6th Month, talking about breasts

It's dawned on me a while ago that Felice Breasts bug me a little. The reason for this is that they don't sag. Breasts are supposed to move about a bit, changing from when a women is lying down or has her breasts pressed up against something and so on.

It's possible to remedy this by putting in an implant. A glass ball, like a marble is a candidate. This would give them some pendulous movement, but of course wouldn't be that nice to touch. A soft wobbly but strong alternative is possible by purchasing soft silicone that you would cast yourself. I've thought about engaging in such an exercise, but the expense of time, money and effort is not one I'm prepared to engage in just now.


What I Have been doing is playing with my doll. Part of which involves kneading her breasts. I think they have gotten softer, but don't slosh about. Though softer is nice, I think it's a symptom of wear and tear. Evidence of which is a subtle wear pattern seen between her breasts.

Repair of Joint

A while ago I thought, about the possibility of joint repair on Felice. You could cut open a joint at a strategic point and place wire. I decided though that I didn't want to cut into Felice unnecessarily and so I didn't put too much thought into that idea.



I have of late been sleeping with Felice. It occurred to me that doing so could potentially result in some damage at pointier joint areas. This damage struck me as an opportunity to repair a joint that had broken.



Some 'Chicken Wire' next to the part of 'bone' that had been removed a while ago.


There is a nice space where wire can be slot into. I thought of using an epoxy putty but decided against it as I figured it might impair future repair of the joint.



The result is a slightly wobbly joint, because wire isn't held in place firmly. The joint can however hold a pose once more.

Broken Hip

Well current still engaging in 'Ruin', so shan't be posting pictures just yet.

I've had Felice for 6 months now. Wow. Just before the 6 month mark her right hip joint has broken.


Well on to another important note, it appears that the artetokio website is undergoing a suspension.




image from http://www.artetokio.com/



image from http://www.artetokio.com/english/index.html


Late for me to post this I know, but such is life as they say. It appears that at the time that this post was written that they are no longer taking orders. :(

In light of the news I considered getting another doll, but decided it's best I reserve my money.


This news is important to this site in this regard. I created this site as a means to help English speakers an avenue to get some information on these dolls though my own experience with one. Now that the sales of these dolls are suspended, it seems that a purpose for this site has been lost.

4th month

Well, since I'm currently engaging in 'ruin' of Felice, I haven't been playing with her quite as much as I had been before. Still I have been playing with her some.

4 months and 3 weeks after I got Felice, her knee bones are broken.

Sewn Close

So the wound that reopened on Felice foot. It turns out using silicon sealent for glass doesnt work quite as well as the silicone from the repair kit from Arte Tokio. So I repaired it slowly with the proper silicone again.


I then, sat on it by accident; it was under a blanket... So it reopened again. This time I decided to try to save some time and sew it close instead of trying to balance weights. It seems to work well.

While undergoing Ruin

While I was working on a modification for Felice; and old wound opened up.



Quite to my surprise. I guess repairs can sometimes still come undone. I decided to see how well this other silicone I bought at a hardware store would fair in repair.




Of course utilizing 'advanced' repair methods.

This happening bout 3 month and 10 days after having Felice.

So it happened

I thought it might; was even counting on it at one point, and in retrospect it seems a little foolish to think it wouldn't, but then, perhaps not as quickly as it did.

After about 3 months and 2 days; Felice's back has separated.

That means, the 'bone' that connected her thorax to her hips is now severed, meaning it now the silicone that holds them together.



Left: normal waist.
Right: waist when made to bear weight of hips and leg.


It's actually holding up better than I had thought. Now this gives support back to that idea I had a while ago of removing hip bones...

3rd month - No eye brows

Yes, Felice is looking like she's had Chemotherapy; cept she still has eye brows. I'm afraid it's getting close to that time where I run out of much to post about her.


Onward to Ruin!

Remaining Brow Fading

Well not quite 3 months of having Felice and it looks like the remaining eyebrow is well on it's way out.




image from
http://www.artetokio.com/arte060ppM.html


Regarding the website; as I figured would happen, the new 'muscular' body is available on the Japanese version of the website. I think it's a body with a more defined musculature, as noted by the more defined abs for example; but I suspect that the same material is used, ie it's just as hard as the usual bodies. But I'm only speculating on that second point. It'll be just a short while before it appears on the English version me thinks.

Broken Back

The broken back joint allowed to droop on it's on in the forward direction


and here allowed to droop in the backward

Recently Felice's back broke. Which is a bit of a surprise to me, one because I didn't perceive a change in the back joint's mobility, and 2, I expected a another joint to give way first, like the hips, or shoulders. Thus comes to an end my plans to take outdoor photos with her.

That came about 2 months and 2 weeks after I got her, which is I guess a little longer than I thought before a 'major' joint break (not including the neck). The break behaves as I would like it to have thankfully, in the sense that it maintains it's... 'distance' but of course gone is the resistance it had before. What I feared was that when the joint broke, it could end up hanging loose and droopy, which thankfully has not happened.


Video showing movement at the broken back joint in side to side


Video showing shaking at broken back joint front to back



The day after that, I found a break at the sole of her foot.



Curious I probed it to explore it further, and of course, broke it more. It did show me what the bone inside looked like though, it kinda resembles one of those hangers with a wire skeleton and a plastic coat. So I'd recommend fixing a joint break as quickly as you find it, as opposed to breaking it open further to explore. (hopefully reading this site will get the answers you want without having to explore)



Unlike the other breaks I've had to fix, I couldn't adjust the joint so the silicone closed the break on it's own, so I devised a series of 'clamps'; and put the joint together in 2 parts.

First the distal part of the tear;


... then the proximal part.


