Gosh to think I nearly missed the one anime event that I wouldn't pass for the world - until this morning I actually thought it was next week x.X So, it's finally Singapore's turn for Anime Festival Asia, and this year it's happening at the happening mall of Suntec City Convention Centre (just where I like it, since it's more convenient for me xD). So armed with $35 and my iPhone, I rode down town to join in the fun (N if things went out of hand I still have my VISA ;] ).

Mami unwrapping her towel like, "Welcome home, Mistress."

...And here's she dressed up for the festival! (Trying to gnore the price tag*)

Love Live gals in their training attire. Honestly I can't believe they actually started this line, because I don't find the outfit any special... Well, Love Live fans R just so lucky to enjoy such variations!

My favourite Miku so far, the mebae version! I have always assumed "mebae" is a form of tribal dance (based on the figure's pose), until a quick Google to reveal it's the name of the illustrator! Mike here's actually a ballerina... Goodness I can't tell!

The legendary Saber, wedding version, at a whooping price of $218. I watched Fate:Zero and although I enjoyed the show, I could not figure out the hype behind Saber. How come nobody is fantasising over Lancer and his love story? I once asked my close friend Hao and he told me it's because he died too early, but seriously? I still cannot accept that flimsy explanation! Oh Lancer...

A Pokemon Booth! The booth tender was very kind and allowed me to take some photos.

The Charizard is spot-on!

Enter: Danny Choo's Dollife section~

Boi ver. oO

Standard Mirai school attire~

Old school hype, what with the anniversary of Sailor Moon, revival of Digimon, and the never ending Dragon Ball mech

I only took this for one reason, can U guess it?

This is a really cool variation of the DB line - featuring the artist's rendering and supposedly a limited edition flown in from Japan for us!

Love such dynamism - makes for awesome figure photography!

Who says centre-parting is old fashion?

Not trying to ruin this masterpiece but from this position it looks like he's trying to scratch his butt

.

.

.

After circling a while I realised I forgot to take an ambience shot. The place was packed, but not as crowded as I expected, so all as good!

Everyone's able to put their hearts at ease with the vigilant patrol unit summoned for this event

We even have Umi and Kotori giving live report, and here I am trying to distract them with my sneaky shots けけけ

When I saw this booth I immediately thought of the fireworks festival in Japan with those overpriced plastic masks, and had to snap it

Yui poster! Ah she's the cutest!

Another never ending anime - Detective Conan

 Finally something acceptable and pleasing to the eye (managed to snap this giant Naruto poster before the walkway was promptly flooded with passers-by)

...Good things just keep flashing by before my eyes. LOOK WHO'S BESIDE ME! And I didn't even have to look too hard! I made it a mission to hunt down all Naruto cosplayers just to snag a photo with them, because there just isn't enough love for them in Singapore!

And I totally ignored the other casts and just asked for a photo with him xD Sakura looked pretty pissed off (or was it just me) but I have no shame, it is do or die. Omg this is definitely the climax of my day at the festival... Then I had to go ahead and ruin the photo with my halfway smile. I NEVER smile that like. I was legit nervous and panicking internally. 

Bonus: He is male, not some girls cross-dressing and ruining my fantasy

Itachi <333

Look who I found as I was exiting the hall! I would be stroked to find a figure of my cosplay

...And another treasure found in this sea of swarming humans! This Sarada is so spot-on and cute I couldn't resist cuddling her close to me! She even noticed and commented about her parents on my phone case xD

Image source: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Sarada_Uchiha 

See the resemblance? 幸せ~!

The cosplay palette wouldn't be complete without some Lelouch goodness

And C.C.! I totally recognised her from past conventions (as marked by her characteristic eye bags) and remembered her name on SGclub forum is Rinya. Not wanting to sound like a stalker, but when I first saw her in Cosfest, she was doing Sheryl Nome with a Ranka Lee, and I was awe-strucked. Looks like there's no rush to sell off your costume just after 1 cosplay!

Hooray, Maki spotted!

