JAMIEshow Convention - Gene Marshall 20th Anniversary

I haven't come down to earth yet!
I didn't take a camera other than my iPhone along so you will have to put up with less than gorgeous shots. Later on I will shoot Gene "Black Lipstick" and give her the attention she truly deserves.
This post will feature mostly photos I took of dolls (really?) in the "museum" which showcased most  prior Jamieshow releases and the new basic dolls soon to be available.
Please click on the photos to see large versions.

In the museum:

 I missed getting photos of Madra, Phoenix and Trent.

The New Basic Jamieshow Line is due to arrive in July, 2015. Pre-orders were taken. Dolls are $400. each.

Companion Dolls were $475.
Madra

Oona

Violet

Trent

Ayal Armon's Collection

Limited Edition

 One-of-a-Kind

Wig Caps

Ayal's Workshop

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Everyone who signed up got to choose their convention souvenir - either the 20th Anniversary Gene or a Fifth Anniversary Jamieshow doll.

The presentation began with a series of clips from Lauren Bacall's movies and then the Lauren doll was revealed. She came in two different color dresses.
At first I did not look upon her favorably. I thought she was very harsh looking although there was a good resemblance to Lauren Bacall.

Since then I have seen her in different wigs and she is an excellent likeness when there's softness added. As can be seen in this beautiful photo by JinCincy.

And then the BIG shock came when George showed "Black Lipstick." I knew it was going to be something special but I never expected this gorgeous creature.
There are a few who own the original Grey Lady and they are not happy with this new version as they say they were told theirs would never be made again. I think if I paid a premium for a doll that I believed would never be reproduced, I'd be pissed, too. 

Mike posted this original magazine picture of the Charles James' gown upon which Black Lipstick's fashion is based.

If you don't know the back story of the original and only vinyl Grey Lady produced by Integrity Toys...
Gene appeared in many black and white films. This doll was made to look as if she came right out of a black and white movie.
It's obvious that someone on the manufacturing end chose the wrong color for her hair, unfortunately, and she did not come in just shades of gray. 
There were very few of them made (20 or so) and they were part of a design contest. They were then auctioned off for the benefit of ? Integrity Toys? 

A friend loaned me his vinyl Grey Lady for a shoot a few years ago:

I will do two more posts on this event. One will be our experience in Chicago outside of the hotel and the convention events themselves.

The other will be photos of Black Lipstick. I'm gonna need a lot of energy because I've already pulled several outfit changes for her to model. I'm so tired but she is so interesting and I do feel motivated. This hasn't happened in a long, long time.

Integrity Toys 2015 Spring Collection

On Saturday, May 16th, Alain Tremblay, Carol Roth, David Buttry and Vaughn Sawyer worked the eager, tuned-in masses of the W Club with the introduction of the new dolls. It was noted that these are not all the 2015 dolls. Roth gushed over the fact that this is the 10th Anniversary of the W Club and the 20th Anniversary of Integrity Toys.

First up is the new Katy Keene line that I was so looking forward to. It was a little disappointing to hear that they used the Color Infusion/Jem Body. A larger busted, more curvy body would have been perfect for a doll from this era. As far as re-using existing sculpts, why not make the doll look like Katy Keene? All that work put in to a new line and for what?
I would have bought the entire line; as it was, I pre-ordered only "Blue Serenade" and "Shimmering Dynasty."

I love the suits on Lorelei and Gloria but not the dolls so much. The Jem sculpt leaves me cold.

Lucky Red Lorelei  Jem sculpt
"Winning Number" LE 425 

Gloria Grandbuilt  Tilda Brisby sculpt
"The Odds Are Stacked" LE 500

Katy Keene Sculpt: Jem 'Rapture' and Darby Kenner
"Blue Serenade" LE 500
Evening gown adapted from the comic itself.

Katy Keene
"Shimmering Dynasty" LE 500
Black holographic sequin gown lots of jewelry.

 
Katy Keene
"Everything's Keene" LE 500  Gift Set

Prices of the Katy Keene were $145. per dressed doll and $185. for the gift set.
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Vaughn Sawyer introduced the FR 16 line. 

He said his inspiration was "Strong, independent, powerful women, classic clothing, timeless fashion." I think in most cases he achieved that. For me, the handbags were the highlight of this particular line and the toned-down eye makeup. He explained that it's not airbrushed but they attempted a style to resemble airbrushing.
My favorite outfit was Fall Phenomenon. Exuberance was a crowd favorite.
I didn't order any of the FR16.

