Taxes, Packing, Bad Websites and Blood

Many of you know that my husband and I have decided to relocate out of New York State.  Since this is not a political blog  (cough, cough) I won't get in to a discussion about taxes but it's gotten out of control.

Happy Independence Day USA

Let me look at this in a positive light. If we paid less taxes I'd have more dolls and it would be even more difficult to move. Ah...that's such a relief. Having to pay a huge tax bill has made it easier for me to pack.

What if, after a few months, I don't even miss the packed dolls?

So with that charming, albeit alarming, thought in mind I present you with this quickie picture of Marcella in her new fashion.

You  may have noticed that in most pictures of FDA dolls, they are not standing. That's because their legs are too thin (and they are weighty dolls) to support them without a serious doll stand.
A few weeks ago, FDA ran a sale and I scored this "Laine & Lezard" fashion that also comes with a beautiful pleated skirt and hosiery. I've wanted this outfit forever but it was too expensive. It fits beautifully and looks wonderful.  Everything from their early lines is now sold out. There are still some items from the Noir line and I want all of them but I want a lot of things I'm not getting. Sigh.

FDA Video, CHIC!

The video's soundtrack is annoying, but the dolls look great.


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The Doll Market sent out a notice that their new website was to be launched on July 1 and would be better with bigger pictures and all that jazz. However, if you had a password, it is now gone. So dumb.  I checked the site and indeed the pictures are bigger but the site is still ridiculous to navigate. The descriptions of the furniture are still missing dimensions and in order to see the 100's of items that have free summer shipping, you have to look through 1000's of items. All of them will be something you probably don't want.
Take a look at their sorting system. Everytime you pick an option you are presented with choices you don't want to sift through. The site is much worse than it was before. If they want people to shop, their link that says "Click Here to Shop" should be bigger and on the main landing page. This was definitely an amateur web job.
Spelling? So Truely Real Babies?? LOL

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Getting back to the topic of packing dolls. I've started with my 16" vinyl dolls. They are being packed nude, wrapped in tissue and standing up in appropriately sized boxes that hold 4 or 5 dolls each. I have about 30 dolls packed so far. Then the fashions need to be packed carefully. I don't know what's worse. So far I've only broken one earring off of it's post.
I'm writing the contents of each box on the outside and I'm also taking group shots of each doll that will be inside each box. Those pics will be pasted on the box. Complicated? Yes, but my dolls and their stuff is the most organized part of my life and shall continue thus.
I would lose my mind - what's left of it - if I had to pack hurriedly.


Gotta go now. It's almost time for Eric. Nom. Nom.

What's he packing?

BC.Com Shop Reward Expires 6/30 @ 11:59 CT - that's just a few hours!

Use Your $20 Shop Reward ->
Time's running out to use your current one - it expires TODAY, 6/30, at 11:59pm CT. 

BC.Com

Worth His Weight in Gold?

 The new male Dynamite doll, Auden, is apparently worth a great deal of money to some people. This "Most Beautiful Boy" retailed for $59.99.  As of a few hours ago, the seven that sold on eBay this past week went for $228.50, $403.70, $355., $560., $499., $474.99, and $299. (The order was 'End Date: Oldest First.') Three of those sold were sold by an Integrity toys authorized dealer who also has a fourth listed. The dealer's eBay ID is futuresight37.  It seems that many collectors know who this dealer is and have objections to the way they are selling their products. They get the dolls before every other dealer and always post them on eBay immediately. 

He is cute and the promotional pictures of him wearing sunglasses are very cool.

The entire issue of skyrocketing secondary market prices is so common, it's practically not even worth commenting on. I remember when Mattel's platinum Cher was released. That piece of vinyl immediately became worth $500. to those who were not lucky enough to grab one before they sold out.

There's still plenty of money out there - it's just pooled amongst way fewer people than previously.

Crafting Things From the Stuff Around You

Watch this adorable 2 minute video that shows a product called makedo. It looks like so much fun. The creations may not be up to the standards of our fancy dolls but if you have children, it will surely keep them busy and away from the boob tube. You can make a doll house out of doll boxes with the connectors.

Farrah Fawcett Doll

This long-awaited doll will be available on 7/1/2011 at the retail price of $34.95. It is a Black Label designed by Bill Greening.

Here is the descriptive text from BC.Com:

Her swimsuit was red, her smile was spectacular, and her hairstyle made history. Inspired by the best-selling 1976 poster, this fabulous Farrah Fawcett doll recreates each of the essential elements that caused an instant sensation. Permanently posed on a striped blanket inspired by the original, she features a brand new body mold, and a face sculpt that perfectly captures her blue eyes and fabulous hair. She's a wonderful tribute to the all American girl who became a star in bare feet and a bathing suit!

