[Namonaki Workshop] Discussion

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They're all wonderful! Do you know if they're still doing customs? I know they had a listing on their Etsy but then just recently all the Etsy listings were taken down from the shop.

I can't wait till I have some photos to contribute to this thread instead of just walls of text lol!

 

I’m not sure, I know they had to take some time out because of a personal thing. I got two years ago, then when the customs opened again I literally sold some other dolls to get the other two done. I’d been looking for another sculptor but hadn’t got anywhere. I enjoyed working with them, it was a very good process, photos all the way along & discussion, which was better than I read some other places (limit on revisions etc). I hope they do reopen some day, as they’re really undervalued I think. I’m glad I got all the ones I’d originally wanted.

And thanks! I don’t get to show these guys as often as I’d like, because they don’t fit most people’s tastes. I have 27 dolls but these four are clear favourites!

 

I haven't quite made it to 27 yet, but that's mostly because I'm waiting on Dollshe, Supiadoll, and Granado. Right now, in my house, I'm at 11 - almost 12, I think I may be at about 26 when everyone comes in. . possibly 27. . but most of the current ones are fashion Iplehouse and Dollshe ones.

I personally love more realistic looking dolls (I blame finding Iplehouse early on in my Doll journey), so I expect my Mikkel 2.0 will quickly become a favorite of mine. Just hoping the other dolls can work well with his realism. At least my Juah is actually supposed to be a doll, so that should be okay.

If they did start making new doll sculpts ever, who would you absolutely love to see? Personally, I'd like to see some lady sculpts - Dove Cameron for one would be wonderful in doll form and Lily Cole also, and for the fellows, I'd like to see Bowie, Gaspard Ulliel, and Johnathan Rhys Meyers. . . . among others.

 

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I'm kinda the opposite with the female/male ratios. . though I think it'll be more balanced out a bit once I have the new ones. In the current lineup of 11 there are only two males. I love looking at the handsome male dolls, but finding clothes for them is not my favorite. Female dolls tend to be more fun for me to dress. . . even when they're in guy clothes half the time. I'm determined to make Mikkel's character (Dr. Walther Madsen - the surname started as a joke since he was always Mads in my head) some really nice clothes though, so hopefully that will make things more interesting. I am hoping the body I have in mail quarantine right now will end up being exactly what I was hoping. Likely I will have to do a little mod on the neck. . If I need to, I may make a little shelf like the old version of the Dollstown 18 body had so that the head fits on the neck and the neck still looks a bit bigger than a 10.5ish cm neck would. I will be annoyed if I make a bunch of tailored neo-victorian-gothic-whatever clothes and then he ends up demanding a different body afterwards.
I still have to actually properly sit down and start writing his story. . which is technically Wendy's story (the other reason I mainly get girls is that most of my stories have a female main character). Dr. Madsen is a dollmaker and alchemist who falls in love with a girl. . but she dies. . . so he brings her back as a sort of reanimated doll. . . ish. . . clockwork. . . construct. There are hints of inspiration from Frankenstein and an episode of Fringe and whatnot in there of course. . . and of course he made another creation first which was not quite as lovely and may cause issues. (definitely will cause issues for my wallet since he's supposed to be a D. Lace Ex Machina Male >__> ,)

 

@TatterPunk - Have you seen the "Penny Dreadful" series? Your description of Dr. Madsen's "earlier creation" makes me think of their take on the Frankenstein mythos (in a good way, of course! - can't have too many versions of that concept! The way Penny Dreadful does it is quite creepy).

@Spuggey - What great custom faces! One thing I like about them is that they definitely resemble the referenced real people but also (at least to me) look like independent characters. Congratulations on being able to have them made!

 

I thnk I watched maybe one episode about a million years ago. . I really should go back and actually watch it though. I just keep forgetting that it's on my list of stuff I want to see lol. I also need to actually READ Frankenstein one of these days. Too many things to do! I think today's project (after work) is going to be compiling costume history research and narrowing down my inspiration time window. Their story isn't going to take place in a very specific time period, but the fashions will need to have at least some idea of what they're doing and the subtle differences in menswear are important! Gotta have nice things for Dr. Madsen when his head gets here!

 

@TatterPunk - To be honest, Penny Dreadful got too weird for me. I watched a few episodes, and appreciate the style but it is a very dark show! If you do decide to read Frankenstein, be prepared for a lot of angst . I've read it, and listened to an audiobook recently and boy, Victor and the Monster both whine so much haha. But it is still a classic and brings up a lot of interesting things to think about.

I completely get it about narrowing down the historical inspiration period - I'm having the same problem with several projects! No need to be slavishly accurate, but fashion is usually closed linked to how a particular society functions, so why not take advantage of it? Good luck with choosing a time period!

