Dolly Plans... revisited

So it's nearing the end of the year. I don't plan to buy any more dolls, but I thought I'd reflect on the complete lack of plans that I managed to adhere to and how many dolls have been bought/started to have been bought this year. Remembering that I only planned really to buy 2 dolls this year - Argus and Magnus. As you will read, that plan kind of fell apart rather fast...

BTW: when Fairyland releases its Minifee gift and if its a good one, I will participate in it, but not until after Christmas - just before the end of the event most likely. I'll try to space it out as much as I possibly can.

So to the count down...

I have given bodies to seven dolls (* at this point their body has not arrived):

1. Mati
2. Hyperion
3. Bellona Lua
4. Sirona
5. Caesair
6. Vulcan*
7. Theia*

I have picked up 12 new dolls: (*At this point has not arrived)

1. Nemain
2. Magnus
3. Angelu
4. Anubis
5. Argus
6. Janus
7. Cassius
8. Violet
9. Li Na
10. Seth*
11. Nephthys*
12. Corvinus*

And I have picked up a number of floating heads:

1. Arawn
2. Delf Juri 05
3. Hades
4. Poseidon
5. Zeus
6. Veja*

And I had to sadly, say goodbye to my reshelled Arum, and have placed one more doll on layaway to arrive in the next year... a SOOM Shoshon (still unnamed... 2 votes Augustus, 1 vote Pallus).

By the end of the year (anticipating that the shipping on Corvinus comes through and he, plus Seth, Nephthys, Vulcan's body and Theia's all arrive before Dec 31) I would imagine the list will look like this:

At home:

1. Morrigan
2. Magnus
3. Marcheline
4. Sirona
5. Nemain
6. Caesair
7. Argus
8. Corvinus
9. Bellona Lua
10. Vulcan
11. Janus
12. Violet
13. Cassius
14. Ianthe
15. Icarus
16. Ares
17. Li Na
18. Isis
19. Osiris
20. Ma'at
21. Anubis
22. Seth
23. Nephthys
24. Angelu
25. Hyperion
26. Theia
27. Persephone
28. Mati

Floating heads:

1. Arawn
2. Delf Juri 05
3. Hades
4. Poseidon
5. Zeus
6. Veja

With one on layaway:

1. Yet unnamed - SM Shoshon

So what is the plan next year going to look like? Who knows! I only really have 2 planned purchases for 2011 - the Shoshon, who technically I started to pay off this year and Sol Invictus, who will most likely be placed on layby within the Event time before Jan 31 2011.

Watch this space... who knows what's going to be released in dolly terms? I'm already planning a Feeple65 body for Arawn, and possibly another Feeple65 girl body for another Lishe head...

Need votes...

My newest boy needs a name...

1. Lucius
2. Pallus
3. Ignatius
4. Augustus...

Any votes anyone?

For the questions... yes, I mean the Shoshon.

Marathons...

Need to rock through an update I think... hold onto your hats as a few things have happened since I last did so!

We left off with the entrance of Cassius, my darling little Silt and I was anticipating the arrival of Violet. And well... there have been a few things going on since then.



Violet



Violet has arrived in all her arrogant evilness, and on the same day both Li Na and Arum were also delivered.

I have no regrets with Violet, she looks simply fantastic and her outfit just surprised me no end – the detail is as good as Angelu’s and the stockings are simply incredible. She made her place fairly promptly, and has been showing off with how easy she is to photograph and how good she looks.



Li Na



There was no such fanfare (or photostories) with Arum and Li Na. As they arrived in a rather large delivery box along with another two SDs and three dragon babies (including LillyKitten’s Odina, Sheng and Meiling), and LillyKitten, as the dealer, had to check them, I had to wait for her box.



Arum



Arum was all I thought she was and she was quickly dressed and had some quality time with her master. Li Na was beautiful – with some great default blushing and a gorgeous little outfit, even though it took a while to figure out which way it went on!!

I also received my prize from when Morrigan won the modelling competition at SMASH 2010 in Sydney, which were the default outfits for two of the newer Dollzone girls – the Tulip and the Stranionium. I had a quick search through them, and was happily surprised by the detail – the feathers, the material... it just blew me away!

Unfortunately, after her first photo shoot, I started to realise that Arum had to leave. I had organised a swop with another girl for a Delf Juri and I was originally getting another Clovera which would have been part of the swop (yes, I know, two Cloveras!!).