A for effort for the skateboard, Killua 

Just when I was wondering where aren't there any Sebastians... Sebby <3

This year there's a lot of Kotoris, and everyone that I have seen are really pretty and on point, like this lovely Kotori here. She was really polite and her pose a satisfying one *thumbs up*

BlackWarGreymon here proved a great sport and gave the crowd a good laugh with his humorous monologue and "Terra force" (RE: garbage bag by his feet)

Heck, he even told off Angewomon when he noticed she was blocking the Female washroom and ordered her to "move away la!"

This is so pleasing to my eye, especially considering I've just ordered her figure~

And yep, she totally couldn't see through the face armour

I made it a point to only take photographs of characters I recognise and like, but her costume was simply too exquisite to miss!

Miku #333 Natsu Tsubaki ver. She was really gave me face and posed specially for me! This is probably my best shot today with that sick background and 1-1 eye (lens) contact

...And this was what happened 9/10 times I tried to beg for a photograph. After they had walked off twice on me and refusal to pose for me (too busy for my measly iPhone, I guess), I had to launch a sneak attack and ended with this half-hearted shot.

It was mostly for memory's sake.

Another amazing cosplay with amazing figures (re: flat tummy), couldn't miss this either.

Awakward Miku, not that it was her fault since this was capture during her mid-bow (re: see those lights on her costume!)

Something you don't always see, young Sasuke in Spiderman and Badman's company

My my, what do we have here? "The Last" squad woohoo

I didn't realise there's a Sky Garden next door and found this Love Live group getting ordered around by a male photographer. Love their costumes <3

Then there was this dude with his eye-catchy flag, also getting ordered around by his photographer. 

Here's the full picture. It was quite hilarious but then he started to complain about being tired and my heart immediately reached out to him.

...Back indoors, guess who I bumped into. My goodness, it's the whole squad from Diabolik Lovers! After my initial repulsion towards this anime, I saw it was available for viewing on my MioTV and decided to give it another chance... Let's just say I'm going to watch Season 2 after I'm done with Hakuoki.

Elsewhere, an epic showdown between apprentice Ichigo and Darth Varder was unfolding under the air-con

Looks like this battle has a winner - little Captain America once again saved the day!

Lucky me! Though this is making me think twice about pre-ordering Lucky Chloe from Kotobukiya, hmmm...

Yui! She's so cute~

Erza Scarlet, looking fierce in her armour

Wow, just...Wow! Miku in Harvest Moon version just blew my mind away. Besides the high I got from knowing it's inspired from the Nendoroid. this beautiful lady with her gorgeous fan and dress just, I had to stop her and captured this moment forever.

Personally, I'm not really a fan of Fate Stay Night but figured I should give this Archer a chance. Damn that intrusive arm!

Another kawaii Kotori. Love how their wigs are so true to the character

What's Ichigo doing getting into fights everywhere he goes? He's even raising his zanpakutou against his good pal Rukia?

In another dimension, all is well and the Captains and Ichigo are taking group pic

Notice Byakuya is dozing off from posing too long lol

This duo is sick! And that Spiderman has got a smokin' figure, just sayin'

This is too impressive to miss. Love Spider Gwen!

Had to shoot this for his reminiscence to Kotobukiya's recently released Kaneki. Can't stop thinking about figurines even among cosplayers TT

Found something interesting as I was trying some tops in the Adidas flagship store. I thought something was wrong with me when I saw the word "naruto."  Like did I love Naruto so much that I was hallucinating it in Adida's changing room?

Turns out, this dude's for real. I guess everyone needs to get a Konoha headband at some point, even athletes xD

Overall, I'm really pleased with this year's anime convention. There were tons of characters among the cosplayers that I recognised and love, and there were some decent Naruto merchandise this year (like the 3D Itachi keychain that I bought). However, it has been some time since I went about taking photographs of cosplayers this eagerly, and I have to say this - I've come to appreciate cosplayers who display a sense of courtesy and humility, who performs their best regardless of the lens in front. Just because I'm not carrying any fancy gear or DSLR does not make me less important than the other おじさんs, though some do gave me that vibe.

