Caramelaw CaramelPOPS Custom - Kitty Twins Nyanko-sensei & Yamamaya

CaramelPops Kitty Twins Yamamaya and Nyanko-sensei by Caramelaw.

Some time back, I did a doll exchange with my talented friend Caramelaw - a candyland Blythe creator and motion graphics illustrator/artist (World of Caramelaw). I had a Meimei OOAK custom (No. 56 Almond) which Caramelaw absolutely loved. (It's the pouty face, I swear.) So we did a doll exchange: Almond for a pair of anime-inspired CaramelPOPS Kitty Twins, which Hubby commissioned for me.

They are dressed in clothes by Ladybird House (brown dress with black cats) and Ellie Moe+Little Hoos (white and orange dress with prawns); and both wear custom hats by Poppy Tree Lane (Sheree Forcier). They were given gold-yellow freckles across the bridge of their noses, and painted with motifs from each anime series. They each sport a pair of classic CaramelPOPS eye chips and 3 pairs of eye chips hand-painted by my favourite eye chip customiser War Faery. They have their original scalp and hair, which suited their general colour scheme and individual personalities, but I did crop their hair after receiving them. (Much to my Hubby's displeasure....)

Yamamaya (ヤママヤー) is inspired and so-named after a cat character from Azumanga Daioh (あずまんが大王), a comedy anime series that aired in 2002. (Interestingly, the mangaka Azuma Kiyohiko is also the creator of Yotsuba&!.) Her base doll is the Takara Neo Blythe Simply Delight. She sports notorious Azumanga Daioh motifs: the iconic 「あ!」, Yamamaya, Kamineko, the odd cat-like Chiyo-chichi (ちよ父), and the penguin suit that Chiyo-chan wore during the school cultural festival in episode 16.

Nyanko-sensei (ニャンコ先生) is inspired and so-named after the notorious tortoiseshell maneki neko Nyanko-sensei/Madara character from Natsume Yuujinchou (夏目友人). She sports the anime character's favourite foods, as depicted in the series: watermelon, taiyaki, ebi-fry, dango, yaki-ika (grilled squid), and an onigiri.

The whole creation process was really exciting, especially since we hung out at least once a week and discussed ideas on what would go onto the girls. Caramelaw also updated me with pictures every step of the way.

Caramelaw told me she was really excited about creating these girls because they were somewhat different from her usual, and she felt challenged to develop her art and her (already unique) style. Hubby was also very involved in the process, and shared my anticipation and excitement. These 2 girls represented a somewhat collaborative process, though Caramelaw carried the lion's share of the artistic process and ideas. She knew I preferred a muted, more natural colour scheme (as compared to candy colours) and natural-looking eye chips, so we discussed ways to incorporate those into her art style. And this was the result. I was really happy to get these girls.

Oh, and she told me that she had convo requests about whether those girls were for sale, and that she had to regretfully inform interested people that these girls were already spoken for.

Yes. They are MINE. Not for sale. Never. This is their forever-home and here they stay.