But, I finally made the difficult descision to send Arum to her new home and owner in NSW. Her outfit has been tucked away for when I save up enough to get her again, but never fear, she will most definitely be back!

However, this opened yet another door!

I had originally organised the swop for the Delf Juri for the beautiful Type 1 White Skin body she had, which I was hoping was the infamous Beauty Green. This would mean one of two things – either Nemain, my startlingly green girl who was residing on an Angel of Dream body would get a proper Delf body, or Caesair, my Elf Lishe head would get a body. (for the discussion about the beauty green and some more info about Caesair, please trundle over to Lished.)



Caesair



It turned out that the body was just a normal White Skin and matched Caesair rather than Nemain. I can’t say I mind much, it means that I now have four big Lishes, and no Lishes waiting around for a body (except for Nemain, who I still planned to try and find a greenish body).

That changed the doll planner – for once instead of adding dolls to the list, I actually took one doll off! That’s right, I went BACK! Arum has been placed back on the wait/save list, while Caesair was moved up into her spot on the planner.

I was feeling satisfied with myself.

Was.

Then suddenly I heard about a new development at Cerberus Project... the new Feeple65. I was definitely exited, I had asked for an A-line Feeple as a part of the survey which had been carried out earlier in the year. I admit that I really wasn’t expecting them to produce anything like that – it seems not many people buy the Feeple, but I wanted to try all the same.

... CP has made an A-line, muscular Feeple and a really nice girl as well. Damn them. And considering the latest shot of the beautiful scar arm on the girl... damn. I can see some Fairyland Christmas spending and another Lishe – hopefully that will go easily onto the new 65cm body with a scar arm.

(watch this space for more ranting at Fairyland since there is more than two new dolls on the list for the coming Event)

And that of course is not all... is it ever?

I have been safe from SOOM for a little while now. Since they bought out the Tuff, I haven’t particularly wanted anything.

Now they’ve released the Shoshon. A Mega Gem – I’ve wanted one since the Monzo. I was happy with letting him go (although it’s always tempting to get one second hand because I LOVE that face). However now that I know that SOOM will allow 5 and 6 month layaways, I think I’ve just been SOOMed for the 4^th time. Yes. Fourth.



Shoshon



Those I’m waiting for? I have this sneaking suspicion DDE hasn’t been honest with me and my Pukifee are currently at their shop. I’m waiting for Seth and Nephthys to complete the Pukifee Army (for now....) and am about to start bellowing at them to dig them out and actually tell me they’re there!

I’m also waiting for a GO – which includes Vulcan’s body, a body for Theia and Veja’s face. I’m hoping it will come soon, I’m already more than frustrated with the entire GO.

Plus, I have a SOOM Tuff on layaway – I was blackmailed into it. I wasn’t going to buy him until LillyKitten told me that she would buy the second head and a Dark Cheshire if I bought Violet and the Tuff.

She’s an enabler. My Tuff’s name is Corvinus, while hers will be Julius.

Watch this space... its coming up to Event time and who knows what will happen next?

It has been awhile since I properly updated Softskin Tales. Many things have happened since I last updated and I would like to bring all those who read this back up to date with the developments in my resin family.

I last explored the wonderful feeling of “on shipping” with my Soom Silt, Cassius having his status changed. Cassius has since arrived (and I did mean to post about it), along with my friend’s Soom Keny.



The Soom family - Aurelius (Keny), Magnus, Cassius (Silt), Dorian and Lalana.



But what has brought me here is two other developments – I discovered earlier this week that DDE had received my Pipos Dark Alice, Violet, and I paid her shipping (she is currently flying somewhere above the Pacific on her way home); and the Dollzone order which includes Arum and Li Na is also on shipping, somewhere out of China.

I crossed my fingers to receive Violet before the weekend, but since she hasn’t landed yet, that might not be a possibility. I keep randomly checking the tracking and nothing has updated yet...

I don't think they travel on strength of will unfortunately.

So that's all so far...

well, except for some more changes to the Planned doll list and Dollzone releasing something ELSE that looks good...

On Shipping

Are there any better words in the doll community? When the script or email tells you that your long wait for your doll has ended? As most in the doll community know, a wait for a doll can be anywhere from 2 months – for the quickest; to 6 months – on the rare occasions. You never forget how many dolls you have incoming – most doll collectors will be able to reel off the dolls that they are waiting for.

