This weekend was the final one that the Volks USA Tenshi-no-Sumika would be open to the public before closing it’s doors indefinitely. AlphaZ enjoyed his visit in early February so much that he was determined to go back one last time. On Saturday there was a discount sale, as well as the opportunity to purchase some of the showroom’s display dolls at the “Dollfie Orphanage.” I arrived with our aunt around 10am and we drew numbers out of a box to determine what order we would enter the line – I got #96, and there were about 160 people in line by the time the shop opened. I met Obiwanivan and JoltFiend while we were waiting around for the store to open.
Category Archives: Volks Super Dollfie
Welcome Home Super Dollfie Ryo!
This weekend when I was at the Volks USA showroom for their final weekend events, I noticed this dapper young boy sitting amid the dolls in the Dollfie Orphanage and his big blue eyes caught my attention. He is a discontinued standard model – Super Dollfie Ryo (凌). I didn’t go into the store event expecting to come home with anything but he looked so polite, shy and oddly familiar that I decided on the spot to adopt him. When I was chatting with my sister about him afterwards, it’s no wonder that he looked familiar – his headmold is the F-11, which is “Nono.”
His headplate says 05.05 so he is an older doll, and his face was painted to look like the pictures in his paperwork. Many of his seams have been sanded and he is in very good condition considering his age! That is what I love about collecting Volks resin dolls – I know that even as they age they will look beautiful. He came “as-is” with the wig, outfit and boots you see here. The outfit is quite special since it is from the 2011 Full Choice System release and I love the boots (they are similar to another pair I already own!).
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Video: Traveling with Super Dollfie & Dollfie Dreams – unpacking!
Super late night video blog!
Goodnight!
– ♥ Archangeli
Rin & Serena Visit Volks Tenshi-no-Sato in Kyoto
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.
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.
After unpacking, we left our bags with the staff and borrowed a lovely basket to carry our dolls in during our visit.
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.
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Dolpa for Dummies by Dark Dollhouse
[This article was originally published by June 10, 2010 by d.ark, who sadly passed away in May 2012. I found this article extremely useful and am republishing it here so that others can benefit from her advice.]
Content of Dolpa for Dummies
Dolpa For Dummies
How to Get Your Dolpa Guide Book
To reserve a Bento Box or not to reserve a Bento Box
Getting to Big Sight
At Big Sight – Getting Into Those Queues
Queuing for Limiteds
Queuing for Sumika items
Doing the Dolpa
Lottery for One Offs and Limiteds
Getting your bingo plates and how to play
Dolpa, Done!
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“Strawberry Sugar Milk Cookie Lolita” & Desserts Appreciation Day!
Did you like my crazy post title? Last March, Volks released two adorable outfits called the Strawberry Milk Heart set, and the Sugar Milk Cookie set; and earlier this year they re-released them with a colour flip (called the Strawberry Milk Cookie and Sugar Milk Heart set)! Are we all utterly confused with the names yet?! I know I am! A few days ago I rounded up Machiko, PlasticFantastic and Sam on short notice to come to my house and celebrate these adorable outfits!
Lily, Yuki, Mashiro, Serena, Nia, Juliette, Maya and Cirno look so sugary sweet and adorable!
In my title I did mention something about desserts, didn’t I? ^__~”
A magical box arrived from Snowfern Clover a few days ago containing some of her stunning miniature desserts. Sid was captivated by the raspberry-rose and lychee Ispahan.
Here are Juliette and Lily showing off both flavours of the Ladurée Ispahans – the purple one is Cassis-Violet.
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Doll Meat & Afternoon Tea in Vancouver – January 19, 2013
A few days ago I met up with my friends Puppy52 & her hubby, LightningSabre, Shigematsu, cheesienpaw and Galamirix for afternoon tea at the Urban Tea Merchant in Vancouver, Canada. A few lovely dollies came with us too!
