Shopping for Doll Goods in Hong Kong

Posted on by
7

I was in Hong Kong over the weekend and took advantage of the visit (and the good weather!!) to check out a couple of doll shops that I’ve been itching to visit for almost a year: namely Dollfie World, Doll Hearts and JR Toys. All of them are located very close to each other in the Mong Kok area of Kowloon, Hong Kong and the purpose of this post is to give you very simple, idiot-proof directions especially if you’ve never been to Hong Kong. Most of the places I’ll mention open later in the afternoon and stay open until around 10pm at night so you can do other things during the day and come here afterwards.

If you’ve never been to Hong Kong before, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the sights, sounds, smells (good and bad…) and huge crowds of people everywhere. I still get a bit overloaded every time I’m there but it’s a very easy city to get around in due to the excellent transit system (the MTR) and 90% of the signs have English on them since Hong Kong was a British colony up until very recently. Space is limited everywhere so as a result there are many tall skyscrapers, very close together. To break it down very simply, you have Hong Kong Island at the south, the mainland part which is Kowloon and north of that you’ll be in China. This is a portion of the skyline of Hong Kong Island as viewed from the harbour area of Kowloon – you can see the Hong Kong Convention Centre which was modeled in the shape of a pigeon or seagull or some other bird…

To get to Mong Kok, get onto the MTR subway system and direct yourself on to the Kwun Tong Line (green line) or the Tsuen Wan Line (red line). You can buy tickets from the machine or if you’re going to be there for several days get yourself an Octopus Card. An Octopus is the electronic pass that is used on buses, subways, many stores and restaurants and credit is automatically deducted when you tap your card on the Octopus reader. It’s just really convenient because you’re not always rummaging for small change or lining up at machines to buy tickets. Anyone who’s been to London should be familiar with this system since they have the Oyster card for their Underground system (but it’s not as well integrated into the city as HK’s Octopus in terms of being able to use it at so many stores!).

Continue reading →

Fashion Friday with Saber Lily

Posted on by
Reply

It’s a bit of a gloomy, rainy day today so I couldn’t take my girls out for a nice outdoor shoot, but that didn’t stop me from taking some lovely pictures of a few of the girls in their new clothes from Nine9style – a Korean company that makes doll clothes and accessories. I really like the casual doll clothing that Nine9style makes and most of the items that they make for SD13 dolls fit Dollfie Dreams very nicely. The pieces come with red labels inside that I’ve carefully cut out because they look like they’d stain my dolls.

Here’s Saber Lily showing off the “Mink Ball Knitwear & One-Piece” outfit. It comes with a long caminsole-stype dress with tulle on the bottom, this cute knitted sweater and a little black puff brooch. The shoulder straps  on the dress are not adjustable, but it fits the L-bust  very nicely. I’ve had this outfit on Lily for 3 days and there’s been no sign of staining.


Continue reading →

Chibi-Aerie’s Food and Fun in London

Posted on by
3

This weekend I had another awesome meetup with DarkDollhouse, fransgaard, GabrielVH and Jezatron in London, England. This time I brought my new MDD with me, but since Medée’s head isn’t completed yet, I chibi-fied Aerie (Airy) and brought her instead!

I did a lot during the day that I want to share before I get to the meetup. First off, since the MDD body is so small, it didn’t make sense for me to lug around a big pillow-carry case (like the one my Volks SD16 came in) so I wrapped Chibi-Aerie up in a large sheet of bubble wrap, then in a t-shirt and tucked her lengthwise into my carry-on suitcase. She fits almost perfectly – I only had to bed her knees a little bit. Chibi-Aerie heard stories about her sister Moe’s trip to London so she was really excited to go herself too!

Chibi-Aerie also travelled in Executive First Class, and she got settled in right away and tried out the lay-flat bed in the pod-like seat.

But as soon as it got dark she couldn’t sleep anymore so as a special treat I let her visit the cockpit to meet the pilots. They were very curious to meet her and the First Officer was quite amused by her. Not many people get to see the inside of a cockpit nowadays so Chibi-Aerie was very lucky to get this special visit. There are so many dials and buttons! Be careful not to press anything Chibi-Aerie!

