Barbie's Next Top Model

I was up late last night on flickr when I stumbled upon this! I just love it! Personally I wish that ANTM, a show I used to love years ago and also think should have ended years go should follow a very similar format. I don't care about the catty behavior, the drama, the hating. I just wanna see the photo shoot challenges, exotic sets and locales, judging and elimination. Here, done incredibly well with amazing shots of customized barbies and a clean, quick format, you get humor, excitement, and sometimes disappointment (LOL!!) all in 5 minutes or less!

FR Barbie Doll Head Swap

 If that sounds weird, well that's because it is. I have little knowledge of how to do this but i have seen it done in the photos of some of my favorite Barbie and FR collectors. Sometimes a doll with a fierce body like Top model Nikki wants a little bit more mobility and articulation and I have discovered that collectors use several heat applied methods to soften the head of the doll who wants a new body, remove it and transplant. Wallah! But wait! You have to dunk the doll's head in boiling water to do this! That prospect and the possible damage it might cause horrified me. I was told a heating pad would work as well but as I have none and no intention of getting one for the purpose I deferred to the boiling and as you can see, Zaltana seems to have made to out with minimal damage (make-up a bit faded but  hardly noticeable) and a boil perm to boot so her thick curly mane is just a bit more relaxed. Pretty cool.

This process actually made me realize how fierce and sexy Zaltana's Model Muse body really is and how closely it identifies her distinctiveness as a doll. It's sleek and perpetually statuesque model pose really makes her makes her appear quite grand and sensual. So there's a bit of a compromise for pose ability. We'll see how it changes her look in future photos. Don't get me wrong, I love how she looks with the FR body ( I got this headless spare last week) and her head fit just perfectly on that little nubbin on the neck that allows the head to tilt all around, but it will take a minute for me to get used to. I'm thinking maybe one of my other Barbies can borrow her old body while she's using this one! LOL!! Why does that sound so much wierder when I'm talking about Barbie then with Blythe?

Barbie Rubber Dress Series

Trxie and Zaltana model my latest creations

So thanks to Mieke Linden's fabulous balloon dresses I was inspired to do some experimenting of my own with gold and silver balloons I bought at Party City this weekend! They're nowhere near as finished and tailored looking as Mieke's but I do love the way they came out and I'm having lots of fun working with them. I'd say I used no more than three balloons each on Trixie and Zaltana's dresses shown above so they're not so layered and draped as they could be. I love how sexy they are and how easily they seem to pass for a different kind of material. I hope to do more this weekend. Obviously they're not re-wearable and are good only for the length of a photo shoot but that keeps things pretty interesting because I don't have otption really to do the same eaxact dress twice. Let's see where it goes.

Arriving/Awaiting/Planning/News

 mimimaus2009

Plastic Paradise ia a buy/sell/trade/forum I have not always found the easiest to navigate. In the past, I have only gone there to get in on the amazing used sale deals on clothes, shoes, what have you. And my transactions have always been perfect, smooth, quick, excellent. A while back because of the unfortunate event of a "bad dolly deal" tighter security measures had to be taken which required me to visit more often in order to access the marketplace once again. My access had been restricted since I never logged in to do anything but shop and for a while I stayed away thinking it was best for my wallet anyway, but after a while I wanted in again and with the help of a PP administrator who is also a flickr contact, I was able to post my way back in and through doing so I discovered what a great community Plastic Paradise really is, and what a difference it makes to post and discuss Blythe stuff in a place where everyone loves Blythe. The expertise, advice, and support is just wonderful. Also, they seem to have recently installed a system which alerts you when you have a new message if you're logged in. At least I think its new. I don't remember ever getting alerted when I had a new message in the past. Whenever I would inquire after something in the market place, I would just keep checking bask to see if a response came in. Yes, I just bought a couple of pairs of Blythe shoes from cybermelli's cleanout sale. They're loafers. I need to get myself a pair as well. : )

Erica, another PP administrator has announced that Plastic Paradise will become Blythe Kingdom on October 22nd. I love the new graphic and I can't wait to see what other new improvements they make since I plan to visit more often from now on.

In other news, I am also awaiting, another doll. No, not a Blythe! Another Barbie! I know! What's happening right? Well what's happening is too many people on flickr are taking pics of Barbies that I absolutely fall in love with on the spot. This one is Trixie, inspired by a character in the Speed Racer movie which I did not see. It seems I cannot resist a little black bob and a clever side long glance. It's all mimimaus2009's fault. When I saw the set of twins I just flipped and started looking all over for her, who she was, how much.

Things in the works, ummm I still have that thermal changing orange saran re-root which I shamefully admit has taking me almost a year to finish.
It's getting down to the wire today with my two girls, Molly and Sabine for sale on ebay. There are more watchers for Molly than Sabine which I didn't expect since she's the least finished looking. But then she is cheaper. We'll see what happens.

Top Model Nikki is here!

 So the first thing I do when I first open up a new doll, besides check for underwear (LOL!) is see if they have a swivel waist and if their legs bend. Nikki has neither and her legs are perpetually posed like this. I was so annoyed by the lack of my favorite dolly perks that I almost thought of keeping her fierce stock and putting her back on the market. But then she struck a pose and I was like WHAM! I guess the limitations of her pose ability will make for a good photographic challenge. Even the insanely articulated and jointed Integrity Dolls have limitations and can't always pose the ways I would like them to.

I couldn't have two Nikkis in the house because "Surf's Up Nikki" was the first so I have named my Top Model Nikki "Zaltana" which is Native American and means "High Mountain." I think it suits her. She comes with one other outfit, a denim mini skirt, a silky orange camisole and a pair of strappy black heels. She has a black pleather "go see" portfolio with pictures of like four or five different outfit combinations inside. She is serious business!