Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!

I've been super busy with family stuff and being hellishly ill the past couple days, but I did want to make a little post for New Years'! I'm super excited about the doll plans I have for this year, and I'll be talking about that as my first post of 2018.

This post is also a small announcement! I'll be doing a 30 for 30 craft challenge in the month of January, which I know is 31 days, but hey, day off? For those of you who haven't heard of 30 for 30 challenges, essentially what that means is that I'll be working on some craft, of some kind, for at least 30 minutes every day for 30 days. I decided to do this in January because, for the first half of the month, I'm on a true break. In the summer, I work-- hard and a lot-- but there's not work here during the winter, so I have plenty of time to devote to crafts. I'll be posting regular updates on that, and I'd love to invite other people to participate as well. If you do, I'd love to see what you create!

See you next year!

~Theo

BJD End of the Year Tag

Hello!

I'm doing the BJD End of the Year tag today. I had a hard time finding the original, not filled out, or anyone who did one specific tag on YouTube, but I found this one on tumblr. It seems to be a few years old, but it's what I could find, so let's do this thing!

1. How long have you been in the BJD hobby?

I’ll have been in the hobby for a year at the end of this upcoming January! So 11 months currently, but I've known about and been low grade interested in BJDs since 2014.

2. How many dolls do you have at home? 

I currently have four full dolls at home, I’m waiting on a few though! I’ve got my big DollZone box coming in the new year that I’m super excited for, as well as the Dearmine Chopin in cherry skin coming in late to mid February. I’ve kiiiind of got five, but my only SD girl is a bag of parts until I get back to school and have elastic. Which is disappointing, but sometimes how the cookie crumbles.

3. What are their names and sculpts?

Bridget is a ResinSoul Mei in white, Amelia is a ResinSoul Rong in dark tan, Gretchen is a ResinSoul Yu in green, and Lucy is an Asleep Eidolon in normal skin! I also have Cassandra, my bag of parts Impldoll Iris in normal skin.

4. Which doll have you had the longest? How long has it been? 

I’ve had Bridget since January 27th! She was originally styled very very differently, she was going to be frilly and femme. So she's had quite an aesthetic journey so far!

5. Which doll is your favorite?

I actually don’t know that I have a favorite! Bridget’s aesthetic is my personal favorite, and I love finding or making clothes for her, but I LOVE Amelia’s poseability (as well as her aesthetic, honestly, and she tends to be easier to shop for). Gretchen’s green resin delights me, and she makes a great desk buddy, as does Lucy, who’s also super cute and has been much easier to make a style plan for. I keep trying to answer this question definitively and not being able to, so.

6. Are you waiting on any dolls now? If yes, which one(s)? 

Yes! I sort of addressed this, but I’m waiting on a big box from DollZone which will contain a body for Jonah (the B45-018), a Penny, and a Niu Niu! That’s all paid for, and I also have a Dearmine Bean Chopin on layaway with Denver Doll who I'm very excited for. She's the cherry skin fullset with the cute little dress!

7. What is your grail doll? 

​I wish I’d found the questions sooner because I literally just did a post on this, but my major grails are Summerbird Viola and Luts Kid Delf Moonlit Song Bory! The Bory variant in particular is the one I consider my grail above all other grails, it's an absolutely gorgeous sculpt that would be beyond perfect for my character Gil.

8. Did you learn to do something new because of this hobby? (e.g. photography, painting, sewing) 

I’ve learned a lot about sewing and pattern design! I’ve really struggled with pattern drafting in the past, so it’s a skill I’m very proud to have gained. At some point in the future I'd like to do a post on pattern drafting for people who've never done it before or who've had bad results with it, my working title is "Pattern Drafting For Dumbasses (Like Me!)"

9. Have you made any friends you might otherwise not have because of this hobby? 

For sure! I’ve made a lot of friends in the hobby through my local BJD group, which has been super great. It’s a very welcoming group of people and I honestly would’ve had a much harder time at the beginning without them. One of my newbie issues was getting Bridget's head back on after taking it off to change her eyes for the first time, and it was actually someone in the group who tipped me off to how to get it back on.

10. What are your doll plans for this coming year?

I have a HUGE post on this coming up, but the major elements are getting face ups for some of my heads and working on wardrobes. Also in my doll plans are applying to do a BJD panel at PortCon and, hopefully, grails not popping up, no new dolls until at least June! My wallet needs a break and a refocus in the new year.