Continue reading →

Chibi-Moe meets her cousins!

Posted on by
2

I was heading over to my sister’s place yesterday so I took Medée and Moe (head only) with me. I left the blank head with my sister so that she can do a face-up for Medée so Moe got to wear the MDD body and be chibi-fied LOL

I forgot my camera, so these were taken with my rather craptastic iPhone (I can’t wait to upgrade to a new one), so I apologize in advance! >__<”

Here’s Medée meeting her cousin Zephyria. She brought over one of her spare Hello Kitty plushies as a gift for her cousin.

medee

One of the things I was curious about was to see how well MSD and MDD (Mini Super Dollfie and Mini Dollfie Dream) outfits can be interchanged since the Volks website has them listed as such, but there are bound to be some differences. So Medée and Zephy swapped outfits and the results were interesting. The MSD has somewhat broader shoulders and waist so it fits a bit snugly in the MDD outfit, and as a result the MSD dress is loose on the MDD. I also noted that since MDD’s have thinner ankles most of Zephy’s shoes didn’t look right on Medée, even though when I compared their feet they are roughly the same size. It was quite peculiar!

And then they had some fun dressing up in Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma pajamas! Aren’t they cute?! (Hmm, Zephy was a little short so I had her stand on a box! LOL)

And then the yellow birds came out to join them!

Later on Zephyria borrowed some stuff from Ventus’ wardrobe and dressed up as a dandy. Here they both are looking very spiffy! Ventus is wearing his Ciel Phantomhive cosplay made by Machiko.

Here’s Makoto finally meeting Moe! They look so cute. Unfortunately Makoto will be staying with auntie Machiko for a bit longer so she didn’t come home yet.

My friend’s Abio Angel doll, Kaiyouko (Kioko?), was also visiting, but she’s undergoing a new faceup at the moment so I didn’t take photos of her.

If anyone is curious about the bear PJ’s, you can contact my sister through her blog. I know she had some for sale on etsy before, but I think she sold out out of her pre-made ones at Anime North.

My first Mini Dollfie Dream: Médée

Posted on by
3

I recently bought a Mini Dollfie Dream of the marketplace on Den of Angels and she arrived yesterday. I opened her up to check that everything was ok and then she immediately went into dolly surgery ^__~” She came with some minor staining on her legs – nothing too bad, but a bit of a nuisance. Since I was planning on removing the vinyl calves off of her plastic skeleton I took the time to install kips into her knees since I’ve heard that MDD knee joints are weak, sometimes loose and the dolls can’t stand on their own very well. I did take photos of this process so I’ll do a mini tutorial at some point but it was very simple. Kips are little silicone discs that are usually used in the joints of resin BJD’s to add friction and improve posing. Just handling her, her body is more “floppy” than my large Dollfie Dreams but her arms have a better range of posability.

After the kip instanllation, I slathered her thighs, calves and feet with Remove-Zit, a very powerful stain removal product designed for vinyl dolls. It stinks to high heaven but it works. After an overnight application the stains on her legs are reduced about 70% – which tells me they were quite superficial to begin with. I’ll need to do at least 1, possibly 2 more treatments to remove all the stains and then she’ll be as good as new. It’s a good thing I have a spare bedroom to leave her in because the stuff really stinks! >__<”

Also, she was sent to me with blank HDD-01 head so I’m going to take her over to Machiko’s later this week so that she can give my new doll a faceup. I had Kev cut notches into her headcap so that it’s easier to remove and put back on since the original DD vinyl is very stiff – not like the new squishy heads that Airy and Moe v.2 have. I had a pair of stray 20mm animetic eyes laying about so I put them in, and they suit her.

I think I’ll call her Médée (pronoucned “meh-DAY”) – a cute little name for a cute little girl. Here’s a quick photo of her hanging around with Bubba – she’s about the same height as him! ^__^” I’ll do a formal welcoming for her when she’s done with all her surgical procedures.

Airy’s Matcha Shortbread Cookies!