Through this experience, I've also come to love figure photography more, because unlike a live character, I can fiddle, adjust, and take as many close-up shots to my heart's content. In another words, I can "order" my figure to do whatever I want, without having to worry about it getting tired or walking off before I even hit the "shoot" button. Better to have people staring at you than ten cameras flashing off around you and hands cutting into my frame!

xoxo

Lately, I've been carried away by life, with new routines, University assignments, and keeping up with nasty thing like obligations. In the midst of chasing after my dream and pursuing my interests, I got lost and forgot the reason why I was doing certain things, like this blog.

Besides sharing and casting a different perspective to figure collecting, the main purpose of this blog is one of an online diary, where I recount my thoughts and process of figure photography as I flitter through life searching for my purpose (hence figuremylife, yea?). Collecting figures has given my life a part-time sort of purpose, and a way for me to escape from the brutal reality of making up a PR Evaluation Plan or brewing up a P.A.C.T. Analysis, both of which just fell short of even being remotely interesting. Scale figures are ultimately pieces of art, sculptures in essence, or what I would refer to as alternative sculptures, seeing they embody an element missing in normal human sculpture - infinite possibility (無限の可能性). When I look at figure, I see a world of prospects, barely explored, and waiting for me. Positive emotions would well up within me and the day instantly appears brighter. 

Figure - My life.

Today's post is one of those that would be my first and last, seeing it shouldn't exist in the first place. You see, I'm not one of those people who strictly adheres to her self-rule (自分ルール re: Rock Lee), meaning if the need arise, I would create exceptions (oh how I love and hate this word) to such unbreakable rules. Here's my self-imposed rule for collecting figures:

I will not, under any circumstances, collect any figure besides scale figures.

A seemingly harmless and accomplishable rule eh?

...So what's she doing with a frigging nendoroid? And dude it's not even a bishounen_

My excuse (it seemed really valid then) was it featured my favourite flower - Lily of the Valley, and my jibun ruuru just faded off into the Indonesia's haze and never to be heard of again. It was conveniently forgotten. (I'll talk about bishounen figures [美少年フィギュア], or the lack of it, in another post. Or else I would never get to the main topic of this post at this rate.)

Now, a month later as I'm writing this post, I cannot say I have no regrets of purchasing her, but the photographs that happened because of her, I would never trade anything for them.

Strictly speaking, this is suppose to be a Built From Scratch series, but I got lazy and did not diligently documuent every stage of building the set-up. So forget #BFS, I'll just show my concepts behind the themes and background, and post the finished product of key props.

To digress, I recently learnt about Search Engine Optimisation and feeling curious what BFS means to the web crawlers, I went to Google it... And got bombarded with a complicated search formulae called Breadth First Search and some other financial company with a similar acronym... Well, but I don't really fancy the label "behind-the-scenes," it's too generic and not uniquely FML, and those who know me, knows I'm not one who conforms to conventions. So BFS it shall be~ Now back to topic...

Oh, this will also be my first venture into post-photo editing beyond the rudimentary adjustments of brightness and saturation. Really, traveling quite a mile for this "exceptional" figure, despite all my grumblings. Heh, passion fuels actions eh?

As usual, here's my concept design - mainly doodles of elements here and there. I'll be doing 2 scenes, and the first one would be called Daytime Winterland and the second one Summer Festival... Okay I made up these names on the spot, like now as I'm typing, just to make it sound more fancy lol.

This took me a week, and it's not even that hard... After doing the Pennisetum rubrum (Purple fountain grass) and the cumulus clouds, I let this mess sit on my desk for days as I was unwilling to sacrifice the cotton buds I use everyday to apply my toner. Lol Idk Y I got so stringy over something like this, but seriously, look at how much were used (sacrificed) just to make it look snowy enough!

Oh and it slipped my mind to introduce this figure, silly me. This nendoroid (Nendoroid is one of the product lines of Good Smile Company, one of Japan's famous toys manufacturing company) is modelled after Hatsune Miku, a 3D character from a voice synthesiser software by Crypton Future Media, Inc.. Her fame is one on par with Uzumaki Naruto... Why Naruto? Well, because people around me who doesn't watch anime knows who's Naruto, and the same logic can be applied to Miku. She's so famous and popular among figure collectors that GSC released 15 (nendoroid and scale figures) just this year, ready either for pre-order or already out in the market! Oh, and the number did not include those that were OOS, like say, this Snow Miku ver.! \*O*/

This is a screenshot taken at GSC's Product Search page of the range of Hatsune Miku related products released/to-be released in 2015/16. Image rights belongs to Good Smile Company, Inc.

