I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Neurotica

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

by Maya Angelou

Reminiscing

In a recent post, I commented that I really like several of the Fashion Royalty outfits from the last two years. I also mentioned that I purchased another Pale Fire Vanessa because my original was altered (by myself) and I wanted the original again.

I was going to sell the altered version but...yesterday, her head was affixed to an FR2 body and I dressed her in (most of) World on a String Eugenia's outfit and she's staying.  I say "most of" because the shoes do not fit on the FR2 body. I hate that.

Pale Fire Vanessa - Altered Version (Not that you can really tell anyway.)

 It's interesting that as I look back on dolls I may have altered, the originals often start to look better and better. Of course, some are still "what were they thinking dolls" but apparently my tastes change from year to year.

When I think about the dolls from the first FR convention I ever attended in Toronto, I think of how I did not like Gliteratti Veronique's hair or Intoxicating Mix Vanessa's hair. Gliteratti was the first re-root I ever did by myself and I had IM's done for me. I wish I had the originals now, especially Vanessa. I have repurchased her fashion (more than once) and at one time I had an extra NRFB.
Sigh. Easy come; easy go. I won (!) her at a convention when Jason chose one of my photographs as the winner in the contest. Those were the days.

Re-rooted Gliteratti Veronique

Original Gliteratti

Re-rooted Intoxicating Mix Vanessa

Intoxicating Mix - Original Hairstyle. Mattel's "My Fair Lady" pink frilly items.

So now that I am reminiscing over past dolls, there are two dolls I regret selling, one is High Gloss Agnes and the other is Spectacular, Spectacular Eugenia. They were both wonderful to photograph. In fact, I used SS Eugenia for a feature article I did in FDQ back then.

High Gloss Agnes

Spectacular, Spectacular Eugenia

I used to get every single Fashion Royalty doll that was produced except for those that were made for special people like the Saks 5th Avenue Agnes. I don't even know anyone who has her. 

I'm very happy with the dolls I have. When I'm not, they get voted off the island.

2013 W Club Membership

2013 W Club  Kyori Sato Love The One

Burberry-Prorsum

It's nice to know that they are keeping the membership fee to $50 for another year. There are two optional "upgrade" dolls one can choose to purchase.
Shown above is the Kyori called "Love The One..." I think the cape makes her look imprisoned because it is too long. I'm not a fan of the Burberry-Prorsum either but it looks like the model could move her arms if she chose.

The other doll is Poppy Parker dressed as a 1965 World's Fair guide. Pretty much everyone agreed that she looks like an airline hostess. It's not the most attractive presentation of Poppy we've seen.

To The Fair Poppy Parker Dressed Doll

Lufthansa uniforms from 1938 to 1979.

I'm not planning on getting either one but I am going to join again. I just hope it's not a waste of money since I really do not collect most of their dolls any longer but I do like a lot of the clothes.

And, if we're lucky, they'll come out with a decent FR2 that is not a horse-faced Tatyana or slutty-looking Ayumi.
 
Harsh, I know, but diplomacy is not uppermost in my mind tonight. I have had an allergic reaction to a sample from Sephora and it's around both my eyes. I want to rub but must not.

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Inamorata Mirrorball by Emlia Nieminen

Today's email from Haute Doll stated:

"The long wait is finally over: the INAMORATA doll line was revealed in an exclusive article by Jill Jackson on the Haute Doll January 2013 issue. Get your HD issue on stores now or order eletronically!"

That was very intriguing news as Emilia has been sending out teasers for a while. Well, the dolls look like they are going to be quite wonderful. No information on pricing was available. They are 16" polyurethane resin BJDs with 20 points of articulation. Emilia states that they were designed to look as good undressed as dressed.

Here are pictures of the OOAK that Emilia shows on her Flickr Site that will be auctioned off at IDEX in a few months.

In my opinion, Emilia is one of the most talented persons in the doll world. She says that these dolls are the realization of her life-long dream. I think it's a supreme, creative achievement and I am looking forward to seeing these dolls in the hands of collectors.
 
 If you wish to see more images and read Emilia's artist statement you will need to get the Haute Doll digital edition.

2012 - It was a very good year.

In this final 2012 post, I look back over the last 12 months to find what I've actually kept out of the hordes of dolls and doll items that I purchased.