 

The whinieness doesn't particularly surprise me considering. That seems to be a staple in monster stuff. Apparently there's a YA novel which is a retelling of it called The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. . . which looks interesting. I love me some YA novels though.

I definitely didn't get any research done yesterday. I was too tired after work. . . however I'm off today, so I'll be working on that and maybe doing some designing for both Dr. Madsen and Wendy. I'm thinking likely 1870'sish. . . which brings a bit more fun scandal to the fact that this doctor fell in love with a ballerina 0__0 . I wish I still had my old costume history books from college though >__<. At least there's the internet!

My Mikkel 2.0 head is likely hopping on a ship right now to make the long voyage across the ocean. I really need to stop refreshing the tracking page, since I'll be doing that for a month or two if I keep it up.

Oh, also, @LupusDarkmoon , you were wondering if Mikkel was smaller than Pacle and the like I think in the other thread? It looks as though they're about the same size from the one photo on Namonaki's old website. Here is the photo . . . now to continue waiting. I'm being patient. . . really. . . no, really I am. . . why is everyone looking at me like they don't believe me?

 

Sorry to double post. @Spuggey which 18M body is your one head on? Is it the Mystic or Arsene, or one of the earlier ones?

 

Mystic body. I did have to modify the neck though, it was sanded down. The head did not fit properly on the body as is, but the body was one I had spare so I sanded it & dyed it. Looks pretty good now, though!

 

Thank you! If you are able and it isn't too much trouble, I would love to see the actual mod as well as the shoulders and head without a shirt or wig?

 

Might be able to do a photo in the next few days as his new outfit is coming & he’ll be getting undressed anyway. I don’t generally undress my dolls but you’re in luck as I have new clothes coming for him! Will try to get a picture in the next day or two.

 

That would be totally awesome!
And I just got some crazy good news! My Mikkel 2.0 head has made it to the states! Apparently he somehow sweet-talked the Russian postal service into letting him board a plane. . likely he managed to get in first class, too, considering. Now he's just waiting to go through customs and then he'll be on his way to my mail quarantine room (siiigh for 7 days). This is good since his potential body is here and sitting headless on my dresser.
His eyes won't be here till later in the month likely, since I just ordered them last week. . . but there's yet a lot of work to do to get him to be his proper self. So much sewing and finding of shoes and wig making is to be done!!

 

Ha ha! Unfortunate he had to come from Russia since Namonaki are US based in the first place. All my heads have shipped from them in the us, but I’m U.K. so it doesn’t help me one bit!

 

Yeah, I found that a little amusing really. He traveled all the way to Russia just so he could come back to the states. . I'm just glad I was able to find him up for sale since I was a little late to the party in deciding I needed a Mads Mikkelesen looking doll. Thankfully the stars alligned though! It'll still be a couple weeks before I have him in my hands. He has to get here and then go through seven days of mail quarantine. . . but that's WAY sooner than I was expecting. I AM NOT PREPARED!! I need to make a couple patterns for his potential body and then make some pants and a shirt at the very least. Maybe a waistcoat too. Those are always nice.
Edit:
By a couple weeks, it seems I meant one week. I get him out of mail quarantine on Friday! From what I can tell so far, the body I got for him will only need minor modifications. Likely a little neck shortening and then adding in some shoulder donuts to make his shoulders just a centimeter or so more broad. Oh and dying to match (not looking forward to that part). That's going by what my Uriel head looks like on it anyway. I'll know for sure what all I have to do on Friday. He only spent two weeks in transit, which is rather impressive considering! Time to start working on pants patterns after work. The only ones I have that fit on that body happen to be about two centimeters too short >__<.

 

I know, I know, another double post, but this time it's important!
HE IS HERE!!!
Apologies for the absolutely terrible phone photo, but it's early and there is no light.
He Arrives!! by Tatterpunk, on Flickr

Currently he's sitting on a beautifully mismatched Dollzone B70-004 body, which works much better than I was expecting sizewise. I managed to find my first choice though . . . . a Dollstown 18 boy body . . on the marketplace, so that will be coming to me hopefully soon!
There will be better photos once I start actually working on things for him. I've got to make him a wig first, then once his proper body gets here I can do the faceup thing. The sculpt is SO lovely. I can't even. Even if it weren't a Mads likeness I'd probably be totally enamoured with the sculpt because it's SO well done!

@LupusDarkmoon , I'll be adding to the Mikkel Comparisons thread once I have the other two bodies too. The body I currently have him on wouldn't require much modding it looks like, just possibly a little neck shortening and sanding (the head fits on pretty well as is, but if you shorten the neck it gets a little wider - closer to 11cm, so he'd need some work then. The shoulders might benefit from donuts to make them a smidge wider too, but fitwise and proportion wise it seems work well right out of the gate. I'd say it's not quite ideal when it comes to realism match. . . but it definitely is an option.