I brought my newest girl with me – Nana-chan, who is a pre-painted Volks 07 head. She has a beautiful mature look, and a little hint of a neko-mouth ^__^”
Photo by: puppy52
Holiday Mini-Meets
Happy Holidays everyone! I’ve had a few small Christmas doll gatherings at my house in the past few weeks but I’ve been quite busy at work so everything will be lumped into one long post!
A few weeks ago PlasticFantastic brought Nia, Lily and Maya over to help decorate the Christmas Tree!
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Lily, Annalise & Médée on VolksUSA Blog!
It’s hard to believe that November has come and gone. It’s been an amazing month – I had the chance to meet lots of new friends in the Dollfie Dream community across oceans, I celebrated my birthday in London and before the the craziness of December and the holiday season comes upon us, I just wanted to look back at the beautiful autumn months with a few photos that were featured on the VolksUSA blog today. ^___^”
In other news, the Volks Dollfie Dream Xenosaga pre-order project for KOS-MOS and M.O.M.O. has opened and will be running until January 20, 2013. I’ve already placed my order – and advise anyone else that’s interested to do so too, this is a good opportunity to get a beautiful Dollfie Dream without having to contend with lotteries!
– ♥ Archangeli
A Small Doll Meat in Vancouver!
Last Saturday I was in beautiful Vancouver and met up with puppy52, bluestarbaby, LightningSabre, ItSid8 and Kentaro for breakfast downtown. It was a gorgeous day – and also bluestarbaby’s birthday! We met up for breakfast at De Dutch at the Vancouver Convention Centre and gorged ourselves on tasty Pannekoeken and other breakfast fare. The Vancouverites have an inside joke of calling doll meets “doll meats” – mmmm sexy meat! LOL
Mini meet-up at my house!
Today whitefrosty and Machiko came over for a little bit to hang out and play around with my dolls. Machiko’s yo-SD Sora was still at my place, but she also brought over the LUTS winter event head from last year to try out on Thaddeus’ body.
Thaddeus, Annalise and Sora look like a cute BJD family – except that Anna isn’t resin! ^__~”
Sora Dreams of London
Last Saturday I had my sister’s little yo-SD with me when I visited the Volks USA showroom. Little Sora got very comfortable on this bench, fell asleep and had a strange dream. It must have been influenced by the Olympic Games and London themed photo-space he was relaxing in.
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It’s a lovely day in merry, old England. Sora is sitting on a bridge of the Thames River in London with the London Eye slowly rotating in across the way.
Check it out – it’s Big Ben! And is that a red double-decker bus that just zoomed by?
Aerie & Rin visit Volks USA
Last Saturday morning I met up with fellow Dollfie Dream owners Innocentsaké, her husband David, BerzerkFuryZero, Kenny_Ngyuen and Vicky for breakfast in Torrance, California. I was in Los Angeles for a very short layover, but it was great that everyone was able to make time to come hang out!
Here are InnocentSaké’s Momoko (Volks pre-painted DDH-06), my Aerie, BerzerkFuryZero’s Shino (custom DDH-04) and Kiriha, my Rin and Vicky’s Cirno hanging out at a bus stop in “London” ! ^__^”
First things first – fuelling up! We had a gluttonous breakfast at Polly’s Pies, and then went over to the Volks USA showroom. Continue reading
Doll Family: July 2012 Portrait
With the addition of three new dolls to my doll family last week I felt it was time to take an updated photo of my doll family. Here are my girls having a welcoming party for Thaddeus, Siobhán and Sidonie!
My goodness how my collection grown in the past year and a half!
It’s a boy! It’s a boy! Welcome home Thaddeus d’Archangeli
It’s been a very busy week in the Archangeli household! A few months ago, I started a layaway purchase for one of my dream dolls – a Volks Yukinojo Sawaragi and he finally arrived today! Gabrielle was up early and noticed this big box sitting in the hallway. Angry Bunny wasn’t amused since it was in his way!
Gabi being a good little girl moved the big box into the room so that it was out of the way, and there was more space to open it.