Happy New Year

Posted by bayan

Wishing you all a wonderful year.

May we all be healthy, prosperous and loved.
May our earth be on the mend even if it is getting warmer.
May our dolls not have wonky eyes or uneven hairlines.
May our doll stands support even the wobbliest of bodies.
May our ball jointed dolls hold their poses.
May our photographs be sharp and properly lit.
And may that money tree find it's way onto my property.

 


Feel free to use any of these free vintage graphic clip-art items found on the web.
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Happy New Year! Almost

Posted by bayan



It's getting close. Here's wishing all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
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W Club Registration for 2011 is Open

Posted by bayan

Registration opened for the 2011 W Club yesterday.  A beautifully put together brochure is available.
It is a PDF download. Check it out.

The Fashion Royalty upgrade doll is a tanned Kyori in resort wear. Images in this post are the property of Integrity Toys, Inc.
Rising Sun Kyori $90. Plus Shipping (Plus $50 W Club Membership)

Hopefully, the designers will have the factory improve the fit of the jacket which looks awkward and ill-fitting in the prototype. I like big jewelry but this piece does not lay properly on the doll. The shoes look wonderful! Why no fabulous handbag?


The other optional upgrade doll is a rooted Avantguard with a new sculpt.

Spring Kissed $160. Plus Shipping (Plus $50. W Club Membership)
 
 It was a jaw-dropping moment to see this doll's face. Was she a giant Poppy or a super tall Dynamite Girl? Are the Avantguards to join the enormous ranks of cutesy teenage dolls?
Avantguard Compared to DG Neve
The rooted hair was a surprise. The fashion is very attractive; I want it for other dolls.  It seems out of character in this sophisticated line. I wonder what the top and shorts look like without the jacket on. Following in the wake of Bijou, this doll pales (literally) by comparison.
Collectors have been asking for a new AG sculpt. Is this what they had in mind?


I won't be buying the Kyori but I'm undecided about the AG only for the fashion. It's a good thing that I have until January 21, 2011 to make up my mind.

On a different topic that's sort of related, those of us who joined the 2010 Gene W Club for a year got only 6 months. We definitely should be compensated in some manner.
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More Sleep Eyes

Posted by bayan

This sleep eye is unique in that she has molded breasts, celluloid hands and molded legs in the bent position - molded bentknees are connected to the company Keeneye, but this boudoir doll was unmarked as far as I can remember. Her silk dress is shattered, but you can tell she once was a very grand doll.

Speaking of grand, this sleep-eyed boudoir doll was practically brand new looking. None of these dolls can escape age. Being 85+ years old, she was the closest thing to perfection I've seen. Her dress was crisp, and when I got her, her feet were still wrapped in paper. The paper crumbled upon touching them, but her feet, with her painted-on shoes, was in great shape. She has molded bentkneed legs. She still had her original hairnet over her hair and face! Gorgeous doll made by Keeneye!

The doll on the left has one of the prettiest faces on a sleep-eyed doll. She has vibrant face paint too. She wore a pant outfit. The doll on the right has red hair and wears a dress covered in netting with rhinestones.


The sleep eye on the left wears a a ruffled dress. She, too, has a pretty face. The sleep eye on the right is a beauty with vibrant face paint and long ringlets. She is a Keeneye.
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Another SleepEyed Boudoir Doll

Posted by bayan

This is another sleep-eyed boudoir doll that is for sale in my shop. Click the photo to view more photos.
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Up coming workshops

Posted by bayan

Next month I have two planned workshops at my home studio. The first one is the crochet dolls workshop.
The second one is the sock pet workshop.
Feel free to e-mail me for more details, or if you would like to join my mailing list and receive details about upcoming workshops.
שתי סדנאות מתוכננות לחודש ינואר הקרוב, אתם מוזמנים לשלוח לי מייל לפרטים או להצטרפות לרשימת  דיוור בה אני מעדכנת לגבי סדנאות באופן שוטף.
 Here are some results from the pet workshop I conducted last week. It was a fun evening of creating with a wonderful bunch of participants. The photo shows three dogs and one cat named Mitzi, who has three heads (don't ask me why :-D).
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Waiting For Mortimer

Posted by bayan

Here is one of my new Evangeline Ghastly dolls. She is called Waiting for Mortimer. The little creature with her is a 5" resin doll called Bella. She's a bat.
Waiting is such a drag.
We'll practice our ballet moves.
Bella is clingy.
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Post Holiday Sales

Posted by bayan

A mix of sale items follow. These shops have many other items on sale as well.

Regular price: $159.95Sale price: $79.95
Regular price: $159.95Sale price: $79.95
In my opinion, the above are two of the worst-looking dolls ever created.


