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Description
I've been really busy lately and have been mostly been doing commissions, so I've hard hardly anything to upload here for a long, long time.
Anyway, after my trip to Japan in May I decided I needed to design Osorezan Miku. I also decided I wanted to use the Snow Miku Nendoroid template to build her design off of because it seemed like fun. So get ready for a massive description/explanation for her design:
Osorezan Miku:
She is based off of the sacred Buddhist site, Osorezan, located in the Shimokita Peninsula of Northern Honshu. Osorezan is a barren, steaming caldera surrounded by thick forests. It's very quiet, very colorless, and very eerie. Definitely one of my favorite places on the planet. (All of the pictures linked in this description I took myself when I was there in May.)

Osorezan is considered to be the entrance to a sort of Buddhist Hell, specifically for the spirits of dead children. Jizo statues are said to be protectors of children. The statues (Like this one:www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… are scattered around the caldera, their red scarves and the pinwheels stuck in the ground around them are pretty much the only colors you'll find in Osorezan aside from gray. (Pinwheels in Osorezan: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… Jizo also often have white scarves tied around their heads that have the Heart Sutra written on them. (People also tie these scarves to surrounding tree branches as well) So I tied a couple around Miku's head and pigtails.
Another thing you'll see tied to statues and branches are flip flops and straw sandals (Like this: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… These are offered to the spirits of the dead children, who are said to embark on a very long journey to the after-life. I gave Miku an extra pair of sandals tied to her obi for that reason.
Her obi has a slight greenish tint to allude to the moss you'll occasionally see growing on some of the older Jizo statues.

Lastly, you'll notice her yukata has little hand-prints all over it. These are based on the back of this statue: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… This statue sat in front of the sulfurous, completely still, devoid of life lake in Osorezan. On the back of the statue there are hundreds of child-sized hand-prints carved into it: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi…

There are so many more little details I wanted to incorporate into her design, like the thousands of piles of small rocks that litter Osorezan: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… The crows that are one of the only sounds you'll hear, the thousands of coins that people throw around the steaming vents in the ground: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi…
There was so much that I couldn't really fit into her design without it getting too busy.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a Miku song about Osorezan. The lyrics are actually a poem from the manga Shaman King. It's a very pretty song. I listened to it in Osorezan while sitting by the lake.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kExVm0…

Description
I've been really busy lately and have been mostly been doing commissions, so I've hard hardly anything to upload here for a long, long time.
Anyway, after my trip to Japan in May I decided I needed to design Osorezan Miku. I also decided I wanted to use the Snow Miku Nendoroid template to build her design off of because it seemed like fun. So get ready for a massive description/explanation for her design:
Osorezan Miku:
She is based off of the sacred Buddhist site, Osorezan, located in the Shimokita Peninsula of Northern Honshu. Osorezan is a barren, steaming caldera surrounded by thick forests. It's very quiet, very colorless, and very eerie. Definitely one of my favorite places on the planet. (All of the pictures linked in this description I took myself when I was there in May.)

Osorezan is considered to be the entrance to a sort of Buddhist Hell, specifically for the spirits of dead children. Jizo statues are said to be protectors of children. The statues (Like this one:www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… are scattered around the caldera, their red scarves and the pinwheels stuck in the ground around them are pretty much the only colors you'll find in Osorezan aside from gray. (Pinwheels in Osorezan: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… Jizo also often have white scarves tied around their heads that have the Heart Sutra written on them. (People also tie these scarves to surrounding tree branches as well) So I tied a couple around Miku's head and pigtails.
Another thing you'll see tied to statues and branches are flip flops and straw sandals (Like this: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… These are offered to the spirits of the dead children, who are said to embark on a very long journey to the after-life. I gave Miku an extra pair of sandals tied to her obi for that reason.
Her obi has a slight greenish tint to allude to the moss you'll occasionally see growing on some of the older Jizo statues.

Lastly, you'll notice her yukata has little hand-prints all over it. These are based on the back of this statue: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… This statue sat in front of the sulfurous, completely still, devoid of life lake in Osorezan. On the back of the statue there are hundreds of child-sized hand-prints carved into it: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi…

There are so many more little details I wanted to incorporate into her design, like the thousands of piles of small rocks that litter Osorezan: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… The crows that are one of the only sounds you'll hear, the thousands of coins that people throw around the steaming vents in the ground: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi…
There was so much that I couldn't really fit into her design without it getting too busy.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a Miku song about Osorezan. The lyrics are actually a poem from the manga Shaman King. It's a very pretty song. I listened to it in Osorezan while sitting by the lake.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kExVm0…