Happy New Year!

The best of health, much happiness, lots of love and prosperity to all!

Merry Christmas!

Ever After High Cerise Hood is Finally Available for Pre-Order! Yaaaaay!

An EverAfter High Blondie Lockes and Cerise Hood review on YouTube!

I just love Cerise Hood's look.

Here's the link!

New Arrival - Ever After High

I  was in two minds about getting any of the Ever After High dolls, but eventually caved in, after seeing 'in real life' photos and finding out that there was a 2-doll pack with a boy in a cool outfit! (I think there are never enough boy dolls.)   I found them on Amazon.com.  

I didn't like the colours of the hair and face paint of some of the dolls but decided on  Ashlynn Ella & Hunter Huntsman and Briar Beauty.  They were saved in my shopping cart for several weeks before I finally clicked on the 'Checkout' button.  I got them today.

I love their sweet faces and their packaging.  I think that the book effect is really cool.  I will definitely save them and make them part of a permanent display.

Two things bothered me, however:

 1. The weird angle at which Ashlynn's right knee was placed before her foot was secured.

2. How dangerously close Hunter came to having his head squished.  The plastic close to his head was squeezed in and even after I pushed it back out, there's a permanent crease in the plastic.  The shipping box does not appear to have been crushed, so I don't know how this could have happened.

I have found that there might be a Cerise Hood in my future - she  looks really tempting.

Here are links to reviews of the dolls:

Toy Box Philosopher
  Ashlynn and Hunter
  Apple White

Confessions of a Doll Collector's Daughter
  Apple White
  Madeline Hatter

Never Grow up:
  Madeline Hatter
  Raven Queen
  Briar Beauty and Apple White
  Ashlynn and Hunter

Voice Thing - Ashlynn and Hunter

Nuu's Cusps - Apple White

Retrograde Works - Madeline Hatter and Raven Queen

Shadowbinders - Raven Queen

Dolls Within Pictures - Briar Beauty

It's A Doll World After All:
  Raven Queen
  Madeline Hatter

Video Review of Raven, Madeline, Apple and Briar

Fashion Puppets!

Glamorous Fashion Puppets: FH Por Fause Haten Summer 2014

Lorifina

I first saw the Lorifina doll, by Hasbro, in 2011, while viewing this YouTube video .  After that, I searched for any reference to her all over the internet and was disappointed when I found out that she was a discontinued doll.

I continued to search for photos of her and wished and wanted.  On one of my searches early in 2012, I came across a remark that someone had made that a lot of the dolls and accessories were showing up in Texas and that they were seen at Goodwill stores and on ebay.

I took a chance and searched Amazon, not really expecting to see her there, but got the shock of my life when I found her listed by two marketplace sellers, for under US$60.00 each!  I immediately ordered the light skin tone (ivory) doll.  When she arrived, I found her  to be so gorgeous and so sturdily built,  that I decided to order the tan (bronze) one from the other seller.  I wanted, at least one, with a black wig, unfortunately they both came with blonde wigs.

I received quite a few accessories with the dolls.  They both wore the same top and shorts and blonde wig.  They both came with a top, a black fuzzy wrap and a pair of silver jeans (with some lovely detail), red shoes and metallic boots.

 

Check out the detail.  The button actually works!

I've been able to add these to my collection, from sellers on ioffer and ebay:

 

 

Doll Sewing Book - The First Maid Costume -DollfieDream-

Hobby Link Japan offered this book for pre-order in February this year.

I placed my order and waited patiently for advice of shipment, which came on the 2nd of April.  Tracking indicated that it left Tokyo on Thursday 4th April, and arrived in country, passed through customs and was being held at our national mail centre on Thursday 11th April.

On Sunday 14th April, I found out that a burst pipe had flooded the mail centre on Thursday 11th, but I did not even think about my magazine at the time.  On Monday 15th, I got my notice to collect and went to the usual postal outlet, only to be told that the package was not there and that I had to go to the mail centre to collect it as it was affected by the flood.

I played out many scenarios in my head about compensation for my damaged book, and what if I couldn't get a replacement. 

I wasn't able to get to the mail centre until the 18th.  This is what the box looked like:

Fortunately, the magazine was in a plastic bag, in a plastic bag - so no damage whatsoever!  Thank you Hobby Link Japan!

Patterns and instructions by Sawako Araki

The book is also available from:

• AmiAmi

• Mimiwoo

Click here to see photos of pages on Pinterest

A Fairytale Dolly Trend in 2013?

What I've found so far:

Fairy Tale Academy (from my previous post), their facebook page
Once Upon A Zombie, their facebook page
Ever After High, their facebook page

I wonder which company thought of it first?  Or do they all come together and decide who'll do the characters when they were young, who'll do the children of the characters and who'll do the zombie version?

25 Foot Animatronic Puppet!

Doll/puppet making on a huge scale!

Shoes For My American Model

When I purchased my American Model last year, she came with no shoes.   I have found that shoes made for her are too expensive or difficult to purchase and import.

Well, I'm happy to report that she can wear some of Lorifina's high-heeled footwear!

So far, the red shoe and the gold boots.  Woohoo!

1/6 Element Body

I acquired this new body last year from Hobby Search, Japan.  See the product information here.

I had seen the Universal Pooyan doll 'Here Comes the Maid' at this Flickr  photostream and found her articulated body interesting, but she was out of my price range.  I was so happy to see the same body in early March 2012, available for pre-order.  She was supposed to be available by Mid March, which I didn't think was too long to wait.  So, I ordered her and waited.

She was shipped in early April 2012 and came in clear packaging.  Her body facing forward on one side of the packaging and on the other side were her extra hands, feet and legs.

 

She came with feet already attached, which were 'stinky' looking.  They seemed to have been stained by something blue. Since her extras included high heeled and flat feet,  I didn't mind the 'stinky' feet.

She is lightweight and her shoulder and hip joints are easy to remove. 

Her colour does not show correctly in the photo below.  She really is the paler colour seen above.  Her second pair of legs have a 'double-jointed' knee and a portion of the back of the thigh has been cut away to allow a deeper kneeling position

A comparison of the double jointed knee and the normal knee.

A comparison of the kneeling position of the double-jointed knee and the normal knee.

 

Some more poses:

 

Because of her pale skin, the closest head match I had to her skin tone was a Disney 'Once Upon a Wedding' Cinderella.

The head looks a lot darker than it really is in this photo.

She's fun to dress and pose.  11.5" doll clothes fit and Disney V.I.P. shoes fit her high heel feet.

I have imagined her as a naive young lady, who has just been let out into the world.

This is her reaction when she first meets Frankie.

Cindy: "Eeek! Do you know there's something in your neck?"

Frankie: "Whoa!  Don't look so worried.  I've had it all my life."

  
Cindy:"Can I touch it?"

Frankie: "Sure, but be gentle."

Cindy: "Does it hurt?"

Frankie: "No."

Cindy: "Ooooh.  Shiny."

Cindy:"How come your head is so big?"

Frankie: (stifling a laugh) "Because it grows every time someone asks me a question."

Cindy: "Oh dear. I have to remember that!"

Cindy: "Oh my! What's this gooey stuff coming out of the back of your head?"

Frankie: "..........."

On a side note, Cinderella's body was donated to a Disney V.I.P. Hannah Montana head.