Regular Price $229.95  On Sale $149.99
Fashion Doll Agency Angelic Dreamz Exclusive Petra Doll
Excellent price.


LE 305 $65 Sale $35
TV Ginny (Modern Repro) Two Day Dreamers  Large selection of Modern Ginny dolls at reduced prices.

Price Was $224.99  Sale Price $99.99
Antoinette Doll - Emphatic LE 250  Marl & B



  Regular Price $44.95  Now $24.95
My Favorite Barbie Collection - Black Barbie 2010  - Amazon.com Seller 
Prices for this doll are all over the place. This is about the lowest around.


Was $599.95  Special Value $229.95
A Fashionable Life Cissy   the Toy Shoppe
This is the lowest I have seen this doll. It was originally, ridiculously overpriced. Look at that fashion! I want it. There are other 21" Cissy dolls at lowered prices as well.


Originally $59.99  Now $39.99
The Toy Shoppe   Effanbee (a Tonner Company) Silver Sensation Daphne  (Left)
Doll has the older AR body without bendy wrists. This was a very, very popular doll that sold out everywhere. They must have been hiding in a warehouse somewhere. She is gorgeous!

It's a good time to look around for sales as most companies will be introducing their new 2011 dolls in a month or two. 



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What Santa Fred gave me for Christmas

Posted by bayan


My husband Fred really set me up this Christmas with some great gifts.  See how romantic he was when he gave me this beautiful Gotz doll with her pretty little heart dress on! [I named her Esther because Esther is one of my favorite women in the Bible, so courageous and, yet, not stuck-up despite her beauty.] My Esther is totally hard vinyl but looks like porcelain. Her box says she's for adults and collectors but the box also says not for children under three.  Her clothes are easily removed.She wears white panties. She has a pretty sheer pink camisole under her heart sundress. On top she is wearing a pretty apron.  Her shoes are adorable.  She came with her hair piled on top of her head but in such a way that I knew the owner could take it down which I did. She has rooted hair that is pretty thick. She stands well.  I haven't measured her yet but she looks to be about 18 in tall and her torso is similar in size, but probably a little smaller around the waist, to my soft body 18 in dolls.  I really Love her hands that make me believe she could be a ballerina. Her head is poseable in different positions.  She stands really well. Her fingers and toes seem longer than AG's but shoe size is the same. None of the fingers are stuck together.  Santa Fred also included a little brother for her: "Bubba" by Teeny Bellini. He comes with a little blanket too.  He sort of looks like he's a little bit of a brat! In my doll world, Esther helps her mom take care of Bubba who is a handful. More, later in my stories to come.
In this picture is a neat organizer Fred gave me for my little itsy doll stuff that I use as props.  It's actually a jewelry pocket organizer but works great for all the little things like barrettes and shoes and little foods, doll's dolls,  ribbons, socks, etc.  No more losing them. It has lots of pockets on two sides. I love finding these little things at garage sales or thrift stores but they were kind of becoming a mess. At least, for now, they're organized!
I truly thank the Lord for my thoughtful and wonderful hubby!
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And yet in progress

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Photo story of the week #1: "Playing in the Snow" by Quinlyn S

Posted by bayan

Thank you, Quinlyn, for letting us see your beautiful Kirsten in her lovely coat.  Please don't miss all her pictures of her dolls in their lovely winter coats in her album called "Playing in the Snow"  And it's real snow, not like in my picture.
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eBay Auction - SleepEyed Boudoir Doll

Posted by bayan


This rare sleep-eyed boudoir doll is available on eBay. Click the photo to access the auction.
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Snow?

Posted by bayan

Did you have a white Christmas?   Eventhough we live in Florida, my doll Hannah loves the snow.What a beautiful thing God made when he created the snow!  If you have snow, what did you do in the snow? Let us know here! Did you sled, ski, ice skate, bundle up by an open fire?
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Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas! New Year is Near

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Merry Christmas

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May your day be merry and bright!

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Baking Time! Gingerbread House from Scratch!

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Bottom Picture: My wonderful daughter spent all day yesterday making gingerbread houses.  See how great hers turned out! She even made her little doggie "Osito" out of gingerbread. Top picture:  I named one of my dolls after Rachel. Doll Rachel even has a little Osito.  They'll be in a story after Christmas.

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Merry Christmas!

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Doll Winners and Losers of 2010 - My Picks

Posted by bayan

So many dolls have arrived this year it's mind-boggling to look back.
I do keep an accurate database with images so I know exactly who arrived and when. I also know who was voted off or waiting for adoption.
The following are not all newly released dolls but they were new to my collection this year and deserve their honors. 

