Doll Meet - The Enchanted Doll Mansion

I haven't had much time of energy for hobby stuff since starting my new job, unfortunately, but recently I met up with some other collectors at a local doll museum. I'd never been before, though it's only about 10 minutes away.

It turns out they had a whole little tea party event! The tea was delicious. Sadly, I didn't get many pictures of the spread before hungry doll owners descended on it. 

The exhibits themselves were pretty neat. I didn't know where to begin. There were so many dolls! Barbies, American Girls, artist sculpts - everywhere you looked, there were dolls. 

The costumes!

The President and our First Lady look quite fancy

BEHOLD THE EXIT SIGN FAIRY

It was nice seeing the other collectors again. I need to make a point to get to BJD events more often. There was talk of a Halloween gathering, so hopefully that'll take place.

Even nicer, of course, was seeing everyone's dolls looking good for the meet. I haven't gotten any pictures of the boys together since Ashe's default eyes came in. I'm such a shitty doll owner. I guess I'll have to work on that in the future!

work in progress

I have no excuse for not posting in so long, except that I'm not very good at keeping any kind of schedule. I was adjusting to a new job, then I was traveling for a bit with family, then I was readjusting to my new job...and I didn't have as much time for the dolls as I would have liked.

Before I left town I got tired of having the resin crew all sitting on top of a shelf boring-like. I mean it worked, as a setup, but I've been wanting to find a more interesting way to display my dolls for a while. I'm insanely jealous of those collectors with the skill and patience to put together unique and creative spaces for their BJDs. I'd like to think I'll get there eventually, but for now I settled for some cheap shelving from Target.

I was a little worried leaving my Lishe standing up there for so long, but so far so good. She hasn't taken a tumble. I think restringing her really helped. She's definitely not a solid poser and probably never will be, but this is better than nothing.

Creepy dolls watch you while you sleep...

Mel, Mo, and Vicky are still on the shelf and will remain there until I can think of anything better. I might end up buying yet another freestanding shelf to put over my desk, but I'm a little uneasy putting so many holes in the walls. Recently my roommate decided to try making mini books for a program she's planning for her library. She made Vicky a composition notebook as practice, then she asked me what I wanted for Mel. I asked her for a Necronomicon. I got a Necronomicon.

I think we'll be okay as long as no one reads from it out loud

My roommate is awesome.

Not much going on in terms of hobby plans right now...I'm still waiting on Ashe's body, which is a bummer. I'm dying to get pictures of him and Mel together. I'm also waiting on an impulse-purchase head which may or may not mean reshelling D. I'll be keeping my Lishe, since I love her as a sculpt, but I'll have to rethink what to do with her. She needs a new faceup anyway. Keeping my fingers crossed for a local meet in the near future, so I can see some cool new dolls!

Happy Homecomings

Have not been able to do much with the dolls these days, sadly. I'd hoped to take them out at some point during my first three-day weekend, but I decided to celebrate by lazing about instead. I do, however, have good news - Ashe's head is back!

Itty bitty freckles! I'm melting.

Ashe is an NS Switch Rusi, purchased through DoA's marketplace. He's my second Switch head, and definitely not my last. I'm so happy with the work sleep_pattern of Eating Dust Aesthetics over at Bird & Lace did. He did a great job of keeping me posted with progress shots, and I felt that he worked very quickly and efficiently. I'll definitely be sending him more work in the future, and I can't recommend him enough.

Ashe is still far from complete. I have a wig for him, but his body hasn't yet shipped to Mint on Card to the best of my knowledge and I still need to order him eyes. I've got a trip coming up, which means penny-pinching, so it's going to be slow progress.

I'm hoping to update the main blog later this week. There's a meet later this month which I'm hoping to make it to, so with luck I'll have more to post here sooner rather than later!

There is life outside my apartment...but I'm just fine inside, thanks

I'd planned on taking Mel out for some pictures this weekend, but...it's summer. In Louisiana. Which means it's hot, muggy, and the air is filled with bloodthirsty insects and the screams of unattended children. So I made do with some lazy indoor shots of Mel and D instead.

Do I look like a fucking French girl?

They both got some "defaults" in recently - Mel's Vings eyes, and D's Leekeworld wig.

I feel like Mel looks a little high here. Not exactly out of character, I guess. 