Sorry this post was a little late, we’ve been fighting with our internet and it’s been a little wonky around here. I have internet on my laptop for the first time since 3 yesterday.

See you Saturday!

~Theo

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!

I'm from a Christmas family, so I'm mid-holiday whirlwind! It's been wicked snowy here the last few days, and the roads are basically solid ice right now, so we're in a bit of a lull until the big day! We're supposed to get a foot on Christmas itself, and I know I shouldn't be, but I'm actually looking forward to it. The fact that we're snowed in means I've got some good time to just sit and work on doll projects. I also just got in my secondhand Asleep Eidolon Chocolate-- who I've decided to name Lucy- so I'm thinking of spending some good time with her. Even though she came with a bunch of stuff, including a wig, I'd like to make her a short little wig out of the fiber I bought for Jonah's wig, as well as make some decisions about her eyes. Once I've made a decision, I can order a new pair for her.

I'm also planning some cute Christmas and winter-themed doll photos! I want to do a shoot with Amelia and Bridget in their Christmas best, including, hopefully, one with the same scarf wrapped around both of them. I've also got plans for one with Gretchen and Lucy, as well as a group photo for the end of the year! I've struggled to find a post of the End of the Year BJD tag, so at this point my plan is just to rewatch SightHoundLady's video from last year and write them down? If you have a link to the original tag, though, please feel free to share!

Sorry for the super short post, I wound up going to a holiday party at a friend's despite the roads! Next up is the end of the year tag, and there should be a box opening for Lucy coming down the pike soon!

See you next time!

~Theo

Grails

Hello!

As promised, today's post is about grail dolls! I'm from a Christmas-celebrating family, so this month has been a lot of 'What do you want for Christmas?' While I have plenty of non-doll things to make up a good list, the question does have me thinking about the dolls I really want but who are, for various reasons, unattainable.

So What Is a Grail Doll?

A "grail doll," by purist definition, is a doll that's expensive and out of production, limited or otherwise hard to get and currently out of your reach. By a looser definition, it's a doll you really really want-- still usually with the element of currently being out of reach, but it might be because it's "just" out of your budget rather than being hard to get. Both definitions are fine, of course, and I've actually decided to split this up into sections based on which definition I'm working off of when I call the doll in question a grail.

So, without further ado, let's get into what my grail dolls are!

Loose Definition Grails

Those dainty legs! <3
(Source: Doll Chateau)

Doll Chateau Elizabeth is really the first one that comes to mind here! She's little and pretty, but as a college student I move back and forth a lot, and I'd be super nervous about something happening to one of her legs in transit. On top of that, she's a $500 YoSD ($480 if you want to split hairs about it). She's super pretty, and I have a potential character plan for her-- leaning pretty heavily towards a dark mori-styled fortune teller, I'd probably want to pick up some small spheres so she could have a crystal ball for photos and maybe print some tiny tarot cards or make itty bitty runes-- and I'd love to own her someday! It's just not likely to happen any time soon, especially when I have characters more integral to my story that need shelling first.

Snowborn!
(Source: DollChateau)

And what do you know, another Doll Chateau! He's also absolutely gorgeous-- I know a lot of people don't feel this way, but I absolutely love his smile and especially his nose. I'd love to see him with big round glasses, especially styled all cozy like he is in his stock images. When I envision what I'd do with one and talk doll plans with my friends in the hobby, I tend to use the word 'librarian' a lot-- I can't not picture him in a sweater. But, like Elizabeth, he's out of my price range for now, and, unlike her, he's massive. I have pretty limited space in terms of doll stuff, and in terms of conserving that space, I'd rather be able to Tetris in a bunch of dolls 30 centimeters smaller than him and smaller than try to figure out how to maneuver him into my doll drawer. I'd want him on their human body, which at least negates the centaur legs issues, but he's still not something I'll be able to buy for a good solid while

A Little In the Middle of the Definitions Grails:

(Source: Flower and Junior)

Flower and Junior's Mizi.W! She wasn't particularly expensive when she was available-- she was a $90 head-- but she's currently unavailable and unlikely to become available soon. I also haven't seen her on the secondhand market at all, but, of course, that doesn't necessarily mean she's super unavailable, just that nobody's selling on DoA currently. I'm also not as attached to any particular idea for her the way I am with other dolls I consider grails, so while I love the sculpt a lot, she's also not quite as graily, if that's a term, as the other dolls in this little list.