I am waiting for:

·         Cassius – a SOOM Silt

·         Arum (Mk II) – A Dollzone Clovera

·         Li Na – A female Dragon Event baby

·         Vulcan’s body - FL MNF A-line muscular

·         Veja’s face – PukiPuki Sugar

·         Theia’s body - Pukipuki

·         Seth – PKF Ante

·         Nepthys – PKF Luna

·         Violet – Pipos Dark Alice

·         Corvinus – SOOM Tuff

And I got the beautiful news just yesterday that my Soom Silt, Cassius, was on SHIPPING!

I almost squealed. I didn’t (I’m not really that kind of person), but it’s that kind of feeling when you get a shipping notice. A squee moment.

You can also have the same type of Squee moments for other doll owners... especially when its dolls that you are getting or want to get. SOOM MD waiting threads (once the shipping notices come out) are endless squee sessions, especially for that first doll!

A girl on DoA has eagerly announced that her PKF Luna, one of the first Lunas out, has shipped. Everyone wants to know what the new Luna looks like in owner pics (one of the true measures of a dolls sculpt...).

Shipping simply is the best moment for anyone... knowing that your doll is flying on its way home...

I will however confess that I have never been (so far) a victim of the dreaded customs invoice monster that so many are. None of my dolls have ever sat in Customs at the Melbourne airport for longer than an hour. Quite often they only stay in there for about 20 minutes. (I love the fact that we are super strict on customs, and they don't charge for anything that is listed as costing as less than $1000... but then my Chalco didn't incur customs charges either.)

Watch this space... Cassius is in the air and could be home before the end of the week!

New arrivals and other things...

So first things first - new arrivals.

I originally wasn't going to purchase a Chic-line during the release event period, even though they had a Lishe there and she was added to my list... (for more information about my Lishe... issues... check out Lished) but that was before I found out about the Event items.

As I have talked about before in a previous blog post, I have a small addiction to Fairyland's Breakaways and of course Fairyland had to release a Little Fee or L-line Breakaway faceplate for the new Chic line Event. I attempted to buy one second hand and placed a want to buy in the DoA Marketplace and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

It came towards the end of the Event time and no one was selling the Event faceplates. Especially not the Breakaway. That made me a little worried and my new character - Hades, peeved off. So, in order to get a Breakaway, I took down my Want To Buy and instead placed a fullset El on layaway at DDE.

(Of course if you read the other post, you would know I managed to pick up two more Breakaway faceplates in the mean time).

However, I got a shipping notice for my El over a week ago, which of course was exciting, Janus and Hades were on their way home! They buzzed around for a while on a plane and landed on Monday, and were delivered yesterday morning.

I have had a few problems with Janus however.

When I unpacked him, his eyelashes looked strange... (I apologise for the blurriness of the image). One wasn't correctly stuck down and was plastered all over his eyebrows but the other seemed ok.

Unfortuantely his funny eyelash dropped off when I was dressing him, so I ripped the second off as well.  The other thing was his wig. I couldn't get it on! Now I've had small wigs before, both Osiris and Anubis have wigs that won't go over a wig cap and stretch on over their heads. I tried this with Janus, but his wig continued to simply "pop" off. There was not enough stretch in it to properly stretch over his head!

So my brand new boy is wigless for the moment until I find a suitable (and small enough) wig for him.

He did of course bring Hades with him, but that boy is still in his plastic bag until I take him out to take photos of him with his two brothers Zeus and Poseidon. Hades' wig still hasn't arrived, along with Magnus' and I'm more than slightly annoyed as two orders that I have made since I ordered Hades and Magnus' wigs (containing Poseidon and Faustus' wigs and one for a wig for Zeus) have arrived no problems!

The other things... well, I think a photo will explain it all...

And yes.... that is all of them, both mine and LillyKitten's! We'll of course be redoing it by the end of the year, as there are a number of incomings that aren't here yet... should be interesting to find the room to do it when everything is organised!

The new arrivals include - 3 SDs - my Dollzone Clovera, and Lilly's Resinsoul Ai and Dollzone Helen; 2 MNF - Vulcan and Gallagher; 3 Yos - my Soom Silt and Dark Alice, and Lilly's Soom Keny; 3 Pukifee - my Luna and Ante and Lilly's Luna; and 2 more Multihead pukis, one for each of us...

Plus there's always a possibilty (thanks Soom) for another MSD...

the Tale of Argus

When I first started collecting BJDs, I created a character called Argus. He was originally supposed to be encased in an Iplehouse Ryan and was to be my next purchase after my Pukifee Zoe.