Further classified under the Miku nendoroids is a series known as "Snow Miku," launched in line with the annual Wonder Festival (Winter) held in Tokyo. What's so special about this series is that they would open up a competition for people to submit their Miku design for the year, and the NicoNico Live Broadcast community would vote for their favourite design. 2015's theme is 'Plant life in winter,' and out of the infinite plant species to be crowned winner... You see why I had to get this. Coincidences like this don't come everyday. Alright alright, anything else I said from this point is just gonna sound like an excuse, so I shall just...

This was released back in February, but it was only in September that I realised its existence via a Youtube anime haul video. These videos really put the number of figures I own in perspective, and a good way to find out what people are getting around you along with what you're missing out on.

This is an elevation of the "fireworks" that took me quite some time to finish. Firstly, I didn't realise one packet of these gold wires isn't sufficient, and had to go back to get more zzz. Secondly, I was gripped by another bout of redundant reluctance of punching holes in my black styrofoam board, and kept putting off this step. Siao liao.

After overcoming all procrastinations and lame excuses, I finally got down to photographing our adorable Miku-chan. However, for a theme with the word "winter" in it, something's missing eh?

Okay, comparing these two again, there really isn't a significant change, except if you count those white dots on the sky. This was my first edit on Photoshop, so I was reserved with the snow. The idea of the blue tint is suppose to make the flowers glow like a lamp, but guess it didn't work out the way I intended...  为什么酱！

Here's the 'Leaf' version, with an edit I'm really proud of. *Pinches Miku's cheeks for her million dollar smile*

Next we have the night set-up, oh wait, I called it the Summer Festival yea? That's the idea, a scene captured as the festival approaches its pinnacle and the long await fireworks make its, ahem, flashy appearance.

Above is the photograph shot before edit. I do not own any professional camera kit or a sophisticated lighting gear (or even a table lamp for that matter). However, for the high contrast effect, I have to take it in the dark. Thankfully for my Mother's reliable Samsung S3's torchlight, this night shot was made possible.

I felt really silly after I figured that I could have just created a 2D fireworks in Photoshop, like I did here. It was really simple and heaps more authentic than the pathetic "spiders," as one of my best friends described, I created. Oh well.

One of the reasons for my long absence was due to me getting sidetracked on my venture to Instagram, an attempt to broaden this blog's reach and popularise FML's name. That was a badly calculated move. It took me one month to realise a hobby/fan Instagram account requires daily postings and constant fresh contents, neither which I could afford on a long-term basis. As an inactive user of social media, maintaining the account has soon taken quite an emotional toll (there's even a term for it, aptly named internet fatigue) and it not was until this morning that I realised this cannot go on. This would also explain why the above photograph is square, and serves as a good reminder why I'm better off being a content collector/ social media joiner.

Out with the nasty stuffs... Here's Miku enjoying the fireworks with her pet rabbit Yukine (雪音)~

... And an attempt to capture a chasing after friends scene, leaving Yukine behind to fend for itself/ 你就好自为之吧，兔子！

Thanks for staying with me till the end (yes it's the end) and I'm simply contented to be able to share something I love with you. Until the next time, which if everything goes as planned, is D-Figure. Can you guess whose he/she is? きゃあああ～！

xoxo

"At your service, whenever you wish."


Let's be honest for one second - ever got hyped up at the announcement of Maid & Butler Cafes at Anime Conventions, showed up eagerly with piles of cash and hope, ready to conquer the queue and nail a seat, only to take one glance through the windows into the cafe, and be disappointed?

Don't give me that "let's not be shallow, it's all about the experience," we all know that we're going in for the faces, and the food is secondary (although fine cuisine is crucial to the overall experience). Why else would anyone want to take on the absurdly long queue and pay for the overpriced menus, what, to play jenga with the awkward guy playing dress-up? Definitely not me. Yet year after year, I continue to get dispirited by the butlers employed, while the queue doesn't seem to stop growing and the food price continues to soar... Come on! We're paying good money for this experience, the least they can do is to be stricter in their hiring criteria...

