If I Were A Child

My goodness, the American Girl dolls have it all! The props, the furniture, the pets are all so yummy.
The item pictured above is the Trail Bike with the Pet Trailer attached. Of course the doll's outfit is a Cycling Outfit. Then there's the helmet. It goes on and on. These items are not inexpensive but they are excellent quality.

Other items related to pets are enough to make me swoon.

The Pet Bath Set! How adorable is this?
There are dogs galore - even a service dog. There are all types of horses and saddles. There's a stable with supplies! Party sets, hiking equipment, a pet bed and a carrier. Sigh.

Who says we have to be children to play with childrens' toys? My mind is a playground.

I am enjoying the American Girl Doll website. Here is the link: http://www.americangirl.com/index.php

You know who says it: "Believe in the power of play."  Robert Tonner, that's who.

NuFantasy Beauty and the Beast

Integrity Toys' incarnation of this famous fairy tale casts Beauty as the male doll and Beast as the female.
Beauty is an edgy, great-looking doll with a well-made, detailed fashion. His long coat is made from a fabric that feels like a high quality fine wool. Under his vest is a striped shirt. His pants are belted.
I could not get his boots on over his socks, even with fully unlacing them. I tried it without socks and succeeded with one but didn't try the other as I didn't want to damage them by pulling too hard. I just substituted a different pair of Homme ankle boots which work very well with the outfit.

He will definitely be staying.

On the other hand, the Beast was disappointing in two ways. Her hair is a frizzy mess. My doll's hair is in better shape than most!

Some people have taken to defending this mess as indicative of how a Beast's hair should be. Seriously? This result is from untrained doll hair stylists and not from design intentions.

I thought I'd love the boots but, once again, we've returned to getting shoes with heels that are too high for the rest of the sole. In order to stand with straight legs, the doll has to be placed on her heels with the front of the shoe not touching the base. Unacceptable.

She's been voted off the island after being here for a whole 48 hours.

I am going to keep her earrings (which are cool) and her faux fur vest which could be useful with other fashions.

BTW I put her next to Devil Damon (Dynamite Boy) and they make a good couple for displaying...if you have both and are keeping them.

News From Emilia Couture

The premium Inamorata doll Seraph LE20, fashion set Röntgen LE30 and 4 accessory packs LE30 each will be out for sale through our shop (www.emiliacouture.com) on December Thursday the 12th (better to avoid the Friday the 13th, right?).

The LE20 Inamorata doll Seraph 699usd and LE30 fashion set Röntgen 199usd will be launched together with the accessory packs. Röntgen fashion will be unveiled in Fashion Doll Chronicles blog by Stratos together with an exclusive interview few days before the product launch.

"Midnight Star" Elise Jolie

Definitely worthy of being a convention souvenir doll, Elise arrived last week and I set her up in my entry hall so I can gaze at her often. She is gorgeous perfection and my new Vanessa in that I like her above all other FR sculpts.

Very pretty shoes.

What do you think?

Tonner's Shipboard Wedding Fashion and Herve Leger Fashion

I don't do bride dolls but when I saw this pretty bridal dress in the LE50 version, I jumped on it. It also comes in a dressed doll version called Shipboard Wedding. Sadly, I just realized that it does not come with the cool faux diamond ring or necklace.

Marilyn

I didn't like the stiffness of Tyler in my first pictures of her. They reminded me of old fashioned wedding photos where the couple would stand perfectly still (like dolls.)

So I colorized the full length image to go with that vintage feel. Still doesn't really work - but that's the way it goes.
The background is annoying.
I'm lazy.

More modern fashion awaits with the Herve Leger bandaid dress on Lingerie 3 Silkstone.
The clutch is too large for a 12" doll. I like large bags but they have to have straps. This one would work with a 16" doll so I'm keeping it - for now. I love the dress.
Speaking of stiff and rigid, Silkstone dolls are the epitome of mannequin stiff in my collection and yet I like them.
I like too many things.

 

I know. I have to get rid of that freaky backdrop. Ignore it.

Picture of the Day by Liane Laughlin

My posting has slowed a bit (life gets in the way of dolls) but I'm still browsing the doll boards and this photo wowed me.
The doll is Emilia's Inamorata Cherub. She is wearing a wig by Cheryl and a gown by Deva Doll.

Here is the link to Liane's Flickr photostream where you can see more of her beautiful photographs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/llaughlin/

Crafting Miniature Books by Michaela Unbehau

Michaela graciously sent this tutorial with photographs to me to share with my readers. These little books are so much fun in dioramas and in photos of your dolls.
Thank you, Michaela!

01: I create bookcovers on my PC and print them out. Cut the covers out.

02: Fold them.

03: Generously cut paper to fill the books.

04: Add hot glue to the rebate (don't know if it's the right word in English.) (She means the inside of the binding.)