I think this is best encapsulated in my DoA signature pics of the time. Argus features for the first couple of signatures as I saved for him... and he was placed further and further back in the line as other dolls popped to the top.



First DoA sig - Argus on the end...



2nd sig... Argus still there, but two more in front..



3rd sig and another two before Argus

4th sig and two more dolls... but no Argus

So it came to the end of 2009 and Argus was still on the wait list.

But by this time I had stopped liking Iplehouse so much (all of the sculpts disappeared off my want list) and I had instead discovered Angelheim and their affordable hoovies. A few Angelheims found their way onto my want list and Argus was reshelled into an Angelheim Luka. He then acquired hooves and horns into the bargain.

But he stilled remained fairly low on the list and other dolls were still being bought before him.

He came closer to being bought when Indollgence picked up Angelheim.

Suddenly Angelheim announced a sale... 30% off all dolls and resin parts... and I couldn’t resist. Argus was ordered along with Titus, LillyKitten’s Ciel through Indollgence.

Finally, Argus was ordered, coming home and was shifted onto the wait list.

I was told that a box had arrived from Angelheim two weeks ago, only to find out a few hours later that it was just clothes and a doll for another customer.... I was massively disappointed. Angelheim seems to ship its dolls separately!

But Argus arrived last night and was hurriedly unwrapped and looked at. He has been moved out with Titus to be some of the first dolls to be placed in the new place.

He is beautiful and looks to be a dark version of his brother Titus. From his beginnings it looks as if Argus and Titus will be involved in the protection of the King, either as his personal guard or guards of the palace gates.

Now I am awaiting Janus and Hades, for whom I now have a shipping notice...

 BONUS:

LillyKitten's Titus...

Dolly Plans... designed to be broken?

The Family... MkV

Is there such thing as a good dolly plan? One that is able to be adhered to and followed?

I made a lot of plans at the start of the year around how many dolls I would buy and how many I wouldn't, especially after buying and completing 10 dolls in the space of just short of a year... After all, I only just started collecting in 2009.

I was only meant to purchase one doll this year. That was the original grand plan. One single doll - other than of course the requirement to complete the heads which I already had, and I started 2010 with a number of finished dolls.

That was broken by Magnus and the plan (MkI), looked like this:

• Jan: Complete Bellona Lua, Sirona, Mati, Hyperion
• Feb: Magnus - 4mth layaway
• Mar: Magnus
• Apr: Magnus
• May: Magnus - final payment
• Jun: Vulcan's body
• Jul: Theia's body
• Aug: Argus (layaway)
• Sept: Argus
• Oct: Argus
• Nov: Argus
• Dec - NO DOLLS.

That didn't take long to change... I was trawlling the marketplace when I came across Nemain.... and Arawn. So the plan had to change too... (in Feburary...)

Plan (MkII)

• Jan: Complete Bellona Lua, Sirona, Mati, Hyperion
• Feb: Magnus - 4mth layaway; Nemain, Arawn
• Mar: Magnus, Nemain
• Apr: Magnus, Nemain
• May: Magnus - final payment
• Jun: Vulcan's body
• Jul: Theia's body
• Aug: Argus (layaway)
• Sept: Argus
• Oct: ---
• Nov: ---
• Dec - NO DOLLS.

I still wasn't getting much....
Still in Feb and something was released... a very cute, very tiny Pipos Baby Alice... and she was limited... what was I supposed to do? Well... that changed things again....

Plan MkIII

• Jan: Complete Bellona Lua, Sirona and Mati
• Feb: Magnus - 4mth layaway; Nemain, Arawn, Angelu
• Mar: Magnus, Nemain, Angelu
• Apr: Magnus (final Payment), Nemain, Angelu
• May: Angelu

Well, by this point my plans were completely out of whack and I didn't bother to attempt to try and document it again, I simply tried to keep up!

The Chic line event was in April...  and I only just caught that... In order to catch a birthday for a friend and have a legitimate reason for a parcel from Fairyland, that meant another doll... and of course now three faceplates.

Then Fairyland announced its summer Event... I admit, Fairyland is more than a little addicting. Fairyland have become more wise about Event items... now they don't easily double up and its much harder to get more than one.

All that means... to date, 17 more dolls this year - to date... This list includes dolls ordered, but not yet delivered...

I will have given bodies to six:

1. Mati
2. Hyperion
3. Bellona Lua
4. Sirona
5. Vulcan
6. Theia

And I have picked up 11 new dolls

1. Nemain
2. Magnus
3. Angelu
4. Argus
5. Janus
6. Cassius
7. Arum (reshelled)
8. Li Na
9. Seth
10. Nepthys
11. the Dark Alice

I have also picked up a number of floating heads...

