More Fumi Updates

Despite being in the path of the hurricane, everyone here in the house of many dolls is okay. We had a lot of rain, some strong winds, and because of that no work today! As you can tell I'm not exactly broken up about it...

Fumi has her second face up which is much better than the first, and she is awaiting a new wig. She'd been borrowing an old one of Uri's (his blond synthetic one) for the time being, but that's just not cutting it. I found a Leeke wig on Denver Doll that's actually the same exact style I have, so I bought her one in a rich brown. Even though it's SD dolls that are supposed to be "another you," I think Fumi is quickly turning into my lighter twin. We actually might go as Lolita-esque twins to the convention in October if I don't decide on something else for her.

Pictures to come, but not tonight. I'm actually off to bed early for once!

Queen Fumiko

Well Fumi has quickly taken over my entire dolly kingdom and crowned herself queen indefinitely. She charms just about everyone despite her continued lack of face up. Aside from my sister who is quite convinced that Fumi is going to kill her in her sleep...

My problems with the Volks order were corrected, and her items should be arriving today along with the MSC I also ordered. That means that Fumi will finally have a face up either this evening or tomorrow. Knowing me I'll want to do it tonight, but we'll see how awake I am after work and puppy class.

Overall I am loving having another Volks doll in the house, and especially a DD! She is so fun to pose and play with, and she's got such personality. I'm sure she'll get her own Haunted Vessel post here at some point, but she is really full of life in a way that a lot of my other dolls aren't. As I've said before, Volks dolls are different from all other dolls. It's the way they feel, and the personality they bring with them, and Fumi is no exception.

I do have some shots on my camera to prove that she exists, but of course now my camera cord has gone missing...

Still Dollfie Dreaming

I am so enjoying having a DD girl! :) She's lightweight, and soft, and oddly enough warms right up when I carry her places or sit her in my lap. I don't have a lot of clothes for her yet, but she's stealing some of Uri's things, and fits the grand ball gown I have rather well.

I ordered her some MSC so I can do a face-up some time next week, and a few things from Volks. They had a DD restock, so I got her some underwear and two sets of optional hands (peace signs and kitty "paws"). Of course being me and Volks, my order was never confirmed even though the money came out of my account... They won't be in until this afternoon so I'll wait until then and see what happens.

Otherwise everything has gone really well. She poses like a dream, especially when not restricted by Uri's clothing which is a bit small for her. I'm thinking I'll spend this weekend making her some dresses and maybe a pair of pants.

Dollfie Mythology

Volks in particular has interesting "mythology" about their dolls, and DDs are no exception. Here are some of the myths surrounding them:

• The soul is in the eyes. This is a myth that relates to all kinds of Dollfies, and it is something explored in the movie The Doll Master. Supposedly the doll's soul is contained in it's eyes, so if you were to remove them (and apparently the head) you would effectively kill or at least greatly change the doll. This is why many people keep the same eyes for the whole life of the doll, Volks-lovers especially. I do know of one bjd collector who has been collecting for about seven years. While her other dolls have gone through eye and wig changes, her first retains his original eyes for this reason.
• Dollfie Dreams are Daughters. I mentioned this one in my last post about Fumi. DDs are affectionately labeled "Daughters" by their owners, often with it capitalized.
• Dollfie Dreams are said to 'imprint." Imprinting is something that occurs naturally within certain animals. The first entity that the young see after being born is identified as "mommy" and they tend to follow and love this individual. Supposedly DDs are the same; the first person they see is the one they will love and speak to.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

My DD girl arrived this morning after much trial and tribulation. Her delivery was apparently attempted on Saturday, but it was after the PO closed, and they sent it to my physical work place instead of the PO. Since no one was at my work either at that time, she was sent into a loop for undelivered packages. Her tracking said she was sent to the next town over and I'd have to pick her up. However when I called the PO this morning, they let me know she was there and ready to be picked up!

I picked her up as soon as they opened and opened her in my car. She is beautiful in every way. I can completely understand why Dollfie Dreams are fondly referred to as "daughters" by the culture (as SDs are "another yourself"). While initially I didn't think I'd call her that, I can see she is definitely my "daughter." :)

As for her given name, it came to me as soon as she got here. I had picked out a few beforehand, but none seemed right for her once I'd seen her. I did a very quick search of some female Japanese names, and one of the first to pop up was "Fumiko." It has several meanings, but the one I liked the best was "little friend." What is a Dollfie if not my little friend? So Fumiko she is. :)

I'm going to wait for pictures until this afternoon or evening. Right now she's dressed in some of Uri's things, but even the stretchy leggings are really too small for her vavavoom body. :P I'm going to try a dress on her instead and hope that works. His shirts fit her though which is nice. I also have yet to get her headcap on because of how tight it is. I'm going to go home on lunch and cut the little tabs out as Volks suggests so I can compress it a little more.

Coming Home

It only took three days, but my DD girl is finally coming home. :)

I dropped Volks an e-mail last night with some information from my payment company, and as of this afternoon they were able to get things straightened out on their end. Barring any more acts of god, she should be shipped out tomorrow morning and be here Saturday!

Communication is a beautiful thing.

