The Avant Guard Makeover

 Through the years my attitude toward having dolls repainted has changed. At first I resisted thinking that I wouldn't even buy a doll if she needed to be altered. What a difference having a doll repainted can make. I loved the changes so much that I re-bodied these gals as well.

Left:  IT outfit; Ficon sneakers; Monique Wig; Superdoll Glasses
Right: Nigel Chia suit; Patta wig; Jamieshow shoes

The doll on the left above, was originally "Lush," a sculpt also used by Androgyny and other AGs.

I had the green eye shadow changed the lips darkened. I love her now.

Fashion: Modsdoll Aurum

Fashion: Integrity Toys for FR16; Superdoll Wig

__________________

The doll with the blonde wig at the top of the page was originally either "Attention" or "On Edge." They all used the same open mouth sculpt along with my favorite, "Goldmine." 

Below is the original "Goldmine."

My "Goldmine" had yellowed and deteriorated and Vin recreated a new one for me.

The FR16 bodies can wear Kingdom Doll, many Gene and most Tonner Antoinette fashions along with the original Avantguard fashions, of course. Their wig size is generally a 4/5.  That also depends upon the wig. 

It's unfortunate that Integrity Toys ruined the line by using messed-up face-ups with exaggerated colors and weird outfits. They were beautiful sculpts. Like they've done with other dolls, the bodies could have been upgraded to a more stable design. The Tulabelle and FR16 sculpts never came close. 

Repaints by Vin Trapani.

My Collection: The Best of 2014

For this post, I basically showcase my own collection and some of what I have added this past year.  I've made some wonderful purchases, some so-so-average buys and a few mistakes.  My goal was to limit the adding of 12" dolls and concentrate on high-quality resin BJD 1/4 scale dolls, fashions and wigs

Resin BJDs accounted for nearly 1/2 of my expenditures. Integrity Toys got about 1/4 of the total. The rest went to Gene (and a convention), Tonner and another assorted dolly miscellany.

In looking back I could have eliminated everything Gene-related except for two custom fashions made by Matisse, Madra's dogs and an older Ashton-Drake Violet outfit (shown below.)  I'm just not into Gene any longer. I have sold all my Jamieshow Gene (and Madra, Violet) dolls except for one. They are lovely but not where I want to be.

JS Madra in AD Violet "Special Appearance"

The worst eBay purchase was several pairs of shoes from paul_zhangby and Zhang_young, whom I assume is the same seller, which purported to fit Sybarites. They don't come close. Many of their products claim to fit a wide range of dolls who have different-sized feet. What was I thinking to trust this type of advertising? He's still listing doll shoes like this: Brand New Pumps/Shoes /16" Doll Sybarite V3 JamieShow /Ficon /NUMINA /AG. Don't believe it! His shoes are gorgeous and edgy but won't do any good if you can't use them.


Most of the dolls on this 2014 list were discussed on my blog when I got them and not all of them are actually new releases, but they are new to my collection.

I'll begin with my first and only (so far) Deva Doll, Angelo. He has blown away all the competition from the rest of the big guys who live here. I'll let the photograph do the talking as he's already been introduced in prior posts. His face was painted by Chewin who also designed the fashion and wig.

Brunel from Kingdom Dolls hasn't been here very long and I want to play with her. It's a problem when I have too many 'new' dolls. No doll gets the time it deserves.  She is perfect.

Poor Angelo has been trying to date her but she's not having any of it.

Ficon Bonita in a Cheryl Wood wig.
I have quite a few wigs made by the talented Ms. Wood but this is my absolute favorite!
Bonita is a gorgeous doll with great posing ability.

I added two gorgeous Sybarites this past year and several Superdoll outfits.

-a repaint of Dionysis by Yian.  (Chewin wig)

-Fidele wearing Bitter Fern. I removed the pink bow which was at the waist. 

The outfit from Langtry and Madra's Dogs (Ashton-Drake) modeled by Toxica.

The outfit from Masque modeled by Neurotica. Mohair wig by Ilaria.

The outfit from Gateau modeled by Domina.

I never tire of looking at my Sybarites and their gorgeous fashions.

Moving over to Integrity Toys, their FR16 dolls, at first, didn't impress me. Once I started collecting their outfits however, the dolls began to grow on me. Their bodies pose beautifully.
This is Tyler head on a Tulabelle body wearing a FR16 Platinum Society. It's a favorite.

