2011 - the year that was

I planned at the start of year to do a few things -

1. Pay off my still nameless SM Shoshon
2. At some point buy Sol Invictus, a MNF Luka - possibly during the mid-year event at Fairyland
3. Buy an F65 body for Arawn - after I see some user pics of Delf heads on F65s. If they don't look as good as I imagine they will, he will get a F70 body.
4. My LTF bodies for Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
5. Buy a RealPuki body for Veja.

So, I completed 1-4 of this... Pallus was paid for and received after a kerfuffle with SOOM which involved me getting an Ender; Sol was purchased and received; Arawn got his F70 body after investigating the look of Feeple/Delf heads on F65s; and I found and purchased three LTF bodies and got my Horrible Three - Hades, Poseidon and Zeus completed.

I didn't manage to find a body for Veja, I tried several times when I spotted RealPukis for sale, but each time someone was simply luckier than me.

For the first time we had a few leave in 2011 - Argus, my Angelheim Luka and Li Na, my Dollzone Dragon.

But as usual, there was a few dolls who turned up who weren't as expected...

1. Fea, a Luts Delf Elf Lishe;
2. Emmeline, a Pipos Alice Jr;
3. Mithras, a Tan Chicline Fabilis;
4. Diana, a Chicline Lishe; and
5. Thyra, a Pink Pipos Baby Alice

I completed a year of a Doll a Day - a photo challenge without missing a day or having to take more photos. I have said that I will continue it into 2012, as well as committing to creating a mosaic of 4 each week of my favourite photos of the week. 

I have started to buy two more SOOMs, including the last MD. 

1. Vesna - the Clozel and
2. Rasmus - the Arkose

I have not really made any plans so far... although there are three things on the list so far...

But I managed to complete another year - 2011.

Blog Challenge 23: Favourite part of the hobby

There are a few things I really like about this hobby - I love the ability to customise dolls as much as you want so that your doll can look completely different to someone else's even when you really own exactly the same one. Even within collections I find that I can do this as well.

I like the people you meet - well, the ones who don't suffer from problems of elitism and an over abundance of drama. I have met lovely people both in person at doll meets as well as through forums like DoA and on flickr - I love exchanging comments and receiving comments on photos and having discussions about dolls.

I also like the variety within this hobby - there are so many different companies and sculpts and sizes that it truly is a hobby that can be enjoyed by young and old and by completely different people since the number of companies and sculpts allow all people to chose the dolls they want and they don't have to collect the same thing as anyone else if they don't want to.

Blog Challenge 22: Dislike part of the hobby?

My pet peeve in this hobby is the elitism. I don't understand why people will spend the ridiculous amounts of money to buy Volks, simply because of its brand and I don't understand the importance of price in the desirability of the doll.

I remember my second meet up - the first was different, mainly because it was presided over by a delightful woman named Carol who loved all dolls regardless and had a simple irreverence for cost or price or stuff like that. My second meet up had been organised by LK and me because we wanted to meet some of the doll lovers around. And we need meet some nice people, but at the same time we met some that I was not all that impressed with.

At the time I had one doll - Marcheline, who is of course a DollCatch Stella, a company which went out of business less than a year after I purchased her. LK had three dolls - Sabine, her Goodreau; Callisto, her Elfdoll Catsy (who wasn't sold at the time) and Minu, her RS Mei.

The meet up was held at a place called Madam Brussels' which wasn't all that big. Some of the doll owners placed their dolls at one end of the table and they sat there (with their owners standing in front of them) for the entirety of the meet. When I walked around to see the dolls I went down the end and was introduced to some of the dolls.

It was something like this: - this is a _____ its head is worth $400 and is REALLY rare. This is a _____ its worth this much... etc etc. (ironically the most expensive head was released later and that gave me a bit of satisfaction, I admit.) - but then none of those people asked what my doll was, just looked at Marcheline like she was a cheap piece of crap. The ironic thing is although Marcheline was probably one of the cheapest dolls on the table that day, I doubt any of the people there would have recognised her unless I told them.

Another time I came up against this was at another meet that LK and I organised in which we said before hand that we didn't mind if people touched our dolls - picked them up etc. We were attacked by another member and their partner for daring to suggest that people would be allowed to touch THEIR expensive dolls. It made me a bit sick to be honest.  They seemed to be suggesting members of the hobby would mistreat their rare expensive dolls... etc etc.

There have been other times with people who hold onto their dolls with death grips and don't let anyone touch them etc etc. I honestly think that those who spend as much as many in this hobby on dolls would be caring enough to treat my dolls with the respect that I would show theirs. I have no problems if they say "Oh, I just wanted to have a look, can I?" - I don't mind them taking my doll up the other end of the table to compare them to the one they already have.

Often I ask people to have a look at my collection and if there is something there they want to see, I will bring them along - what's the point of having these dolls if you don't let people look and compare and consider them?

But yeah, that's the thing that I most dislike about the hobby.

Blog Challenge 21: Fave Doll Scale Prop

This is fairly ironic - even though I have a few props that are doll scale, I don't actually have a favourite. I'm not much for using props in photos, although I know eventually I should attempt to get better at it to make the photos more interesting.

I do have some props - mostly for the pukifee (as usual!) - mostly rement and similar things, some toys etc. Vulcan does have a sword, but that is one of the only MSD and larger sized props that I have - mainly because props that large are really hard to store, even more than the dolls themselves.

But yeah... no favourite props.

New Arrivals

So there was a slight pause in the blog challenge - but for the best possible reason... I got an uber box today which contained an F70 Riff, whose body would complete Arawn and a small box which contained Thyra, Angelu's twin.

And here they are!

