How to Wash your Kumya

At some point in its life, your Kumya will need a wash. Maybe something was spilled on it, maybe you bought it used and it came with staining, or perhaps the lace has yellowed. Whatever the reason your Kumya needs a bath, I’m here to guide you through how to machine wash your Kumya!

Before we start off, here's a list of what you'll need!

• Washing machine with a decent load capacity
• Mine is 7kg, - especially rucksack size Kumyas become surprisingly heavy when wet
• Color catchers (I've mostly used Dylon brand ones, but any type will work)
• I've never had issues with bleed from any the Kumyas I've washed, but it never hurts to be careful on the first wash. I'll be using some for this one because of the Usakumya embroidery on the foot, just in case the thread used bleeds. 
• Delicates bags
• In a pinch you can use pillow cases instead, but make sure they're white! You don't want any colour from the pillow cases to transfer to your Kumya
• Enzyme spray (I use Vanish brand)
• Stain remover
• For this article I used the Vanish brand whitening one, as this Usakumya has white fur, but for any other fur colour Kumya, use a non-whitening stain remover!
• Regular washing powder
• The brand I use is not sold outside of my country, so use your favorite one! Just make sure not to use one with a whitening agent in it if your Kumya does not have white fur. 
• A hair dryer
• To avoid rust stains you need to make sure the hands and the loops for fastening the straps are completely dry when you leave the Kumya to dry
• A dryer (optional)
• It's entirely possible to let your Kumya air dry, it will just take a long time. They soak up water like nobodys business

My assistant throughout this article will be my Usakumya Embroidery Usakumya Rucksack, that I recently bought used from Japan.

To take my “before” pictures, I took my rucksack out in the sun, so that any stains would be easily visible. As you can see from the photos, she has some staining on one foot and both hands. In addition, the lace is wrinkled and yellowed.

Oftentimes white lace on a white Usakumya might not come across as as yellowed as it actually is. As you see in this comparison picture, - the lace is quite yellowed (Usakumya on the right)!

I always take the hood of Kumyas off for washing, to ensure a proper wash of both hood and head. Sometimes removing the hood makes you realise just how yellowed/discoloured the body of the Kumya is! The hood is seldom removed for most Kumyas, which protects the fur on the head against fading and from dirt. This rucksack had very little difference between the head and the rest of the body, - she seems to have been well cared for in general. 

I’ve had Kumyas arrive where the straps have staining, but that’s not the case this time. Nevertheless I’m going to wash the straps as well, as this rucksack is quite old and possibly never washed before. 

Before going any further, - check that there's nothing inside your Kumya! Rucksacks have the zipper in the back and pochettes have it in the head, under the hood. 

I treat all the stained/yellowed areas with the enzyme spray, as I feel pre-treating the stains makes a difference in how quick/easy it is to lift them. Make sure you get the spray on all of the lace,- both on the collar and the lace on the hood.

While the enzyme spray is working (check the bottle for how long it should be allowed to work), I find my color catchers and put those in the drum of the machine, fill it up with both washing powder and stain treatment and find my delicates bags. 

I then put the Kumya in a delicates bag of its own, and each of the straps in a bag of their own. 

And then we're ready to go! Put the Kumya and the straps in the machine and find the most delicate program your washing machine has. Mine has one named "Hand Wash", which I prefer to use. I opt for 30 degrees Celcius for the water temperature, and a spin cycle of 800 RPM. The highest RPM on my machine is 1400, but 800 is more gentle and removes enough water. I've heard others say that the spin cycle can crack the eyes of the Kumya, which is why I use a lower spin cycle, but I've never had that happen. You can opt to not use the spin cycle at all, but be advised that your Kumya will be very heavy when you take it out of the wash.

Just for fun, - a gif of the washing process. And another one.

It's a good idea to set a timer for when the machine will be done, as you don't want the Kumya to be left wet in the machine for too long, as this can cause rust stains from the magnets in the hands. 

If you do several washes, you should be able to avoid stains so long as you're quick between each wash and keep using stain remover. 

