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As much as I like Rement's offerings, I get sick of their constant chocolate, cake and dessert sets. I especially like Rement appliances, animals and Western cuisine. The Candy Shop appeals to me because it contains animals and non-cake dessert. ( Read more... )

I found a video, along with a transcription, that gives advice on how to use one's body to stabilize one's camera so that one won't have a whole lotta shakin' goin' on when one takes photos.

All my 1:6ers, LHFers and non-, as of today. That's about 60 dollses! I didn't realize that I had that many.

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Today I finally did something constructive with dolls besides purchase them. In order to articulate my Girls of Many Lands doll #3, I mounted her bust on a Jakks Pacific Juku Couture body, which, being 9", was just the right size. As a result, my GOML, now named Isabeau, is articulated at wrists, ankles, knees, waist and neck, a great improvement from her earlier statuesque state. Her outfit obscures most of her articulation, but you can see her striking a pose below. Previous adventures in articulating GOMLs are here, and here..

All I know about Isabeau is that she is a member of the Colonials, the oldest vampire clan in New England. She is probably one of those people who died young, but acts much older than her death age because she has had years in which to mature. She strikes me as less of a girl and more of a small woman.
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Just a few photos from doll club. I took pictures of my new Rement pets, a hedgehog and a turtle, in the hands of Anneka and Will respectively, and the animals are in perfect scale for pets. I also snapped a picture of one of Maria's Kish Rileys, which would make a great younger character for LHF if it were more jointed and possessed of less exaggerated lip paint. Helen Kish's distinctive sculpting style can be seen in the Rileys as well as in my American Girl Girls of Many Lands dolls, Qingting and Maggie.( Read more... )

I'm very far behind the curve with this news, but Sideshow has continued its The Dead series with more characters -- no more women, of course! :( -- including a shambling Punk with a mohawk and sticky fingers. I really like him as a character base. Needs more color, chains and pointy ends, though. If I got him, I would decorate his outfit with safety pins and add some pink to his hair.

EDIT: I just bought him with the last of my Amazon credit, meaning that he only cost about $50.00. I can't wait to improve him! Watch this space!

One of Rement's latest sets has a Hina Matsuri theme, which is to say that it celebrates the Japanese March 3 Girls' Day. During this celebration, elaborate little hina ningyo, or dolls, are displayed representing an Emperor, Empress and court attendants from the Heian Period. Rement's set duplicates the hina ningyo, their platforms, accessories and settings in 1:6 scale. Hooray! I'm always looking for dolls for my dolls.

In which Will meets his muse.

In which Anneka and Velvette investigate a compulsive jogger.

In which Anneka disputes with her muse.

A lot goes on behind the scenes of LHF that most readers don't know about. For example, Justine's head popped off one too many times recently, cracking her Sculpey hair that I labored so long over. Exasperated with the fragility of the Sculpey, I plunked down nearly $20.00 for a size 4 Victorianish updo wig [style = Martha]. Result: I'm poorer, but Justine won't break her hair any more.

Today I also got in the mail appropriate clothes for Waverley. As a 15cm Elfdoll tiny, she is one of my smallest dolls and also one of the most difficult to clothe. She was in a Bratz Boyz' shirt and a pair of Kelly shorts, but those looked silly and impractical. I didn't want to get her a dress either, since Waverley is more butch than that. I finally coughed up $23.00 for a little red-and-black-striped hooded sweatshirt and matching pants. So cute and perfectly in character too.

The upshot of all this is that I blow lots of money on even minor characters to make them conform to my vision of how they should be.( Read more... )

Ebru is a Sunset Edition Houda Mixi Doll by YNU Group. As a doll company, YNU Group's goal with the Mixis is to recreate, in the dolls' sculpts and skin tones, a realistic blending of two or more ethnicities. Regular editions of the 4 dolls in the series have straight, unjointed limbs and diverse outfits, but Sunset editions have jointed elbows and outfits of sundresses and sandals. Normally either edition runs $60.00 per doll, but they can be found for less on Amazon.com, where I got mine.

I recently picked up Sunset Edition Houda for under $30.00 including shipping. She comes packaged in a sturdy keepsake box lined with a bright blue and green map of the continents, not shown because I quickly deboxed her. Secured by ribbon ties, she is in collector-friendly shape, although her handbag is attached to the box with plastic.

Once freed from her box, Houda makes quite the impression. Her body is molded in warm, honey-colored tones, with light, silky, rooted red hair. Her simple, yet welcoming, facial screening depicts a friendly face with blue eyes and pink lips. Her headsculpt features an oval-shaped face with a tapering chin, full lips and a prominent aquiline nose.

As mentioned, Houda, like the rest of the Sunset Edition Mixis, has elbow joints that swivel and allow about 90 degrees of bend. She is also articulated at the neck, shoulders, thighs and knees [these last with click-stop joints]. Overall, the Mixis body sculpt contains a modest bosom, a thicker waist than the average fashion doll and a defined rear end, as well as shapely, muscular legs and slightly arched feet. Mixis don't fit into fashion doll clothes unless those clothes are stretchy.

As for Houda's outfit, she wears a green sundress prined with blue flowers. Darts make it fitted in the back, and the whole garment is lined, as is her matching blue handbag. Her wedge sandals [espadrilles?], being made of white and blue leather, coordinate with her dress.

Houda is definitely a doll for older kids [above 7] and/or collectors. She and the rest of the Mixis are great choices for doll dorks who like their dolls' faces to have character and their goods to have quality.

Following this review are pictures of my Sunset Edition Houda, renamed Ebru. I have to say that normally I'd be swapping Ebru's head onto a more articulated body, but she just looks so endearing and soignee as is that I can't bring myself to give her a new body. I've decided that she has chronic lower back pain, which keeps her from sitting down and bending her knees a lot. Maybe she has plantar fasciitis too.

Ebru is standing in front of a netsuke shelf that I am working on, trying to make into a piece of a set.( Read more... )

Took a few pictures in Ann Laurie's lightbox at doll club today.  ( Read more... )

Maggie, Anneka and Will. Will is wearing an A-line dress that Andrea made for CGs with a reversed Jet pleather top as a corset. That pig he's holding is from Andrea too. Thanks, an42!  ( Read more... )

Short film, Alma, by Rodrigo Blaas, makes you wonder what your dolls are doing when you're not looking. Are they trying to escape?? If Alma the character were translated exactly into plastic, she'd make a really cute doll.

As part of the 1982 program Faerie Tale Theater, Mick Jagger [yes, that Mick Jagger] starred in an episode entitled The Nightingale, in which he donned fingernail extensions, a fake ponytail, heavy eyeshadow and general yellowface in order to play "the emperor of all Cathay." Ever since I heard of its existence at least 20 years ago, I've been wanting to see this ep just because the conjunction of Mick Jagger + Faerie Tale Theater seems incongruously silly. After 10 minutes of viewing, I can report that Mick Jagger as the emperor is indeed incongruously silly, and the whole setting comes across as a load of exoticized, racist, pseudo-Chinese, stereotypical shit. My curiosity of over 20 years has been satisfied, and I'm disappointed.

Junebug came to my parents' house in Essex, VT with me this past weekend. ( Read more... )

In which Will confides in Anneka.

J: "Oh wow! It's snowing!" ( Read more... )

She likes clowning around. She makes me smile! I am continually impressed by the expressiveness and posing opportunities I can get out of her, even though she is not very articulated.

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