I recently submitted some photos of my lovely Airy to Volks USA and they published them today!
Head over to the Sumika Times Blog to check it out!
Airy showcased on Volks Sumika Times Blog
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My Newest (Yet Oldest) Doll – Welcome Yukiko!
My sister recently completed a Volks old resin kit called Miisha for me. It was first released in 2001 and after a bit of searching I was able to acquire one that had never been opened! It was quite a labour of love to assemble her and was much more work than we originally anticipated! She did an amazing job, and when she brought the doll over today all my girls came out to greet her.
If you’d like to read about how she was put together, check out my sister’s blog about it here. It’s really very interesting to read her observations about old resin vs new resin.
My girls are Saber Lily (Dollfie Dream, Alisanne (Volks SD16 Daria), Airy (Dollfie Dream) and Makoto (custom Dollfie Dream) and the little one is Delilah (my sister’s DollnDoll ♥ Mo).
The box has aged quite a bit over time, but all of her paperwork was still sealed in the plastic when I got her! Machiko had to open it up to read the manual since there were some very strange bits and pieces in this kit that she’d never encountered before with her 2008 and 2010 Volks MSD kits.
Delilah peeks inside: dolly, wig, weird bits? 0__o”
Face-up and face guard! I didn’t really like the default grey eyes that Miisha comes with so I ordered these, but I think they look a bit bug-eyed. We’ll see what I can do about it later. Notice she doesn’t have ears? There’s something special about this head mold ^__~”
She has wing-ears!
Here she is all dressed up out of the box now.
I’ve decided to call her Yukiko (雪子) which means “child of snow” to match her angelic nature.
I’ve decided to call her Yukiko (雪子) which means “child of snow” to match her angelic nature.
Here she is with Airy in matching outfits. They look like lovely nymphs or faeries!
Airy’s Afternoon in the Sun
It’s a beautiful sunny summer day today, and Airy wanted to go outside to enjoy the weather, so I was more than happy to oblige.
I didn’t take many photos of her in her default outfit when I welcomed her home last week so this was a chance to take a few photos.
I’m really impressed with how Volks thought out the design for her outfit – for example the entire front edge of her coat has a wire in it so that you can shape it against Airy’s body to get it very form-fitted. Everything is lined in either white (even her boots!) or that pretty mauve colour.
In case anyone was wondering, I took out her default eyes pretty much as soon as I got her because I didn’t like them at all. I think she looks so much softer and prettier with new animetic eyes from Volks.
Sometimes, you have to just stop and smell the flowers.
And if the flowers happen to match your outfit – well then all for the better! ^__~”
The breeze was picking up Airy’s veil a bit, but the fabric has enough weight to it to stay put on her head.
She can stand very easily on her own thanks to her boots.
Since it’s such a nice day, Airy wanted to relax a bit so after a quick wardrobe change she was ready for a little picnic!
Here she is looking very sweet wearing the Volks “Pink Chiffon Dress Set.” It will fit DD’s with M or L bust, but it looks a bit nicer on the L bust don’t you think? ^__~”
Airy looks a bit like Alice lost in Wonderland with all these pretty flowers all around her!
Another wardrobe change – here’s Airy looking very elegant wearing the “Charlotte Ribbon” Dress. It’s meant for SD13 dolls so the fit is a bit strange. It fits the L-sized bust at the top, however there is a lot of room around the waist. But the bustle-style petticoat gives this gown a beautiful silhouette.
Also, she’s not wearing the the lace arm sleeves that are part of this set because they don’t fit at all since SD13 arms are …erm… fatter… than DD arms! LOL This gown is supposed to be off-shoulder but I moved the little sleeves higher to cover the shoulder joint since they were drooping down on her arms (again, DD arms are slimmer!) and it looked a bit odd.
This angle better shows the silhouette of the gown from the side and back and you can see the lovely details on the gown (but I forgot to steam it before putting it on her! >__<“)
Here Airy is like springtime come alive in the gorgeous Volks Fairy Tale: Spring Pink outfit from the La Parsonal Collection that were released at the Home Town Dolpa Kyoto 8.
The gown fits her beautifully, but you have to be a bit careful with the zipper at the back of the bodice where there is more fabric. The interior of the dress is lined in ivory so there’s no risk of staining. The headpiece can be worn as a garland on top of her Airy’s wig, but I think it looks a little prettier when worn as a headband and fastened behind her neck.
I’m loving this new girl – she’s so versatile and lovely!
My newest Dollfie Dream – Airy!
The postman came to the door with a couple of boxes for me today! Since Makoto doesn’t need to sleep, she was awake when my boxes arrived early this morning! She’s very curious as to what I’ve bought.
