I can show you the world,
Shining shimmering, plushy,
Tell me, Pika, now when did you last
finish a project?~ (8)
A whole new plushhhhhh~
A cute mini I never made,
But when I’m way down here,
It’s crystal clear,
that now I’m in a plushie world with you~
At long last, my Princess Jasmine plush has been completed! I call her Jasmini, for reasons you will see later in the blog. Though one reason is that she doesn’t have a mouth, and therefore she is speechless. Heh? HEH?!!!!??! 😀 (Click on “speechless” to get the joke, and enjoy a lovely song)
I used the same head, arms, and body shape as Ariel. Jasmine was a bit more of a challenge to make than Ariel, due to having those…what are they called? Oh, feet.
She also needed a LOT more hair. Sadly to say that this final result doesn’t have the “volume” I was hoping for. Perhaps I should rub the lamp, and wish for a new way to make her hair thick and luxurious?
And yes, I am aware that I used the same skin tone for both characters. I consider these prototypes, hence they are not available in the shop. These two are good friends; they even take selfies together! Further research shows that these two often appear together, outside of their respective movies.
If I recall correctly, Jasmine was my first Disney princess. For my second Hallowe’en, at age 5, I dressed up as her. Mother Raichu even bought a dollar store hair extension to make my hair look super long. I wore the costume the following year to a Hallowe’en party, and kids asked “woah! Pika, is this really your hair?!”
That’s when I decided to grow my hair very long, “like a princess.” Sadly, having thick, naturally curly hair meant the Raichus would frequently chop it down once it got too long and tangled to manage. Years later, I would go to a whole new world; it gave me a new fantastic point of view. With no one to tell me no [you can’t have long hair,] or where to go [to get hair cut,] or say we’re only dreaming [of having long hair.] Okay, I’m done with that song.
On June 27, I finally saw the live action Aladdin! Naomi Scott was a good choice for Jasmine. The only thing I would change, was to make her hair look more cobra-like. If you look at animated Jasmine, her hair is in the silhouette of a cobra.
Here is a picture of me with Jasmini, wearing the Jasmine-themed romper I bought from Hot Topic. I’ve been excited to see the live action movie, since hearing that an old friend went to the same high school as Mena Massoud. Woo, Ontario represent! Also, Wash from Firefly, plays Iago the parrot? Huh. Guess we really couldn’t take the sky from him. Though technically, didn’t the sky take the Wash from us? Oops, Serenity spoiler.
[/tangent]
Anyway, when we went to see the new movie, I introduced Jasmini to bubble tea. She likes the papaya smoothie. For some reason, I think real Jasmine would have preferred mango.
Hatter….. (-_-) 
Jasmini had the best seat in the house: in my hat! She enjoyed every second of the movie, and sang along whenever Jasmine was on screen. Well okay, she hummed along, due to not having a mouth. During the end of A Whole New World, the Mad Hatter leaned toward me. Jasmini booped his head.
Perhaps with another blog post, I will give a full review of the movie. I should re-watch the animated Aladdin at some point. I remember watching Return of Jafar, and I remember this song from the third installment. But oddly enough, I don’t remember the original “classic” that everyone raves about. Hopefully I will be able to rewatch the animated movie some time soon.
As a kid, I also liked Jasmine, because she looked the most like me. Growing up in Scarborough, Ontario during the late 90’s meant I was mostly surrounded by, well…. people who looked more like Ariel. And I never knew how to explain my heritage to people, since my parents were never clear on it, either. Now that I think about it, the best description of my heritage is similar to Jasmine’s: it’s an amalgamation of cities and cultures. Jasmine’s city of Agrabah is a made up city, that draws from Middle Eastern and Indian cultures. I was born here in Canada, my parents were born in another country, and our heritage is from another country. If that makes sense. Sometimes I recognize foods, words, and mannerisms in other cultures, that my parents taught me growing up. They aren’t the same, but they are similar. Jasmine’s outfit in the animated movie is different from what a Middle Eastern or Indian princess would wear during that time period, but it is inspired off outfits that real Harem women would have worn. And her hair was designed to imitate the towers of the Taj Mahal, which confused me about the cobra silhouette earlier. Point is, Jasmine is a lot of things. And so am I.
Also like Jasmine, I have felt pressure to do things a certain way because “it’s tradition.” Jasmine was supposed to marry a prince, because she was a princess and it was tradition for her to continue the royal bloodline. But she chose Aladdin/Prince Ali, not only for what he could give her materially, but because he helped her achieve the life of freedom she always longed for. For my family, it is against tradition to move out before getting married, and it was unheard of to fall in love with someone of a different culture. But then I met the Mad Hatter, and he helped encourage me to pursue my dreams. That ultimately gave me the courage to move out and pursue my own independence. Now I’m looking forward to my final year of college, and hope that one day I can create movies that inspire people, just like how Jasmine inspired me. All it took was a little going against the norm.
Who was your favourite Disney princess? Have you seen the new Aladdin movie? Comment below!
Pika, so happy~
We also watched a kimono dressing race. It was interesting to watch how they tied the kimono, compared to the way I tied mine. Sheena’s belt is tied in a big bow, with long trailing ends. To tie my belt, I used a tutorial for tying basics, and worked out my own method to look closer to the official artwork. I want to post the full method in a seperate blog, about the costume.
Val's Crafts 