*Update: since I started this post, a last chance order for Mizi.W opened. This is atrocious timing for me, and since I have no real plan for what I would do with a Mizi.W, I'm going to be good and pass on this one.

(Source: Summerbird BJD)

Summerbird Viola is another one of these! She's so cute, and I love her unique-- at least for a doll-- body shape. I missed out on her during the first order period because I was in the land without internet-- at the job that wound up funding The Big DZ Order, actually-- and she sold out in two hours! The dolls from that first order have yet to be finished and ship home, but apparently when they do get finished and all of the first batch of Violas have gone home, a second preorder will be opening. Depending on a bunch of different things, that might not work out for me either, but she's been quite popular so far, so I doubt that will be the last we'll see of her.

"Holiest of Holies" Grail:

Yep, that sound is me ugly crying, thanks for asking!
(Source: Luts)

Ugh. Okay. I have such a love/hate relationship with this sculpt, and honestly the hate is mostly because of the love. I adore this sculpt, but it was a limited run in June of 2013, it's very unusual to see people only selling the head or even being willing to split the head from the body, and the full doll is usually pretty expensive, which would then leave me with a centaur body to sell. I'm interested specifically in the centaur version's head-- I love the elf ears because of course I do, and for me his expression looks just smug enough to be perfect, and the unicorn horn is ideal for Gil-- which further narrows my options. I seem to have scrounged up a suitable stand-in for the time being, and I found one on DoA I'd like to snap up once I've gotten myself sorted for next semester. Even with that, though, I'd loooooooove to have him be a Kid Delf Moonlight Song Bory someday. What a gorgeous sculpt!



Thanks for humoring this little post of me whining about the pretty dolls I want! I'm pretty sure most of my friends are sick of hearing me talk about, specifically, the KDF MS Bory and how much I want one and what I'd do with one if I had it and on and on and on.

Right now, the end of the year post plans involve talking about my Christmas plans, the end of the year tag if I can find it, and an announcement of something I've got planned for January! I might also be talking about my hybrid search adventure for Gil-- finding a body's been a mild nightmare to be totally honest-- which may turn into a little post on what to consider when planning a hybrid. I'm also now officially on winter break, which means I should have time to pre-plan some posts a little better!

Until next time!

~Theo

Collection Chat!

Hello!

I wanted to talk today about my collection so far. I'm coming up on a year in the hobby, and I'll be doing a proper post about my actual like "collection journey" when the anniversary of Bridget's arrival rolls around-- it happens to fall on a January Saturday, which works out perfectly-- but for today, I really want to just talk about my collection-- who I have, their characters if they've got one, and who I'm currently waiting on. Sorry this is so heavy on words!

Who I Have

My first doll was a ResinSoul Mei in white skin. She started super femme and a little frilly, and the only things she still has from that look, other than her default faceup, are her name, Bridget, and her purple eyes. She's turned out pretty emo/punky and more androgynous and butch than initially planned, but I love the resulting character so much more than I liked the old plan.

Six months later, in early June, my second doll arrived! She's a ResinSoul Rong in dark tan, and she's the pretty femme I had intended Bridget to be, and her character quickly established herself as the daughter of elven nobility. Her original hair plan didn't work out-- I'm 3 for 3 on original wigs not working out at this point, we'll see how it goes with Cassandra and Gretchen, I'm highkey nervous for both-- but I looooooove the wig she wears now. I need to spend some time over winter break just taking care of both of their wigs, as they're both a little ratty currently, but that's a bridge to be crossed next week. Her name's Amelia, and I actually was a little nervous about whether or not I was going to like her sculpt based on the company photos-- specifically, I was a little worried about her nose. But once I had her in front of me, her nose actually became my favorite feature. I still don't like the company photos of Rong, but I adore Amelia.

The next one in was my tan Wol head! I'm still waiting for his body-- see this post for my hybrid plans and this one for character chat-- but I'm incredibly excited to start working on his wig! He's the third one in the problem wig streak, but I'm actually really excited to make his wig! I've had a hard time finding basically everything I'm interested in for him aesthetic wise-- I squealed out loud when I found a shop on etsy that has a couple pairs of boots I'd be interested in for him-- but I'm ready to learn new things for him. I'll be drafting a pattern for tights soon, him and Amelia will be getting matching lace tights. Or maybe they'll share one pair, I'll need to check a bunch of measurements to see if they even could. I'll also be making his pants, jackets, and vests, as well as maybe some ties.

