I'm Castaneda

I'm Castaneda, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

I purchased another Basaak Blybe a couple of weeks back. She is the second Blybe I've bought and I think she came from the same seller in Bankok where I got Ramona Rae who I customized as a gift for my friend. But Castaneda (I named her after Carlos Castaneda, the author) came in a jiffy. She got here just last week.

Poor quality manufacturing aside, Basaak Blybes have a charm about them that I cannot deny. Right out the box, I just know Castaneda is ready for big things. Besides, Blybe's are the cheapest option I have momentarily for customizing purposes. I'm also not hating the stock eye chips Castaneda came with, although I do have a set of Blythe eye balls already on their way. More info on my plans for Castaneda will be forthcoming. I really need to focus on completing my other half done dolly customs.

Darling Hamsa

Darling Hamsa, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

Saturday in the Park with Blythe

Saturday in the Park with Blythe, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

Had a nice long day in the park with Neige, Hamsa and Whitney (not shown here) on Saturday. It was freezing cold but gorgeous. There was so much to see. I can't wait until it starts to get warm again and I can go sit on the rocks for a while or in the old wooden gazebos along the lake and listen to the water bumping against the sides. As it was I had to put on my gloves after about a half an hour of shooting and I haven't put on my gloves all winter!

Hamsa Pull String SPAM

Hamsa Pull String SPAM, a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

It's 1:14am and I'm up posting a buttload of Blythe Central Park pics. How have I not yet shown you the amazing pull rings Melly Kap made for Hamsa as a part of her face-up commission? I just can't get enough of them. They really make her extra special. Just so sweet.

Hello! It's me Whitney!

Hello! It's me Whitney! a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

So Whitney made her debut at my place last week and I love her!!! I'm so glad I got her! She is just the sweetest little lady. She's stylish, serious, funny, curious and adorable. She is the first stock Licca Blythe I have ever purchased. I didn't like licca bodies when I first started getting into Blythe but I absolutely love them now. Licca bodies which are more bendable in a sort of Gumby way give Blythes a very charming animation that is different from Takara bodies. They can hold things and wave and actually appear more physically engaged in photographed situations.

Another very charming thing about the Hollywood Blythe is how vintage she appears because of her pale make-up coloring. I never really dreamed I would like a Blythe with such pale coloring but it really does give her retro look that I'm a total sucker for and it gives me ideas for colors in future custom Blythes I may design.

Colors are so important in the message they can convey to the viewer. Because of their placement in a historical and cultural context, they often become like codes from the designer or manufacturer for how they want the viewer to think about or perceive a product. I find that kind of thing fascinating.

There are a few challenges with Whitney however.
1. Her hair is also very vintage, meaning a vintage mess. It looks adorable in pictures but it feels like awfulness. She has slightly matted, hard to comb curls. I plan in soaking her in fabric softener for a bit this week to see if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I don't mind it that much. I've heard how awful her hair is from other HB owners so it wasn't unexpected.

2. The ebay seller had also mentioned that the pull ring was missing but that it should be easily replaced. But HB is not an RBL with three screws, but an ebl with two. I can't bare the though of cutting her open to get to that string. I sent out an SOS on flickr for help and suggestions and was sent some instructional youtube videos on how to possibly replace her string without cutting her open. I haven't watched them yet but I really hope they work. So far I've been rolling her eyes down with my fingers which is fine but I need that pull string for the subtitles of expression that occur with the lids down at different levels. To Whitney's credit though, she's pretty darn expressive with her eyes wide open as well.

So that's pretty much it. I don't mind a doll with few challenges. It gives her some character. And in this case it is so totally worth it.

Hamsa Returns!

Hamsa arrived literally as I was writing my last blog entry yesterday. Since I was at work, I only had a peep at her but what i saw was just magical. I took a few more pics of her when I got home but not nearly as many as I would have liked because the light was less than ideal. Looking at her with her new make-over just makes me smile from really deep inside. And I love all my Blythes but each one has a very unique, unnameable quality that inspires me in different ways. Hamsa, from the moment I pulled her out of her box has always had this uncanny spark of life about her, totally stock, without any custom work at all. And now her light just shines so much brighter. I think the best way to describe the sense I get from her overall is a combination of curiosity, cool, and a deep, wistful calm. She's a distant dreamer, which is a quality inherent in most Blythe dolls that hooked me from the very beginning.

Dolly Secret

On the 11th if this month, I won an ebay bid for perhaps the only BL Blythe doll I may ever own. I have mentioned my love for BL Goldie often. I love her crazy vibrant orange eyes and her perpetually kooky animated look. I mean I could probably photograph her for days and never be bored. I'm happy every time I see one but they are astronomically expensive and even if I could afford it, personally, I just couldn't justify it. Maybe if I was rich. But I'm not.