Posted on by
4

Today Airy was in the mood for a treat so she decided to bake! Since it’s her first time baking she picked a nice, simple recipe to share with everyone – matcha shortbread cookies! Buttery, crunchy with a touch of matcha green tea – these are a nice treat with a cup of tea or as a snack. Be warned though – they are very addictive and not low-fat! (^__~)” [Note: full recipe at the bottom of this post.]

Here’s Airy combining the ingredients – she’s mixing together flour, matcha tea powder and pinch of salt.


Continue reading →

Figure Displays Tips Part 1: Using Acrylic Risers (and Other Stuff)

Posted on by
1

One of the dilemmas of every figure collector is how to display your collection so that it’s aesthetically pleasing, showcases your figures, maximizes available light and maximizes the space you have available. Kev & I have been collecting for almost a decade (yikes! >__<) and it snowballed from a handful of Final Fantasy figures once upon a time to what I still consider to be a growing collection today.

I have quite an array of different sized figures in my collection: from 2″ tall to 2.5 feet tall and everything in between so I have encountered all kinds of display dilemmas. The simplest (and most expensive) solution would be to buy tons of commercial acrylic risers. You can find them at retail supply stores, or if you’re lucky to be in a city with a MUJI you can find some great risers there in all shapes and sizes – however they are not cheap! So this is when you sometimes have to get thrifty and creative. In my opinion, the nicest displays are in tiers of multiple levels to suit the size of the figures, but things don’t have to be completely symmetrical.

I have the Detolf cases from Ikea – as many of you do too – and the reason I chose them was because they have a door (to keep my cats out and dust off my figures) and because they are glass they let in as much light as possible. One of the downsides of this style of display case is that you are somewhat limited by the shelf sizes and unless you put spotlights into them they are still quite dark.

Have a look at the stuff in this picture:

No, it’s not tomorrow’s recycling T__T”
This is an assorted collection of different items that I use in my display cases as risers just to show some of the variety of items that I’ve kept for future use. Only the 4 in the top-right corner of the photo are actual commercial acrylic risers, since most of my risers are being used and I didn’t want to take apart my displays for this post! The rest is an assortment of bits and bobs that I’ve accumulated over time and have become quite useful. There are:
– plastic boxes from chocolates
– parts of a bathroom toiletries set (liquid soap dispenser with pump removed, soap dish, etc)
– stackable makeup and craft supply jars
– cosmetic display units
– prisms
– CD spindle case
– superglue jar/ empty pill bottles

I made a quick video talking through the individual items in the above photo –

My point is that if you are resourceful you can find all kinds of things around the house to use for your displays. I’ve read that some collectors use glass cups, cake displays, jars and other clear items. If it has a flat surface for a figure to stand on, it can be used as a display! [Disclaimer: I don’t suggest hoarding things to the point that your friends and family need to stage a TV intervention!]

Okay, so remember all that plastic “stuff” from the picture above – see if you can spot some of them in this (outdated) photo of my Kingdom Hearts chess set. (I’ve got the new ones from KH2 in the shelf – just haven’t gotten around to taking an updated photo! ^__~”)

I hope this post got you thinking outside the (chocolate) box about how to display your toys and figures. I’m not a “keep it in the box forever” type of collector (although I have nothing against collectors who like to keep things MIB) but I like to be able to see the efforts of my years of collecting, so to me, an attractive display is necessary.

Next time I’ll post about a completely different way to make use of space in your cases to display figures!

Moe-chan goes to London!

Posted on by
1

This weekend Moe came along with me to London, England and we met up with fellow Dollfie Dream owners Dark Dollhouse, GabrielVH, Jezatron and fransgaard for lunch.

I was quite concerned about how to pack her compactly and safely into my carry-on luggage but I shouldn’t have been worried at all. The best way for a Dollfie Dream to travel is in First Class! ^__~”

After getting off the plane and traveling to our hotel in London, Moe was nice and fresh – but that didn’t stop her from claiming the bed all to herself!

Moe got very excited when she spotted a double-decker red bus on the street! It’s one of those sure signs that you really are in London.