Great, I've deviated from the main point of this post again, but seriously, go check out this year's AFA and see for yourself.

So today's star for the second Building From Scratch chapter is none other than the sexy and badass demon butler from Kuroshitsuji, the fabulous Sebastian Michaelis. Naturally, he's one of my four fantasy beau (rest to be revealed in due time), and boy, his debonair and elegance actually transcends reality, in the form of this gorgeous 1/8 scale figure by Megahouse released this April. Luckily for me, I managed to grab the last of him from my favourite online hobby store because a irresponsible buyer did not settle the full payment. How could the person! But lucky me~

The only thing I can say to all the Sebby fans who have not gotten this is, you're going to regret this. Somehow, there has been an influx in Sebastian figures this year (after so long), as though teasing the S fan club and testing our patience before finally declaring, "Here you go, this is the man you've all been salivating over, now take your pick, and pick quickly." While Kotobukiya has a way with lady figures, it's Megahouse's G.E.M. that has won me over with their yummy boys, and their devious depiction of Sebby.

Alright, let's start with the deliverables.

The anime is set in the artful Victorian era (1837 - 1901) in England, so you can expect less of your sliding/louvre windows, and more of those fuddy-duddy arched windows that screams medieval and fairy tale times. Materials wise would also be gearing towards the traditional route, like bricks, masonry, etc.

Jose Elias & Sofia Pereira, (2013). Gothic Windows of The Royal Residence in The Leiria Castle [Online]. Available at: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/gothic-windows-of-the-royal-residence-in-the-leiria-castle-lusoimages.html [Accessed: 18 August 2015].

Nothing boosts confidence and motivation than research, and this oriel happens to fit my agenda. It also helps if you could visualise the end-product before getting started.

With additional reference to some of the anime's episode scenes, I decided to change the quarrels (diamond pane glass) to the checkered muntins to match the show. Trivia: These bars cutting across the windows aren't to beef up security, but to reduce the steep cost of manufacturing huge glass panes as glass is really expensive then.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end with a reference image. This awfully plain-looking plan took me quite a few hours to get it right. Having to decide on the specific dimensions of every single details had me pulling my hair and sighing every so often.

With the numbers in order, I grabbed my fast-thinning wallet and went to replenish my modelling materials. For this set-up, you would need (excluding tools):

• 2 black/white 30 x 45 x 0.5 cm THK corrugated foam boards
• 3 A4 wall texture
• 1 A4 transparent sheet
• Permanent marker
• 2 A4 floor & ceiling design of your choice, preferably something ornate
• 1 A4 fancy colour paper, preferably matches your wall colour
• Some miniature portraits/landscapes & wooden frames (all made from paper)
• Patience

As you can see, I'm a very lazy creator, and instead of putting effort to model something breath-taking & intricate, I invest a good portion of my brain juices to reduce the effort needed that yields equally satisfying results. In this case, the best medium readily available at my disposal is manipulating with paper.

Initially, I wanted to cut out papers for the muntins and paste it on the glass, but debated that it was too much trouble & went down the marker path. Bonus: you can see me taking picture of my half-ass windows in the reflections, just as I suddenly remember to document this.

Here, I have already finished cutting the walls and windows to the outside world. Sadly I have no idea how to create that lancet windows (as drawn in my plan), or at least cut out 2 that are identical. Instead of working with the unknown, I decided not to take the risk & used the handy compass to form these 2 not so bad arches (though still really bad close-up).

On the flip side is where the 3 A4 wall textures and patience comes into play. It is easy to say I want to cover the whole side with these artificial claddings, but another matter to ration & slice the pieces to fit it. The small strips are to cover the 0.5 cm thickness of the cardboard for a consistent surface.

We all know that mansions and huge houses are never quite complete without tons of artworks and paintings that adorned its walls. For our case, there's no need to pay big bucks to auction that masterpiece or source around painting stores, we can leave that tedious portion to the actual mansion owners. For now, just head down to Google Image and find some context portraits & landscapes. I found the photograph of Ciel holding Elizabeth's hands rather cute & heartwarming so I used it, and dug out a painting of the famous Audley End House at Essex, England, with the picturesque landscape designed by 'Capability' Brown.