All we are all better again

I do realise that the repairs I do certainly can be better, especially when viewed up close, but on the whole I'm pretty happy with the repair work I do.




aaand... shortly after that, Felice's left eye brow has faded away completely. With that an idea that I've had for a while played differently upon my mind. But then more on that later, if I do end up implementing it.

An eye brow

Well, nipples and lips are one thing, and so is the pink under the eyes; I don't mind much at all that the colour on the body is fading. But now!


After I did this...


This happened.

Eeep. Considering how 'well' my last 'paint' job went, I'm not looking forward to the prospect of painting her eyebrow. On the plus side; 1) it's on a part of her face I usually have covered by hair anyway, and 2) it's gives me a good excuse to make a proper effort of trying to paint her.

This happened before I've had Felice for 2 months (of daily play).

Happy New Year all.

New products, but not to America?

Ah it's the post Christmas period. Merry Christmas all and a happy New Year. A couple of noteworthy mentions of Arte Tokio. Firstly I got a message from someone wanting to order from them. This person had been told that Arte Tokio was not at the time accepting orders from America and would be contacted when they are. I found this somewhat odd, and decided to do a tiny bit of investigating. I concluded that it could be because of the time of year. Arte Tokio has stated on their website that they are on holiday from "New Years holiday is from December 27th to January 3rd.". (from http://www.artetokio.com/english/index.html) Though that's possibly the reason why an order couldn't be placed, it's not a concrete explanation as I received the message on the 21st of Dec, which is before their holiday time.

Another reason that occurred to me this might be is that they might be putting off accepting orders as part of negotiations with a reseller. There is something on their site that I had not noticed before:

"
Accepting application for overseas sales companies.
Arte Tokio is now accepting application for corporations currently involved in overseas sales. While negotiations with interested companies are now underway for Europe, Russia, America, China and other offers will be declined, the opportunity for sales in Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries is still open. Corporations interested in the latter countries are requested to contact us, along with an explanation of their company overview, by email.
"
on http://www.artetokio.com/english/aboutus.html


I'm generally leaning towards the notion that they are a small Nipon-centric company which is probably very busy currently, and probably doesn't want to take on business that it can't meet just yet, particularly from a client base that isn't their core.


Now on to other nice shinies. Well Arte Tokio has expanded their inventory, and this time it's stuff I would have particularly wanted, namely a long camisole, a different coloured wig and glasses (yes for the doll, not for me!).






image and screen capture from
http://www.artetokio.com/english/order03.html


And of particular note also, is this.


image from
http://www.artetokio.com/felice_an2.html

at the time this was written, you can see this doll only on the Japanese version of the site. Thinking about it, though I am happy with the custom Felice An I have now, and currently profess that of the body choices available, I'd choose the 'normal' Arte 060, however if this version of Felice were available when I was ordering, I probably would have gotten her instead. Guess that's the nature of commerce, keep making more stuff you want to get later.


Now on to a little nit picking. Firstly, I thought of getting glasses for Felice because I though she might look cute in them. Though there are glasses on the site now, I probably wouldn't be getting a pair, as I'd prefer them in a different style. I do realise that you can get doll accessories from elsewhere, but well, I didn't want to be shopping around and maybe gamble that the products wouldn't fit quite right. I'm not buying anything right now, so this is a hypothetical 'if I bought right now' speech.

Secondly, when I got Felice, my intention had been to have her with black hair, something I won't be doing for a while I think. But the site, at the time this was written is lacking in black wigs; though I am otherwise impressed by the range posted, and would probably have gotten a brown one. Probably the 'Gothic Twin tail Brown'.


image from
http://www.artetokio.com/english/order03.html


Yeaap, the more I look at the new Adult Felice An, the more I'm convinced I would have gotten her, considering that if I could have I would have gotten Tamaki. Since Adult Felice An is not a character licensed to Arte Tokio by someone else, I imagine it will be a short while before she's available on the English version of the site.

Fading paint

Today we'll do a bit of a retrospect. At the time this article is written, the paint on inside of Felice's left elbow has just about faded away all together. The thicker more robust paint on her right inside elbow remains largely intact


as noted on this image, that's about a month and 2 weeks.


Some paint remained a week ago, but noticeable fading had occurred by then


so that's noticeable paint fading by a month and a week after getting Felice, (with daily play).

At that same time, some face make up and lip paint can be observed to have faded

more evident on close up.

Nipples are of course a dodgy repaint by myself, they having faded away a while ago, and covered by an earlier post.

Ribbon Weave

illustrations by Hyung Tae Kim
image from http://www.ashtonwhitney.com/category/rants/

Inspired by a weave pattern I saw in a Hyung Tae Kim illustration, I played with the idea of a neck weave of ribbon that could help stiffen Felice's otherwise sloppy neck.




This is how I began.


With wire modification removed, it helped a little...


... but not a whoooole lot...


neck 'bone'


neck 'bone' modified. Just twirled a bit of wire on with pliers.


And a much more stable neck, stable enough to play with her.




Playing with the ribbon more had me come to a simpler version.


That works just as well.


As an appended note, the wig doesn't quite sit on the head as well as it used to. Noted a month and 2 weeks after I got her. It's possible they don't fare so well after they get wet, or maybe it's normal for it to become slack over time and usage.


Saw something like this on a smaller doll. Seeing what this might do to hair shape.

Dirty Cleaned

The astute amongst you would have noticed that Felice's clothes got stained during the last photo shoot.






I did have a concern that the clothes might not stand up to washing so well.


After a gentle wash and scrub with detergent


let then dry overnight under the sun (yeah there is sun where I am this time of year)


and voila


good as new. The colour does not run.