1. Arawn
2. Caesair
3. Poseidon
4. Hades
5. Zeus
6. Veja

The most ironic thing is that I will have given bodies to all the dolls I collected last year... I have to count that as a plus.

But then... the year is not over. Fairyland still have another Event... Scary thought, isn't it??

Lost... or Found?

When Pipos announced that it was going to release a new Dark Alice, I was excited. I have one of the limited Alices, the Baby Alice in blue, and I quite liked the other Alices they had released previously, though I had been too late to pick them up.

I quite liked the gloomy gothy feel of the two preview pics of the Cheshire and Dali that they were also releasing, as a pic of the Alice wasn't available for a while. When they finally did release a pic of the Open Eye Alice, I loved it.

The time came for it to come up with the news that she would be a 20 doll limited set... 20 open eyes and 20 half closed eyes and she would be released at 11pm Australian time... Unfortunately I didn't manage to stay up that late and when a friend checked early the next morning, she was all sold out.

I accepted it. I knew that it would have been a close thing to get one since there were a lot of people that wanted her.

Then today I heard that DDE had some of her...

I have put in a layaway order for her, and hope that I get her... but I don't know - is she lost, or is she found?

Hades, Poseidon... and Zeus - a little BA addiction...

Over the past year, Fairyland had been talking about the release of a mature mini. When the Chic-line first came out, I was alright with not getting one. Then I saw what the Event items were and my mind was changed for me and fast.

Cerberus Project first released its Breakaway or BA sculpt as a limited Delf. When they split from Luts and created Fairyland, it became increasingly clear that the Delf line was now the property of Luts. When Fairyland released a Feeple BA, it caused a problem, as apparently Fairyland were thinking of making the BA a basic. I don’t pretend to know the details, but after that development, the Feeple Breakaway ceased to be sold and the sculpt returned to the limited and event head status.

Vulcan - Minifee

I received my first BA as a part of a Fairyland Event in 2009. Fairyland had produced a second scar head to be released as an Event item with their Scar Shiwoo and a newly designed Scar arm – the ‘Lightning’ version. (A Fire arm was released as an event item later in the year).

As I was participating in a GO at the time (specifically targeted to get the Event items as well as the three Little Fee ordered) and my friend and I had enough with our Little Fee to qualify for both Scar heads and two scar arms, I got to choose which of the two heads I wanted. It was a little bit of a non-choice, my friend is a well-known Shiwoo collector (her exploits can be found here: shiwooed.blogspot.com) but I’m sure if I had liked the Scar Shiwoo better she would have given him up for me.

Luckily for both of us, I liked the Scar Breakaway better. I soon discovered that this BA was a little bit... pushy. His name is Vulcan, and along with his lightening arm, he also possesses a fire arm and will soon also received a scarred chest (from the current Event) – he has turned out to be pushy, annoying and generally over the top. (and ironically has an on-going fight with the Scar Shiwoo, known as Gallagher).

So I had one BA. I liked the face a lot and when the head of a sleeping BA popped up on the marketplace – a feeple, I snapped it up and Arawn was born. Arawn, in comparison to Vulcan, didn’t talk much, if at all. He just sat in my black box of heads and said nothing. I kept my eyes out for a Open-eyed head, since I didn’t like the prospect of having to find someone to mod Arawn’s eyes open.

Arawn - Feeple

I got lucky... an Open Eye BA head with a Midnight Blue Feeple faceup popped up on the MP and it didn’t take much for me to grab it. But even with open eyes, Arawn still didn’t say anything. This changed recently when he DEMANDED his own Scar Arm from the most recently Fairyland Event...

And this takes us to Hades... Poseidon and yes, Zeus.

When Fairyland released the Chicline, they also released a L-line or Little Fee BA faceplate. I considered it, and since I had a mini collection of Fairyland BAs, I decided I would get one. This faceplate rapidly named itself Hades, and proceeded to tell me how things were GOING to be.

I placed up a Want-to-buy on the Marketplace to get Hades, but none was selling the faceplates. I was a little disappointed, but Hades was apoplectic. I was ORDERED to buy a Chic-line fullset boy so that Hades could come home. Since I wasn’t all adverse to that, I did.

Hades will come home with a Chic line El known as Janus.