Finally, another quintessential feature of centuries old buildings - baroque carpets & fancy ceiling carvings. Though in this case both are carpet designs, but no one needs to know that. Just make sure to keep the ceiling design simpler and less imposing than the already elaborate burgundy carpet.

Just to enhance the authentic experience of an English mansion, here is a lame attempt at creating the ceiling cornice that are a must have. Heck, even my living room has those cornices! Over here, I used the A4 fancy paper (that is similar in colour to my wall texture), marked & sliced out in thin strips, rolled them up, & glued them onto the top of the wall and the ceiling. It kinda gives the illusion of uneven ceiling boards, just the way I like it.

... And the tough part is done! Packing everything, I waited for the next morning and headed out to, you guessed it, Bishan Park, & found a scenic spot without any of those bothersome high-rise buildings. As usual, I overslept and barely made it before the sun completely rose out of the window's view, something I failed to realise until after I got there. 

It was 8AM, with just the right intensity of sunlight & sunset feel. Coupled with the rolling greens, I could almost deceive myself that I'm really in England, well almost.

In case you're curious about the brown & black window sashes, it was mostly an experiment to see if the brown could emulate the wood feel (which obviously didn't, but that's okay), an attempt to create a contrast from Sebastian's all black assemble, and because my black marker is running out of ink.

Top left on the wall is Ciel Phantomhive (male), our sexy butler's master, slightly below Ciel is our dear man, and below the portrait is the famous Cherhill White Horse found on the hill of Cherhill Down in Wiltshire, England. Now we know where the pose of the figure came from.

Shoutout to Hao, a dear friend of mine, who have gotten me the amazing Kuroshitsuji Artbook I for my hatachi birthday. It was also where I scanned Sebby's portrait for this setup.

Here's Sebby enticing you to come in & join him...

A closer-up of his sexiness with the beautiful flare above him, captured in a moment of serendipity.

Sebby basking in the sunlight; even he couldn't resist taking a peek out of the window...

Only to have the precious sun rays suddenly blocked out by these energetic cumulus!

I told myself to be patient, as I was hoping to capture a few more shots of him with the natural flare, and sat there waiting for about 15 minutes. It was no use, the clouds just keeps coming & blowing past the sun, in total disregard of me! How could you my fellow clouds-sama T.T

Eventually, I took that as a cue to give up. Guess I had to be satisfied with what I already have!  Taking a giant step back, this is how the set-up looks like. This is as far as my laziness can bring me, fuelled by my love for figure photography.

There you have it, Sebastian Michaelis, at your service. It was fun doing this and the motivation could not have come at a better time, with my University finally starting and all. With this, I shall humbly sign off and disappear into the depths of my computer screen...

xoxo

- Yes, my Lord.

Ever since I've gotten my hands on Hitagi, I've dreamt of creating a setup just for her, instead of generally being lazy & heading outdoors the next day for photo taking. I've seen a multitude of inspiring backdrop fans built just for that single, winning shot, and it always looks so fun & rewarding.

Plus, I've long knew how I wanted her backdrop to look like, so I figure it's time to transform my imagination to reality and get DIY-ish~

As a very relieved graduate of the Landscape Architecture course, I've had with me a ridiculous bag of leftover materials from my modelling days, and what's a better time than now to use those money I've reluctantly handed over to the Art Friend cashier for something that really matters to me (never really enjoyed building models, since I would usually have hardly any time left to build it, let alone enjoy the process).

Seldom is there an anime that can create a character that leaves a long-lasting impression in a short span of 12 episodes, because there'll be people like me who would marathon it in a day and forgot about it (or most of it) the next. This industry is brutal that way.

It's been 3 years since I first watched Bakemonogatari, but a certain female character continues to linger in the back of my mind, despite it lasting only for 12 episodes. Sure enough, I have but forgotten what happened in the show and why I held Senjougahara on such high pedestal even till now. So, I went back to watch it, I even bought the DVD based on the good after taste in my memory. That just confirmed 2 things - I still love it and I love Hitagi even more than ever.

