a lovely picture taken by bluestraggler which had me, Bern [my Tezuka], Akiko [my Kikumaru] and Nic [my Sanada] in it. I really liked it so I made an icon out of it, buchou's hand kept getting in the way and so I included pretty Bern inside. XD Thanks for the photo Nat, I hope you don't mind me using it for an icon.

A last doll request before I go - anyone have any pictures of a Souldoll next to a SD? When I say SD, I mean SD sized, but if otherwise, it's okay too. I'd like to see how the sizes match and especially the skin colour. Thanks a lot.

I am home early because I don't take chemistry, and the rest of the day was chemistry. :D they are also, having a test. I feel kind of happily sadistic, but it's all good because I am supposed to be a cult icon in school and I guess that entails nervously hopping out of school when I don't have any class left. I've done this twice, and I have committed no wrong for through Sarah's experience they'd rather you go home than loiter around, but I still feel like a criminal when I hop out of the school behind the sleeping security guard and scurry past the overhead bridge in terror that the netball trainees in the field next to the bridge will see me.

I know I am committing no crime. Admittedly I do feel a lot better about myself when I get home.

On the other hand - tangled has been updated with the most unsecret secret ever!


Yanagi Ren

I was all "Uh oh Djinn, er, she's gonna show up in the article." Aaaand she did. It's so ridiculous. XD;; Djinn planned to not reveal her until June or July, but in a matter of days after the arrival of the Korean EMS box, she was attacking the Ren head with her acrylics, and also in a matter of days I was sewing a prototype sleeveless stretch dress for her, and then later, after her default Monique wig came, Djinn went to poke at me to sew her default. And one night, I caved, and as Djinn slept, I went to kill myself over my first cotton, non-stretch, Victorian lolita dress. It has a ZIP. It has a ZIP IN THE BACK. AAAAaaaa I also made my SECOND loliband ever. XDDD I went through great pains to make sure the sleeves fit snugly on her ANOREXIC AR arms. =___= [as a result, we need to remove her hands whenever taking it off or putting it on.] I really like how it turned out. ::pleased:: I even made sure that the rose pattern was in good, artistic places. XD

Anyway, we love her and we keep taking her out because she's so easy. Pop 'er into the infamous Cow Bag, and tote her around! With the other boys we keep worrying, and we have to tote around the Volks carriers XD;;; Ren gets a sling bag.

I won't post much pics, because Djinn's LJ post is much more comprehensive and formal and I'll just be posting the same pics over and over again. XD;;

So here's a DIFFERENT photo! XD This is before all her default stuff arrived - Sanada's FCS W55 blonde [which we never used on him XD] and Si Ye's old Touya default cadet blue eyes.


I really like this picture from the series I took of her last time.

Other than that, we actually BOUGHT CLOTHES FROM DOMUYA. Yes, scream now. We haven't done so in at least HALF a year. XD;;; Sanada is now in a ruffly shirt and he looks quite good. XDDD It's what he was supposed to have worn at home back in Japan.

Anyway, off to my work, and all. Amusing quote from Zeda-bu:

Zeda says:
Quickly now, before bed: You have a non-Volks girl doll! XD
Static | Robin. aaaa robin. says:
THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END XD
Zeda says:
*nodnod* XDD

I'll spam you all another time.