Monthly Archives: February 2014

Rin & Serena Visit Volks Tenshi-no-Sato in Kyoto

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One of the highlights of my trip to Japan in October was having the chance to visit the Volks Tenshi-no-Sato showroom in Kyoto. It is their gorgeous flagship location and an absolute must for any Volks doll collector. Admission is free, however reservations must be made in advance by simply emailing Volks. The staff at the store had no record of our reservation, but luckily AlphaZ had a copy of the confirmation email saved on his phone! (For future visitors, I recommend printing out a copy of your reservation just in case!) It was actually quite easy to get to Tenshi-no-Sato from the train station, however I found this guide on Angelden.net to be very helpful.

Volks Tenshi-no-Sato, Kyoto

Unlike other Volks showrooms that also carry their hobby kits (model airplanes), Tenshi-no-Sato is dedicated only to dolls and the special relationship that owners have with them.
Volks Tenshi-no-Sato, Kyoto

After unpacking, we left our bags with the staff and borrowed a lovely basket to carry our dolls in during our visit.
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There are indoor photo areas, but the true gem is the Japanese garden outside. Since the weather was beautiful and sunny we went outside to take advantages of the beautiful garden.
Serena at Volks Tenshi-no-Sato
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Magdalena and Annalise visit Volks USA – February 9, 2014

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By now most of the Volks doll collectors in North America have heard the sad news that Volks USA will closing it’s doors after March 16th. I took the opportunity to pop by earlier this month to avoid the rush of people visiting the store the last few weeks. My hubby, AlphaZ, came along with me and we brought Magdalena (Volks DD KOS-MOS) and Annalise (DD Rise Kujikawa) with us to hang out with InnocentSaké and her hubby, David for breakfast before heading over the Volks USA showroom.

Magdalena & Annalise visiting Volks USA's Showroom
The Volks photo-space was still set up for Christmas, so I brought some hearts along to give a  Valentine’s Day vibe. (I won’t judge though, I’ve been to lazy to take down my own Christmas tree >__<” ) InnocentSaké brought Melon (DD Mashiro Mito) and Yuri (DD Saber Lily) with her! We spent some time upstairs chatting with Vicky and Kimberley (two of their new staff) and shopping before heading down to goof around in the photo area.
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Quick review of the Penguin Costume for Alice

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This is, in my opinion, one of the most hilarious items that Volks has ever released. I don’t know anything about the game that Alice is from, so to me this is an amusing mascot suit.
penguin
Photo: Volks

First of all – this penguin suit is 25 inches tall! It is HUGE! It comes loosely wrapped in a plastic bag so shipping it is difficult unless you want to compress it and ruin the faux fur. The fur is very soft and lovely to the touch.
Just to show how big this is 0_o”
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It comes with a cushion to stuff inside the penguin when there’s no doll inside. The cushion is made of rough broadcloth as if it were an afterthought.

The penguin is sized best for a Dollfie Dream Sister (i.e. Alice’s size), but with some awkward bending I was able to fit a DD2 inside. The inside of the suit is completely white inside and the suit zips up the back with a zipper. I think that fitting a DD3 inside would be very difficult and you would risk damaging the zipper as I had a bit of resistance with the DD2.

I was worried about the black felt around the face hole possibly staining but after stuffing the doll inside (because that’s what it felt like I was doing…) I gently pushed the head backwards a bit into the suit so that it wasn’t touching the black felt. After 10 days inside, my test doll had no marks on her. (Here’s a sad looking Mel in the penguin suit… no wig LOL)
Melisande in the penguin costume

When I first saw it last October in the Volks Osaka showroom I laughed so hard, and passed on buying it, but it was available for purchase from Volks USA a few weeks ago and I decided that maybe it would be amusing to have it to so that I would have all of DDS Alice Kuonji’s accessories.

This was a rather expensive and silly impulse purchase, but it is so soft and cute and ridiculous that I love it!

– ♥ Archangeli