Moe got to ride on one of those buses, but she was safely packed away in my bag for transit so no pictures of that journey. However, we did take a short stop at Picadilly Circus to take a photo of the Eros Statue.

Continue reading →

Welcome home Dollfie Dream Moe II

Posted on by
4

Moe was originally released in 2009 at a DD event so for me to get my hands on the first release would be quite difficult. Her head mold is the same as Natsuki’s but they have different face-ups. When Kev and I saw the promo photos and information about the re-release of Moe and the new DD III body with improved flexibility we both decided we wanted her in our family.

We had someone attend the re-opening festival at the new Volks Akihabara showroom at Hobby Tengoku enter the lottery for us – and we won! Moe was shipped on Sunday and she arrived today!

Of course my girls  had to come out to greet their new sister! Here are Saber Lily, Airy, and Alisanne all anxiously anticipating her arrival! (Makoto wanted to be here, but she’s visiting auntie Machiko right now).

Here’s Moe out of the box – she’s so adorable! I love her sweet face-up. I’m not crazy about that S-Bust, but I have some random M and L ones laying around that I can switch onto her. I suppose it’s not a bad thing to have a S-Bust for reference when Machiko wants to make DD clothes ^__^b

I seem to have the worse luck with dolls from Volks… When I ordered my Sd16 Daria from Volks USA she was sent to me with 2 left shoes! This was quickly remedied after I contacted Volks – but check this out: Moe has 2 left FEET! For the rest of these photos I’ve swapped her “right” foot with one from another doll. Good grief…

Here she is out of the box. She’s so cute!

Moe is made of the same softer vinyl that Airy and Neris are, so her head cap is much squishier!

I was a bit apprehensive about her outfit since there is so much dark fabric – and knowing about the horrible incidents that other doll owners have had with outfits like Saber Lily’s maid dress and Beatrice’s school uniform I was wondering how Volks would approach this outfit.

Here are my observations about Moe’s new outfit:

Choker: It’s lined in white pvc and closes with a snap closure. The snap is weakly sewn on, so be careful putting it on and taking it of.
Blouse: It would be hard to put a body suit underneath because of the shoulder straps and where the sleeves sit on her shoulders. It’s partially liined in white inside  (the bodice is lined, the sleeves are not). Closes with 3 snaps at the back.
Skirt: A few black threads here and there along the waist and where the snap closure is, but it has a white lining and after studying the construction I’m quite certain it won’t cause stains. I left the outfit on her for over 12 hours today and when I inspected her this evening there were no stains.
Jacket: Made of white, so no risk of staining.
Pantsu: She comes with them. Enough said. I think Volks is trying to eat up their supply of stretchy cotton fabric.
Stockings: There is a dark grey trim along the top of the white stockings so I wouldn’t suggest wearing these for long periods of time.
Shoes: Cute platform loafer-style shoes. I wore something similar way back in the days when I was a high school girl ^__~” These are lined in white on the inside.
Arm warmer: Not  lined in white. I got confused because there is only one o_0″ but that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Bracelets: There’s only (1) bracelet. It’s one long piece that wraps around twice and snaps on. It’s backed in white PVC to prevent stains.
Handbag: Functioning bag -it opens and closes with velcro.

Here’s something interesting – her hand joints are different. DD III on left, DD II on right.

Here she is all dressed – isn’t she sweet?!

And of course, everyone is super curious about the posing ability of this new body type. I’ve taken several photos of Moe to show the capability of the new DD III body. Sorry about the lighting – I did this in a hurry since I have to leave for work very soon!

The arms are much more flexible with the incorporation of the “secret joint” into the frame, however her arm pops out when you bend her arm this far. It’s no problem because you can just push it back in again – but this is what it looks like distended (left arm), and what it looks like when you push it back to normal (right arm).

This new DDIII body seems to be better designed to bear weight in the arms. I tried having Moe play around with Avalon and doing a 10 second test – if she could hold a pose for 10 seconds then I took a picture. Otherwise I considered it a fail. The results are quite interesting:

As a benchmark, this is all I could get Saber Lily’s DDII body to do without the sword falling:

Moe was able to copy that with no effort required! Here are a front and side view – my cat Bubba doesn’t seem too impressed.