05: After the glue cools, cut the edges.

06: And it's done. Happy crafting!

 

Get to work, everyone. These make great gifts for your doll collecting friends.

Who Wears it Better?

I purchased the Victoire Roux Story of My Life dressed doll...sold the nude doll and gave the outfit to Fauxnessa first and Dasha second. The dress is adaptable to both bodies. The shoes fit the regular tall FR body but not Dasha. Forget about the gloves. I have no patience for gloves that do not stretch.

Who do you think will get to keep this fashion?

Update on Sybarite Cirque 
I received an apology from customer service for this happening to me, again. They are willing to refund completely if I want to return her. I've asked for a replacement hand. However, tomorrow, I will undress Cirque completely to make sure there is nothing else wrong with her. Also, I was surprised at the poor quality of her manicure. WTF? This is not a Barbie doll. What are they thinking by releasing dolls at this price with this type of poor detailing?
However, I thought I might want keep her when I was photographing her. She has a gorgeous sculpt that suits high contrast photography and her eyes are gorgeous. I'd like to try different wigs on her.
In this photo, she is still wrapped in cellophane - just in case you were thinking there are waves on her chest. I smoothed it out with PS.

Cirque: Another Defective Sybarite Arrives

The first thing I noticed was the dark spot on the middle finger. Then I saw a ridge of resin on the same finger. Worst of all, there is a connecting piece of resin between the index finger and the middle finger that shouldn't be there. What may look like fabric between the two finders is actually resin. There is nothing under her hand there but her red tights.You can see it better if you click on the image to enlarge it.
This is seriously unacceptable for these expensive dolls.

The Last of the Monogram Dolls?

This doll is called "Interlude." Her fashion (not the bodysuit) is called "Completist." Both were souvenirs from the recent IT convention.

Prior to that, it was announced that the Monogram line is retired. It's too bad because they were some of my favorite dolls. Their faces are beautiful. The line started to falter a bit when the so-called 'basic' dolls were released. Bemused, Envied and Passionate were pretty bad, all dressed the same except for the color, in a too short shirtwaist dress. Those followed shortly after a horrendous MFD exclusive called Exquisite. Her fashion was anything but.
But, when one looks back over the entire line, there are gorgeous suits and gowns and cocktail dresses. Perhaps the dolls were getting over-priced at $160. or did the company focus on the failure of that one season and decide that was it?

Another announcement coming out of the convention is that the designers will now use only 8 sculpts in the Fashion Royalty line: Veronique, Vanessa, Adele, Agnes, Kyori, Eugenia. Elise and Natalia. I think that was a fine decision as I didn't even know who most of the new characters were anyway. Also good, for me, is that I don't care much for the new sculpts of four of the eight (Vero, Van, Adele and Nat.) Their old sculpts were beautiful. But does this mean that Agnes will no longer be considered a special event doll? Who knows?

According to what I'm reading, NuFace will continue but will be on hiatus for a while. No Hommes?
What about Poppy Parker? Victoire Roux? Tulabelle and the giant Poppys?

Looks like IT is cutting the fat. The W Club has also eliminated a liaison, namely Luanne. I'm not so sure she "retired" on her own accord. I'm going to guess that Carol's sister is going to do the liason job now.

At every convention there are announcements of plans going forward. Most of them don't last more than one season in actual practice. Putting Jason's touch back in play did wonders for the convention line. Hopefully they won't forget that.

Tonner's Deja Vu Collection Now Shipping

Ever have that strange sensation of overwhelming familiarity, when something shouldn’t be familiar at all?  Penelope Brewster does.  She can’t recall if these experiences are manifesting from something that she’s read in a book or seen in a movie, but…could it be the remembrances of past lives?  She just chalks it up to Déjà Vu™ …but could it really be that simple?  
Follow Penelope as she sets out on her latest adventure across time!

The story line puts Penelope into three times: modern day, Age of Enlightenment and Roaring 20's. My favorite is the latter. The doll from that era is called Emma Jean McGowen. She comes in two basics versions, a dressed doll and a separate outfit. I like the outfits and the brunette doll.
The first two pictures are the basics listed at $99.99 each.

A Slight Chill Dressed Doll $189.99

Dancing the Night Away - Outfit $99

Many collectors love the big period gowns. They are thrilled with these designs which are centered around Anne De Leger. She reminds me of Cinderella in the basic version seen here. Retail price $139.99.

Ma Petite Rose - Outfit $109.99

La Vie de Versailles - Dressed Doll $209.99

Penelope Brewster is the modern day tragic figure in this trio of doomed damsels. She is available in two dressed doll versions at $159.99 each. On the left is "Production Assistant" and on the right is "Around Town."

Click here for the link to the Tonner Doll page featuring Deja Vu.

This line of dolls is available directly from Tonner, not through dealers. Hmmmm.