Showing posts with label resin BJD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resin BJD. Show all posts

5/15/2020

The Latest from Kingdom Doll - Harmony

I don't know how Kingdom Doll keeps raising the bar for stunning dolls. Harmony is the name of the latest offering from this wonderful little British company.
The first two photos show her in her original wig. The last two are other wigs in my collection. All created by master wig designer, Ilaria.





5/06/2019

House of Zenith "Avenue" New 12" Resin Doll


On March 11, Superdoll released this photo of Avenue for whom I had already pre-paid. I was looking forward to getting one of the first dolls in their new 12" line, House of Zenith.  I based my decision on the success of Solitaire, the first GenX doll who was pretty and had an adorable outfit and vibe. My thinking was very wrong.

  

I hesitated writing a review for much longer than I normally would as the creators of this doll will not like what I say here but I have to tell the truth and it's my opinion anyway. I know some out there like Avenue and I'm sincerely happy for them. Personally, I will never buy a doll sight unseen from Superdoll again. 

I don't know why I cannot find any photos I took of her in her original state. That's very odd. I'm pretty sure I shot a few, at least. Did I delete them? I'll have to hunt the internet as it's entirely possible that I posted and then deleted the images from my camera.

I am not sure that this is my own photo. 

When the doll arrived, I disliked her look in many ways. Her wig had the texture of straw. The black throw around her shoulders shed all over her yellow dress. I did not like the way the skirt hung on her body. The 'drape' was bad. The pleats were crooked, uneven and did not appear to be sewn properly.

Not shown are the shoes, the handbag, and the head-piece.

I tried to sell her for exactly what it cost me and there wasn't a single taker.

With the wig removed it made a major improvement. She does have a nice face and I like the eye make-up. 

Superdoll skimped on the joints and the details. Look at this photo which compares, side by side, a Dominion Doll, a House of Zenith Doll and a Monarch Doll. Monarch is 12" tall. 


I chose not to have my Dominion doll (left) strongly body blushed and the Monarch Doll (right) has natural-looking blushing. Avenue's blushing is exaggerated.  She has no underbust joint and her knees have only one joint. There is no thigh or ankle joint. She does not have a matte finish and she didn't come with a stand. They should have just made her from vinyl. She looks it.

Avenue (left) vs. Fashion Royalty body.

One has to wonder if this doll was rushed through to make some sort of deadline. 

What she does have going for her is that her feet fit into FR shoes. No doll is perfect but Avenue made me regret my purchase and she was not an inexpensive mistake. She also made me appreciate more the quality, artistry, and attention to detail of the Monarch and Dominion dolls. Vinyl Fashion Royalty dolls are made better. 

I will make the best of it by dressing her in pretty clothes and wigs and never buying another one.

OLE!


I purchased a separate Superdoll boxed fashion for Avenue and I think it is lovely.



Below is a Rimdoll fashion. Wigs above and below by Culte de Paris. 


 



3/24/2019

Photos of my Lovely Little 'La Scala Georgiana'

I've been so busy posting photos on Facebook boards that I've neglected this blog. Today, I'll make up for that.
In all of these photos, the fashions are from other 1/6 scale dolls or made for them by individuals. I love that she can wear Silkstone and Integrity gowns and dresses.







3/14/2019

My Beautiful Kingdom Doll, Envy

Here are two new photos of this beautiful doll.
She is wearing a wig made by Chewin.
Her red velvet gown is Sybarite Fidele's. The faux fur stole is by Integrity Toys.
The necklaces are by Kingdom Doll and the earrings may be Franklin Mint.
The background is a Tonner Evangeline or Ellowyne mirror.


I really like the black and white version because it shows the highlights and they seem to glow. I love being able to see the back of her wig as well. 


2/21/2019

Pretty Pictures

Tyler in "Swept Away" by Robert Tonner from his Theatre de la Mode line.



This silk gown is possibly the most sought after TDLM fashion ever produced. It's a work of art. In essence, it reminds me of some of Charles James' sculpted gowns. One main difference is that Swept Away does not have any the understructure found in many of CJ's fashions.
Below are two of my photos of doll-sized James' fashions developed by Sandra Stillwell for the Taste of Manhattan Convention.