Once upon a time D had some very nice Dandy Gray (I think?) Mystics. Then I lost them. In my defense, I was moving home from South Korea after a death in the family and was not in the best state. But I figured I was ready to invest in some urethanes again, and I ordered Mel some Vings eyes in N13. I was expecting them to be just a little more green than they actually are, but I still like the color a lot. They're 16mm, and the iris is a little bigger than I'd liked. I didn't order 14mm because I'd read that Vings irises ran small, and I was afraid of gapping. I do wish I'd gone a little smaller. I purchased them through jeeryama on eBay and they were projected to arrive within two months of order. In reality, the wait was closer to 3 months. Jeeryama did respond to messages promptly, and notified me once the eyes shipped as requested, so I can't fault them in any way. I was aware that Vings was getting caught up with a DoA group order gone wrong and the delay wasn't a surprise. While the wait time was longer than expected it was still shorter than the wait for Eyecandies or Mystics. I'm going to try Mako eyes in the next boy, but if I'm unsatisfied with those I might be ordering with Vings again in the future.

My name is D, and I'm difficult to pose!

I joined a Leekeworld GO on DoA for a W124-E in Goldenrod. I can't remember exactly how long the wait was, but it wasn't any longer than expected, so no complaints there. The quality left a little to be desired. I know Leeke wigs are pretty popular, but I had such a difficult time positioning the fringe on this wig so it was neither in D's eyes nor showing the wig cap. You have to style it just so. It's still shedding loose fibers here and there, and in some places it almost looks like D has split ends. I was considering dyeing this wig to get it closer to the color I wanted, but I'm not sure it will survive the washes. I'll have to think it over. I was planning on practicing with an older Leeke wig first, so I'll see how that one holds up. Will post results once that's done, though there's no telling when that will be.

I start a new job on Monday (YAY!) and I'll probably be needing a while to adjust, but hopefully I'll be able to post again in the next couple weeks!

and now for something completely different

In my otaku days I bought up a ton of figs and gashapon, all of which sat around collecting dust until I packed them up and stashed them in my closet at my family's place in Florida. So I was reluctant to start  collecting anything like that again. I lost interest in anime pretty much altogether for several years, and I even stopped buying BJDs. Well, that didn't last long. I started collecting dolls again, then I started watching anime again, and the next thing I knew I was trawling for character goods. Most of it I managed to talk myself out of. But I'd never owned a Nendoroid before, and while I had a hard time justifying the cost for such a little thing eventually I cracked.

I blame Attack on Titan.

I got my first Nendo in about a week ago, but I hadn't had time to unpack it and play with it until the past few days.

So small! Bonus Ayu looking derpy. 

The sight of all those little parties was really intimidating. I tend to misplace anything that isn't big enough to trip over, and I have cats that like to steal and hoard things.

Itty bitty arm...this feels kind of morbid, considering the context

I was surprised at how mobile this little guy was! I knew I'd be able to switch limbs out, but I didn't think I'd be able to move them much otherwise. I wish I was a bit more creative with posing.

One cute suicidal bastard

I managed to drop and lose one of Eren's blades while trying to switch out his face, but I found it quickly enough. Now he looks more like himself.

RAAAAAAAAGE

I have Levi on preorder as well, and once I've got them both I'll have to think of a fun way to display them. In the meantime, tiny rageface Eren is chilling with my SD boys. I don't know that I'll take up collecting Nendos as devotedly as I have BJDs. I couldn't handle the expense! But I'm definitely happy with the purchase.

Of a Saturday Well Spent

First post on a new blog - oh my! In an attempt to encourage myself to "do" more with my pretty pretty dolls, I'll be making an effort to get more involved in my local community and to take more pictures of my resin crew. Attending a meet means allows an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. I packed up Mel (Switch Ryun:R) and Vicky (K-Doll Karon) and joined some fellow collectors at Sucre's Metairie location. As soon as we arrived, I felt a little cheated for being in Baton Rouge...the shop was beautiful! Very clean, very spacious. We grabbed a couple tables and got to snacking. I had a strawberry and almond cake with some French soda, both of which were delicious. And there were macarons! So many macarons. Fun was had by all, and it was well worth the drive out. I love seeing new dolls, and I finally got to take some proper pictures of Mel since he's been back from his faceup. I'm definitely looking forward to the next meet!

Chocolate - chocolate as far as the eye can see!

Mel and Vicky demonstrate their A+ standing skillz

My darling Mel

Vicky

Yummy cake and French soda

Mandy's sundae was absurd

ZAHMBIIIIES

The whole crowd

Ana's lovely Souldoll girl

Did someone say MACARONS?

...oh dear

Me & Mel

Goodies for home!