Thankful to be Obsessively Collecting Dolls!

Well, this wraps up the Thankful For posts here on Fashion Doll Review, at least for me. There is one more post on my own blog, Random Doll Blathering, which I will attend to once I am done here.

It's a short saga from a bunch of folks who knew and admired each other online, to actually getting together face to face. I knew Sonya, A Queen of All Trades, from the Yahoo! group we belong to, Cheery About Agnes Dreary. I mentioned that I lived (at the time) in Auburn, WA, and it turns out I lived under 5 miles away from her. We met up at one of the doll shows in Puyallup, and we really clicked.

Sonya mentioned we should get together again, and also meet some of the other folks who lived here in the state, whom she had known from Prego, and also knew from shopping at the local JoAnn Fabrics.

In February of 2011, the day after my birthday, we all gathered together at the regional library in Federal Way, and have been meeting there ever since, the second Sunday of the month!


On the right, in the pink top, is Sonya's Mini Me

Doll clubs are both fun, and something of a nuisance - fun, because you get together with, and talk dolls for a good portion of an afternoon, and a nuisance because of all the enabling! Dolls I never gave a second thought to, I VERY suddenly started to "seriously covet."

I keep teasing George Gonzalez of Angelic Dreamz about the undercover JamieShow sales reps he has sprinkled among our membership. We started out with Wil showing off his lovely JamieShow dolls, and the next thing you know,  three more members bought the dolls, and some of us want to catch up!

We have had our ups and downs, as most organizations tend to do, but the one thing we ALL have is friends who truly understand what it is to forever Obsessively Collect Dolls, although one member has suggested that we change it a little to Obsessively Covet Dolls.

My own personal joke is that if I were to win a big lottery, I would buy a nice parcel of land, build houses on it for the other members and myself, and we could start our own cult. We have enough "graven idols" to make it plausible, I think!

To Fashion Doll Review's American friends and readers, I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving, and the hope that the calories got lost on their way to your extremities. To our overseas friends and readers, well, I will wish you to have as great a day as we are having here!

Thankful for the mom

Another pair who help light up doll club meetings are mom and daughter, Kristi and Evelyn. Since I am more or less profiling each member one at a time, I will start with Kristi (mom) here, and pay tribute to daughter Evelyn on my own blog.

Kristi, like most of the OCD, is a multi talented lady. How she does so as the mom of two kids is a mystery - well, to me, anyway. I have problems managing being "meowmie" to three cats!



Kristi's kids, whom she does not have to run after

Perhaps I should back up and explain in a little more detail. Kristi manages to keep up with two lively children, her husband, her mother, who has recently moved closer to her AND manages to keep up with  full social schedules - her own, those of her children, her mom, and her husband - and does so all while looking great and keeping her spirits high and sense of humor intact. Plus, she collects, as you can see, all sorts of different dolls, which, as always, look fantastic.

How does she do it? I would be MOST thankful if she would share the secret!

Thankful for great taste

One thing I always envy of my friends in my doll club is that they ALL have such great taste in clothes, dolls, or displays. Angie, the subject of this "Thankful for" post is no different.

Angie is many things - she is a jewelry maker, with her own Etsy store, from which she sells human sized and doll sized jewelry. She is also a talented craftsperson, and has tried her hand at, successfully, wig making, furniture making, and even rerooting. Angie also makes me insanely jealous of her skill at taking such great pictures of dolls. I even ask her to take one or two of my dolls, and place them in her setting or against her background to take pictures.

Frankly, it ought to be illegal to be this talented, and a sweetheart to boot, but somehow, Angie carries it off quite well!

Thankful for seriously coveting

Ah, yes, the time of year when we load up on turkey and other goodies, then sit back and hopefully give thanks.

This year, I am giving thanks for my friends in my doll club, the OCD, which is short for Obsessively Collecting Dolls.

This first entry belongs to Margaret, a lovely lady who has coined one of our favorite phrases, "Seriously covet." Something she manages to provoke just about every single meeting with her drop dead gorgeous dolls and outfits, such as this one.

Tonner's Au Naturale Ashleigh wearing Black Hills Doll Design

I "chided" Margaret for making me drool like a baby over this dress, and Margaret "chided" me in return for provoking her on a number of occasions to "seriously covet" dolls from my own collection.

"Seriously coveting" easy on the eyes, murder on the budget!

And the winner is...

The prize: One of my latest publications, Steffie: Out of the Box. This is an unauthorized soft cover visual reference book on Mattel's Steffie sculpt. I use all my own photography, and it could be considered to be a little, well, artsy.

The back of the book - actually, one of my favorite dolls. This is a Miss America, Quick Curl Brunette, who has been restyled by Roberta Marino.

We had nine participants in our drawing last week. Thanks so much for reading The Fashion Doll Review and participating!

According to the theme, I thought I use a Barbie cup for the container. I seem so organized, don't I? Just don't look at the rest of my house, or notice how closely cropped my photos are.