Hence the figure, hence the setup, and hence this post.

Okay where was I again? Man I just can't resist rambling here, I wanted to get those off my chest. So as usual, let me do a quick introduction of the figure. Let's do it this way so it's clearer to read in one goal:

Series: Nisemonogatari "Monogatari" Series
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Product Line: Causal outfit
Scale: 1/8
Material: PVC
Sculptor: M.I.C.
Release Date: Jan. 2014

Below is a tutorial of how I made the setup, hope you'll enjoy~

For those who have watched the anime, you would most likely recognise her trademark sadistic smile & the concept of the figure's design, which was taken from episode 1 of Nisemonogatari, the scene where this figure was based off from. I got really excited because I wanted to recreate that scene, so I went to google a reference snapshot for this project, which is also the first step:

1.

Above image stolen from the net, of poor Araragi under Hitagi's mercy

As the image shows, I would need to make tables, and quite a few of them. I've always sucked at figuring out scales and stuff, so once again I needed a second assistance - a scale reference book.

With the specs in front of me, it's time to convert them to 1:8, the scale our figure is modelled.

 2. After making sense of the various key dimensions, I quickly jotted down the table's dimensions in centimeters. I even managed to figure out how I would go about building it (more below).

 3. From left to right, top to bottom, I've cut out

• 6 x 8 cm rectangles from corrugated cardboard to represent the top desk
• Strips of fancy marble A4 paper measuring 8 x 1.75 cm for its legs
• 6.1 x 1.75 cm paper strips (same material) for support between the 2 hind legs
• 1 x 7 cm & 6 x 7 cm fancy grey A4 paper for the bottom desk 

Most of the work would go to marking & cutting out these pieces, and just doing the above took me a day. Well, at least then things would be accurate, and I've always prefer working in the planned & known.

4. The left part is the completed bottom desk created from gluing three 1 x 7 cm of grey strips on top of the 6 x 7 cm grey rectangle. Next, glue the top desk (the cardboard) on top of the grey part, with the grooved surface facing down.

5. It will look something like the above image, kinda like houses @.@

6. Next are the legs! This is the most tedious step that can easily go wrong, as you're going to roll the strips, and it is bound to lead to inconsistent girths. I've found that applying the glue on one side before rolling will make life easier, but remember to keep the roll 'tight,' or your table's leg will end up looking fat & bulky. I also used the figure's chair as a guide to the diameter of the table leg.

7. After finish rolling, I used watercolour to paint a portion of one end to mimic the rubber stopper at the bottom of the table's leg.

8. The finished product! (Here tried liao, but what to do?)

9. To match the figure's base, I've went to scout for a wooden floor texture online and adjusted the colour as much as I could to its characteristic blue-purple hue, and printed 2 with varying brightness on A3 cartridge papers. The tree branch (drawn & cut out from A4 plain paper) was added as an afterthought to create a focal point & framing effect for the backdrop. I couldn't bear to ruin the blue background so I used a removable tape to stick the tree onto the surface.

10. According to the shading of the wall and floor, the light should could from the center and fades off around the corner (like vignette effect), so I had to do this in the dark, and stole my Mother's S3's torchlight (the only white light I have) to recreate that spotlight effect. To reduce the harshness of the light, I placed a tracing paper over the lens to diffuse the light.

 11. Probably the most gratifying step - place figure at desired position. Ogles at her slim legs*

DONE ( 终于)

Playing with the tables

Playing with the alternate hand that comes with the figure

The greatest disincentive to doing this is probably the way to deal with the setup after you're done. After investing so much time I really don't have the heart to just dump it all... In the meantime, I'll just leave it on my table till I need the space... ...

So what spurred me on despite this and my Mother's unhelpful nagging? I guess it comes down to how much you want to do it & what this means to you. To me, it is to reenact a context that suits the figure & bring out its potential, so that people can appreciate the figure in a different way.

Really, it's because it looks nicer.

Hope this proved helpful to those who wants to make tables. I really do suck at making models, I can't even get the legs to stick up 90 degrees... but it was fun, I had fun ^^

xoxo