When the machine is done, take everything out of the machine to see how it's doing! As my straps looked ok originally, I hung them to dry immedeately. Make sure you extend them fully, so that they dry more quickly.

After hanging up the straps, I took a look at the colour catchers I'd put in the drum. They were both free of any colour, so for consecutive washes I did not use colour catchers.

Then I took my Usakumya out of the delicates bag, and took a look at the areas that had stains, and the yellowed lace. 

I forgot to put enzyme spray on the lace in the first wash (whoops) and had visitors arrive just before the second wash ended, so these pictures are taken after the third wash. 

As you can see, the stains on one hand is gone, more or less gone on the second hand, but they're still there on the foot. Although not as many or as visible as they were. 

And here is a a comparison pic of the lace before washing, and after the third wash.

The lace is still not 100% white, but it has seen a huge improvement! 

At this stage, you repeat the washing process until you're happy with the outcome, or you don't see improvement anymore. 

A few things to consider between each wash:

• The stuffing inside the Kumya can shift during wash, so if needed, massage things back into place between each wash. If the hand magnets start to "pop out" against the fabric of the hand, massage those back into place as well.
• For stubborn stains, I've had success with using generous amounts of enzyme spray and massaging the area of the stain.
  
  You could also try using 40 degrees Celcius water, instead of 30C. With clothing items, I've seen that there's a big difference in how efficient stain removers are at 40C vs 30C.
  
  Be advised that a higher temperature has more potential to cause bleeding, so even if you had no bleed at 30C, I'd put in some colour catchers if you opt to try 40C.
  
  A higher temperature will also put more strain on the fabric.
  
  I've never used 40C myself, because 30C has always done the trick, but from my experiece with washing other types of stuffed animals and clothing, I can't imagine 40C causing any major damage.
  
  That said, I am not liable if you try 40C and it turns out badly. 40C is a last resort solution if you have very bad stains and don't care if the Kumya becomes damaged in the process.
• Remember that in general, washing does put a strain on your Kumya, so if you're no longer seeing improvement, there's no use in continuing. If you start seeing obivous signs of wear when washing, you should also stop washing.
  Your Kumya is most certainly clean, even if it might have some residual stains, or not 100% bright white lace. 
• It's also important to keep in mind that stains are often more visible when the item is wet, so a stain that is slightly visible when wet will often be more or less invisible when the item is dry.
• There's also a chance that this type of tag:will fade or get destroyed from washing, but the regular red/pink/gold BTSSB logo tag will not be affected.
• For yellowing specifically, I've had success with soaking an all white Usakumya in a Vanish White solution for ~20 minutes. It did have a pink nose and pink hands and feet, which did not seem to loose colour from the soak, but I can't guarantee that that won't happen with other Kumyas.
  Before and after picture of that Usakumya:

When you're happy with the outcome from washing your Kumya, it's time to move on to drying! 

At this stage I took my Usakumya out of it's delicates bag, but if you're very concerned about the eyes potentially cracking, keep it in the delicates bag.

I put my Usakumya in the dryer with a few large and clean towels. They'll soak up some of the water in the Kumya, protect it from getting smacked around too hard, and keep it's magnets from getting stuck to the dryer drum. 

It's also good to open the zipper on your Kumya before you put it in the dryer, so air can circulate that way as well. 

Keep the hood off during the drying process, so both the hood and the head will dry more quickly. 

A gif from the drying process. Round and round it goes!

You most probably can safely dry your Kumya 100% in your dryer, so long as you use a program that doesn't generate too much heat, but I like to take my Kumya out before it's 100% dry. This is both to make sure that it doesn't get too hot and because I like to stretch/manipulate the wet lace into "position" before it completely dries. I do this on both the collar and the hood and IMO your Kumya always looks cuter when the lace isn't wrinkled. This is also easier than trying to iron or steam the lace once the Kumya is dry.

Before stretching the lace, though, once you've taken your Kumya out of the dryer, you need to use your blow dryer to fully dry the hands of your Kumya, as well as the fabric loops where the metal fittings for the straps are. This is imperative to avoid rust stains! You don't want to do all that work, only to end up with rust stains once your Kumya is dry. 

