Review: Carmen, Mazarine Blue Doll

Review and photographs by Miriam Shepherd. 

Carmen arrived today and she is a very interesting doll. She comes tied and sewn onto a silk pillow with another one on top and she arrived in perfect condition. The worst thing I can say about this doll is that her stand is useless. It does not hold her up. I suspect that whoever manufactured the saddle on this stand did not understand how it was supposed to be used and turned it sideways as if it was supposed to grip her waist. It doesn't. As for the doll, she is true to her publicity pictures. She has a beautifully sculpted face I think. I am not sure I am completely in love with her face paint style, but that I think is a matter of taste rather than of skill. Her wig by Ilaria is just amazing - very sexy. The body on this doll is really rather different. She has detailed chest bones and neck tendons. I think whoever sculpted her body really studied the human body. Her legs seem to have much more detailing for muscle indentations than most dolls. The aesthetic for this doll's body is for a very thin person with defined hip bones. Her rear end is very rounded at the hips but is actually rather flat in the back. She has a long torso and narrow upper torso. Her hands are pretty, not paddles. Her feet are also pretty. Because her torso is long and her hips wide, I don't think she will fit Gene clothes - the one dress I tried wouldn't go over her hips. From my few experiments, she won't fit many Avant Guard, FR16 clothes either. But she does fit Tyler clothes very nicely which is great because I have more of them than any other doll and so many of the new dolls DON'T fit Tyler well. She'll probably fit Antoinette okay too - although she has a grown up bustline, her torso is narrow so it might even out. She can get her foot in many Tyler sandals and shoes, but her arch is a bit higher. She will not fit Sybarite or JS shoes as her feet are too wide. She will be able to share shoes with Ficon, Mods, Devon though. As for wigs, she'll fit most #5/6 wigs for Tyler and Jamieshow. Her hard cap wig fit my Sasha doll nicely. I don't know if I am completely in love with this doll, but I think she's quite nice. One thing though - I notice seams on her body here and there which I never see on other resin dolls. Perhaps they needed to be sanded down more carefully? Her resin is otherwise very nice quality, smooth and nice natural color and attractively blushed. 

Thank you to Miriam for allowing me to share her review and photos with my readers. 
You can see Miriam's beautiful work at:  http://www.yumyumcouture.com

Mazarine Blue Doll — 17" Ball Jointed Fashion Doll

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Mazarine responds to Miriam's review:

Hi, Miriam!
Thank you so much for your very honest review with details :-) Really appreciate it!!

I sculpted this doll myself.
As you wrote, I expressed a lot of muscles for Victoria's Secret look.
(Wide hips are for that, too)
And I actually matched her to Tyler size.
So she can wear a lot of clothes of Tyler, but as you wrote, she cannot wear AG or thinner dolls clothes.

And about doll stand.
It doesn't hold her waist up.
It's for leaning on.
When she's wearing shoes, she can be standing on leaning on the stand.
As you can see, the pole length isn't extended.
So we made waist stand that you can use for various shoes height.
(But we also think we need to develop doll stand in future)

And about Seams.
My duplicator is very professional and he's working for big Korean bjd companies like Dollmore.
We had talked about seams many times.
He tries make less seams, but as far as we make them from silicone molds, they happen.
It's natural among usual big tanned bjds.
Sometimes we remove them with sandpaper.
but this color resin cannot be sanded because discolorations. My own prototype has them, too.

I hope this explanation helps a little.
Thank you so much for your photos and review!!

Photo of the Day by Lisa @ Every Day A Dollie

Summer's coming to a very quick end. Here in PA it's mostly overcast and about 30 degrees colder than last week. Crazy weather is something that I've come to expect.
Lisa in PA has provided her blog's subscribers a lovely, final glimpse of summer in a blog post called Go Outside And Play.

"Hot Dots" Poppy Parker

I just love the dog toy being used as a tube.

Read the rest of this post and check out Lisa's excellent doll photography at this link:

Every Day A Dollie

Huguette Clark's Doll Collection "Empty Mansions"

http://emptymansionsbook.com/

Little could entice copper mining heiress Huguette Clark out of her solitary life in a vast Fifth Avenue apartment, except her love of dolls.
The recluse, who died childless at the age of 104, had a collection of china dolls, and perfectly scaled houses and accessories for them, believed to be worth more than $2 million.
And, although she was seldom seen in public, Ms Clark would come out of her lavish apartment if it meant adding to the collection. 
In their book, Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr. reveal how the heiress attended a Christian Dior fashion show - to search for doll's clothes.

Madrid Fashion Doll Exclusive JamieShow "TOREADORA" Grace

A most beautiful Jamieshow Grace was presented in Madrid at the Fashion Doll event. She is LE 25 and is priced at $450.
I love the gold eye shadow,  red lips and raven hair.  It looks like the wig cap is a long pony tail. It's an excellent look for this resin BJD.

 

Available at Jamieshow Doll

No Surprise Here: IDEX 2014 is Cancelled

Those who have been involved or who have attended IDEX received this letter today:

IDEX 2014 CANCELED

The collectible doll and teddy bear trade show IDEX Premiere has been canceled for 2014 and will discontinue all show operations moving forward. While we have enjoyed working with the doll and teddy bear industry over the last decade, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the show and all of its related events and workshops.

 

IDEX, a trade show dedicated to the celebration of dolls, teddy bears, toys and collectible playthings, ran without interruption for twenty-two years. Held in cities all over the country, most recently in Orlando, Florida, IDEX was for many years the premiere place to see what trends and developments were to come in the industry, meet and mingle with fellow collectors, and learn crafting skills at a myriad of workshops. While we are sad to see IDEX come to an end, we have a wealth of great memories and personal friendships that will stay with us for a lifetime. 

 

In closing, we would like to thank all of the artists, exhibitors, manufacturers, buyers and collectors who made IDEX a vibrant and exciting environment for more than two decades. We wish you all the best.

 

Sincerely,

 

Susan Fitzgerald

Vice President, IDEX

 

What we saw last April, was a huge decrease in attendance of larger manufacturers such as Madame Alexander.  I had not attended the prior two years but three years ago, the showroom floor was a bustling area with more than one could take in in a day. This time it was downright boring. Except for 4 or 5 booths, little was worth the time and/or effort to look at. 

It is entirely possible that part of the demise of IDEX is due to the changed date from winter to spring. February is Toy Fair in New York. January has been the month to attend IDEX. And the hotel change was a mistake as well. I loved the Rosen Shingle Creek. In a blog post created on 9/26/10, I describe the hotel.

Soon all business will be conducted without talking to a real human in person. That's what's 'trending.'

Lawn Has Weeds

She arrived today. I love her fashion. It's better than it looks in the promos. But I am very disappointed because she has several defects. There is a yellow streak of paint on her neck. It's not a small amount either. There are also a few scratches on her torso which I examined after I found the paint.

I sent an email to the appropriate folks at Superfrock and I attached 6 large photo close-ups of the problems. The test of customer service will make it's results shown tomorrow if they do not answer right away. They ask to be notified in 24 hours if there is a problem. I expect a reply within the same amount of time. Honestly, the only answer I will be happy with is a new body. They can have the damaged one picked up and send me another.