It's definitely a doll that should stay boxed. I was a fan of this actress but not of the doll.  I am looking forward to seeing it in person although these do look like production images. If any celebrity doll was ever a caricature, this one surely is.

De-Boxing Compulsion?

Last night I did something I seldom do (anymore) and that was to browse most of the listings under the category of Integrity Toys on eBay.  I was amazed at the quantity of older dolls that are being sold NRFB. How do people keep from deboxing beautiful dolls? I can understand keeping Barbie dolls in their boxes because they are boxed for display but not Fashion Royalty dolls.
Right now I have two dolls I'm not sure I can keep. One is a new Amelie and the other is the new Dynamite Aria. The deboxer voice keeps saying...go ahead...open one of them. The other voice says...you still have 9 pre-ordered dolls on the way; you don't need this.

How do you do it?

Seen on Prego: Jamieshow Men Celebrate Gay Pride Day in New York

George Gonzales of Angelic Dreamz posted this photo of his Jamieshow male dolls this morning.

Click on the picture to go to Angelic Dreamz where these dolls and millions more are sold.

BTW: Congratulations, New York! Job well done.

"Flawless" Elise FR2 Models "Metropolitan"

Finally, after a 3-1/2 month wait, my replacement Elise  head arrived and she's looking so much better than the one I got originally.

Her hair was banded with a cellophane strip to  keep it flat and arranged properly. It worked. Bangs on dolls are very difficult if not done with a wig. They just don't want to be straight and flat like real bangs.

I wasn't going to buy any of the separately available FR2 fashions but I wound up buying all three of them eventually. The last one I got is Metropolitan. I saw it on someone else's doll and it looked much better than the promo. Marl had it on sale for $85. Unfortunately her shipping is rather pricey but it got here fast and in perfect condition.

The ensemble consists of the mauve jumpsuit, a black belt, humongous pink rhinestone stud earrings, multiple tiny bangles (not shown), a black patent handbag and navy blue patent shoes. I added the ring and bracelet.
Elise is gorgeous.
The jumpsuit's construction is not up to the standards of the rest of the FR2 items. I think it may be the choice of fabric that is causing some of the problem. The legs do not lay correctly. If the fabric were heavier, the drape would be better. I pulled the legs straight down prior to taking pictures and it didn't help. They stayed rippled.
I don't know if pressing will help as they were pressed in the factory because there is a pressed crease at the front of the legs. I will try pressing when I remove it from this doll.
It's not the most flattering fashion for this beauty and someone else will be wearing it soon.

Aria Plastic Inevitable Doll Arrives

You know you are in trouble when you can't remember what dealer you ordered what doll from and a doll arrives from a dealer but you thought you were getting it from a different dealer. Oy.

Anyway, Aria arrived today and she is gorgeous. I don't know if I will be keeping her so I'm not deboxing until I've decided. She and Auden are the only two Dynamite Dolls I ordered this season. Auden is coming from another dealer. I had to look that up.

I think Aria is the most beautiful of all the DGs. 

Her lips and eye makeup are stunning. 

Her streaked/blended hair is fabulous with her tan skin.

I think I'm talking myself into  keeping her. 

Couldn't resist this:

Bratz vs. Barbie?

I'm not sure it's even a contest but according to CNN Money and writer, Parija Kavilanz, Bratz are poised for a big comeback.
For the last few years, Mattel was embroiled in legal battles with the designer of the Bratz dolls and the final verdict went against Mattel to the surprise of many.  Isaac Larian, CEO of Bratz-maker MGA Entertainment had previously said that in spite of the victory, the actions against the company caused stores to lose confidence in the line thereby successfully destroying it. However, he seems to have had a reversal and has "said that he's pushing to try to get the Bratz franchise to where it once was."

Masquerade by Bratz, on store shelves by August

The Bratz Masquerade collection features a few boy character dolls, including "Vampire-Penn" and "Knight-Gable."

I hope these dolls are very successful. They were adorable and were actually my first foray into doll collecting! It was my collecting of Bratz that got me involved in internet dolls boards and it just took off from there. Watch this interesting video (after the brief ad). You will enjoy it.

Ficon as Seen on Prego

We had a treat this morning on Prego as Alexandra Forbes was playing with her Ficon dolls and posted some pictures.

Denimish Ficon

Lady F Ficon

Alexandra is a supremely talented photographer and is also the Creative Director of FDQ.
 Click on the logo below to go to her fantastic website where you can see more of her work.