So I contacted the Volks store earlier today to see if I could change my shipping method from UPS Ground to USPS Express. I dropped them an e-mail detailing what I was looking for, and asking if it was possible. Either way I asked for them to get back to me.

Now when I check my order I see that it is "on hold," but I haven't received any communication either way. If it can't be done that's okay too, I just want to know. :/

Edit #1: Spoke with a lovely girl from the Volks store who was very helpful. I got problem the first problem cleared up, but now there's another one which looks like it will prevent me from getting the quicker shipping. We shall see.

Edit#2: I generally love my Firefox browser, but not this time. It was at fault for the order not going through. >:( Now however things seem to be fixed so I should be okay. *sigh of relief*

Edit#3: I spoke too soon. :( Still having trouble getting the order through, but the Volks representative has been very lovely to work with. My card company on the other hand... Hopefully good news soon.

Edit#4: Final edit for the day, and it's not a good one. Volks has my money, but they think they don't. Or that's at least the impression I get from the rep. My CC company has proof that Volks has it, no matter how much Volks suggests otherwise. So I'm stuck at an impasse here. I can't complete the order until the money is returned, but Volks won't acknowledge they have it. Not even a little. I can't request a cancellation of a charge, so I have to wait for them to figure out what's going on. They are closed now. Worst of all, the faster shipping I just paid for is worthless now. :(

*Sigh*

Well my girl is ordered, but not without problems (as usual). I had everything in my cart yesterday, and allotted the correct amount of money for my order plus shipping. I go to place the order today to find that shipping has changed. Not much, but beyond what money I had set aside. So I took an item off my order and paid the higher shipping charge.

I figured that ordering early in the morning meant she might get shipped out same-day. Then I look at the Volks' site to find that they are not open on Tuesdays. 0_0 So she won't be shipped out until tomorrow, meaning she probably won't be here before the weekend. Ah well it wasn't mandatory, but it still would have been nice to have her here sooner rather than later. Granted there's always a small possibility she'll get here faster, but I don't plan on holding my breath.

New Doll PII

Well it looks like I'll be able to bring my DD girl home earlier than planned, but she won't get her "look" until later. She'll need a wig, eyes, and a face up. She can borrow some of the former for now, but I will need to purchase some MSC. Testors is good on resin, but not at all on vinyl. So my lady may be face up-less for a while, but still cute. :P

I also decided to alter my plans for her a bit after looking at some comparison photos and poking around the DD threads a bit. I'm going to get her a dynamite body instead of the regular base body. I like the lines of the DDdy much better, and it gets her closer to my first "want." I think I like the DDH04 so much because it reminds me a bit of the Yoko DD Volks made (from Gurren Lagann). Yoko had a DDdy body, and after some consideration I'd like my girl to have one as well.

She won't be ordered until Tuesday, meaning she *might* be here before the week's end though I'm not sure. My plan is to hopefully have her outfitted by October for fall pictures and maybe a convention. I was going to take Uri, but DD's are much easier on the arms. :)

New doll?

The choosing of a new doll is, at least for me, a very particular process. If nothing else the amount of money I'll spend on a doll is an important factor. If I'm going to allot money for said doll, I want to make sure I'll really enjoy them when they arrive.

I've been thinking about getting another doll lately, and I've tried to narrow down my requirements a bit to assist in the selection process. First and foremost I want a Volks doll. Maybe it's a brand name thing, but I would really love to own another Volks doll. I love their quality and the detail which they put into every aspect of the doll. I also want the doll to be a female, which is surprising considering my normal penchant for male dolls.

That point actually leads me into my next one, which is the new doll must work well with Uri. Not to say I need his "permission," but I realize that Uri is a big part of my doll "collection." I devote more time and energy to him than any other doll, and I wouldn't want to buy one that would compete. So I decided a female doll of similar size would be good in that she'd be different enough not to compete with Uri, but they could theoretically share clothes.

Price of course is also a big factor in my decision-making process, as some of these dolls can be rather expensive and I'm on a tight budget. I've decided to set aside a very small amount of each check (less than 10%) for "fun money," which in this case applies to dolls. It will take a little while, but eventually I will have the necessary funds without overtaxing my budget.

This morning I decided to browse the Volks USA site again, and checked out their SD's. Again, none of them really jumped out at me. I like Kun, but while she's pretty, she's not quite what I'm looking for. Then on a whim I checked out the Dollfie Dream section. Instantly I knew that one of these girls would be perfect. She'll be in a larger size, she's not as expensive, and she's worlds away from Uri. That last part was probably my biggest motivator.

So now I just have to decide what head to get. I'm currently torn between heads 2, 3, and 4. My top choice is #4. I like how she's different and very cute, but still mischievous. I think she'd be perfect for the ghost of the character wandering around in my head. The others are pretty too, but I think I like them just because they're pretty. They don't have quite enough personality for me, so I think it's #4. I will be buying her a wig and eyes separately I think, though I may purchase some pretty animetic eyes. I'm thinking blond and blue-eyed for some reason.

It will be a while before I can bring my girl home and have her fully put together, painted, and dressed. I'd say at least a few months, though perhaps sooner depending upon how my next few weeks go. Plus I do have a birthday coming up next month...