Ta-da! It’s a new Dollfie Dream Airy figure by Volks.
Makoto quickly rouses Saber and Alisanne to come greet our new family member.
Here’s Airy fresh out of the box. Makoto lends her a Gloomy Bear to cover herself up with.
(Notice Angry Bunny supervising?! He doesn’t like naked pictures of his girlies online!) LOL
Here’s all of Airy’s accessories that came with her:
– top
– skirt
– overcoat
– cravat
– pantsu
– wig
– headdress
– basket
– Bible
– boots
Saber is thinking that she came with infinitely more stuff!
Here’s Airy all dressed up in her outfit. She looks so sweet, but those eyes are super creepy and simply HAVE to go!
After a bit of work I was able to get her eyes out.
The softer vinyl made it much easier to remove her headcap and also to get the glue and eyes out in one piece by carefully squeezing the head and pressure from a metal cuticle pusher.
Here are some pictures of various eyes while I was trying to decide which would suit Airy best.
In the end I chose the Volks Animetic eyes F Type in Bright Blue (RURI)eyes.
I think they really suit her. They still maintain the integrity of her character but don’t have that creepy emtpy look to them!
Alisanne as a June Bride
Some stuff I bought arrived while I was on my cruise – I had it sent to my sister’s place.
Here’s Alisanne showing off the beautiful Volks Elizabeth Rose Dress from the DP25.
Crown by Luts
Elisabeth Rose Dress by Volks
Necklace by me! (seriously, how hard is it to string some pearls onto thread… LOL)
Meeting up with Wolfheinrich
My work takes me all over the place, so when I saw that my schedule would take me into Wolfheinrich’s neck of the woods we planned a meeting via Twitter.
We went out for ice cream and he brought his lovely new daughter Airy with him! Isn’t she lovely? He changed out her default eyes so she’s wearing some animetic eyes from CoolCat right now.
I got to see her lovely face sculpt and her sweet smile in person, and was very impressed with the quality of her outfit (everything is lined with light fabrics). I felt a bit sad that because I really liked her more after seeing her in person, and then Wolfheinrich told me that she was available on the Volks International site as a non-lottery item! Well – that did it! I went back to my hotel and bought her on the spot!
I also purchased Wolfhenrich’s spare Avalon sword for my Saber Lily. I was a bit concerned about how to bring it home, but it turns out it fit nicely in my suitcase! It went through 2 airport x-ray scans and no one batted an eye. Apparently Avalon is not a dangerous weapon ^__~” hehe. Please ignore the mess inside my suitcase >__<“!
Anime North 2011
Most of the month of May has already passed and I spent a good chunk of it on vacation! I went on a cruise again and then had to switch back into high gear to go to work for a couple of days and get packed for my biggest event in May – AN!
I spent the weekend at Anime North. I’ve been attending in some capacity since 2003 but for the past couple of years I’ve been a staff member. I’m the hostess and informal photographer at Café Delish, the charity Maid Café. I also did double duty this weekend by helping my friend Amanda watch over Machiko’s table in the Crafter’s Corner.
Here’s Delilah watching over Machiko’s plushies and other stuff as Kev and I set up her table (she was involved in the Opening Ceremonies and had to high-tail it over to the hotel!).
Since I’m a “behind the scenes” person there aren’t many photos of me during the Café so here’s one of the staff pics from 2010 we took after all the Goshujinsama and Ojousama have left and a photo right before one of our seatings this year.
(Café Delish 2010)
(Café Delish 2011)
The Café takes up pretty much our entire Saturday so the core staff usually go out for dinner and drinks afterwards. This year we went to Moxies in the Sandmand Signature hotel and since it’s further from the convention hotels it was pretty quiet (meaning we were able to get a table instead of waiting 2 hrs!)
On Sunday whitefrosty and Machiko’s dolls hung out at their tables in the Crafter’s Corner 🙂 Here are Delilah, Zephyria, Ventus, Mishka and Myles.
Springtime Mini Doll Meetup
I invited whitefrosty and Machiko over to my house for a little doll party. Since I was busy hosting I didn’t get a chance to take many photos, so most of these are gacked from whitefrosty’s blog. Here are a few of the dolls: my Saber Lily, my sister’s dolls Zephyria, Ventus and Delilah, and whitefrosty’s Myles.
Photo credit: whitefrosty
Here are Ventus, Delilah and Myles – the blondes!~ hehe!
Photo credit: Machiko
Here’s Alisanne watching over the whole affair. While she wasn’t looking someone put bunny ears on her! LOL
Photo credit: whitefrosty
And notice something?! She’s got both shoes from her default outfit now! Hurray!