If you feel that your Kumyas fur is a little felted after the trip in the dryer, you can re-fluff it with your hands by "ruffling" it. You can also rub/ruffle it while using the blow dryer on the fur, to re-fluff it more. 

When you're done drying the hands and fabric loops, find a warm and well ventilated space to let your Kumya air dry until it is 100% dry. I usually lay mine at the end of a drying rack, so the hood can hang down. The Kumya will dry much slower if it's laying on it's hood or you've put the hood on. 

Make sure the fabric loop for the metal fastening in the neck is "free". If it's below the lace or between the neck and the drying rack, it will get moist again and can get stained. 

Keep the zipper open as well, - the stomach is usually the last part to fully dry. 

If you do not have a dryer, you should blow dry the hands and fabric loops and stretch the lace immediately after you've taken your Kumya out of the washer. 

After you've done that, your options for drying your Kumya are:

• Hang your Kumya to dry in the sun! I've never done this with larger ones, mainly because washing them have been all day projects, so there's no sun left when I'm done washing. But I have done it with a couple of rucksack mini-minis and it worked well. 
• Hang or lay your Kumya to dry inside. I'd advise to find a warm and well ventilated place, as air drying Kumyas inside takes quite a bit of time. Especially for larger ones.  

If everything but the insides of your Kumyas stomach is dry after leaving it to air dry for 12-24 hours, you can very carefully use your blow dryer inside the Kumyas stomach. 

It becomes very warm, very quickly, so you need to only do this for a few seconds at the time, and have small breaks in between each bout with the blow dryer.

I myself have made a small burn mark on the fabric lining of the stomach of a Kumya doing this (I think what happens is a small part of the stuffing partially melting), so BE CAREFUL.

In the end I did 7 rounds in the washing machine with my Usakumya. That more or less removed all the stains and whitened the the lace significantly. There does not seem to have been any damage done during the process either. Before and after pictures:

I hope this article was useful, and good luck with washing your own Kumyas! 

~ Green Tea

A Review of Girlism No. 13

This review is a bit late, but late is better than never!

Girlism is a Chinese lolita fashion magazine. Today we will be looking at issue 13, which was released in 2021.

Special Kumyas and You - Limited Kumyas and Clothing for Your Kumya Companion

Is the regular Usakumya with white fur and pink ribbons, or the Kuma Kumya with light brown fur and dark brown ribbons, not enough for you? Do you long for a Kumya in a different colour, - perhaps to perfectly match that one coord? Or would you love for your Kumya to twin with you?
Fret not, BTSSB has got you covered!

The Usakumya pochette is usually in stock with the fur colours white, pink and black, while Kuma Kumya seldom has a regular release that's not their signature Milk Tea colour. So regular releases will most often have these fur colours, and a few different options for ribbon colour/design. 
So what do you do if you'd like a Kumya in a colour or with detailing different from these standard ones? You go hunting for the special Kumyas. 

Special Kumyas, - Kumyas that in some way differ more or less significantly from the regular design, are very often a limited release. This may mean that they'll only be available in one specific physical shop or at a tea party or other event, which means you'll need a shopping service to help secure you one. Although even with a shopping service, you're not guaranteed one, as limited normally means limited in number, as well as a one-off design. 

Sometimes there are also Kumyas that are limited to the online shop, which are usually easier to buy yourself. 

The best way to keep on top of new limited Kumya releases is to keep an eye on the News and Shop Information sections on Babys' website, official twitter and social media accounts for each individual store. 

There have been special versions of rucksacks, big rucksacks and the rucksack mini mini, but by far the most common variant to get the special treatment is the pochette. The pochettes also have the most elaborate special versions. The special versions are very often made to commemorate something, and will therefore usually have a special embroidery or print on one foot. 

Although a special version is not always extremely elaborate, - they range from just being a special colour, to wearing a special outfit, and all the way to very elaborate and completely different from the regular ones. 

Pictured: left, middle, right.

The Usakumya in the middle of the above picture retailed for 28380 yen, which is the most expensive special pochette I've seen so far. The special pochettes are more expensive at retail than the regular ones, and they usually range from around 12000 yen to 16000 yen. A regular pochette costs, as of 18th of July 2022, 10450 yen (tax included). 