Favorite Dolls of 2010
'Blue Horizon' Gene - Part of the Gene Marshall Convention: The Girls from Dream City
Avantguard Mini Clone Set 
'Flame Blue' Vanessa
'Dreamy' Trent - Gene Convention
'Fashion Plot' Gene (Ashton Drake)
Dasha FR2
Elise Jolie FR2
'Dark Desire' Madra (Ashton Drake)
Cami Basic Platinum

'Red Rabbit' Misaki - I haven't had the time to photograph her yet!
'Disclosure' Monogram - "
'Bijoux' AvantGuard Doll - See recent post.
Evangeline Ghastly and all of her fashons. -See recent post.
Numina Devon.  See recent post prior to this one.

Favorite Separate Fashions and Accessories of 2010
—DollyStyle - Fashion"Our Eyes Conected"by Lovesound
—Tonner 16" Antoinette HYPNOTIC Fashion Doll Outfit:
This picture was taken inside the Tonner Company Store quite a while ago. The silver outfit is Hypnotic and it took a long time for me to get.
—PukiPuki  Hand-knitted Outfit
—'Testament' Sybarite Fashion. I had to have this even though I have no Sybarite.
—'Venus Rising' Tonner Anne Harper Fashion

—'Chic Explorer' Outfit By Louisham Louos
 —JamieShow Outfit from Angelic Dreamz


—'Look Of Love' Poppy Parker Outfit. Actually I like all of the Poppy Parker outfits. They are well-designed, tasteful, fit correctly and adorable. 
Modeled by Mini-Gene

—Christian Louboutin Barbie® Shoe Collection - Presentation in the box is beautiful. 
—Giselle and Smoldering Convention Fashions
—Randall Craig 'The Girl Can't Help It';  'Feeling Good' and most of his IFDC convention line.
—Tyler Wentworth’s “Red Hot” fashion. An "oldie." Slinky, red sequined gown.
—Tabloach Wigs for Puki which fit the Monogram Dolls.
—Horseman Urban Vita Collection French Chairs and other Horseman furniture

This was a year in which I felt I had way too many dolls and I looked at fashions and accessories more than acquiring dressed dolls. 


The disappointments were:
This was, for me, the biggest disappointment of the year: 
—Tonner Convention 'Unforgettable' 13” Revlon
Unforgettable - pre-ordering sight unseen can be a disaster.
—'Virtually Stunning' Alex - Coarse and cartoony-looking features ruined this doll's appearance and made me appreciate the original Alex even more. Why was this gal turned into an Amazon?
Left: Original Alex Body   Right: New Alex Body
 Today I acetone-removed her lip paint and eyebrows and she looks much better already! I am going to attempt a partial repaint.

—Deneuve - I could not love her face no matter how hard I tried.  Her body was wonderful.
—'Tricks of the Trade' Eugenia Perrin Frost - The fashion was not fashionable.
I think several design possibilities were overlooked. ;-)
—Vaughn Workshop Doll - My straightforward one-word opinion of this doll started a shit storm. The word was ugly.
Image by Petra Elise used by Permission
—Kesenia - Ridiculous looking mouth was created when the vampire fangs weren't painted in.

—Jordan 'Fire Within' - A sad mess in her overly youthful fashion and under-developed facial
screening. I did a partial repaint and sold her so I wouldn't be reminded of how much I paid for her. Loved the earrings and shoes.
 __________
This year we saw Fashion Royalty dolls' prices slashed by Integrity for the first time ever. It began with the discontinued Gene Marshall line and once they crossed that barrier, which had to have been an ego blow, they went forward with everything else that couldn't sell at retail.

I will be way more careful next year with the 12" dolls. Some of the dolls were pre-ordered with a kind of magical thinking that I'd love them. It was painful to see the gorgeous exclusive Nadja go on sale for half price...it's still up there.

My list of wonderful acquisitions is by no means complete. Compared to the amount of items I collected, the list of disappointments is small—but if you collect dolls, you will agree that every disappointment hurts.

During the year I added to my Silkstone, Tiny Kitty and Cissette collections. I'm still hunting for Tiny Kitty's Dress Shoppe.  The Silkies are useful for displaying Fashion Royalty 1st generation articulated body (short) fashions. They fit the Silkies almost perfectly! The Silkie I really wanted was ridiculously expensive so I didn't get her. I do draw the line once in a while.
Cissette has an unexplainable attraction for me. How did they get all the pieces of this fashion onto this little doll? It's so over the top.
Look how cute she is next to Cissy.

Time to wrap up this way-too-long post. I'd love to hear what your favorites and disappointments were in 2010.
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