Close behind him was my green Yu! She was an impulse buy, and while the purchase itself could've been worse, the ripple effects I'm starting to see on my collection plan are bad news. Maybe 'bad news' is a little dramatic, but long story short-- I fucking love this tiny. She doesn't take up a lot of space, she's easily stored and stashed, and she's just so damn cute. I love her tiny little elf ears, I love her little teeny hands, and you'd better believe I absolutely love her feet. And tiny clothes are so cute! Granted, I'll probably get salty the second I have a mission to style a tiny as anything other than a fairy princess or a small child, but god I want like a dozen of these little bitty beans. More on this in "Who I'm Waiting On," fortunately/unfortunately. I'm currently calling her Gretchen, and taking a picture of her with a unakite sphere while I was home for Thanksgiving has me wanting to take a zillion pictures of tinies and crystals.

And last but literally not least, my NS Impldoll Iris. She's still in a bag of parts, and I need to get new elastic for her. But I do have character thoughts for her, and I'm pretty set on how I'll be styling her. I'm a little nervous, to be totally honest, she's a 'do I like this size?' test and the answer might be no. I never really know where to hold SDs, but that also might be an issue of inexperience with them. I've played with other people's at meets, but never for long, and there's something about something being someone else's doll that makes me a lot more careful-- kind of like I was with Bridget as a brand new newbie, honestly. So having my own to mess with could be helpful here, but we'll see.

Who I'm Waiting On

Jonah's body is part of a big DZ order! In addition to his body, I've got a Penny coming, and she'll have a faceup because a friend and I wanted a Niu Niu to split(I was about $40 short of the event threshold and I prefer dolls with faces)! She's the tiny version from the summer event, so he gets the body, I'm keeping the head, and he's got a Pukifee whose body my Niu Niu will hopefully be stealing. I don't say hopefully because I anticipate anything going sideways with us, it's more a question of whether or not necks will need modding. I'm not anticipating a need for it, but until I've got her body, I won't really be sure. 

The Niu Niu is going to be a little pixy girl, and I got so accustomed to called her "PG" in her head that her name wound up being Paige. I'm intending to have her be very cutesy and pastel, but we'll see! She might decide she needs a different aesthetic. I've been really 50/50 on her hair color-- I keep flipflopping between red and blonde. Either way, I definitely want curls for days on her.

And the Penny's going to wear fairy kei and possibly sweet Lolita. It feels kind of cliche, given how many pastel dolls are out there, but I wear fairy kei and I'd love to have a doll whose aesthetic matches mine. I'm also really excited to create a doll who actually wears fairy kei, rather than just. What people outside the fashion think it looks like, which I see a lot of. I'm really feeling a giant twintails split wig with a million tiny things in it for her, Mint on Card has a Code Noir one in her size in stock, so we shall see. I'd love to style her super OTT, but she'll definitely have to start with a more casual style while I build up a wardrobe for her. She doesn't have a planned name or character yet, but that hasn't posed a problem for me yet, so I doubt it will this time. I do know I want her to be a friend of Bridget's, but other than that I don't have much yet.

Here's where we start to get into the bad news caused by Gretchen. This one I also a little bit have my friend Tyler to blame for, because it's his fault I know she exists in the first place. Denver Doll Emporium tends to get small amounts from limited runs to have in stock and sell, and he sent me the photos of Dearmine's Chopin Bean in cherry skin from them and I fell in love instantly.  A tiny pink dragon with ears that look like bows? Sign me the hell up. I don't have a name for her yet, but I'm planning to look into dragons of myth and literature to choose from. She's got two more layaway payments on her, which will be funded in part by the sale of the Snail Larry I got in a deeply disappointing Mint on Card surprise bag. But hey, it obviously wasn't a total bust-- Larry sold, the YoSD boots I got in it sold, the eyes weren't too bad, and the technicolor Marie Antoinette wig has found itself a new home.