The very beautiful Kingdom Doll, Logan:









2/10/2019

La Scala Georgiana Reviewed

This week, the first release of Monarch Dolls was sent out to collectors. The response has been tremendously positive judging by what I've seen on the boards and on Facebook.
There were two versions, each in an edition of 50 pieces. I picked La Scala. The other one is called Covent Garden Georgiana.

It's only four days from when people began to receive their dolls and I've already seen five people with both versions. (We were supposed to choose one or the other.) That's five who are either posting photos or just talking about getting both. There's nothing wrong with that but I wonder about the people who made such a fast decision and turn-around to sell theirs. Some of them are saying that they didn't bond or that the doll is too small for them. There are some who bought the doll to trade it for something else. OK, whatever.


I used to wonder about the same thing on the W Club board. There were always two or three people who posted a brand new doll for sale immediately at a jacked-up price. There's something missing with the thought process of someone who has the balls to do that. The potential buyer, willing to pay a premium for a doll, may be happy, but the one that dearly wanted a chance to have one is not and becomes resentful. I feel bad for a long time doll friend who has never been able, in five years, to get a 16" Kingdom Doll and now was also not able to get a Monarch Doll either.

That's the doll world and I suppose it goes on in every collectible milieu.

Back to La Scala. She is 12" tall and has a size 4 head. If you put a 4-5 on her, it will be too full. I have a dozen or more 4/5 wigs that look ridiculous on La Scala. Wigs made for Integrity's Monogram dolls fit quite well. Barbie has a size 4 head but I have no wigs made for her to test.
Her joints are perfectly strung and her posing ability is excellent. The resin feels like velvet and has a matte finish. It is recommended that the doll is handled only with gloves to avoid transferring natural body oils to the resin which will eventually cause the matte to go shiny.

The red silk dress with its gold insert is reminiscent of a 16" Kingdom Doll gown.



Her purse is a faux gold metal envelope with a rhinestone letter M and dangles on a long gold chain. It opens.


Her right hand is a "pocketbook holding" hand. Monarchs do not have extra hands. 


Her shoes were cast in resin to fit their ultra-arched shape.


I have them shown below with tiny rubber bands as one kept falling off while I was dressing and photographing her. I didn't want them to disappear as no other shoes in my huge collection of 1/6 scale dolls shoes will fit. They are a clear resin with shiny red sparkles.
You can also see the lovely new stand with the Monarch symbol in gold on a white acrylic base. 


Another alteration I made was to the saddle of the stand. I cut a strip of moleskin and adhered it to the surface of the saddle. It's protection against thigh rub marks and also provides a bit of resistance to the doll slipping.


My comparison photo shows (left to right) La Scala, a frankendollied articulated Barbie body, an original Silkstone body, the newer articulated Silkstone body, an FR2 body and a Dominion Doll body. The four in the middle are not resin dolls, of course. 
La Scala has a beautifully sculpted, proportioned body. 




She makes a lovely addition to my collection.


Georgiana Devonshire cost $650 plus postage.

1/08/2019

The Best and The Rest: My Collection 2018

It goes without saying that life has a way with our hobby for which we don't always plan. I started out the year recovering from bilateral knee replacement surgery. Going up and down the staircases in my house was not my favorite activity. Then, somewhere around July, we were going to move. The first thing I packed was my dolls. Needless to say, we did not move so I had to unpack and I'm not quite done. I made the difficult decision to sell off my large Tiny Kitty collection. Tiny Kitty dolls were the ones that brought me to the 16" Tonner dolls and from there...well, you know how it goes. I must admit that this is not the first time I have begun to sell my TKs. This time I'm determined as there is no room and I don't keep dolls in boxes.
It's time to review what I've added to my doll collection during 2018.

The Best

An interesting turn of events was my buying several of Integrity Toy's 12" dolls.  I had cut back almost entirely for quite a while but IT really brought it to Fashion Royalty this past year.

Eugenia Modernist was a 2018 W Club Membership Registration Upgrade Doll. This doll is stunning with her dark skin tone and sleek light blue mini dress with matching round handbag. Her open-toed silver thigh-high boots and silver accessories made her a perfect doll to add to the tribe.




I wasn't going to go for her but every time I looked at her picture, I loved her more and more: 


Elise Jolie "Perfume Blond" W Club 10th Anniversary by Jason Wu Doll.  She was quite pricey as she came with a full-sized bottle of Jason Wu perfume which I don't particularly care for. I tried it at a department store. She also comes with a miniature of the perfume bottle which I love. Her pastel peach, sparkle-embellished gown is one of Jason's creations as well. I was able to sell the real perfume and so brought the total down somewhat.