A week or two after I had ordered Janus to get Hades, I saw a notice on the MP selling a WS L-line BA... I capitulated fairly quickly, after all, LTF BA twins was a cute idea... well, perhaps a bit of a worry was more like it, since Hades had been ordering me around to get wigs and the like and he hadn’t even been made...

Poseidon - LTF (with his wig!)

The new BA was quickly christened Poseidon – I saw a certain amusement factor in this since Hades and Poseidon were brothers according to Greek mythology. I reflected to my friend that if I ever got a third one (and it was a vague idea in the back of my head), I would name it after the third son of Kronos... Zeus.

Poseidon was not as much as a handful as Hades... I ordered his wig from Leekeworld a week or so after I had ordered Hades’ (same style, different colours). I thought I had two different types of BAs – pushy, overbearing ones like Vulcan and Hades, and quieter, nicer ones like Arawn and Poseidon.

Then I got a delivery notice from Leekeworld. It wasn’t for the wigs that I had ordered for Magnus and Hades (to this date I have not received a delivery notice for those wigs), but instead for Poseidon’s wig, which I had ordered a LOT later. I think Poseidon simply wanted his wig NOW rather than waiting until Hades’ had come. This was a little warning that I might have someone who wasn’t quite as quiet as I thought they would be.

Two days ago, I saw a notice for an NS BA L-line on the Market place... I pounced, and yesterday I paid for the third brother. Zeus.

I’m not quite sure what I have gotten myself in for.... three of them. Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.... (plus Arawn and Vulcan.... just hoping that Fairyland will not release a non-scarred MNF Breakaway).

Pukifee Slavery

Osiris, Anubis, Ma'at and Isis

In some ways it was a dark day when Fairyland announced that they would release the doll called the PukiFee.


Everyone looked at the display pictures and many were sunk from that moment on. The PukiFee, a size smaller than the Little Fee and a size larger than the PukiPuki, had an endearing bobble head which captured the attention and made many sink into what would become a uniquely PukiFee type of slavery.

I fell for the PukiFee immediately. I was on a bit of a mass order at the time and my first was a small PukiFee Zoe, who I determined must be a little boy. Not long after I placed that order on layaway with DDE then I ordered another PukiFee – a blank Bonnie along with a Little Fee Lishe through Fairyland.

I was waiting for them both (it hadn’t taken me long to pay off the Zoe), when I saw a Bonnie for sale on the Marketplace. I put in to buy it, and after a bit of a problem with the seller and organisation, it dropped through. I was a little peeved off, but was placed in contact with a person who had a Bonnie on layaway but didn’t want them anymore. So I took over her payments and I had three dolls.

Fairyland was the first to deliver – and my little blank Bonnie, named Isis, was soon taking hold of my heart along with her bigger sister Ianthe.

Osiris, my Zoe, arrived next from DDE, and Ma’at quickly followed. By this time I was deep in slavery – owned by my small PukiFee. They have more clothes than all my other dolls with dozens of tiny tops and pants and knitted cardigans filling up boxes. They have more shoes than my other dolls – my four SDs used to share three pairs of shoes between them (I only recently bought 1 more pair...) my PukiFee have about three pairs... each.

I soon decided that I wanted a fourth PukiFee – another Zoe so that I could have cute little brothers. Anubis was meant to be more like Isis, but seems to have turned out more like Ma’at when he arrived just last week.

The decision to get a fifth was just as quick as all the other decisions. Someone on the PukiFee thread stated that they could not imagine an Ante as a boy, even though Fairyland sells the Ante as a boy in the Sweet Bunny fullset. As soon as I saw that comment, I wanted an Ante boy. He was named Seth and has yet to be ordered.

I thought that this would be it for a while. Fairyland had not released any new PukiFee sets; they were focussing on the RealPuki, new MiniFee fullsets and some new PukiPuki. Then they released the Chic-line and I thought I was even safer. I would only have 5 PukiFee and that would be it.

Fairyland released the Icis and the Cupid... neither of which tempted me. My feeling of safety increased.

Then this year they have released the Pong (safe from that)... and the Luna.

Then there were six....

Anatomy of an Outfit

When I up in my order for Argus (an Angelheim Luka) the Luka outfit was sold out. Since one of the reasons to have the Angelheims is to display them when its needed at an Indollgence stall, I was going to buy the Luka fullset outfit. Since it was sold out, I bought the Ciel Knight outfit instead.

It arrived yesterday... without Argus... it seems Angelheim ships dolls seperately...

