Showing posts with label Dasha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dasha. Show all posts

2/09/2012

Photoshoot (The Do-Over)

Dasha and Elise had a second chance in front of the camera earlier today. What a difference the proper background makes!




 Mauve Absolue wearing Behind the Drama's gown and a vintage mink stole.

 Geometry showed up wearing a Ficon leather gown.

In the image above, I desaturated the backdrop and column.


2/07/2012

Photoshoot From Hell

 I'm turning into a lazy photographer. I'd rather take stupid iPhone photos than go into my studio and do the real thing. I'm lazy in the studio, too. I had a handbag to sell so I hung up a contrasting piece of fabric and shot some pictures. Then instead of changing the background to suit the dolls I wanted to photograph, I decided to leave it. Blech. I knew it wasn't working almost immediately but didn't do anything to change it. It's a good thing I'm not doing this for money. On the other hand, if I were getting paid, perhaps I'd be less lazy.




Here you have a lesson in how backgrounds can ruin photographs. Ugh. I don't even want to talk about how much work it was to pull these images out. The last one, of course, has had it's background completely Photoshopped.
In the second picture of Dasha I desaturated the yellow tones. Compare it to the picture that follows and you will see what I mean. Both dresses are the same color IRL.
The dresses on Dasha and Elise are by Cholo. Vanessa is the former Intoxicating Mix rerooted. She is wearing Ayumi's outfit. That is also Ayumi's FR2 body. Ayumi's (ugly) head is on the way to Italy.

12/17/2011

My Favorite Dolls of 2011

Last night I went through my 2011 doll database and pulled my favorites of this year.

From Integrity Toys I chose five dolls, four of whom are FR2 dolls and one, believe it or not, is Fauxnessa. You may ask why Fauxnessa made the list when I am one of those who loved the original Vanessa sculpt. Well, this is a gorgeous doll. The other Fauxnessa, Monaco Royale, is one of this year's losers but Dress Code, the first Fauxnessa, was a winner.
I wasn't exactly sure that Flawless Elise was a 2011 doll or a 2010 doll because she took months to arrive with the proper skin tone and a properly created hairstyle but I love her along with every other Elise that's been released. Dasha is a total winner in my book and Tatyana, whose sculpt I do not care for that much made the list for her overall package - hair, makeup, dress. I just have to get rid of those black lines at the outside crease of her lips.

Tatyana, Dasha, Elise, Elise & Fauxnessa.

Quite a few Barbies and a few Silkstone dolls were added to my collection but were not considered for this end-of-year list. I tire of Barbie dolls very quickly and the Silkies, although pretty to look at, just hang out looking fabulous. However, one Mattel doll did survive the cut—Klimpt Barbie. She made it because of the back story and she is pretty. She doesn't have that pasted on smile most Barbie dolls have and her hair is adorable. A bonus is that she's not on the Model Muse body.

Angelic Dreamz' JAMIEshow Grace was a winner. I have posted many photographs of her on this blog as she is wonderful in front of the camera.

These two Ellowynes from Wilde Imagination are among the winners: An Empty Thrill and Dark Shadows.


Among the other Tonner dolls is Heart on My Sleeve. She was produced prior to 2011 but I didn't get her until mid year. This doll is from the Wizard of OZ Reimagination line. She is a creative version of the Tin Man and I think she's fabulous.

The first of the new wave of Theatre de la Mode dolls was Noir #99. This doll has a stunning sculpt.  She, too, is a fabulous photo model. Sadly, the second new TDLM, Royale #82, has not arrived as of this writing.

From the Halloween Convention came the Red Queen, with another amazing sculpt. She is so wonderfully evil-looking.

Saving the best for last...

Devon, one of Paul Pham's Numina and an FDQ exclusive released in December 2010. I was thrilled to get her. If you have never held a Numina body or seen one without clothes, you are missing something excellent! And, I am expecting the newest Numina any day now.

Talc and Geometry. What can I say other than, who knew? If their bodies had not been redesigned to allow better positioning and posing I would have not taken the plunge.

Many more have come and many have gone. I've made a few impulsive buying mistakes for stupid little stuff.
My main focus has moved back to larger dolls again. I found it very easy to sell what some would consider 'grail' Fashion Royalty dolls in order to fund my other desires. However...this year I was able to add several Tiny Kitty dolls that I was never able to get. They are still safely NRFB waiting to move to a new home - we're all waiting for that day.

I'd love to hear from all of my readers about your favorite dolls of 2011.

9/09/2011

The Minimalist, Dasha and Grand Gesture Dominique

Integrity Toys hit it out of the park with these two dolls! The design, construction and execution of both dolls is superb. And I am happy to say that.
The fabric choices are perfect. The Minimalist's coat is like a fine lightweight wool. The pants and coat have real pockets. The blouse is not a stiff cotton but rather a semi-sheer weave. She's wearing a lacy bra under her blouse which was a surprise! The shoes are fantastic. Pictures below tell the whole story.









Dominique looks better without her headwrap. Her shoes are to die for with a wonderful elastic across the top which eliminates the need for ties and buckles. I hope we see more of this design.

The color in the shoe image may be slightly altered. Her tiny minaudiere is a weighty solid charmlike thing. All in all - a very worthy package with lovely accessories. These two can be proud to have the Jason Wu name on them.

5/19/2011

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.

5/02/2011

Now that I'm in love with this body, what am I supposed to do with my other dolls?

I hate to start off a blog post with the word CRAP but I'm in love with the FR2 body. This is a problem and a puzzlement. There's no way to replace even a fraction of my collection with the new body. Should I retire them? Seriously, this body is amazing - the best 12" body ever. The only problem is that we can't get replacement ones and the feet are too long. A rational doll collector (are there any?) would say to just keep the collections separate. That's kind of impossible. My dolls are begging for new bodies now. CRAP.

Anyway...how gorgeous is this? Vanessa is wearing a little dress from a much earlier doll. Many of the clothes fit beautifully. It's the shoes that are hit and miss (mostly miss.)



And this:


The doll is Aerodynamic Vanessa re-rooted by Susan Korba, (the Magnificent.) She is borrowing a Dasha body and wearing a Dasha gown and shoes. Sitting, reclining and standing are all done beautifully with this body. Can it get better? Yes. Sell us bodies!

4/02/2011

Dasha in HJ Couture

Huck (Huckleberry Jackson) offered this dress during the event to raise money for Japan and I jumped on it. I am so happy I did. It's gorgeous and perfect for Dasha. I love this doll. The body is so attractive in spite of the ragged edges of the vinyl at the joints. (hint, hint) In the first image, Dasha is actually balancing on her own which, if nothing else, proves that the shoes were made properly. Yay.
These shoes are her originals and just happen to look amazing with this outfit. Even her original jewelry which has pink and green is perfection.







Let's talk about side glancing eyes, shall we? There's side glancing and there's suspicious. Dasha's eye screening borders on the latter. Look at this. She looks afraid....gorgeous but afraid.


Even in the profile view you can see her looking at you. This is not normal. I wonder if this is the reason she was not terribly popular. I'm getting a second head of this same doll and having the pupils repainted to look straight ahead.


More on side glancing eyes in the next post. Stay tuned.