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Regarding Ficon Dolls...if you haven't seen the site lately...there is a lovely doll called Spa Basic. She is calling me.  If you would like to send me one, I would be more than happy to provide a loving home for her. 
Spa Basic comes dressed as shown and brings along her own basket of towels! She also comes with lace underwear and changeable towels. LE50. $430.

Ficon Doll Photo of Spa Basic

ROBERT TONNER TOY FAIR 2000 VIDEO - MUST SEE!

Robert Tonner is interview and introduces the very first releases of Tyler Wentworth. He shows the dolls and the outfits. This video is pure gold! Mel Odom appears and you might see some other well known doll people in the background. 

Seen on "That's My Foto!" A Tip from Mel Odom

On my friend MJ's blog, That's My Foto!, is a great tip from Mel Odom concerning doll photography. Click on the photo to go to the article.

New Monster High CLASS ROOM COLLECTION

Now Available for pre-order at Angelic Dreamz.

Spottted at the Pink Parlor: Liberte´, egalite´, fraternite´

Posted by angelcollector87 today on the Pink Parlor is her re-imagined Eugene Delacroix painting of a scene from the French Revolution.

Wow! How much fun is this? Fabulous work!

Below is a reproduction of the original 1830 painting entitled La Liberte´ guidant le peuple

Factoid: According to Wikipedia - The painting inspired the Statue of Liberty in NYC which was given to the United States as a gift from the French only 50 years after Liberty Leading the People had been painted. The statue, which holds a torch in its hand, takes a more stable, immovable stance than the woman in the painting. (OT: Perhaps they never saw Ghostbusters.)

That's one big doll!

A Photoshoot: Misaki, Poppy, Monogram

I recently acquired a maimed Pure Evil Misaki doll for a good price. I'm a sucker for curly blonde hair. She lived for a while with her broken off forearm taped to the rest of her arm during which time I hunted down a matching body. Now while I wait for her original outfit to show up, she is trying out an Azone fashion entitled Ruban de fe`ee.  There's no evil here.

 

The Bergdorf Goodman Fashion Night Out doll has finally given up her suit for a more summer friendly ensemble. This doll is a delight to photograph. Her eyes are gorgeous.

Monogram Magnificent was all too happy to grab Bergdorf's suit. I've taken her braid-wrapped bun down and just kept the pony tail. More work will have to be done...but you can't see any of that anyway so why am I telling you?
The hat is by my friend Cisca from The Netherlands.

A Captain Jack Sparrow Repaint from My Immortals

Susan sent me a link to her repaint of Tonner's Captain Jack Sparrow and when I first looked at it I thought it was a photograph of a real man! This is spectacular! Click on the image below to go to Susan's website.

Smartphone users beware!

Spotted at The Studio Commissary - Ivy and Ernesto

The Studio Commissary is a wonderful doll board to which many Gene Marshall doll lovers belong. Every day there is a vintage Hollywood image posted on the header and every week there is a theme. This week's theme is "Out of the Closet...Bring out a doll long in storage or take the time to de-box a doll this week!"

I am a great fan of Ernesto Padro Campo's photography and his post today really blew me away.

"Glammed Up Ivy comes out the winner in Madra Lord's Scarlet Temptress"

I can stare at this image forever and follow the lighting as it traces the ripples of fabric of the roses and courses down her profile and back of her neck. The doll is lit perfectly. I like to guess at the settings on the camera and how effects were created. A blurred background is created when the lens aperture is open wider creating a shallow depth of field.

Wonderful!

See more of Ernesto's fantastic photography at his flickr photostream.


You can sign up to receive a daily list of postings at the Studio Commissary. It's not just for Gene fans. Lots of us collect other dolls as well.

Grace Kelly The Romance Doll and Update on Goddess of the Galaxy from Mattel

Grace Kelly The Romance Doll looks verrrry nice. She will be available from BC.Com on 10/01/11. This is a Silkstone doll and the first new sculpt for a female Silkstone.

I love the dress and the additional ensemble.

 

Here is the full description from the BC.Com website:

When American actress Grace Kelly arrived in Monaco to marry her prince, she was the embodiment of 50's elegance and class. The exquisite Grace Kelly The Romance doll, the first new character in Silkstone®, recreates her exact outfit in amazing detail. She wears a deep navy blue coat with matching skirt and white blouse paired with classic black pumps. Her golden blonde hair is pulled back and neatly tucked under a white, wide-brimmed hat, while sunglasses shade her lovely blue eyes. A simple strand of pearls encircles her glove-covered wrist, and she carries a delicate bouquet of white violets.
She also comes with the fabulous floral print dress Miss Kelly wore when she first met her future husband at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. From an "easy to sew" pattern the actress modeled for McCall magazine, the dress features long sleeves and a tight bodice that flares out into a full skirt, and is styled with a coordinating headpiece.