Photo credit: whitefrosty
And here’s Myles and Delilah rocking out in their Volks ducky suits! I could die from the cuteness!
I baked a batch of lemon scones so that we could have afternoon tea. I had Devon Cream in my fridge but didn’t have any jam, so we had to make due with creamed honey! Tasty, but not quite the same…
Welcome home to Alisanne Medea d’Archangeli!
When Kev and I were in Japan, we made a deal that I’d let him get Saber Lily if in turn he’d also get me a doll. I fell in love with Volk’s SD16 “Daria” on site at the Shibuya showroom and had my heart set on her. Budget wouldn’t let us get both at the same time so I had to wait for my girl, and so here she is now as a belated Valentine’s Day gift from my hubby.
The box arrived today, and my cat Charlie promptly claimed it as his own!
Here’s Saber Lily sitting comfortably with little Richard (the “lion”-heart plushie) and visiting cousins Delilah and Ventus. Also note the presence of Angry Bunny – he shows up when things need to be censored! LOL
Immediately after opening the box I’m swamped with paperwork! There’s some leaflets from Volks USA about doll care, wig care and also a Volks USA Membership Card!
Saber Lily comes to check out what’s going on inside this massive box.
Her box is so pretty! Not as gigantic as Saber Lily’s but it has a lovely pearl finish to it.
Inside her box were her wig, extra feet/legs, guide book and her outfit.
Angry Bunny says: “No nudity!” He’s quite protective of Daria!
Saber Lily is curious about her cushioning and face-guard since she didn’t get this kind of special wrapping.
Here’s a close-up of her beautiful face-up from Volks.
Here’s Daria’s outfit (and legs) all laid out.
Notice the 2 LEFT shoes… >__<”
I’ve emailed Volks about this and hopefully I can get myself a RIGHT shoe… Otherwise this is pretty lame.
Ventus says “Is this thing a hat?”
Hehe, silly Ven! It’s a fur stole!
“Oh!… so THIS is what I do with it! How do I look”
Super fierce, Ven. Very fierce.
Here’s Daria after getting all dressed up. Just for height comparison – and even though I’ve got Daria on a doll stand because she’s wearing high-heeled boots that were sinking into the carpet all of these dolls can stand freely on their own 🙂
Daria is huge!
Saber Lily (Volks Dollfie Dream 2010)
Ventus is a Volks Mini Super-Dollfie Ken 2010 renewal
Delilah is a DollnDoll Heart Mo 2010
I really like the name Daria, and I still refer to her by her sculpt name every so often, but her new full name is Alisanne Medea d’Archangeli.
She looks quite angelic indeed borrowing this lovely blonde wig from Saber Lily but I think her dark eye makeup is a bit too heavy to suit her blonde hair – it looks a bit “off” to me (or maybe it’s just the colours of her outfit?)
Did you notice Delilah’s cute Baby Gloomy Bear suit? Machiko made it herself!
Here’s Delilah chilling out with my Teddy Gloomy.
Here’s some other stuff I ordered from Volks – mostly DD related goodies: body stockings, wig cap, hair styling stuff, etc.
And of course, Bubba claimed the shipping box for himself…
Since I don’t have her complete outfit at the moment, it was just annoying me to have her in her incomplete default outfit so I changed her into something completely different. I’ve been planning for her arrival for quite some time, so she already has an awesome collection of clothes. I picked up these awesome boots at the Volks Tenshi-no-Sumika showroom in Shinjuku-ALTA when I was there in January (they’re consignment, and not “official” items, in case anyone wants to go looking for them). The grey wig is from Mandarake Japan (I bought it when I was in Tokyo earlier in January); her outfit is by Volks, necklace I purchased at K-Books Doll in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.
She’s so gorgeous!
[UPDATE: March 17, 2011]
Volks responded to my email last night and offered a simple solution. I’ve already carefully packed up and mailed them back one of the shoes, and as soon as they receive it they will send me a replacement as well as a postal money order to cover my costs of mailing it back to them.
How’s that for awesome customer service?
I wonder where they are getting the extra shoe from. Maybe their display doll in the store? Or maybe some other customer ended up with 2 right shoes! Either way, I’m glad this is resolved so now I just have to wait for my pretty little shoe to come in.
A Maid Dress for Saber Lily
After seeing the ridiculous prices the the official Volks Saber Maid outfit sells for on eBay, I decided to try my hand at making something similar for myself. I had to be careful since I didn’t want to her to get stains from the black fabric or thread… For my first trial I used white fabric and lined the inside but it looked to bulky so I scrapped that and went with white fusible interfacing as the lining instead.