Oh--the anticipation. I have to include one of these photos, of course.

And our winner is... Ada in Romania! I believe one of our wonderful contributors had the pleasure of meeting Ada in person at the Italian Doll Festival this past year. Ada, if you would contact me at alison at fashiondollreview dot com (well, with the @ symbol and . of course) with your mailing address, that would be great! I'll get your book out ASAP!

To the rest of you, thanks ever so much for participating. I realized today that drawings are one of my favorite things about doing this blog and I don't do enough of them, so keep your eyes peeled.

Also, if you would like to purchase a copy of my book, you can contact me at the above address. The retail price is $20 plus shipping. It's also available on Amazon.com, and also on Amazon Europe, so that might be a cheaper option for some of you as well.

Incidentally... in the last week, we've had about 10,000 page views (and no, I don't count my own). That's fantastic!

Our most popular post is on Monster High dolls. Would you all like to see more posts about these dolls? Any other requests?

Also, are you aware of our sister blog, BJDs for Beginners? I've moved all the BJD-related posts over to that blog, since I was clogging up the fashion doll section a little heavily with BJD items.

Thankful IV

Well, looking through my photos of all of my lovely dolls, I came across a series of pics I took exactly a year ago today, which I called "Conan Logic."

I love reading Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, and while I was growing up, I collected Conan novels, as well as collections of short stories by various other writers. What I found the most interesting about these books, was the cover illustrations, painted by such great fantasy artists as Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo. Many times, the strong, hunky hero is shown standing over monster he has just vanquished, with a scantily clad lady on his arm. The funniest covers had to be the ones depicting deep winter conditions, with the hero wearing a loincloth and a bunch of pelts tied together as boots, while the scantily clad lady, usually a plucky escaped slave girl, lounged at his feet.

My point, and yes, there is one, is that I am glad there is no snow on the ground THIS year. In the meantime, please enjoy Steffanie (Blush and Bashful Sydney Chase) as the plucky escaped slave girl, looking for the hunky barbarian hero, an homage to the great cover illustrations of Messrs. Frazetta and Vallejo.

I am a plucky escaped slave girl! I do not want to be the Evil Dude's love toy!

Oh, no! The Evil Dude has sent his monster minion to bring me back and make me his love toy! Can no one save me?

Thank you, oh, thank you, hunky barbarian hero! Uh, do you have any brandy? I'm kinda chilly in this getup!

Here's hoping all of Fashion Doll Review's readers have a nice, warm and snuggly Thanksgiving! Or at least warmer than the one poor Steffanie had this time last year.

Thankful III

Well, at the risk of sounding exceptionally greedy, I passed the mark of 100 Tonner dolls in April of this year. Not bad for someone who started collecting these lovely ladies in 2007!

Anyway, the doll that pushed me over the so-called "Century Mark" actually might have been a denizen of my so-called Bluebeard Drawer. I purchased her as a head, but decided that she had to have a body as soon as I could arrange it. One of my other dolls, whom I wanted to Frankendolly onto a different style of body "volunteered" to "donate" her body to the cause, and doll number 100 became a "real live doll," and not an occupant in my Bluebeard Drawer.

Kalypso Hart, formerly Egyptian Gold Betty Ann

I have long been a Greek mythology fan, and one of my favorite names from mythology was the name of one of the goddesses mentioned in The Odyssey, who tried to keep King Odysseus with her and make him Her immortal consort.

Oh, and for those of you who wonder what in the world a Bluebeard Drawer could POSSIBLY be or look like, here is your answer:

Gruesome, isn't it?

And don't worry - I am already planning my New Year's Resolution for 2012, and that is to get bodies for all of these lovely ladies.

Thankful II

Continuing with the more or less holiday theme, I am giving thanks for Pessimist in Purple Agnes Dreary. This little gal has turned into quite a muse for me, and I really enjoy writing short stories of her adventures with various members of her family. Here, she is shown with her "evil twin,"  greeting their uncle in typical fashion - namely bowling the poor guy over.

That new chandelier DOES look great, kids!

Thankful!

Okay, so it's next week that the US celebrates Thanksgiving, in which we take two work days off in connection with the weekend to reconnect with family (and in some cases, give thanks for geographic distances), eat lots of food (and give thanks that we have the next three days to work it off), and count our blessings in general.

Here are two dolls for which I am thankful, both of whom spent a long, LONG time on my Grails list before arriving in my collection earlier this year. Both of them are Tonner dolls (surprise) and both of them are Stellas, one of my favorite sculpts amongst Tonners.

Persephone (L, Petulant Pink) and Isabeau (R, Chase Model)

A very merry Christmas and happy holiday, dear reader!

Our kitty Lily, taking a rest under our tree. She's been working very hard at un-decorating it. 
(She loves the acrylic crystals most--so my kind of cat--lovely, sparkling things!)

Perhaps a few days late, but I did take a day or two off to spend with my family. But I am back now, and I will have more interesting articles for you, including a new series, which I will be starting in the new year, on how to buy a new BJD, and how-to articles, possibly with video tutorials (assuming I can get my swearing under control). Just kidding!