So, you've found a Kumya in a colour that matches your coord, but wouldn't it be extra cute if the Kumya could wear the same dress as you, to perfectly twin with you? Outside of the pochettes that come with a special outfit (that are sadly not always entirely removable), Baby also regularly release clothing sets for pochette sized Kumyas! So far this year they've released a Kumya's Floating Sky Tea Party set consisting of Kumya sized JSK and matching ear bows, a Hawase Embroidery Kumya dress set consisting of dress, bloomers and matching ear bows and a Kumya sized Sugar Bouquet JSK. Both the Kumya's Floating Tea Party set and the Sugar Bouquet JSK comes in all the colours that the human sized clothing does. 

In previous years baby has also released darling little cape sets, as well as this adorable costume set that will make your Kumya look like a lion!

In recent years clothing has ranged from 5000 yen to 10000 yen and you may ask yourself if it's really worth it, and of course it is. 

~ Green Tea

Kumya Sizes and You - Finding the Perfect Companion

After getting a Usakumya Rucksack Mini (40-ish cm), when I thought I bought a Usakumya Rucksack (50-ish cm), I decided that I wanted to try and collect all the different sizes of Usakumya bags. While working on this endeavour, I realised how often sellers would list the Rucksack Minis as "Rucksack", and the Rucksacks as "big(/large) Rucksack" (70-ish cm). Pair that with the fact that there are 2 sizes of purses, both of which are named “mini purse”, and the confusion is complete.

I’ve now managed to collect all sizes of Usakumya full body bags (there are also a few face/head bags) and I wanted to share the knowledge I’ve gained in the process! Knowing what differentiates all the different types of Kumya and how they look will help you make sure the second hand listing you’re looking at actually has the one you want. Also, it will help you know if a listing is wildly overpriced or not, making it much easier to bring home the Kumya of your dreams.

 

So first of all, how many different sizes are there? When I ended up with a Rucksack Mini, rather than a Rucksack, I went looking and came across a very handy chart compiled by Azuki, in her post So You Want to Buy a Kumya. 

I also checked Lolibrary and added one size that is Kuma Kumya only, so this chart now should have more or less all the different sizes of full body Usakumya/Kuma Kumya bags:

Type	Approx length (cm)	Approx retail price inc tax (JPY)
Little Rucksack (Usakumya only)	13	3600
Mini Purse (Usakumya only)	16	2500
Mini Mini/Bag Mini-Mini (Kuma Kumya only)	20	4000 - 4300
Rucksack Mini-Mini	21	4400 - 5500
Smart Phone Pouch	22	6500
Purse/Mini Purse	25 - 27	7800
Pochette	33	10500 - 26200
Rucksack Mini	40 - 42	9500 - 14100
Rucksack	50 - 56	15500 - 16300
Big Rucksack	70	30300 - 36300

The retail price paired with the approximate size can be a good starting point to make sure you’re getting the correct size, and not overpaying. However, be aware that some of these sizes have only been released once, many years ago. The most notable one being the Usakumya Rucksack Mini, which was (as far as I know) only released once, in 2007. For some sizes, you will find that Usakumya is much more common than Kuma Kumya, and vice versa.

The most common mislabeling of sizes that I see, is people selling a Rucksack and calling it a “Big (or Large) Rucksack”. This in part may stem from the fact that before the Big Rucksack was released in 2017, the Rucksack would often be labelled “large” by the Western lolita community (see these two Livejournal posts). I also have a pet theory that it might in part stem from the fact that the Big Rucksack is ridiculously huge and that people who don’t own one or haven't seen one in person have difficulty understanding just how big it actually is.

This picture compares the Big Rucksack (at the back), Rucksack (second from the back), Rucksack Mini (third from the back), Pochette (left front) and Rucksack Mini-Mini (right front).

And this picture has the Big Rucksack on the left, and the Rucksack on the right:

As you can see, the Big Rucksack is substantially bigger than the Rucksack!

