Dolly Haul

A quick dolly haul to round out the week! I'm headed off to a weekend wedding for one of my best friends, so I may be a little delayed in posting on Monday depending upon how busy things get. I should be taking a small "field trip" tomorrow that should provide some blog-worthy fun, but we'll just have to wait and see how everything goes.

Today's haul involves the pretty wood-patterned dress from Anekochan'sdollies (paired with my handmade belt piece and the lace leggings) and a pretty plaid shirt and scarf combo I purchased off DoA.

BJD Addicts Written Prompt #25: Style!

I'm probably going to end up doing these individually for my dolls as they all have quite unique styles. However, for the first one I will discuss the new doll's style since she's the newest addition. 

I'm still figuring out all of her "likes" and "dislikes," but overall I'd say that her normal style falls between mori girl and grunge.

Yeah.

So on one hand, the style is very earthy. She wears a lot of browns, greens, and some blues. Mori girl style (translated it essentially means "forest girl") is what I think of as fairy tale forest wear. It's often not really practical for traipsing about in the woods, but it looks like what a fairy tale character would wear. It often involves multiple layers, loose fitting elements, lace, and patterns. There is also a form called dark mori that has a more gothic sense to it, and mori boy which features more masculine elements. I think that the doll/character would comfortably fit into all of these, although her dark mori definitely has more traditional mori roots.

I've included some examples of my own interpretation of the fashion here for reference. For the most part I tend to see the character in a lot of skirts and dresses with leggings, much like what I tend to wear. Her fashion sense at least is somewhat based on me, so I've tried to incorporate some of the reality of mori girl in to her wardrobe as much as possible.                                                                                                     At the same time, SC also wears a lot of what I like to call 90's grunge teenage boy fashion. This is again taken from my personal style as I favor this look on my dressed down days. It can be described as if Xander and Oz from Buffy had a baby who liked Nirvana. This includes more t-shirts, jeans (more baggy than fitted, but both will do), sneakers, and plaid shirts. 

In regards to whether she will change style much, that's something only time will tell. I know that there are certain things she wouldn't wear, aside from me putting her in them because I like the look. That includes the lolita style dress and even the blue star dress I created for her. She's not so much a flashy, frilly individual. Rather her style involves more earthy, practical clothes with a smattering of dresses.

Dolly Sewing/Dolly Haul: Forest Style

I haven't had a chance to sew much as of late since I've been quite sick, but I'm finally starting to feel a bit better so I managed to get some sewing in!

Some of the new doll's style is greatly influenced by the forest, primarily due to some elements in the story that relate to it. So I've been keeping en eye out for foresty pieces of clothing and accessories. I stumbled upon this dress by anekochansdollies and realized it was perfect. It is shown here in her photo, on a mannequin of sorts as it is custom for the new Resinsoul body. It's fairly simple, which is actually nice as it can easily be accessorized.









To go with this dress, I wanted to find some accessories that were more in the realm of green. I found this pair of lace leggings on DoA, and hemmed and hawed over them for a bit before finally going back and purchasing them. They arrived this week and are quite lovely all around Well made, and they have a distinct "fairy tale" sort of feeling to them. The item pictured on top is what I worked on today to go as a sort of waist clincher/faux corset. Again I wanted something green, with a bit of a whimsical feel. The nice thing is I have plenty of both the plain green and patterned green fabrics left to make some more items with. I think they would actually make a pretty nice dress as well together.

A small detail shot of it!

BJD Addicts Written Prompt #1: The Wait

Since I am in the waiting period right now, I thought this would be an appropriate question to answer! It isn't going to be a superbly long wait, but still some time. I expect to have my Resinsoul Mi's layaway completed in about two weeks or so.

Usually when I wait for a doll I...don't wait very well. I know, I know, patience is a virtue. Yet sometimes I have a hard time honoring that! I like to try and keep busy with other things to make the time go faster, or in the case of my most recent doll, make/collect dolly things in anticipation. My plan for Mi has been to get a wardrobe, wig, eyes, and accessories together before she arrives so that I can play around with her right away. I also really enjoy making things for dolls as I feel it helps me bond with them. So for her, I have worked to make clothes and a wig to start with, but there will be more to come.

I also like to do some creating behind the scenes if I have a character who I have a sense of already. This can be tricky because sometimes a doll arrives and is completely different than you expected. However, I really like the planning and imagining process as well. For my incoming Mi, I have a pretty solid idea of who she is and what she's about, though I'm trying to leave a little wiggle room as well. So in the interim, I've been working on writing prompts focused on her, and have also started putting together a playlist. That's one thing I like to do for all my dolls, as I feel it helps connect me better with my interpretation of their character. I also have a ritual if you will where I make sure that when I first pick up/open the doll I'm playing "their song." 

For those who are curious, here are some of their songs as follows:

• Uriel- "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones *
• Nowell- "Noel/What Child is This" by Tori Amos
• Emmanuel (old)- "Rhiannon Live" by Fleetwood Mac
• Emmanuel (current)- "Emmanuel" by Tori Amos *
• September-"Don't Go By the River" by Voltaire
• Nashuat- "Tesselate" by Alt J
• Resinsoul Mi- "The Woods" by Daughter *

The dolls with an asterisk also have a full playlist as well.