I do have lots to share with you--the doll fairy was amazingly generous with me this year!--but mostly, I just want to thank you for your readership, and hope you are keeping warm and cozy during this busy time of year.

Thank you for your loyal following this year, from all of us here at the Fashion Doll Review.

Happy thanksgiving, dear readers!

I hope you all had a very happy thanksgiving with your families. This season, I am very thankful to have all of you. Hope you enjoy this holiday weekend with your family! (And that you may find some good deals on dolls, as well.)

I'm Thankful For... #16

Winona Sydney, formerly Pessimist in Purple Agnes Dreary

Tonner's Agnes Dreary. It is thanks to this gloomy little girl that I am a member of the Yahoo! discussion group, Cheery About Agnes Dreary. I have met some of the most incredibly nice people, and I have learned a lot about dolls.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm thankful for... #14

Eat Cake, OOAK, originally uploaded by alington.

Let Them Eat Cake, The Duchess sculpt on an Antoinette body by Tonner Doll. She was from the 2010 Tonner Convention, and I hear she wasn't very popular, and many people don't care for her sculpt. I do. I think she's lovely. I got her from Carol at Bearzabout at the IFDC Convention for a steal.

She came with this purple lingerie (she's wearing it), shoes and her hair in an elaborate Rococo style. I've pinned it up, added fringe and feathers, and also added earrings. I've also created some pieces to make her into Marie Antoinette. You can see a few more photos on Flickr.

I made a very large skirt, gathered with a wide band, which is tucked under the last row of the lingerie chiffon and bow. I also added an overskirt, which is worn tied in the front. I used decorative machine stitching to embroider the skirt, and added trim, in the same color thread as the lavender fabric. I happen to have a pannier for a larger BJD, which fits her perfectly.

I also added sleeves (first embroidered), with gathered elastic at both ends. (Like all Antoinette-bodied dolls, she has removable hands for easy dressing.) Finally, I made a collar with a casing, through which I threaded a silver ribbon, which can be adjusted as necessary.

Let it be known that I really don't sew anything three dimensional, but if you have nice fabric (this is dupioni silk, on sale at the Yardage Town), lots is forgiven!

I'm thankful for... #13

The wild and wacky weather we are blessed with here in Washington State. I have had 2 outdoor sessions with my dolls today - short ones, it's bloody cold! - and have had two very different takes on the weather conditions.

First up is Tonner's Chase Model Kit, falling down like most of the people in this state. I am sure the folks in the Midwest are laughing uproariously at the reports of our "horrific blizzard" which dropped 2.5 whole inches of snow on us overnight.

Eek. 2.5 inches of snow. It's the apocalypse.



Our plucky, escaped slave girl, wondering if Conan is coming by soon, she's getting kind of chilly.

 The second picture is of Tonner's Blush and Bashful Sydney Chase, posing as the scantily clad love interest of the equally scantily clad hunky barbarian (whom I do not have yet!) inspired by pulp fiction novels I read while I was growing up.

Needless to say, both dolls are ticked at me, considering the temperature, but both are pleased with how pretty they look.

I'm thankful for... #12

Allan in American Airlines Captain. This was the childhood doll and gift of a friend. You can tell that he was well-loved because most of his hair is rubbed off. I've left him dressed just as he was when last played with.

I'm thankful for... #11

Babe, you need a step stool.

Serendipitous doll movements. Usually, when a doll moves while I'm taking pictures, it's a disaster, because it is normally to fall flat on their faces. As I was snapping the picture, he moved forward just a bit, like he was about to give her a peck on the forehead.

I'm thankful for... #10

Goodreau's American BJD Secret, the other half of the TNT Flip trade. I thought with her beehive wig she really needed some mod clothes so I dressed her in a poncho that my grandmother made for my doll's on my 9th birthday. Thanks for another great trade, Alison!

I'm thankful for...#9

1969 Blonde TNT Flip, originally uploaded by alington.

1969 Blonde TNT Flip Barbie. Another great trade from Kathie, I love her sweet vintage face!

Doll clubs are great, because you can see new dolls in person that you never knew you needed in your collection. And the trades... oh yes!

This girl hasn't had any retouching, either. I'm almost afraid to take her out of the box! (Well, almost.)

Oh yes--did I mention I'm thankful for Kathie, too? [wink]

I'm Thankful For... #8

Wake up, sweepy head!
Where is the snooze button on this kid, anyway?

Father and daughter duo Wyatt and Alyssa, alias Lysse. Wyatt is a Tonner Peter Parker, while Lysse is a Skateboard Riley by Helen Kish. This was the first ever shot I took with my camera on a tripod, using the timer function, and it is the clearest photo I have taken so far.

I'm thankful for... #7

Tonner's Sydney Chase, Stroll in Central Park. It's hard for me to pick a favorite Sydney doll but I think she is it.  She is just so pretty.....