The other BL that I have come to adore is Hollywood BL. Her pale make-up, her wide boggled eyes and gold front facing chips have fascinated me quietly for months. I think having seen shershe transform a few with her amazing re-roots really sold me. I just really needed to get my hands on that mold to see what she's made of. And so last week on ebay, I quietly bid in the final seconds on a Hollywood I'd been watching for several days. She was just within my price range AAAAAAAAND she's here in the US so I won't be waiting forever for her to arrive. She could be here as soon as next week! So perhaps her and my newly customed Punkaholic,Hamsa will arrive at the same time! I can barely stand javascript:void(0)it!!

I also have the design for a new AA Blybe in my mind so I went ahead and ordered a new Blybe from Bankok on ebay as well but I made certain she didn't have that awful CCE body. I'm desperate to experiment with a matte tone of vinyl spray paint which should give the doll a very different look. I'm interested to see how a matte finish will interact with light in photographs.

OK, Hamsa just arrived in my office just this minute!!!! LOL!!! Of course she had help from the postal carrier!!!! EEEEEE!!!!! More later!!!

Malcom Settles in

Manufacturing flaw on his right shoulder aside, Malcolm my new Barbie Basics AA Ken seems to be fitting in perfectly. Reese is, (ahem!) getting herself acquainting herself with him presently. She is one forward lady. But I think Malcolm may have a few unexpected tricks up his sleeve himself.
: )

Hamsa Reloaded!

Face up by the incredible Melly Kay!

Hamsa's face up is finally complete! Melly Kay posted pics of her for me yesterday and I have just been blown away by every thing she has done! I cannot wait to see her in person! I think it has become one of my biggest fantasies to watch my favorite doll customizers at work one day. I would love to watch Melly Kay, Shershe, G Baby and several others transform just one doll with their incredible skills. I would be living!

So here is what Melly Kay did for Hamsa as per my request
-Lips carved
-Gaze correction
-Sand matting
-Standard pink blush
-Pale yellow lids which she did with pastels which give them this amazing softness which is hard to achieve with paint or acrylic mediums
-Green eyeshadow (cause I'm a green freak)
-New eyelashes
-New Pull rings (Her name is on one as you can see!! EEEEE!!)

This is truly one of the most special things that has ever been done for me in dolly land! I can't believe this is the girl who is coming home to me soon. I imagine I will just be staring at her for days and taking hundreds of pictures. I already plan on changing a couple of pairs of eye chips to better match her coloring. Melly Kay, you are the awesomest! Thank you again! I hope you love the girl who is on her way to you just as much!

XOXO!

My Second Elifins Hat

Picture on right by Elifins

Elisa just posted the second hat she made for me and I love it. I think this one is going to go to Mango Bowie. I think the colors will go wonderfully with her coloring and new blue eyelashes. I purchased the lashes at Urban Outfitters weeks ago but did not really intend them for Bowie. I was bored one day and they're so cool I just decided to try them out on her. They're really quite long and extravagant but I like them. If I decide to let her keep them, I may have to boggle her a bit so that they don't cover her eyes so much when they're open.

Malcolm

Malcolm a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

Guess who just moved in? I dropped by Toys R Us after work today and I swear, I got on line like three times because I kept forgetting to check for certain things: Littlest Pets Petite Blythe, Monster High Doll clothes, etc. Finally I went to the rear of the Barbie section and discovered a bunch of shelves totally stocked with all of the new Barbie Basics Dolls. The last time I was there they had sold out of AA Ken. This time, there was only one left. It was time.

So-worth-it.

Use the Forks, Luke, Use the Forks!

Use the Forks, Luke, Use the Forks! a photo by Avanaut on Flickr.

I'm a Star Wars baby in case you didn't know. Born in the 70s and raised on "The Force." This is my fave pic of the week!

Goodies on The Way!

Oh I live for goodies on the way! I really do. I recently received two adorable handmade dresses for my Petite Blythe from pungsnoted. I'm actually starting to find a lot of really cute petite Blythe clothes on Etsy via flickr and I'm super excited to find sellers who make wonderful clothing on a such a tiny scale.

Then there's another HOP dress I commissioned from Julie recently when I saw this amazing line of dresses she turned out using this gorgeous harlequin diamond patterns. Needless to say I squealed my butt off when she posted it for me.

The brown felted hat is on it's way is from elifins who I discovered through Melly Kay. I just adore it. And ahem, I commissioned another. Just one more! It's the green on the bottom and it was purchased before I could get to it. I won't try to make anymore resolutions towards self control. Apparently, I have none.

: )

Clawdeen

a photo by Zanalee on Flickr.