"Super Natural" Anais McKnight DD LE400  $175.

 
 "Incognito" Elsa Lin DD LE400  $175.

"Fall Phenomenon" Elsa Lin DD LE400 $175.

"Shades of Grey" Hanne Erickson DD LE 400  $175.

"Exuberance" Hanne Erickson DD   LE 400  $200.

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Poppy Parker  The Model Scene Collection  Later 60's
Inspiration: (David Buttry) Diana Vreeland's Fashion Models
I don't collect Poppy Parker but I think this collection is quite successful and I preordered three from this line! Had I been a collector I would have ordered three more. Spring Song was surprising for it's unusual character role that Poppy plays. It's my least favorite. My overall favorite is The Camera Loves Her. I love the era she portrays and the fashion is adorable. The black Poppy Parker "Midas Touch" is very pretty and her outfit is also adorable. And then I couldn't resist Nigel because of his cool jacket. I have a great group of Hommes in my FR collection and he will definitely add another dimension.


"Go See!" LE750   $120

"Spring Song" LE800  $120
Romantic Edwardian look 

"The Camera Loves Her" LE 800   $120  

"Hippie Dippy" mini giftset LE 700
IT direct exclusive $130.

"The Midas Touch"  LE 600  $120
Poppy Parker DD  AA skintone

"Wedding Belle"  LE900  $120

"Out of this World"  LE 900   $120

"Peace, Love and Soul" LE 500   $120
Darla Daley 

"Hot Shot"  LE 600  $120
Nigel North   New Sculpt

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Vaughn Sawyer
Fashion Royalty designers met with Jason who suggested debs and socialites of the early 60's.

"Style Notes" Isha LE 700 $135.
Sleek and sophisticated.

"Prestige" Natalia  LE 700  $135.
Nice suit but the hat is a jarring accessory. 

 "Decorum" Eugenia LE800  $135.

"Refinement" Vanessa 3.0 LE 800   $145.
Under the coat is a smart black skirt and shirt.

"Fine Print" Elise Jolie LE800  $145.
I love the fashion. I wish the hairstyle were more interesting.

"Fame Fable" Kyori Sato  LE 700   $135.

"Timeless" Adele Makeda (3.0)  LE700  $135.
Disastrous color dress for this doll. The gown is very Disney Princess.

"Perfect Reign" Tatyana Alexandrova (2.0)  LE 700  $135.
Beautiful Tatyana. I've never seen her look better.

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"Royal Treatment" Veronique - cream skin tone  $225.
Special Event Doll Gift Set

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For a great visual comparison of Integrity Toy's female bodies, Michaela Unbenau's Flickr page has pictures.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelaunbehau/8181878391

New Service: Replacement Resin Ball-Jointed Bodies

Dalila Meece posted about replacement body service she is offering to collectors on Prego. I was intrigued so I asked her to talk a bit about her doll background and work.

... he is my own design. About four years ago I was doing mostly repaints, outfits and shoes of all sorts for mostly Tonner size dolls.  I was thinking one day how cool it would be to design my own.  I had never tried it before and it looked like a good challenge.  So I set my mind to it and created my own doll. After a couple of tries along came my guy.

 I really wanted to create a doll that I thought others would enjoy. be more inter-changeable, and have more maneuverability than Tonner's  Matt.  Over the past year I have made some small adjustments to him, including a total of seven different facial sculpts.  I designed him so that a person could interchange his sculpt with ease depending on what they wanted to do with him and the mood.

When Maril asked me if my doll's body would fit a Tonner Matt or Sean head. I leaped at the chance to find out if it would work or not. Matching the skin tones was a little tedious but once I got it right I made sure to write down the recipe for it.

Tonner Head on Resin Body

My doll background came from my hubby's aunt. She loved dolls and when we would go visit her I would get lost in her world of dolls.  I never really collected dolls myself, but have always wanted to. Part of me loves the fact that when I create something, thank goodness I got my father's artistic genes, it will go to someone who loves it so much. What had started in 2005 as just a part-time venture to help supplement our family has turned out to be a larger and much more rewarding small business.

I have attached some pictures of my BJD, repaints and fashions.  Much more pics are here http://daliladolls.deviantart.com/gallery/

 Dalila on the replacement body:

It took me a while to figure out the coloring cocktail but when I did figure it out, I thought it matched well. I used my BJD's body for the project. One thing I did notice is that in natural daylight it matched perfectly, but sometimes under electric lighting it looked a different shade, but not off that much. I think it is just how the lighting reflected it.
The neck size is a perfect match for Matt heads and the body is made to wear Matt size clothes and shoes.
If anyone is interested in something like this please let me know. It is $300 plus shipping.