So to progress, let’s try lowering the arm and re-distributing the weight and center of balance. Try as I may I could get Saber to support the sword, so it looks like Moe is on her own from now on. So far, so good.

So let’s try lowering the arm even more – it’s straight now!

Also, Moe’s DDIII body is capable of spreading her legs wider than a DDII. Don’t get any ecchi thoughts! T__T

While experimenting with how her legs can move I discovered she can do the full splits!

And she looks quite natural and relaxed in this pose.

The mechanism and skeleton inside the torso have also been greatly redesigned. This is what Moe looks like when I separate her at her waist:

The flat part in her hip piece prevents her from leaning forward or slouching so Moe sits up very straight! The rounded portion kind of wraps around the skeleton mechanism in the torso and I think it allows the back to bend more, without the risk of snapping the peg. The peg fits into the hole in the bust half (as per DDII). Because of the way that piece is shaped, it’s a bit annoying to fit the hips back into place.

And this is the updated neck-peg. No comments on what it looks like, but it allows the doll’s head to bend backwards a lot more than before without any modifications that were previously necessary with the DDII.

So what do these new changes mean in terms of posability? Well, I’ll let these photos do the talking!

Alrighty, I’ve had a super long day and I need to get some some sleep before going to work tomorrow. I hope these pics were interesting! So far the DDIII body is looking to be some great improvements on the DDII body. I’ll taking Moe with me on a little trip this weekend so look forward to more Moe-goodness soon! ^__^

Saber Lily welcomes home a new, um… pet?

Posted on by
1

Kev and I have been waiting around today since Canada Post’s website shows that our new DD daughter has gone through customs and is in their hands now – but it’s now past 7pm and she hasn’t shown up so I guess she’ll be arriving tomorrow. Boo.

The mailman did deliver a box today while I was out, but as Saber Lily’s expression shows, it’s certainly not a DD and I didn’t remember what it was that I had ordered.


Saber Lily:  “Maybe it’s clothes?”
Possibly… Let’s look and see.

Upon opening the box, Saber Lily was just as confused since there are some miniature belts, some hairclips and a bunch few packages wrapped in foam. Nothing looks remotely like a doll or new clothes.

After taking everything out and unwrapping things she discovers a vinyl makeup bag with a cushioned pouch inside. And suddenly out pops a little kitty cat!

Saber Lily: “Oooh! Mom, you adopted a pet kitty for us! Can I call him Suki?”
Hmm… Suki sounds too much like “Sookie” from True Blood.
Saber Lily: “That’s true. How about Snuggles then?”
Sure Saber. He looks like a “snuggles” doesn’t he? Hehe.

Snuggles is actually a resin doll from Korean brand Hujoo. He’s fully articulated and strung up inside with elastics like a resin BJD doll. I also ordered a pair of green eyes for him, but I think changing them will be an interesting challenge so these pretty baby blues will be staying for a while! Snuggles is a Hujoo “Dorothy” Siamese cat. I’m actually very impressed with them – I ordered him 15 days ago and was told it’s take 30 days for him to arrive, but he only took half that!

Snuggles and Saber Lily immediately take a liking to one another.

At least waiting around for the mailman today ended up being productive!

—–

And finally, I got a couple of comments on my Flickr yesterday after I posted the photo of the Goody mini spin pins so I made a quick tutorial video showing how I use them. I hope it’s helpful! 😀

Dollfie Dream Travel

Posted on by
1

I packed up some DD travel essentials since I’ll be brining one of my girls overseas this upcoming weekend. I haven’t decided who I’ll be taking yet, but I’ll be meeting up with some DD collectors in merry old London-town. My list of things that I can think of bringing at the moment are:

– Water Wax
– hairbrush (I use a super soft toothbrush)
– wig caps (silicone to keep wigs in place, and a white cloth one to layer on top in case I’m bringing a dark wig)
– face guard
– plushie friend for bedtime
– doll stand, or shoes that the doll can stand easily
– interchangeable hands (optional, can get too finnicky when you’re out and about)
– white pillowcase or shirt to wrap doll with
– doll carrier or other large tote bag

