aerinea_faerie

Theophilus Carter, my tiny Mad hatter doll, got a cute little Steampunk outfit today. It's super cute.

( Pictures here )

I'm listening to the YouTubes of the things in my dad's random 10 from his blog.  He got 9/10 YouTube linkups today, which means it was more of the mainstream-ish music he listens to.  I will say that live performances by real Punk bands are awesome, and he got both The Clash and The Undertones on this list.

I'm finally reading Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, so I'll be able to talk about that soon.

I've come to the conclusion that I can't go anywhere where there is both a dance group and participating dancing without the dance group trying to recruit me.  We went to Schroeder's again, this time with Evie being babysat elsewhere, and apparently there's now an attempt to recruit me into a Bavarian dance club starting.

I'm starting some new doll clothes projects, this time focusing on Eva.  She's the most difficult one to sew for because she has such an unusual body.

I have a Ren Faire this weekend, so anyone who wants to see me dance can try to make it Northward to Folsom and see it.

I'll probably just pull out some older outfits for Halloween Gaskells this year.  I don't really have the inspiration for anything particularly cool.

I think that's all for now.

I went to one of those doll meetups yesterday, and, as always, had a great time.  It's nice to get out and talk with people, and it's really nice to get together with other collectors and be able to have conversations about whatever while taking pictures of our dolls.

The meetup was at a nice, large park, so my husband and daughter came along.  Evie got to run all over and play while I got some much needed social time in.  She id come up and look at the dolls, and even cuddled little Theophilus (he's her favourite).  She really likes dolls.  I'm pretty sure she should have her own little doll, but I'm worried about the resin.  I was told about dolls that could work that still had the customizeability of the BJDs, but were made out of less brittle materials, but I don't remember what they were. :(

I do think it would be nice to have a dolly Stitch 'n Bitch, but I'm pretty sure that if I hosted one it would have to be small.  It would be a nice mini-meetup thing during the rainy season.

I'm feeling lazy, so just follow the link to get to dolly pictures and story.  I don't want to go through to trouble of posting all of it here.

www.kourier.net/pictures.asp

Enjoy!

It's a silly photostory about one of my dolls, so you can skip it if you like.

( Dolly Pictures Here! )

Back in February I said that I was done with buying dolls for the time being and that I would instead work on getting things for the dolls I have. That didn't last long.

( More with Pictures )

So I go a little crazy when I'm waiting for packages to arrive. There are several things that will probably arrive this week. First, there is a resin kit coming for my husband. Second, one of my dolls has shipped. I'm hoping she arrives in the next few days. I'm also expecting an outfit by Dollheart, and it shipped yesterday from a store in Canada. Then, there's a handmade bound mini copy of Alice in Wonderland that should have been sent out this morning.

So now I'm spending every day all anxious waiting for the Mail Carrier to come by. I think I'll be happiest once everything is here.

These pictures were actually taken after getting home from my first Doll Meetup.
( Pictures Below )

My daughter was at her great-aunt's on Saturday, allowing Chris and I to work on the Wimshurst machine. Chris was going to be boring out some holes in the cut-down staircase balusters so the fiberglass axles would have somewhere to sit. There was only one problem; his drill bit set didn't have a bit of the right diameter to make the holes. We needed to go out to get a new bit.

( More below )

I finished Klara's clothes, and I now have pictures.

( Pictures Below )

I've finished most of Klara's new outfit to the point that if I don't have the rest of it finished by the 18th I will be fine. It looks amazing. No pictures yet; I haven't really had the time for doll photography and I plan to do the main unveiling next weekend anyway.

One of the more annoying aspects is that I have decided to use real buttons for closures instead of snaps because buttons lay better. This meant that I had to go shopping for doll buttons. I have also been having fun with the bags o' watch parts I have and incorporating them into the outfit.

In other news, the Wimshurst is on hold for the time being. I can't progress much without Chris's help, and he hasn't taken the time to help me. Also, I've been distracted by doll stuff. Once the doll stuff is out of the way, I'll probably go back to doing whatever I can on my own, waiting for the time to be right so I can finish my machine.

I didn't get quite as much done as I wanted to, and didn't work on the Wimshurst at all over the weekend, but I did get some sewing done for my pretty dolls.

( Pictures Below )

I have a wonderful husband. It's been a while since he has done this, but he is taking our lovely daughter to visit her grandparents this weekend. I get to stay home, relax, work on neglected projects, and the like.

