Picture of the Week Award ~ 9/27/09

This week's spotlight goes to Mark Harris for this photograph of his Mdvanii clone dolls made by doll artist Darrell Wallace. Their clothing and jewelry was made by the photographer.
The composition, natural lighting, posing and styling all come together to create a photograph with depth and movement.
See more of Mark's creative photography here.

Congratulations, Mark, on the Picture of the Week Award!

Fashion Police

FAIL

Treasured Antoinette wearing Sensual

I just wanted to post this picture of my Treasured Antoinette dressed in the outfit from Sensual. It's a winner and I love it!

Tonner Doll - Antoinette "Pure"

I love the list of names they've come up for Antoinette and her fashions. Look at these: Evocative, Exceptional, Extravagant, Determined, Confidential, Striking, Idyllic, Hypnotic, Symphonic, Obsessed, Dramatic, Sensual, Emphatic, Enlightened, Optimistic, Serene,
Influential, Frivolous, Sinuous, Brilliant, Posh and Prim. It's a list of pleasant feeling words to help you develop your emotional literacy! So now, if you are having difficulty describing your feelings you can turn to your Antoinette collection for help. Yay! "Believe in the power of play."

I don't think I've ever felt pure. Pure anger, yes. Pure lust, yes. But just pure, no.
Here's a part definition from Merriam-Webster's OnLine Dictionary:
3 a (1) : free from what vitiates, weakens, or pollutes (2) : containing nothing that does not properly belong b : free from moral fault or guilt c : marked by chastity : continent d (1) : of pure blood and unmixed ancestry (2) : homozygous in and breeding true for one or more characters e : ritually clean...

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The best part of Pure besides her wonderful Antoinette body and pretty face are the boots. But these are not worth $166.

The handbag is stiff and looks awkward on her arm. The shawl is just an edged piece of fabric without a lining or anything. She came with no jewelry.

What was I thinking when I ordered her? I wanted a raven-haired Antoinette.
It's depressing.

Integrity Toys' "Attention" Avantguard Doll

Chelsea's Collector Cottage exclusive Avantguard doll "Attention!" arrived yesterday. She looks exactly like the promotional pictures. The dress is cute.

Her facial screening is immaculate and I love the colors.

The shoes are cute.

The feather hat sheds on everything. (She reminds me of the Statue of Liberty in this picture.)

The wig is not made properly and the stockings had defects in them from where she was tied to the box.

I don't feel the WOW factor with this doll. Something is missing. I think this dress should have been an individually available fashion, not something for a $250. exclusive doll. It's not enough. The earrings are such a waste of time I didn't even bother. Every pair of earrings one inserts into an Avantguard head has to be snipped shorter and after I struggled to get the wig on (sort of) I wasn't about to knock it off to put two little studs into her ears.

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Every now and then I'll be playing with a doll or photographing one and I begin to wonder why I am collecting dolls. It happened today. It wasn't just about one doll, it was the cumulative effect of poor engineering and/or design of certain aspects of three of my new dolls. Why do I continue to spend hundreds of dollars on dolls whose stands don't support? In two cases, the stand didn't even fit between the doll's legs because the dress was slim-fitting. You can't tell me that this fact is not known by the designers. What do they do, shrug it off? While it's true that I don't use stands when I am photographing my dolls, I do use them to display my dolls.
Tonner's saddle stand and Integrity's Avantguard stand add a good amount of thickness to that area of the doll supported by the stand, namely the crotch and the butt. It used to be that one could hide the ugly plastic of a stand when the doll was wearing a gown or a skirt. Now that many of the styles have become short and tight that doesn't work anymore.

Robert Tonner may have been on the right track with the stand that inserted into the crotch area - at least for some dolls.

Gene as "Candied Lavender" W Club Doll

The lovely brunette Gene doll, Candied Lavender, arrived this week and she is delightful! Her hair is slick and hard. It doesn't look at all like the promotional — to the dismay of some. Personally, I like hard hair on my Gene dolls.

Her eyeshadow is lavender above the blue/gray of her eyes. All in all, her facial screening is gorgeous.

The dress is a fine example of miniature tailoring with it's lower peplum which ends at the side seams and the upper reverse gathering of fabric over the bust area. The shoes are the same fabric as that of the dress. Her hat is a wonderful little beaded creation with an odd loop of tulle which I have pinned down to create a bow. The jewelry is a very fragile-looking creation of dark-colored rhinestones surrounded by clear beads. I'm not sure of the color of the rhinestones; they might be navy blue or black. The earrings were not engineered properly - the studs are too large for the scale of the doll and stick out too far. An additional piece of jewelry is a large rhinestone pin which I have placed at the center front of the dress.

The long faux leather gloves are useless. I did try to put them on and decided it wasn't worth it. I would have liked a small beaded clutch bag instead. However, the weakest part of the outfit is the cheap-looking stole. It is the worst looking piece of faux fur ever.

Overall the doll is a real keeper.
Her price was $125. plus shipping.