What do you guys bring with you when you take your girls out? Or am I over-thinking this too much? LOL

(Updated Dec 22, 2011)
Having taken Moe and Chibi-Aerie to London, Mélisande around with me in Tokyo and eventually home on the plane, and going to a couple of doll meetups recently, I wanted to do an update on this post since it’s one of the topics people search up rather frequently. Since Dollfie Dream dolls are very sturdy I’ve learned that I don’t need to be as crazy cautious as I was the first time I took Moe to London. For a casual outing when I know I’ll need to be walking around town and don’t want to lug my big doll carrier, I usually wrap the doll in a pillowcase, bend the doll into a sitting position and put her in my totebag. I try not to put any heavy things in the bag with her and carry only a few essentials like housekeys (in a separate pocket!) and maybe a small makeup pouch of girly things ^__~”.

When I’m going out for a meetup and want to bring multiple dolls I’ll bring out my Volks carrier bag. I adore this bag and it is very well designed – I love that it’s white on the inside so that it doesn’t risk staining my dolls, and from my outings I know that I can fit 2 DD’s and an MDD comfortably inside, with lots of accessories stuffed in the pockets and a couple of doll stands as well. I could probably fit 4 DD’s in there too, but would get a bit cramped. I will have my dolls mostly dressed so that when I take them out I only have to slip on their wig or shoes and not waste time fidgeting with little things.

Face guards aren’t really necessary for DD’s unless you have eyelashes added onto their heads, in which case you definitely want to protect them from getting crushed. If you want to use one, go ahead but I don’t find a need to. Silicone wig caps are an absolute god-send since they keep wigs in place on windy days, or just from sliding around in my bag. It actually saved the wig Chibi-Aerie was wearing in London when she flopped backwards while I was taking a photo on the Embankment Bridge! I had the sense to hold onto her, so she wouldn’t have fallen but if I didn’t have the silicone wig cap on her, the wig would have fallen into the Thames River! >_____<”

When I flew with Mélisande I wrapped her in a couple layers of bubble wrap, bent her into a sitting position and placed her into my Lululemon gym bag. I was able to fit TONS of stuff in there with her without concern that it would damage her and I could still get her out easily if I needed to. Mélisande had one compartment of the bag, with my camera and some others small articles, and in the other compartment I had my ziplock bag of liquids and gels, and other things I needed for the flight. On this particular journey it was impossible to put her into my roll-aboard suitcase since it was full of other things that I didn’t want to risk losing by checking them in as cargo. When I flew with Moe I had her wrapped in a SD doll pillow and bubble wrap and it was just too much bulk! I had her bent into a sitting position, laid her into the top section of my suitcase and filled the rest of my suitcase with clothes and whatnot. If you’re having trouble making your doll fit into a suitcase, don’t be afraid to bend her or even take her apart at the waist/neck to make her fit. Just be sure to protect the joints & pegs so that nothing gets damaged. I keep a fold-up totebag in my suitcase so that when I’m at my destination I can take my doll out without having to lug my big gym bag/suitcase with me.

I hope that this was helpful – if you have any questions about traveling with your Dollfie Dream, feel free to leave me a comment! ^__^”

Nine9Style Review

Posted on by
Reply

Just a quick midweek update.

I took a moment to re-dress my girls last night in anticipation of a box opening that will be happening soon. Yes, that’s right I’ll be welcoming home another daughter in the next few days. She’s already in transit but every time I check her tracking number it says she’s still “enroute to Canada” so I just have to wait it out. Have I mentioned that I’m horribly impatient?! This is why I give myself little “make-work” projects to keep me occupied or else I go bonkers.

So last night I re-dressed Airy and Alisanne in a black & white scheme. Airy is wearing pieces from the Volks Gothic Striped Jacket set again but I really like that set. The corset top is pinned at the back because it’s much too big for her M-bust but it still looks very good.