I think the first thing I'm going to do when he leaves is start working on doll clothes. I want to make some costume pieces for the dolls but I haven't had the time. I'll probably also work on the Wimshurst this weekend. As long as it doesn't require soldering, I can do it myself.

I know I'm a social person, but I am really looking forward to being alone.

An entire week before I expected them, my pair of tiny pilot hats with goggles arrived. My dolls are wearing their goggles, and Chris is talking about borrowing one of the caps and goggles for Evelyn's monkey backpack the next time we wear Steampunk costumes with her. He likes to dress her backpack up.

Sometimes I forget that things that come form Korea tend to arrive on my coast first.

In other doll news, I *might* be getting a third doll this year. Maybe. The company that makes the two dolls I already have has a offshoot line that has the size a little odd, but works as young/early puberty sized against 60cm dolls. One of them has a face sculpt that reminds me so much of my boy doll, that I can't help but think of her as a potential "younger sister" doll. I don't need, that doll, but it would be nice.

I'm thinking I might see about pictures later.

One of the things I have learned about the whole Super Dollfie/Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls thing is that the companies encourage as much uniqueness in the dolls as possible. This is implemented via a manufactured scarcity to rival the Beanie Baby craze. Add to that the fact that some companies that manufacture things for these dolls cater almost exclusively to the markets in Asia, sometimes procuring things can be difficult.

For example, one of the three companies I do most of my purchasing from, Luts, got a license to distribute some pilot caps with aviation goggles. The first thing I thought when I saw them was "Ooh, I could use those goggles in Steampunk costumes for my dolls." They sold out very quickly before I could order any, so I went through the trouble of finding the actual manufacturer. They are Korean, and although they claim to do overseas orders, it is nearly impossible to navigate the site without knowing Korean. You certainly can't fill out the order form without knowing Korean.

I had nearly given up on getting the pilot caps when I discovered, just today, that Luts was able to restock them. I called Chris immediately, and had a very short conversation I was given permission to order them. I spent $50.00 on hats where I just wanted the goggles. Goggles for dolls.

I hope the rain keeps away for just long enough this morning for me to get to the Post Office and back. For some strange reason the USPS tried to deliver my box from Luts on Saturday.

It has two wigs in it, and a pair of shoes for my boy doll. I look forward to seeing how my dolls change just by putting different hair on them.

I am a doll collector. My dresser in my room is absolutely covered with 12" fashion dolls, mostly by the Bleeding Edge doll company. I have a few Barbies, almost all of them Silver Label. But my favourite dolls, my pride and joy, are displayed in the living room. They are a pair of those Asian ball-jointed dolls, 60cm height, sometimes people (erroneously) refer to the type of dolls they are as Dollfies. They aren't, although they are currently wearing clothes by the company that makes the Dollfie and Super Dollfie ball-jointed dolls. Mine are actually by a Korean company called Soom. They are a cute couple, and I like dressing them and posing them. I've been resisting the temptation to start photographing them, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out.

I just got my boy doll recently; fewer than two weeks ago. The interesting thing is that once he arrived I began to lose interest in my smaller fashion dolls. I don't really play with my fashion dolls like I can with my couple, and they get kind of repetitive after a while. Granted, I can only play with my larger dolls when Evelyn is sleeping. She's developing quite the fascination with my dolls in general, and I just don't want her poking at my expensive dolls.

I'm starting to realise that not only do I have an urge to collect tings, what I always wanted for myself as a girl was something similar to my mother's dolls I played with while visiting my grandparents. She had only a few dolls, but they had so many clothes and had a storage trunk. You could still kind of do that with Barbies while I was growing up, but it was already beginning to turn into the crazy collecting frenzy and one doll/one outfit thing you see now with all the various fashion dolls out there. Yes, you can still buy clothes for them, but there just doesn't seem to be the variety that there was when my mother had them. I'm not even sure if the trunks even exist anymore. I will honestly admit that, given the choice, I would probably have been happy buying just one Bleeding Edge Goth doll, the first one I purchased, and then just bought the outfits all my other dolls are wearing. It's probably one of the things I found so compelling about the American Girl's collection when I was younger. You buy one doll, and then deck her out with ridiculous amounts of accessories, outfits, furniture: the works.

I may not actually be done collecting dolls, but I think I'm going to be putting more effort towards the ones I have now. I think that will make me happier, and will take up less space.