So! Outside of the size, what differentiates all these Kumya bags? Below is a list of the defining characteristics of all of them:

• Little Usakumya Rucksack
• Can't actually be used as a bag; the zipper is just embroidery
• Posable arms and legs
• "Smooth fur"
• Usakumya-chan Mini Purse
• Coin purse opening at the back
• "Smooth" fur
• Kuma Kumya Bag Mini-Mini/Kuma Kumya Mini
• 1 strap that fastens in 2 points on the head
• Rucksack Mini-Mini
• 2 detachable rucksack straps that fasten at the neck and hips
• Smart Phone Pouch
• Vinyl window at the back
• 1 detachable purse chain that fastens in 2 points on the head
• Purse/Mini Purse
• Coin purse opening in the back of the head
• 1 detachable purse chain that fastens in 2 points on coin purse metal frame
• Pochette
• Zipper in the head, underneath the hood
• Rucksack Mini
• 2 detachable rucksack straps that fasten either at the neck and hips, or in 2 points on top of the head
• Rucksack
• Usakumya version has stuffed ears
• For Kuma Kumya, you'll have to look for the absence of the hallmarks of the other sizes
• Big Rucksack
• Has a BTSSB heart logo charm on the neck bow

For more details on the characteristics of these bags, consult this handy table!

A couple of notes for the table:

• * I don’t own any of these, hence the “probably”/”probably not”, based on lolibrary and the seemingly similar Rucksack Mini-Mini.
• ** Pochettes are sometimes released with special outfits, or a pochette outfit is released on its own. I’ll cover these more extensively in another article

The three largest rucksack sizes are the ones that are most often confused for each other, so in the table I’ve marked the main characteristic of each one in italics. These three points are the ones that have helped me most of all in my journey to collect all sizes of full body Usakumya bags, so they’re worth repeating on their own:

• Rucksack Mini has 5 points where the straps can fasten, as opposed to 2 for the Rucksack and Big Rucksack
• Rucksack Usakumya version has stuffed ears.
• Kuma Kumya has the same ears all over, so you’ll have to check for the absence of the hallmarks of the Rucksack Mini and Big Rucksack if Kuma Kumya Rucksack is what you’re looking for
• Big Rucksack has a BTSSB heart logo charm on the neckbow
• Because of the size of the Big Rucksacks, the charm can sometimes be hidden by their chin or their neck bow
• The Big Kuma Kumya Rucksack has also (as far as I know) only been released twice. A Sapporo limited white one, and a regular release that only came with the classic brown ribbon. So if anyone is claiming to have a Big Kuma Kumya Rucksack, but the ribbon is a different type, they’ve switched the ribbon or they’re confused about what size they actually have.

And there you have it! The main differences between all the Kumya full body bags! Although before we go, I’d like to remind you that Usakumya took a while to find their final form. There are a few versions out there that differ from the “modern” version that is most common. There is the Usakumya ancestor, that was released in 2001 and 2002, of which there are patterns you can use to make your own (GLB 3 and GLB Extra 1)!

And in 2005, Baby released the Usakumya Rucksack and the Boy Usakumya Backpack, which are much closer to how Usakumya looks today. Although It would still take a couple of more years for Usakumya to get the “modern look”; that happened with the release of Embroidery Usakumya Rucksack in 2007. Older versions of the “modern” Usakumya will also differ in that they had embroidered noses for a while, and shorter fur than the more recent ones do.

Newer Usakumya, with a felt nose, on the left. Older Usakumya, with a embroidered nose, on the right.

Newer Usakumya with longer fur on the left. Older Usakumya with shorter fur on the right.

Kuma Kumya did not appear until 2013, but when they did, they already had the look we all know and love. In later years, Usakumya and Kuma Kumya have had a few more members added to the Kumya family, namely Neko Kumya and Panda Kumya. And in 2020, Alice and the Pirates got their own mascot, Captain Chris.

Thank you for reading, and please look forward to my next article, where I’ll go more in depth on the different special Kumya editions, Kumya clothing and the “Sweet Mates”: Sophie, Judy and Lillian (and Michelle).

~Green Tea