 There are so many female BJDs out there but the males are few and far between.  Some of Tonner's men would really benefit from one of Dalila's hunky bodies!

You can contact Dalila directly at daliladolls@hotmail.com.

My Ficon Gals and Brunel Visit the Parlor

I finally finished repainting Caroline's Parlor. It was not fun but definitely worth it in the end.
I used two shades of gray matte finish and semi-gloss white paint.
The window seat cushion is just temporarily wrapped in a scrap of upholstery fabric. I need to make a well fitted cover for that. The curtains will have to go as well. I'd like something more formal.
For the picture over the mantel I printed out several Matisse pictures I found on the internet and picked the one that I liked the best to go in this frame. I attached it to the wall using self-stick velcro squares.
My window view is the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. I loved it because of the cherry blossoms in the foreground in spite of the fact that there is no building that would have this view at this scale.

Furniture is Horsman. The fluffy white rugs are an Integrity Toy's product from long ago. 

The big issue with using a set with lots of verticals is perspective distortion. There are tilt-shift lenses that can automatically correct for this. I don't have one so I attempt to do the correction in Photoshop.

http://digital-photography-school.com/correcting-perspective-lens-distortion-in-photoshop/

http://www.photographyblog.com/articles/why_you_dont_need_a_tilt-shift_lens/


Brunel wanted to show off her new Chanel handbag

so she invited the Ficons for a parlor warming party. They don't get along very well.

It's not your turn to hold him yet. Go away.

Where's the food?

They all wanted to play with the dog; he was the hit of the party. No one paid attention to Brunel or the new parlor at all.

They finally left and Brunel got the puppy all to herself.

 The End of a dumb story.

First 2015 W Club Exclusive Multi-Headed Poppy

The first 2015 W Club exclusive doll has been announced. She is called "Mood Changers" and is a Popppy Parker Gift Set.

Many of you know that I do not collect Poppy dolls. I do, however, try to be neutral in my approach to reviewing them.  My first impression was that this was a very cool set for Poppy collectors. The three looks are very different from each other with no connection or theme. My second and third look changed my opinion.
The pink and silver is a Barbie-disco look. I would dress Barbie in it for sure. The 70's pantsuit is not something I'd put on a doll. It's too much of a costume—all kitsch and no class. The dress and bolero jacket are more classic and sophisticated.

This set comes with three interchangeable heads and three outfits. For $160. plus shipping, that's not  bad. Is it? Not if you love her. I don't know if the extra heads can be put onto other bodies but that would be really cool.

Here's the description from the ad:

"Poppy's first look is an elegant party dress in black satin with silver and black organza overlay. Glittering jewelry, a matching bolero jacket and black hose and shoes complete this "Jazzy" ensemble. Her hair is in a side swept low bun in a lovely shade of auburn and her makeup is in smoky shades of gray."

"The second look is a delicate lace pantsuit in a vision of sea foam. Satin trim details finish off this lovely look on Poppy. Her side parted raven wavy hair accentuates her stunning makeup in complementary shades of sea foam."

"The last look is a stunning pale pink mini dress with silver sequin trim. It's out there and it's fun! Completing the look is a smashing hairstyle in a subtle shade of lilac and pink makeup making for over the top goodness!"

 The accessories are minimal:

 They could have thrown in another pair of shoes and an evening bag for the black ensemble—a scarf for the pantsuit (instead of the stand collar) or a little hat or maybe disco booties. But that's the way things are now.

I'm pretty much done with companies that take deposits and don't produce a doll for months. I want to see the finished product before I lay down the funds. Read the following:

"Each gift set is made especially for you and the number of gift sets manufactured is based directly on the number of pre-orders we receive. So, for that reason, there are no cancellations and pre-order deposits cannot be refunded.
Please note that by pre-ordering this exclusive W Club item, you are agreeing to abide by these conditions."

So, give them your money and no matter what, you are paying. It's rare that IT dolls vary greatly from the promos. There are often slight variations but my preference is to pay for a doll and get her soon after.

There are so many members of the W Club at this point that no doll is truly exclusive anymore. IMO an edition of 50 or more is not exclusive. 
 

What do you think?