Anyway. This is what the Angelheim outfit looks like on the site.

It of course looked nothing like it when I got it - it looked something like this:

(I apologise for any blurry or dark shots... it was fairly late!)

I have already played around with the package - last night when I got it. It is AMAZING quality... but I couldn't figure out what some of the things were for... so today I enlisted the help of the only MSD I have, Bellona Lua, my A-line MNF and we decided we'd have a look!

All the items in their little bags - the cloak at the back is velvet... (!!) and the pants in the front are very nice pleather.

I pulled out the top... I thought that both sleeves were chopped off, but only one was! Its a cotton top with press studs all the way up the back... (I have decided not to get out the belts, so they won't appear in our little try on session.

Wow... didn't expect it to fit the MNF so well.... damn, now I know what I might do with these clothes when LillyKitten's Titus isn't wearing it.... Vulcan, Bellona Lua and possibly Sol Invictus might have a cute top...

Armour tops on - its double layered, the grey is not connected to the blue on the top. There is some gorgeous bling on the shoulder and on the gauntlet... yes, only one gauntlet and underneath it is the other sleeve...

Belt thing and chain on... not sure if I got the positioning of the chain correctly... I mistakenly thought it was a necklace when I first unwrapped the parcel... but the material that the metal dagger is on is beautiful!

With the cape - the cape is held on with a piece of velcro on the shoulder... The belts should be two around the upper thigh on the gauntlet side, one around the top of the boot and one around the arm under the cape...

And that is the beautiful Ciel Knight outfit... it's GREAT quality and simply amazing in the way it has been made. It's super easy to get it on and off, and it fits a MNF A-line without looking ridiculous.

I can't wait to get the Luka outfit - which is for sale again - and see how nice that is too!

Arum - A Reshelling Project

The first doll I bought was a Goodreau OzDottie.

The pictures on the site looked quite good and I didn't understand at the time the fact that a vinyl American made doll was such a bad thing when entering the doll community. (Ironically, the OzDottie has all ball joints, unlike the older Goodreau's which had some hinge joints.)

I placed Arum on layaway with DDE but didn't wait out the entire layaway to pay her off. I ordered her in Feburary 2009 and spent an ugly six months waiting for her to arrive, which she finally did in September, at which time I had 6 dolls which I had ordered and paid for after her. (I was kept uninformed of delays in making and shipping her, unfortunately.)

When the day I received her finally came, I was a little disappointed. The only thing that looked like what I was expecting was the outfit. The wig was different, her faceup was different and even aspects of her face was different.

I suppose they just did a great job on the photos, but I couldn't help a sense of disappointment.

Also, due to some interest stringing, Arum was unable to stand properly without a lot effort and often had to have a leg 'propping' her up.

One of the first things LillyKitten and I did was complete my 2009 Goodreau to her 2008... We agreed quickly that Sabine, the 2008, looked to have a better shaped body than Arum, and although all of Arum's joints are "proper" for a BJD and Sabine's weren't.

Almost immediately I decided that Arum would have to be a cabinent baby due to the fact she had trouble standing and her legs were actually different lengths. I dressed her in an Indollgence outfit and she made a very nice Gothic Lolita. She went to one dollmeet - and for my dolls, most of whom I will take to every doll meet, except if they have no clothes (and Arum definitely had clothes) and then spent the rest of her time sitting in a room.

A little while ago LillyKitten told me that she was planning on selling her Goodreau, Sabine. Although Sabine had a good life and was taken many places, she had problems with the stringing and LillyKitten felt the constraints of having an "OFFTOPIC" doll.

This placed in my mind the idea of reshelling my Arum, who I had never been really happy with and had always had a sense of disappointment in, especially after waiting so long for her.

So I began to look around for a possible doll to reshell her into. I had a look into SoulDoll and wandered across other MSD options before realising that I was not really restricted to an MSD size... I found my reshelled girl very quickly after that.

An SD Dollzone Clovera. I love the expression and after seeing a girl in the flesh, was definitely sure that this is what I will reshell Arum into. I won't use the same faceup, its not dark enough for what I want, and since Dollzone offer three faceups for this darling girl (the fullset one and two more, one called B and one called C).

Arum will get the faceup B, which will make her look a little bit more like a gothic lolita. I almost got her faceup C, but the lips are too light!

 I spent a good amount of last night looking for some appropriate SD sized Gothic Loli outfits for her. The outfit Arum MKI is wearing is being sold with her, and it is too small!