My doll collecting has changed dramatically over the course of the last two years. I started adding Sybarites and other 16" resin BJDs to my collection and continued thinning my 12" doll army. I've focused more on adding more clothing for all my dolls and filled in a few Tonner dolls, outfits and props that I've wanted. I scored 7 Cholo Ayuyao gowns and dresses. I've switched many of my favorite 'older' dolls to new FR2 bodies.

The biggest mistake purchases were impulse buys consisting of mostly Mattel products, not including Silkstones, although I was disappointed with many of the 2012 Silkies. The Monster Highs and several dressed vinyl Barbies were momentary goodies which added nothing of substance to my collection. I wasted a little money on outfits made by other collectors which did not live up to my expectations.  Ultimately, I was surprised at how many dolls I purchased and didn't keep or traded for something else.

Moving was time consuming and very disorienting and I'm just now starting to see a tiny crack of light at the end of a long tunnel.

Instead of posting 'normal' photos of my favorites, I have made Instagram pictures of some of them. Why? Because they're cool, it's fun and I'm bored with normal pictures. 

Sybarites and their fashions played a large part in my collection this year.
Vapore:

Domina:

Neurotica: (Redressed/Rewigged) Actually, she's not dressed at all. She is holding the shrug from a gorgeous SybMonde exclusive fashion, Rosa Gloriosa. Wig by Cheryl Wood. I added several of her wigs this year.

Domina modeling Rosa Gloriosa

Fidele's Fashion. No doll :-( just the outfit-for now.

Venetian modeled by Toxica.

Speed modeled by Talc. It's an older fashion but new for me.

JamieShow
JamieShow Alejandro and the Jamieshow outfit from the Prohibition Event in Canandaigua. He is my first and only male resin BJD and definitely a keeper.

Image by George Gonzalez

Tonner
Tonner's new Precarious sculpt and fashions designed for her were big hits IMO. I purchased two of the dolls and several of the outfits.

Swing Time Fashion (This is not Precarious modeling. It is a TDLM doll)

 

Precarious "Party Girl"

Neo Tokyo from the Freedom For Fashion line

Simplicity Antoinette

Ghost of Christmas Past an older Tonner Re-Imagination doll.

Ficon

"Leonie" (Redressed)

That's it for the big dolls. It feels like there should be more because all of my Tonner's were the first dolls to be packed along with my Gene Marshall dolls. They were packed for almost one year by the time I was able to get them back out of their boxes and into showcases. Many seem new to me all over again. I can stare at the dolls and love each and every one of them. Unloved dolls find new homes.

Integrity Toys' Fashion Royalty, FR2
This is a little more complicated to show as I added very few complete dolls this year from IT's lineups. I kept more fashions than dolls. I even purchased an older Vanessa NRFB so I could have an unaltered version.

Pale Fire Vanessa

I may have mentioned previously that there seems to be a disconnect in the design team. By that I mean that someone in there is a really bad designer and that would be the person that designed most of the recent convention's outfits. That was the worst collection I've ever seen.  However, during the year there were some gorgeous fashions worthy of the name Fashion Royalty. 

I liked both of the convention's FR2 dolls but Dasha's outfit was less than stellar. Elise was totally gorgeous.

Escapism Elise

Infallible Dasha redressed in VJohn

Of the other three FR2 dolls released in 2012, it was mainly the fashions that interested me.
Tatyana's red dress.

Nouveau Regime Tatyana

I finally broke down (like that's difficult) and purchased Opium Ayumi. Her outfit looks better in person than in pictures.

Opium Ayumi

My favorite fashions all year were Main Attitude Adele Makeda's suit

Integrity Toys' Photo

Your Kind of Model Kesenia's outfit

Modeled by re-rooted True  Royalty

Monogram Admiration's suit

Integrity Toys' Photo

 My favorite dressed Monogram was Allure

Integrity Toys' Photo

From the Victoire Roux line, I kept only the outfit from Place Vendome. Vanesssa looks stunning in it.

These outfits are keepers. Now if I could find the perfect male doll to wear them. These four photos are all Integrity Toys' images.

Silkstone "Walking Suit" was my favorite new Silkie.

Favorite new prop is Byers' Choice Caroler Display Accessory.

There is more but you are probably snoring already.

Companies have to stop going backwards with the quality and appearance of their products. When this happens, the perceived value drops and collectors will search out other items.