In further 'oops' news, I have a super cute Asleep Eidolon Chocolate coming to me in the new year as well! She's secondhand as well, and will be my oldest doll by a long shot, as she was made in 2010! She's definitely a 'the glory of the secondhand market,' she's super cute, she was under $100, and she's coming with easily $40 of extras, including clothes, socks, and a wig. I'm already very tempted to make her a little insect fairy-- one of her dresses is bee-themed, another is ladybug-themed-- and I'm thinking of giving her some sort of flower name. Maybe Daisy, but I'm going to see how I feel about it when she gets here. My tinies are able to exist in the same story as my MSDs because I've got a fantasy story with elves, and I'm so so so looking forward to taking pictures of my MSDs with my tinies for things other than just to compare sizes for a friend. 

I think that's all for today! I'm planning for Wednesday's post to be about grails, see you then!

~Theo

Stringing Nightmares

Hello!

So, as you may know if you read my commentary about which posts are next, I recently received a secondhand Impldoll Iris. She's lovely, and her resin is of high quality, but she came unstrung and hoo boy.

Today the Boston community had a meet! This marked left leg stringing attempt number four, and it should've been good! Two people offered their help, and one of them even had a restringing tool (which seems super handy and I kinda want one).

No one could do it. She came with elastic, but the one for her legs isn't long enough, so at this point I just need to buy new elastic. It's not like it's an expensive thing, but I was hoping to have her be strung and ready to go after today so I could finish the post about her, so it's pretty irritating. So now she's a completely unstrung bag of parts, and her review's been pushed off for at least another week.

See you Wednesday!

~Theo

Silly Wants: Doll Underwear

Hello!

Sorry for no post on Saturday, it was a weird week and I haven't had much chance to write. So instead of the box opening post I've been working on-- I really want photos of her together and the ability to talk about her posing before I post it and trying to string her has been a nightmare-- here's a "silly wants" post.

Doll underwear. It's impractical, unnecessary, and so cute, and I'd love to have at least a pair for each of my dolls. Maybe this is a weird thing, but I like thinking about what kind of underwear my dolls would wear if they were people. I think it's a neat little character detail, and I think doll underwear is adorable-- like most doll clothes, honestly-- so it's something I'd like to have at some point, but don't presently because I'm still building up things I consider wardrobe "essentials" for my dolls, so right now, while cute, it's pretty low on my priority list. So, without further ado, a little post of undergarments I like for each of my dolls!

Bridget:

Bridget really does not do feminine, and I feel like she'd be most comfortable in boxers and a tank top! Alice's Collection has some nice options for boxers, but I've also been loving some designs from etsy. This one, from Shiraya's Wardrobe, is my current favorite. I love the stock image design, but it's not currently listed as an option, so I'll either wait, message the seller (it's an option on some other listings, so maybe?), or just order in black if I do decide to buy it. The same seller also does tank tops, and a black one would be ideal. Starrshine Designs, also on etsy, does some PJ sets that could potentially be used as underwear, but they're surprise sets, which is a little bit of a non-option for me.

They'd be so perfect for my little emo baby
(Source: Shiraya's Wardrobe)

Amelia:

Amelia, on the other hand, very much does feminine. If I bought underwear for her, I'd definitely prefer to just do matching sets. Honestly, I don't love most of the options I've found from the major places I usually go to for doll clothes-- I have scoured etsy, I have seen everything-- but I really like this Fairyland set for Minifees, which should fit her:

I love florals on her
(Source: Fairyland)

I've also poked in some other places, and MR.D:D has some options I like as well. Their newer things are more expensive, but some of their re-releases are more in the "Fairyland expensive" range rather than "excuse me while I cry" range. I like this set a lot for her!

I. Mentioned I love florals on her
(Source: MR.D:D)

Cassandra:

Cassandra wears Gothic Lolita, so I tend to think of her in black bloomers and an overbust corset. I've had a really hard time finding just a simple black overbust corset for SD girls, but I'm still hunting. I've had okay luck trying to find bloomers, but it's a little weird-- most people don't seem to make bloomers for SDs, and the people who do mostly make fancy ones or ones with odd patterns, not simple pairs. For overbust corsets, I really dig this one from Seventh Soul on etsy:

So pretty!
(Source: Seventh Soul)

And for bloomers, I found this cute "and chemise" set from Sweet Gyrl Two on etsy! I don't know that I'd have a use for the chemise, but I could potentially use it as a night shirt.

(Source: Sweet Gyrl Two)

Hopefully by Saturday I'll have Cassandra properly strung! If she is, expect a post about her, otherwise, I'm thinking a general collection post.

See you then!
~Theo