Showing posts with label Monica Merrill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monica Merrill. Show all posts

10/17/2015

The Best Halloween Diorama EVER!

Johanna in MD does it again. This collector is the embodiment of believing in the power of play. Her creativity and involvement with her dolls and their settings blows me away.

Just a few days ago she posted a picture of her diner with a new addition.


Today she posted pictures of the diner in Halloween mode. The details are beyond belief. Take some time to examine everything. You will be amazed.






All of the original photos are on Prego.

4/08/2012

Katana


The dress and wrap Katana that is wearing are from a Monica Merrill doll. I'm thrilled that Tonner's Tyler-sized fashions fit Sybarites because their own fashions are extremely expensive.

I altered the image in Photoshop by de-saturating the entire thing and then going back in with the history brush set on 'color' to bring out the green tones. Then I colored the lips and cheeks with a low opacity brush.

As far as posing goes, I tried to create a support with armature wire but I couldn't achieve it. Part of the problem is that the shoes do not stand flat on the surface and the other problem is that Sybs are very heavy. Soooo...she's leaning on the table.

I'm falling in love with this doll. After this photo shoot I removed her wig and tried several wigs on. What a dramatic difference. Looking forward to photographing her with her new look.

12/14/2010

Tonner Warehouse Sale: Evangeline, Monica Merrill

There's no truer statement to doll collectors than "When it rains, it pours."
In my last post I reported that Paul Phamm's Devon arrived. The next day was the Tonner warehouse sale. I came home with a load of dolls and outfits. Prior sales provided me with a large percentage of items to pass on to other collectors. I didn't expect to fall in love with so many of the items I found. Sigh.
Here's the shortened version of what I came home with:
 Sinister Circus dolls,  Ellowyne, Tiny Betsy, 6 six inch grab bags, Matt shoes, Death by Fashion, Evangeline, Evangeline clothing items/outfits, Anniversary Tyler, Monica Merrill, Antoinette, Antoinette fashion,  Ellowyne wig, Ellowyne outfits. Most of the items were things that were on sale already, but not all.

My favorite item of all my new Tonner treasures is "Tangled Web" Evangeline. Here are two quickly composed images of her.
When Evangeline first debuted, I did not care for her. She's taller than most of my dolls and her hands are weird. I still think her hands are weird but her back story explains that. I like her and I had been on the verge of ordering one for a few months.
I got several clothing items for her at the event one of which was a skirt. I wanted the entire outfit so I ordered it from the Wilde Imagination website along with another item when I got home, (like I didn't have enough already!) The order went in on Saturday afternoon and was on my deck this morning. Tonner/Wilde shipping is excellent.
I didn't know that the Evangeline items came packaged in hatboxes. How precious is that? I think I'm hooked.
The other doll that I was very pleased to obtain is Monica Merrill "On the Fringe." At first I thought that I'd just keep the outfit. Right?
Again, Monica is a doll that I did not care for when she first appeared on the scene. She looked stunned in most of her incarnations. I saw a softness in "On the Fringe" that I hadn't seen previously. She is staying.
Here is the Tonner promo image of her as I haven't had time to shoot anything I'd post.
Tonner Doll Co.
Monica's clothes fit the Avantguard dolls perfectly. I haven't had them on a Gene doll but I'm guessing that the same is true.
Unfortunately I can't keep everything so I am selling the Sinister Circus and Death dolls without their clothes and a few other things. Click here to browse and spend your money. Why should I be the only one?

On Saturday night I received a gift of the Tonner Comicon exclusive DC Comics' Artemis of Bana-Mighdall. I have no idea who she is or what she does in the comics but she's one of Tonner's new 13 inch characters and I like her. The husband unit is calling her the "I Dream of Jeannie" doll.

I will have fun redressing her.

Hope you're all having a great December. It's below freezing here in the Mid-Hudson Valley. We had a little snow last night - just enough to be pretty.

10/23/2010

Avantguard Dolls in Monica Merrill Outfits and Photographic Ruminations

My favorite Avantguard doll is wearing Monica's "Take a Letter" outfit in this photo. It fits very well. The earrings that come with this outfit are black beads. I like diamonds better. Ahem.

I love this doll and that makes me chuckle because looking at her pleases me! 


What I'm not sure about is the shadow on her face created by the light on the right side of the figure. It does repeat itself on her chest but something is off. I think I could have done without the second light on the right and j ust pumped up the power of the other strobe.  I'm shooting with one strobe reflected off an umbrella and one directly diffused strobe which I placed approximately 90° apart from eachother. I have the umbrella higher. I love using high contrast when shooting this doll. I definitely need to work harder when shooting white...it's just not as good as I envision.

In this next photo, I did eliminate the second light. The background is grayer (I could have lit that separately) and the extreme contrast is softened. Her face looks better without the distinct shadow. The big area under her face of faux fur is blown out and takes away from her face. This image could have used some pixel pushing for sure.


The shoes seen in the photo are Goldmine's own.

These last 2 images are of "Attention" Avantguard and were shot with a point and shoot using window light and fill flash from the camera.
The outfit is from a dressed Monica Merrill doll as is "Taking a Letter" and is called "Jonquil Sass." Again, the fit is excellent including the shoes. It's such an adorable outfit. The wig is from another AG doll.


It's painfully apparent to me that my point and shoot is vastly inferior to my studio, tripod-mounted camera. But I'd be taking a lot less pictures if I had to take everything into my studio to shoot. Yes, I know that the last picture above is out of focus but I wanted to let y'all see the entire outfit with shoes.

7/31/2009

Tonner 2009 Fall/Holiday Line is Posted

Dust off those credit cards boys and girls....and get another job. You're going to be wide-eyed and hungry when you look at what the Tonner Doll Company is offering this season. I'm in total dolly shock right now.
They didn't just add to existing lines, they created new ones.
Wait until you see the Sinister Circus Collection:
The Hollywood Glamour Collection of Fashion Ensembles:
Monica Merrill:
Peggy Harcourt, DeeAnna Denton's new nemesis is stunning. Four new Re-Imagination characters are fabulously costumed and spirited. The supposed granddaughter of Daphne Dimples makes an appearance in the Tyler Wentworth line. And....wait for this....a new man is on the horizon! He is Simon Chase, Sydney's brother. He'll be clad in a tuxedo. Yay!
The Tyler dolls are offered in both new and old sculpts and the fashions are to die for.
The new Antoinette line grows larger with four more dressed dolls ranging in price from $174.99 to $249.99. Are you still with me? There are also three separate outfits for Antoinette and three more shoe packs.
I'll be at the Tonner Company store on August 1 to take pictures and gape at the new dolls with the other collectors.
Go to the Tonner Doll website to see the rest - yes, kiddies, there's more.
http://www.tonnerdoll.com/2009fhcollection.htm

I have not escaped unscathed. I just pre-ordered Scintillating Ashleigh, a Two Daydreamers Exclusive, LE100. Ashleigh's sculpt is exclusive to Two Daydreamers and for the first time they have used her head which has been resized to fit Tonner's Antoinette body. When I saw these images I practically fell off my chair.
This gal is sure to sell out fast although they're not exactly giving her away. The retail price is $274.99. Until August 7 she is priced at $249.99. Expected to ship late September.
http://www.twodaydreamers.com/16scasle100.html

All images in this post are the property of the Tonner Doll Company.