As far as their 12" dolls issued during the year, nothing made the cut except three from the convention.

Going off the track here for Gloss' "Evening Siren" Ayumi who is such an improvement over the original Ayumi I felt it deserved mention and images from her spotty past. :-)
It's a fact that the face-up makes or breaks the sculpt.

This is the After:

Here are the Befores:

If at first you don't succeed...

I always felt that Natalia's original and more ethnic sculpt was beautiful and should have been preserved.  She was gorgeous.  The "refreshed" sculpt looked just like all the other dolls with their pointy little noses and pucker lips. They're OK but this Natalia was special. "Femme du Monde" 2006.

However, Grandiose Natalia was a surprise. I actually like her a lot and added her to my collection. What is it about this particular doll? It's not the pointy eyebrows. She's just stunning.

And then there's Elise. She has become my favorite FR sculpt. I've given up on Vanessa and although two were added to my collection this year, they are not favorites.

In the following photo, one of the 2014 convention centerpieces, Elise Jolie "Intrigue," is shown with Adrian Von Lamberg "Night Vision" from the 2010 Dark Romance Collection. That was the last FR convention I attended and I had him at that time but I was not collecting male dolls. That changed this year as I sought to add some special Hommes to the tribe.

About two months ago I swapped with someone for an Avantguard which had been repainted. It was pretty awful once I saw it in person. My dear friend, Vin Trapani, rescued this doll from a dark drawer with his inspired re-repaint.
She is currently on a Tulabelle body and looking great.

Memorable 1/6 scale fashions:

Poppy "Glamorous Darling" and "IT Girl" adorn one of my mini Avantguard dolls and a Monogram doll.

This dress was created by V.Jhon. It is modeled by Tropicalia Vanessa.

So there you have it.

I haven't determined my goals with doll collecting for 2015. What I do know is that I spend way too much time where they are concerned. I want to put together a book showcasing my black and white NYC-era photography. That will take a long, dedicated piece of time.

I've had so much fun with dolls and doll people over the last decade or so but I have to bring back the joy that my creativity gave me and let it out of its holding cell.

FR2: Engaging Elise, Rare Appeal Dominique and a Repaint by Vin Trapani

These gals arrived today so I grabbed my point and shoot and clicked away on the deck. The sky was bright but overcast which is perfect lighting for out-of-doors portraits.  I used the close-up setting, ISO 200, and a fairly large aperture. Fill flash helped with the contrast and brought out the details in the images of Elise. The camera was hand held.

 A little surprise is her animal print underpants which match her shoes. Otherwise she is exactly as advertised and that's a good thing. Engaging Elise's vinyl is nearly white.  Her face and body do match. The hat comes with two straight pins. I found they were a little too blunt ended and used fine dressmaker pins with small red tips.
The low cut dress front is not my favorite type of design for a doll with a jointed breast plate. I would normally dress the doll with a necklace that covers that area. It's not pretty.
The dress fits nicely. I love the bag and I hope in the future Integrity does what Ashton Drake used to do with Gene's clutch bags. They attached a heavy thread through which four fingers could fit so the doll could hold the bag in a natural hand position. For now, she will hold it under her arm.
The jewelry is plain black rhinestone studs and a pewter bangle.

I purchased Rare Appeal Dominique basically just for the fashion...(not necessarily the dress, but I think the shoes and earrings are killer!)  Don't tell my husband that I paid $175. plus shipping for doll shoes and earrings. You won't have to, he reads my blog anyway.
Sadly, the shoes are defective.  The heel or something on the left shoe is very crooked and from the back it looks as if her foot is turning under, but it's not, it's the shoe.  

I'm not a fan of the Dominique sculpt and putting her on an FR2 body has not altered my opinion. But that's just my personal taste.  The screening is well done and pretty. I think she needs a different hairstyle.  Wondering if any of my favorite Adeles has the same vinyl color as that of Dominique.

 

 


I have two Always Polished Dasha dolls so I sent one of them to Vin Trapani to center her gaze and to change her pupil and lip colors. He sent me back a gorgeous Dasha. This doll's sculpt is amazing and Vin's talent really enhanced her beauty.  I will restyle her hair eventually.

Below is the original for comparison.