So I don't see a navy skirt and white blouse. I see a navy sheath. What's it going to be? Don't you love surprises? NOT.
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Goddess of the Galaxy
She's $100. and on back order until 6/30/11 but you can order now at BC.Com. And more good news is that you can get free standard shipping on orders of $50 or higher. Free shipping expires on 7/19/11 at 11:59PM Central Time.

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While we're on the topic of shipping, our Canadian friends to the north have no postal service for two days now. The workers are on strike! I feel for collectors north of the border. Canadian mail service wasn't that great to begin with and now it's non-existent.  I hope it gets resolved soon.

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Here's an annoying factoid: Palm Beach Coral Barbie Doll that originally retailed for $150. is now on sale for $75.

But the Palm Beach Breeze Barbie which originally retailed for $74.95 has been reduced only slightly to $65.  Somehow it does not compute.

Using Fill Flash and Mattel's Gustave Klimt Barbie Doll

I love the Klimt doll! She's very pretty, the clothing is removable, her hair is cute and her arms and wrists are articulated. Unfortunately from the waist down she has no articulation and instead they opted to give us the "pose." Also, I practically slit my wrists getting her out of her box and removing all the sharp shards of clear vinyl holding her down and stuck in her head. The best price outside of using a BC.Com coupon that I could find was at shoprockcandy.com for $34.95. Of course I had to pay New York state tax but by comparison, it was the lowest price for me after the shipping ($5.95) and tax ($3.58) was added.

This doll deserves some real studio time but I took some point & shoot pics of her outside yesterday. It was a bright, sunny day as you can see. I put her on a portion of my deck railing where there is bright shade. 

Compare these identical pictures.

Flash turned off

Flash turned on

They're identical in that I did not move the doll. All I did was turn the flash on. Using flash when your background is very bright is an important technique to pick out details. Most people use an evaluative exposure setting to determine how light or dark their photo will be. I'm not going to get into that technical discussion but no matter what your exposure setting, the use of fill flash will brighten your subject, bring out the details and make it stand out against a bright background. Do not be afraid of the flash!

SALE ALERT! Radio City Rockette Trunk and The Doll Market's Weekly Web Specials

I'm signed up to receive weekly lists of specials from The Doll Market. Most of the time their prices are not all that good or the merchandise is of no interest to me.  I do love my 10" Madame Alexander Cissettes so when I saw the Radio City Rockette Trunk set offered for $99.97 the juices started flowing. What I do when presented with that type of sale is I search the internet for comparable prices. Right off the bat, Amazon.Com came up with the same doll set for $99.95 and free shipping. Doll Market loses due to the shipping differrence but I know that some of you are boycotting Amazon so, there you go.
The list price is $279.95.

Madame  Alexander Radio City Rockette Trunk Set feat. Cissette

I love trunk sets because of all the outfits and the storage trunk is usually cute as well.
Description:

10 inch vinyl fully articulated "Radio City Rockette" Cissette doll has red hair, blue eyes; she comes wearing a blue satin leotard that has crystal embellishments and fur on trim of leotard and opera gloves. A matching white hat, white choker, pantyhose and silver shoes completes this Rockettes look. This Cissette has three different outfits that come in a keepsake trunk; the other two are: a green velveteen pleated dress that has puffed sleeves, silver and crystal accents, fur trimmed hemlines and a matching festive hat. The other outfit is a slick leotard that has a flesh colored and gold laced bust attached at the bottom to the bodice that has red vertical stripes and has red tights attached. The final touches for this outfit are the gold leather shoes and a straw hat with a large white feather attached. 

Get ready for Christmas early! It's a good price and with the free shipping, it's sweeter.

Links:
 Doll Market

Amazon. Com

Couture Doll Design Challenge III Winner, Huckleberry Jackson

Faced with plenty of stiff competition by contestants in the US, Canada, Poland, Philippines, Russia and the Ukraine, the only entrant from Germany, Huckleberry Jackson,  swept several of the challenges completely. He is one seriously talented designer!


The final overall scores are presented in this chart:

  It is apparent that Jackson's muse is the FR2 doll as most of his entries used these dolls as models. 

Congratulations to Huck on this achievement.  

Watch this excellent video by Huckleberry featuring music from Star Wars and his doll fashions:

 

Click on this banner to go to the CDDC website