Or as I like to call her, Clawdeena, arrived at the office yesterday. She is the 3rd, and I would like to think last of my collection of Monster High Gals. She is the "Gloom Beach" version of her series as is my "Cleo De Nile" which means she comes in a bathing suit, yellow sunglasses and in her case, a pink Frisbee. I never thought I would buy a doll with fangs but as always, I saw an amazing pic of her by a flickr doll collector slash amazing photographer and that was it. Hooked.
...fanged?

LOL!

Mel's Girl!

So as I mentioned a while back, Melly Kay and I have been doing a commissions trade on each others Blythes, a face up for my Punkaholic Peolple Blytye, Hamsa and an AA custom for Takara face and back plates she sent me along with and ADG body.

I sprayed the body and plates this weekend and give or take a few issues with an overlap of paint near the eyes, it came out pretty great. I'm particularly pleased with my job on the glittery gold lips and have decided that I want to do glittery silver lips for my next custom Blythe! I already have a name picked out but I have to be careful this time to try and design her look around a central element of her customization. Like her eye chips or something.

As always,the ADG bodylike a dream. I would so love to get a bunch of ADG bodies wholesale or even one buy one the way you can get Liccas or Pure Neemo bodies on ebay, at least until I can figure out how to paint stickier bodies. I adore Liccas but have never been able to paint one successfully.

A cute couple

Ahem! So, those dolls I mentioned before. One of them is the "So In Style Little Sister" Doll. I don't really remember how I came upon these on ebay but I remembered seeing just the most adorable little black baby doll in someone's flickr stream and making a mental note that at some point I wanted my FR family to have little kids in it. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the "So In Style" line of kids. They are just so adorable! There's even a little boy with a short fro! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My point is, I liked the idea of softening up my FRs hyper-sexual, orgiastic, fashion obsessed life style with the pitter patter of little feet. I love sex and fashion as much as anyone but a representation of responsibility has it's place even among dolls. At least it does in my world.

I'm glad to see that Reese has a very genuine chemistry with Zahara. True to form however, she has adopted her out of a fear of ravaging her elegant body in child labor. But this doesn't mean that it's out of the question for the future. She is a doll after all. Anything is possible in the plastic realm. LOL!

Babylon

Babylon a photo by Klimtcatz on Flickr.

Okay, so I desperately need to know what color this girl is painted! I love this color sooooo much! In addition to the color itself, I love how matte and photogenic it is! Unfortunately, when I messaged Klimtcattz, I was told that Babylon was a custom done by someone else so she has no idea what the name of this color this is. So if anyone out there in Blythe customizing land has a clue or knows someone who might have a clue, let me know. I would love my next AA Blythe to have this gorgeous color!

: D

Manon Goes Natural.

Manon Goes Natural. a photo by DivaLuvv on Flickr.

I've always quietly lusted after a "Fashion Agency" Doll but they are so high end and expensive, I've never had a chance. This is the first "Manon" I've ever seen with an Afro and gosh, it just makes me want her more. But I digress. I will just sit back and admire. Besides I just bought to other dolls already.
...yeah, more on that later.

: D

♫Let Me Step To The Beat♫

♫Let Me Step To The Beat♫ a photo by tru_fashionista_luv on Flickr.

Fave Doll Pic of the day!
: D

The Rose Petals Sessions and other weekend dolly activiites

Hello all! I know I said I would have some exciting pics to post from this weekend and I do but they're not really the ones I planned on. I was all set to paint Melly Kays' Blythe when upon pressing the nozzle my can of Birdblue Brown SEM spray can, I discovered I had none left. I was quite annoyed. I was really looking forward to it. So in the end, I just ended up doing Tangee's CCE body which came out friggin perfect and which unfortunately, I still cannot stand.

Face plate for Melly Kay's Girl, sanded and carved by her and in town for an AA custom

On a better note my wilted roses from Valentine's Day gave me the idea to do a nude rose petals shoot with my Integrity Dolls. The roses my sweetie gave me in a bouquet with Cala Lilies for V-day were all bent and wilted but I hate throwing away flowers just because they've begun to die. I still think they're beautiful. So I made a note to use the rose petals for an "American Beauty" themed photo shoot. It was fun but kind of difficult as the only thing I could find the roses in that would also fit the dolls was my bathroom sink which would have been fine except for that horrible overhead light. But I had no choice since the sunlight from the tiny window in my bathroom isn't strong enough to shoot in.

Everyone's picture came out with a slightly different style and personality which I found interesting. Later on I included Reya Light and Sesamina.

I also took Frankie Stein, Reese, Zaltana and Bowie out to Central Park on Sunday, a day that was oddly and wonderfully warm.