Things to tweak:
– neckline is too “modest”
– sleeves are too bell-shaped and not poofy enough
– skirt is too poofy which is why it’s bucking strangely in the photo.
– petticoat was too long
– need a larger opening in the back to get past Saber’s shoulders for easier dressing @__@”
Stockings, shoes, hat were purchased from Volks.
I need to fiddle with this design so I’ll probably remake this again in a few days.
Saber Lily goes to visit her cousins!
I’ve been accumulating some new wardrobe items for Saber Lily since I don’t want her to be wearing her white gown and armor all the time.
Today I took Saber Lily over to my sister Machiko’s house to meet her dolls. She’s been collecting BJD’s for a few years but got into the hobby slowly. The size difference is astounding! Since Dollfie Dream’s are categorized as 1:3 scale dolls, they are about 60″ tall and in the same size scale as a Volks Super Dollfie (SD). My sister’s Mini-Super Dollfie’s (MSD’s) are half her size – they come up to her waist!
Here she is with Ventus and Zephyria, both Volks MSD Kits (a MSD Ken ’10 renewal and a MSD Myu Pureskin ’08) that my sister constructed from scratch and then painted their face-ups. The little cutie pie in the ducky suit is Delilah – a DollnDoll MO (2010) wearing the Pink Ducky Suit from Volks.
So adorable! I’m tempted to get a tiny doll at some point now! Delilah is so sweet!
Saber Lily Dollfie Dream makes it home!
Most of you know that Kev and I went on a shopping trip to Tokyo in January. We were able to fill lots of gaps in our collection, and unintentionally started collecting figures from a couple of new fandoms as well. Most of these new things will be staying in their boxes until we renovate the house and add some more display cases but the main new addition to our life is the Dollfie Dream Saber Lily.
She arrived today and here are some photos of her Box Opening. Here is the box, freshly opened. Saber Lily’s box is huge! The skinny little thing on the side is the box for her sword.
Here’s my cat, Charlie, checking out the contents of the box. It gives you an idea of scale to see his head next to the box.
This is my first Dollfie Dream so I’m not accustomed to how they are packaged. I’m used to the pomp, circumstance and care that resin BJD’s are given in packaging, so to see the doll wrapped in bubble wrap was a bit surprising to me! I was expecting pillows, tissue, layers of foam, etc.
Here’s a close-up of her lovely face-up.
I’ve re-dressed Lily so many times that I’ve become a pro at it, but it’s still an arduous task every time.
Here are some tips for putting on Saber Lily’s outfit:
– put on her panties and stockings first
– remove her top torso and slip the petticoat on from the top (it’s much easier than trying to stretch the elastic over her hips) and the overskirt (do not zip it up yet!)
– pull the garters from her stockings up from under the petticoat and use the elastic from the petticoat to keep them accessible
– put on her bustier; attach the garter snaps and do up the velcro
– I found it easier to tuck the bustier into the top of the petticoat elastic
– zip up the overskirt (do up the little tab first, then zip the skirt to avoid stretching and stressing the waistband)
– carefully put on the top of her dress
The neckband is a bit finnicky to put on because of the tiny loop for the hook. The easiest method I’ve found is to do up the neckband, remove the DD head, slide the neckband onto her neck and then re-attach her head ^__~”
Be careful with wearing the neckband too long. The brown fabric might cause staining if left on for too long.
The little loop at the top of the overskirt is very delicate.
However, it’s much easier to close the loop and THEN do up the zipper than the other way around.
Remember – LOOP first!
And here she is dressed up (sans armor) wielding Excalibur. She’s beautlifully executed and her clothes are very well made.
There are many other blogs out there with detailed photos of her armor and other bits so I don’t really feel a need to over-document this girl. She’s really stunning though, and I’m slowly getting the hang or fiddling with the Dollfie Dream body.
A new blog takes form.
So I’ve decided to set up a new blog for my dolls, and a bit about my life that isn’t too personal.
My name is Archangeli, at least I’ve been going by that online name for over a decade, so it’s a name I’m comfortable with. If you prefer a “real world” name you can call me Patty. I’ll respond to both. ^__^”
Other than myself, people you’ll hear me refer to every now and again are:
Kev – my hubby and partner-in-collecting. He’s just as much a figure-holic and doll lover as I am.
Machiko – my sister who sparked my curiosity into BJD collecting when she bought a Volks MSD kit in Tokyo about 5-6 yrs ago.
whitefrosty (Alice) – Machiko’s doll addicted friend
Bubba & Charlie – my adorable cats
I used to have a personal blog that I updated my personal events and travels but I was getting weird traffic, so this will be a less intrusive version.
More to come soon…
archangeli 