Alisanne is wearing a SD13-sized dress from Nine9style that I wasn’t sure would fit her SD16 body but with a bit of careful maneuvering over her shoulders I got it on her! It actually fits her quite nicely since the shoulder straps are adjustable. You can’t see the bottom but I have black leggings on her lower half and some strappy black sandals. I ordered a huge batch of stuff from Nine9style last month and I’m really impressed with the quality of their stuff. Kev had one of our DD girls wearing a black cotton t-shirt for 3 days and it didn’t stain (thank goodness!) although I’ve taken most of their red “Nine*style” labesl out from the insides just to be safe. The long-sleeved cotton shirt stained quite badly though – it left dye stains just from being put on.

For their clothes, I bought everything in SD13 size and it fits my DD girls quite well. Obviously it fits the larger busts a bit better since they have a bit more to “fill out” the tops. The t-shirts are a bit loose around the waist so I sometimes pin them at the back to get a better fit, or tuck them into a skirt. Their flat shoes are a little bit big on DD bare feet, although wearing stockings helps, but I adore their little ankle bootees!

Hopefully I’ll get around to taking more pics of my Nine9Style goodies soon!

Volks Photo Contest – Akihabara

Posted on by
Reply

Kev has been really excited about the ‘Akihabara’ themed  photo contest  that Volks had last month and he has been doing all kinds of stuff to try to get the right “look” that he has in his mind. There was a lot of trial and error, and several ideas just didn’t work out quite how he wanted. We sent off our best photo entry already and since he put all the work into making the “accessories” I told him to submit it under his own handle rather than mine – so good luck AlphaZ! ^__^”

Since I don’t want to disqualify us by publishing the full photo, here’s a little teaser. I hope Kev doesn’t mind ^__~”

Bedtime with Saber Lily

Posted on by
Reply

Recently got several online orders of doll stuff, but the loveliest by far was this lingerie set from CoolCat. It’s extremely well made and very detailed. I couldn’t wait to put it on Saber Lily and see how it looked.
(I’m also testing out the “photo tent” that my friend gave me, so I’m still fiddling with what lighting works best. I soon realized that the tent is a bit small for my daughters so I’ll probably only use it for my figures. Bear with me >__<“)

I recently found some mini “spin pins” by Goody that are amazing for keeping long wigs in elegant buns but are very easy to put in and take out without damaging or tangling delicate wig fibres. I actually use the full sized ones for my own hair and really like them – I’m always looking for widgets & gadgets for my hair and it’s nice when I can share them with my daughters too! ^__~”

Well Saber Lily, dear, let’s take some beautiful photos that will make the boys have severe nosebleeds!

There’s something so very sexy about thigh-high stockings, garters and a pair of killer high-heels, isn’t there?

But Lily is not about to go to sleep with her long hair wrapped in a bun, so she’s going to let her hair down.

That’s much more relaxed and comfortable, isn’t it darling?

She’s all stretched out and she’s taken off her little skirt too.

Would you like to join her?

Sweet dreams!

 

Quick eye change for Yukiko

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve had to put Yukiko in a special doll case that I brought home from Tokyo because Charlie likes to try and attack the chiffon overlay on her dress. Naughty Charlie!

I took her out earlier today to re-adjust her base and decided it would be a good opportunity to change her eyes as well. Since her MSD-sized head is so small, only half-sphere eyes will fit or else they interfere with the S-hook inside her head. I also go to try out the silicone ear plugs I bought instead of Volks eye putty – it is a really nice improvement. The silicone is more tacky so it immediately “grabs” onto the plastic eyes making positioning easier, and then you press it down into place to give it a firm hold on the eyes. Yukiko is wearing the Volks Animetic eyes in F Type / Bright Green (WAKABA). The Volks website shows these as a dark emerald green, but they are much lighter and less intense. [Update: August 16, 2011: Volks has added a photo showing the eyes under different  light to better show the colour of these eyes]

I think she looks so much nicer with the animetic eyes! Since her head sculpt has such big eye sockets the regular eyes made her look bug-eyed. The new eyes also accentuate the anime-style face-up that Machiko gave her. All in all a great improvement!