Inexpensive Dolly Finds: Hair Bows

The items found in this post were inspired by this video by Swandzz/Pintsizedpalace:

I went to my local dollar store and managed to find the same "tie" as she did, along with some similarly styled bows. They were just a dollar each, and very cute. I won't use all that were in the packages as some are not really the style I'm looking for (at least not right now), but they're certainly worth the price.

All of ones I'll be using (sans two that didn't really fit any color schemes). The "white" one in the corner is actually more of a creamy color, which will look nice with some of the clothes I already have.

Poor Nick Wilde got roped into doing some modeling for me since he was already close by. This is to show what the style itself looks like for the "tie" ones.

A style shot for the bows as well. 

Starshine Designs Review

I received my package from Starshine Designs on Etsy this week, and I'm very pleased with the results! Starshine makes a lot of fun MSD (mostly) and SD clothing items including shirts, outfits, and of course some amazing leggings. I like them in particular because they're not just your run of the mill leggings, they're sparkly, shiny, and even patterned. The prices are also extremely reasonable, which I can appreciate. I purchased a pair of the Halloween print leggings for the incoming doll, and the package arrived this week. I thought I'd do a little review as well to showcase my experience and the leggings themselves.






The leggings were shipped out within the proposed timeline (roughly 2-3 weeks), and arrived wrapped nicely in both outer and inner packaging. They were placed in a sealed plastic sleeve along with a piece of pink paper (which matched the order slip as well). I also noticed that they had included a free gift as well, which was in its own sleeve.

The gift was actually a set of cute little handmade "notebooks" that had covers made out of various colored paper. The books are stapled together, and the insides are blank. These are a lovely little touch, and a nice surprise addition to the package. They are in scale, so I will certainly be using them for some photos in the future.

 On to the main event! The leggings are the "Halloween Ghost Town" leggings in SD size. They retail
for $9.50 plus shipping. The pattern features a number of Haloween-themed images, from ghosts and pumpkins, to cats and candy. Very cute overall. I took these photos of the leggings by themselves, but I did also try them on one of my SD dolls to get a sense for the fit. They fit well, and do not come up short on the legs as I find can sometimes be a problem. The fabric stretches, but the designs themselves don't fade out when on, which I think is attributed to careful fabric placement.

Here is another shot of the full leggings.

Review time!

Pros:

• manufacture time is accurate (and maybe even quicker than stated)
• the items are shipped quickly and packaged nicely (tracking is also included)
• the leggings are well made, and fit the size accurately
• The design doesn't warp or disappear when it is stretched over the doll's body

Cons:

• I really only have one con, which is more tied to my own personal preference rather than anything else. Starshine Designs does state in the listing that the pattern placement can and will differ with each pair which makes sense. Myself, I found these leggings to be *very* different than the ones in the sales image. So much so that I actually did quite a bit of comparing to make sure I'd even got the same pattern. I did, it is just a very different part of the pattern shown here. Since this is stated in the listing and can often happen, I'm not going to leave bad feedback by any means. I do however think it's very important for people to realize this when they purchase, in case you're looking to get something very similar to what is listed. That may be possible, but you would probably have to ask for it specifically.

Overall I would buy from Starshine Designs again, though I will probably reach out in advance before ordering if it is a similarly patterned pair. I don't think that some of the other types of leggings would have this same problem since the patterns are more even overall. That one con notwithstanding, I had a great experience with the company, and am happy with the quality of their work.

BJD Addicts Written Prompt #8: Doll Sizes

Is there a particular Size that you cling to? Which one and why?

I am very much a SD person. Not to say I don't own dolls of other sizes, as I obviously do. But I do tend to prefer the larger sizes, sticking mostly with MSD and (my favorite) SD. I like 70cm like my big Dollshe boy, but I probably prefer the 60-62cm size a little more as they are still big but not overly so.

I like their size and their weight, as they are substantial but still portable. I’ve been known to carry certain SDs of mine around with me to conventions, on trips, and sometimes in my purse (okay, so it’s a big purse). SDs fit comfortably in the crook of an arm, and they are pleasant to hold because of their larger size. They also have a certain charisma that I feel makes them different than the other sizes. Now of course I’m not saying anything against MSDs, YoSDs, or others. However, there’s just something about such a large doll that draws people in. I used to go to a steampunk convention for many years, and would bring Uriel (CP Delf El) in matching costumes. The staff loved him, which always made me laugh. Every year they would pull me aside for pictures with him, and they frequently commented on that “cool big doll.”

I think that SDs can also walk a fine line along the edge of the uncanny valley, which I like.  Essentially the uncanny valley refers to the experience of something looking very close to human, but not quite right. It can cause uneasy feelings, or even outright fear depending upon the individual. There are a lot of things which can fall into the uncanny valley, but dolls are certainly some of the more common ones.

I enjoy that SDs are large and detailed enough to look like small people, and that their presentation (clothes, shoes, etc) can help influence this as well. Smaller dolls can be detailed, but still tend to come off as dolls based on their size. Yet when you have a “small” creature in a t-shirt, jeans, and very detailed hi-tops, it can give people pause. More than once I have had people mistake my SD dolls for children which is always an interesting conversation. I guess I kind of relish in being the creepy doll owner!