I'm not sure about Arawn's wig - I think it's a bit too girly, so I will be having a look to see what is around!

Blog Challenge 20: Love but not owned?

There is only one doll this could be - the SOOM SuperGem Carnel.

This is for several reasons - the Carnel was released when SOOM was still creating basic Super Gems - this didn't last long and the Carnel was the first to be pulled down along with one of the female sculpts (I believe it was the Olivine).

There has been some question as to whether or not there were any Carnel's sold during the time that they were actually there for sale. In fact I have google searched and searched flickr and DoA and I've never seen a single owner pic of the Super Gem Carnel.

So I don't think I'd ever manage to get a Super Gem Carnel, unless SOOM suddenly starts selling them again or the unthinkable happens and one appears on the MP. But I don't think it will ever happen.

Blog Challenge 19: Dream Doll

Does anyone not know this??

So I don't exactly have a dream/grail doll as such, mine is much more of a grail sculpt. It just happens to be the Lishe as sculpted in her variety of forms by the sculpting company CP - and sold either by Luts or Fairyland. I love the smile and the way that the Lishe's expression can change with a tilt of the head.

I do like how a wig and a pair of eyes and a face up can completely change the way that a Lishe can look and that you then have to then tell people that they are essentially the same doll. I also like the sizes, although I wouldn't mind a few more... smaller ;)

But yeah... that's my dream sculpt.

Update:

1) Why do you like BJDs?
2) Do you own any? If so how many and if not, do you have any plans to at the moment?
3) Post a picture of all your dolls!
4) What/who was the first BJD you ever owned? Do you still own them? (Who is your planned first?)
5) What/who was the very first BJD you saw?
6) Biggest size you own? (Have held/seen/like)
7) Smallest size you own? (Have held/seen/like)
8) What is your favourite size?
9) What is your least favourite size?
10) Post a picture of a doll and an animal!
11) What do your friends think of your dolls/dolls in general?
12) Dollie shoes! Show us how many you have!
13) Have you ever had a floating head? What about a headless body? (What do you think you would do if you had either?)
14) What do your family think of your dolls?
15) Can any of your crew stand on their heads? (Show us~)
16) What is your favourite item of dollie clothing?
17) Do you have a favourite company?
18) A least favourite company?
19) What is your dream doll?
20) One doll you love, but will never (probably) buy?
21) What’s your favourite doll scale prop?
22) Is there a part of the BJD hobby that you dislike?
23) What about your favourite part of the hobby?
24) Have you ever modded a doll? (Do you think that you would?)
25) Done your own faceups? (Again, do you think you’d do that?)
26) Do you have a favourite out of your own dolls? (Don’t worry, we won’t tell the others ;D)
27) Post a crazy/silly pose!
28) Post a picture of your dolls exploring the outside world!
29) Have you ever been to a doll meetup? Did you enjoy it/do you plan to go to one in the future? 

30) a Surprise!

Blog Challenge 18: Least fave company?

And no... its not SOOM, I just needed Magnus is a photo...

I don't like to classify any doll companies as "least favourite" although I am not massive fond of a lot of them - and I don't mean any offence to any one who does like these companies.

I am not a fan of Volks - their dolls have very wide faces and they don't appeal to me at all. I am not a fan of faces with small eyes - there are some faces sculpted by Dollzone which I don't particularly like. But then there are a number of faces sculpted by SOOM that look like someone has slapped them in the face with a wet fish before giving them a large dose of botox.

Some dolls have strange bodies - while I quite like the possibility of ShinyDolls, the missing part of the back of their thighs are just too icky.

I also really dislike faces that look too much like babies - like LTF Bisous... those faces given me the shakes, as do those with their eyes too far apart like the PKF/LTF Icis and Flora.

I don't like the overly bulky body or humanoid faces that make up the Iplehouse lines (or at least, not anymore... my taste has matured).

I suppose the majority of my dislike of companies is more in the style and construction of their sculpts rather than the company itself.

Blog Challenge 17: Favourite Company?

I think my favourite company is fairly obvious to anyone who knows much about my collection and that is the dolls made by the sculpting company Cerberus Project, sold under the company Fairyland and of course, the Luts Delfs.

It's not the skill in the construction that makes me like them so much, although that it one massive thing that I like about them - it's the style of the faces especially in the older sculpts - my favourites of course being the Lishe, the El and the Breakaway. But then I also like the fun of the Pukifee and RealPuki, the attention to detail that comes with the A-lines, the length of the F70's legs and the leggy style that it has. I love the time it took them to create the F65 and the fact that Fairyland had to tell them off for an event item that they refused to sell (they made CP do it again!)

I could go on forever... but I think I'll stop there...

Blog Challenge 16: clothing

This is super hard - I have so many different pieces of clothes that could be within my favourite pile. So I couldn't justifiably pick a particular favourite - so I will share some of my favourite outfits.

1. The fullset outfits - Violet's; Angelu's; Magnus'; Pallus'; Mithras'; Diana's - all the detail, the ruffles the extras and the tiny pleats on the front of Angelu's dress.
2. the outfits owned by the Pukifee - Isis' evil t-shirts; Ma'at's colour outfits; tiny detailed dresses and t-shirts and pants. (especially the tiny knits... alexisbears and the others are geniuses!)
3. The jeans made by Sharon in Spain (dambuster01 on flickr) that are worn by my LTF boys: Icarus, Ares, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
4. The cheeky corset from Peppermint Circus that belongs to Bellona Lua.
5. The variety of items that I have from Diverse Designs - the punk outfits; little dresses, skull t-shirts, and the rocker t-shirts that Arawn will wear....

So... while this isn't all of my outfits... I'm sure you can see why I can't seem to pick!