Isha Kalpana Narayan "Divinity" W Club Doll was irresistible to me because of all her jewelry accessories and the pretty style of her lace and tulle dress. I think the henna designs on her forearms and hands are a beautiful accent.




"Hot To The Touch" Bellamy Blue is an Industry Line doll. I don't collect guy dolls any longer (or so I say) but when I saw this one's fashions, I caved.  I'm still on the fence about keeping him and that's why I don't have a free-standing photo of him.




Victoire Roux's "Divine Evening" fashion was added. It fits my Monogram dolls perfectly and it's not black.



It's close to impossible for me to choose the best of Kingdom Doll 2018. I love all of them.  I can't choose a favorite. The Seren giftset, The Eden Atelier doll and Vanbrugh are all gorgeous.  Seren came with several outfits and many accessories and props. Eden's gown and wig are truly miniature works of art. Vanbrugh is a classic stunner. She looks amazing in every wig and every style I put on her.
Seren


Eden

Vanbrugh


The Kingdom Doll Convention Dolls all had the newly redesigned body. Like most conventions, there is a souvenir doll and often an optional companion doll. In Scotland, our souvenir doll was Rosalind "The Red Queen." She has dimples and is so cute.



There were two companion dolls. Attendees had to decide in advance, without seeing her,  if they wanted the white or the black. We were told that their outfits were the same but their effect would be very different. Normally I'd go with black but I decided to let fate decide for me as I knew both would be fabulous. The black sold out and I am happy to say that I was thrilled with Raphaella, The White Queen. This gal has freckles and a very youthful vibe. That was unexpected.



This gorgeous doll was a surprise gift from Kingdom Doll to the attendees. Her name is Realm.


Another Kingdom Doll I added to my collection prior to the convention last year was Electra. In this photo, my skeleton is playing with her. She is about to lose her patience. Electra was the first doll released with the new body.


Kingdom Dolls are my favorite dolls.

Fashions from other sources deserve special mention in my "Best of" category.  I purchased 7 outfits from Aquatalis, a company in Vietnam you can find on Etsy. Two haven't arrived yet. of the other 5, one stands out. They call it Chandos. It is embroidered all over with flowers and leaves. Nimue models.


___________

This one hurts to write about because she was not an inexpensive doll and I had very high expectations of this company. The doll is Dominion Doll's new 12" creation, Aura.  Before I buy another, I will make sure the following has been taken care of.
First of all, her earring holes are too small for any of my earrings (and I have hundreds of pairs) to fit. It's a fairly minor issue if I wanted to get out my jeweler's drill and fix it but do I? I'm not about to send her back to Russia for such a minor issue.
The major issue is that her ankles do not support the weight of her upper body. I recall having this issue with the early Numina dolls. The joints are always going their own way when I try posing her standing normally and this is unacceptable. I'm going to have to wire them.

However, she is gorgeous but she does need better engineering. Ease of posing a doll is very, very important to me.

I have spoken with a collector friend and apparently, her Dominion doll does not have this issue. Hmmm.

I'm going to try her in a lighter-weight fashion such as slacks or simple sheaths. That could make a difference. But still...




________________

The Rest

I have already written about how disappointed I was with the Outlander Dolls, Jamie and Claire Fraser. Claire was one of the most unattractive dolls that Tonner has ever produced IMO.  I gave that doll a lot of chances and nothing made her look good. She did not look at all like the actress who plays the role of Claire. Not a wee bit. The face and body of this doll are huge. Her clothes and shoes are way too large for Tyler or for any other doll I own. Both had to go.   

 

As far as Jamie, he has an attractive sculpt. The jury is out on whether or not he looks like the TV Jamie. His hair came in a dorky style. I washed and restyled it, sold his outfit and redressed him. Not great but he's staying.

 

_____________________________________

All in all, it was a very good year. I love my collection and enjoy gazing at each doll. My dolls live a great fantasy life with the finest fashions, jewelry, hairdos and accessories. They don't get wrinkles, gain weight or get sick. They always look wonderful and they get to have things like tiny liquor bottles filled with real Scottish whisky!