If you have been hanging out on my blog from when I started, you'll definitely notice I am fond of animation, or anime. I believe it has become pretty obvious on my Elf Mage toothpick doll series, as I have mentioned that I got some inspiration designs from my favorite characters on my favorite animes. And speaking of favorite animes, I do have quite a list. When I was in 5th grade, )back when I was really obsessed with watching Japanese animes) I tried listing all of the animes I have watched, making sure my favorites are on the top of my list. Believe it or not I have filled an A4 sized piece of paper. Until now I still can't quite understand why I did that, but I think it's quite amazing that I managed to watch all those. My obsession to anime continued on even when I reached high school. Though I might have toned down my addiction a little bit. Actually my freshman years were q little hectic since I needed to adjust to new faces and new schedules, and somehow my friend who was as obsessed as I am when it comes to anime moved to an art school to pursue her dream. I was bummed having no one to talk to, especially because that friend liked the same animes as I do (to the point where we would actually call each other the names of our favorite characters and would check who had the most number of collectibles). I became the silent anime fangirl. Until the anime One Piece came out and the whole world suddenly became anime fanatics. I might be exaggerating it a little bit but that's how I felt that time. I felt like the feeling you get when you found something you left on the attic and accidentally rummaged it one day, and all your memories just came shaking you like an old friend. The classmates I didn't usually get along with nor talk to on a regular basis suddenly became a friend. They would often visit me on my desk and we would talk about the episode from the night before, or would request some sketches of their favorite characters (I used to be a school artist). And the most requested was, of course, the main character, Monkey D' Luffy. He was the popular one, and a classmate even placed his photo on her ID card, and when our security guard would ask for her ID and get surprised with Luffy's photo, she would proudly say Luffy is her boyfriend. Anyway, I decided to create a toothpick doll for Luffy for this reason. It brings me back to my freshman year, and not because I was a fan of One Piece. To be honest I have only watched a few chapters. My freshman year became colorful when One Piece came out. I am actually the timid type, I'm not the type to start a conversation nor am I good at making friends. And when One Piece came out, it made it easier to talk to my classmates. It became our common ground, and friendships blossomed. You might say it's hella dramatic, and as much as I think it is, I am telling the truth. I thought at first that Monkey D' Luffy was easy to make since he was only wearing a simple muscle shirt top and denim shorts and walks around in slippers, I was wrong. What challenged me was his signature straw hat. Dang! I was already so close to finishing, but Luffy is not Luffy if he's not wearing his signature straw hat. I just couldn't leave that detail behind. So I have struggled one night trying to decide on how to create that straw hat. Then early morning, I still couldn't figure out a way on how to make it. Until I tried the macrame friendship band, and it worked! I think it came out better than I expected, the edges of the macrame band added the right amount of detail you see on actual straw hats, and those lines of macrame knots show exactly the details you see on actual straw hats. Then I just used pen to put that scar on his face to make it complete. What do you think?