LillyKitten put me in the way of Alice's Collections and from there Arum MKII now has a dress, socks, a petticoat and shoes and on the same night she was ordered...

So now the wait begins for my Arum MKII.....

Older blogging....

8 May 2010

Now, in May 2010 I am the proud owner of 15 dolls and 3 heads, with one bought but still before shipping and one still on layaway.

The latest edition to the resin family is Nemain, a limited event head from the sale of the 2006 Elf Lishe by Luts. She is the Dreaming Vampire Elf head which was given out along with a Dreaming Elf head. I bought her second hand from DoA, from a very nice seller. She comes with an Angell of Dream body, which she will stay on until an old Type 1 Beauty White can be found - and when the money can be found, so possibly in 2011....

15 May 2010

I have been watching the progress of my SOOM Chalco, pretty much from the point I paid him off completely. Last Thursday I finally got what I had been waiting for, a change from 'before shipping' to 'on shipping'.

My Chalco flew out of Korea on Friday night. I was going against hope that he would have a short flight even though he was guaranteed delivery before the 19th.

I found out this morning that he had landed around eight this morning. Since then, he has moved through Customs and the last update at about 1 has him sitting at the airport waiting to be delivered.

I can't wait for him to turn up. I'm crossing my fingers  that he will go to the CS Post office, so there at least a chance that he could be picked up on Monday afternoon. If he goes to the C PO then my meeting on Monday would have to finish between 3:30 and 3:45 for me to have a chance to get back in time to get him. If I can't get him and he's at the C office, then it will be Wednesday.

I don't want it to be Wednesday.

22nd May 2010

I suppose it is now time to talk about the new arrival. I got Magnus at the start of the week. he was posted last Thursday and got in on Friday, then spent the week at the airport. The minion was most desperate to see him.

I got lucky and he was delievered to the CS Post Office and I was able to pick him up after work on Monday before gym. Just before the post office closed too. I unwrapped him after tea that night and with Lilly's help strung him.

He didn't stand very well and in order to get him painted, I had to give him up Tuesday night. He was back by the end of the week though.

Today I picked up the 06 Elf Lishe head for $150 on the marketplace. I would have preferred her with a body, but the body had been taken off the market. Her name is Caesair Elen D'Elf.

I also paid off Angelu on Thursday of this week, so am waiting for two things - for them to register that I have paid the final payment and her to go 'before shipping' and at the same time for her to go 'on shipping'. Hope it won't take too long.

the dolly blogs...

I realised just this morning that I don’t have a plain dolly blog – just for me to express myself and dolly news and the like. I have a blog for my Lishe collections: Lished and I have a blog for my dolls themselves – The Resin Fables, but I don’t actually have one just for the softskin.

So here it is. One blog, just for me. Everything will be in here – arrivals, the decisions... everything.

I thought I’d start with how I managed to get into the hobby in the first place.

It was the start of 2009, I was on holidays from work and Lilly was telling me about this doll she had bought off eBay. We went out to tea and she brought it along to show me. It was Sabine, her first doll, a Goodreau Secret, in Vinyl.

I have always liked dolls – I was a doll girl as a kid, I had about 12 Barbies that I spent a lot of time with. I had paper dolls as well, a lot of them and had played with them on a regular basis. As I grew older the Barbies were placed in the cupboard and my shelves were instead filled with other dolls – I have 2 of my mother’s dolls, a number of country dolls – two Welsh and a couple from Bangladesh (including an Indian Barbie), I have my collection of Kokeshi – some which are the more modern that you can get from gift shops, but 3 or 4 that have come from Japan. I have 2 Bratz and a Legolas figurine to complete the set. But until Lilly showed me Sabine, I had not heard of or really seen BJDs.

I am not into Anime or Manga. I will read it occasionally, but I’m not a Japan-o-phile. So I didn’t find BJDs through that – and in case you’re wondering I’m still not into Manga or Anime... at all really.

So anyway, I met my first BJD (although Off Topic for DoA) in January ‘09.

My first doll that I ordered was an Goodreau OzDottie from DDE in Feburary (I didn’t get her until the end of September). Quickly after I ordered Marcheline, my Dollcatch Stella (who I had by the end of May), then my Pukifee Zoe, Osiris. I was a little bit strange at first, because even quicker after that I ordered my Little Fee Lishe and a Pukifee Bonnie...

By the end of September 2009, I had 7 full dolls, plus 5 floating heads...

And yes... a full blown obsession with BJDs.