This Small World

 A quick post with some figure and doll photography. 

I also wanted to showcase a Youtube video I came across called "Jerry Business: Little Toys, Big World" by SmugMug Films. It is a very short film about a toy photographer who does toy street photography. I love how creative and adventurous he gets with his photography. I also love his philosophy that if people like his work, that's great but if people don't that's okay too because he'll still keep doing it. 

It's exactly how I feel. I'll keep doing this because I enjoy it and love it. Obviously I have been branching out past the dolls and entering the realm of toy and miniature photography these days. I like to mix it up and experiment. Plus, let's be honest, figures are so much easier to pose (and store) compared to big massive dolls!! And if they happen to fall during a photoshoot, the person taking the photo doesn't feel like their heart stopped from it. (Yes I am looking at you BJDs.)

Coraline, Coraline. I love this figure. I have two versions of her. They aren't the most "lux" figures but they are still pretty good at posing, plus I was super lucky to get them as they are hard to find. 

Embracing the Natural World

Accompanying Music - Happy Background Music

This turned out to be quite the productive weekend! I've actually been meaning to play around with my camera settings and figure out how to use my camera properly so it's always nice to have willing models to pose for me to experiment with.

Featuring Momoko Merry Go Round aka Kandy and various Flora and Fauna ...

Of New Faces and Spy Girls

I recently received another Tonner Doll, most likely my last for a while unless I find a really good deal on the second hand market. She is Sydney Chase sculpt and from the 2001-2005 era. I haven't checked the year on the back of her head yet. I thought maybe she might be Retro Dots Sydney. The seller didn't really know anything at all about her doll collection and had her as the wrong year anyway. She doesn't have the bendable wrist so she must be an older doll.

I really like her face and she goes well with Tyler however, I don't think I can photograph my Precarious with either of these girls as Precarious has a much smaller head next to Tyler and Sydney!!

Tyler Wentworth Box Opening

I've had this doll for a few weeks and am just now getting around to posting it up here. She was a second-hand purchase  and is the Tyler Wentworth Signature Style BA doll from 2001. She arrived to me on the 24th January 2019 so technically she is the first doll to arrive this year and an unplanned purchase.

From what I managed to find out, not all Tyler Wentworth dolls had the bendable arms, the original didn't but they released her later with this feature. I'm guessing that's what the BA stands for. There is another Signature Style series of her without the bending arms. Obviously I wanted to make sure the one I was buying did have the BA feature. Sadly, she does not have articulated wrists or feet but that's not a huge deal breaker for me.

I really find her face quite sweet and I wouldn't mind a few more but recent issues make me hesitate quite a great deal. If you remember from previous posts, I have two other Tonner dolls, Galadriel and a Precarious. Whilst rearranging my doll cabinets a week ago, I noticed that both Galadriel and Precarious heads had a slight green look to them that wasn't there when they first arrived. Now, I don't know if this was because they were previously kept in boxes (although Galadriel was kept in a doll cabinet much like mine) and now they are exposed to the air, there might some sort of reaction like resin, except happening at a much faster rate. I am careful with my more expensive dolls to keep them stored in a cabinet on the darkest shelf so they don't get a lot of light shining on them. Heck, my BJD cabinet only houses BJDs as I cover the cabinet with a big white sheet to protect it from light.

I asked about the issue on a Tonner Group I joined but no one else had experienced this issue with their dolls so ...either, the light when it's on downstairs has reacted with the vinyl (although the same light has been there since I started collecting BJDs and my resin dolls are fine, save for the natural yellowing that occurs with resin (but at a much much slower rate - we're talking over years) or they both happened to be a bad batch when it was first made several years ago. Obviously I can always fix the colour in photos in my editing program but ... it has made me a bit hesitate to get further Tonner dolls at this stage.

Anyway, on to the photos ...

Walkin' on Sunshine

Theme Song: Walking On Sunshine ~ Katrina and The Waves

The yellow knitted dress made by Xanadu arrived today.  It's such beautiful and delicate work. I decided to try it on a few different models. The colour reminds me of Sunshine hence the title. I also ended up turning this into a bit of a Christmas photoshoot as well.

The first to try this dress is one of the Fashionista girls, Sophia. I love the colour on her plus she looks great in it. She is on the Made to Move body. This is a great fit.

Am I Not Pretty Enough?

Random photoshoot of the 1:6 scale fashion dolls. I get so little free time recently that when I do get some, I like to make the most of it!

Track: Am I Not Pretty Enough - Kasey Chambers

Fashion Doll Edition

Time is still getting away from me for the most part although finally, today, I did get to work on my new doll house. Hubby bought me a massive Barbie doll house for Christmas but as I wasn't super keen on the cartoon style wallpapers and drawings, I decided to refurbish it so I'm slowly covering it with new scrapbook paper and bringing it more in line with my modern styling.

I can however share some random photos I took whenever I got a chance over the past few weeks...

Daydream Days

I wanted to start this post by saying a very big thank you to Xanadu, Irene and DollsDolour for the lovely parcels I received from them in the past few weeks. I was so excited that I neglected to take any box opening photos of all the items however, this gave me the perfect excuse to do a photoshoot that features some of the thoughtful and generous gifts from these lovely friends.

Merida is helping me out today by saying a big thank you too.

I wanted to call this session Daydreams. {Warning: Lots of photos}

Minty Fresh

How is it October already? I have no idea where September has gone other than I've had to work for a lot of it hence the blog silence. Working extra shifts means very little time for my hobbies which always makes me a little sad and grumpy.

Today, I managed to take some photos, redress some dolls. I ran out of time and didn't get a chance to work on more furniture for Ivy's Floral Shop which I haven't forgotten about. I've been walking past the half finished diorama and sighing a lot because of lack of time. It's frustrating when you want to do something but life just doesn't allow it. I need a mug that says I can't adult today. I can only doll.

Moving on ... during my absence from the blog, I received a few new dolls, one doll I actually received a while ago and kept meaning to post photos of her but never got around to it.

Happy Hour at LuLu's

There's a bar, a pokey little thing squashed between a boutique and a barber called LuLu's. There's nothing special about it at all. They serve beer and old style mead for those looking to quench their thirst and for the faint hearted, the owner stocks milk.

What draws people isn't the mead, although it's a mighty fine one, but Happy Hour which means the stage is open and anyone can strum a note or two or three. On most nights, that's where you'll find Mila, the local celebrity playing her chosen instrument of the night and belting out her feet taping tunes.

It's Raining Momoko

Window shopping when you are feeling stressed is never a good idea because you end up buying a doll (at least in my case). When Pastel Edge Momoko first came out, I was pretty adamant that I didn't really like her that much but the more I looked at her, the more I liked her.

Last week, I decided to bite the bullet and just get her. Unfortunately she was sold out at Hobbysearch so I looked on AmiAmi and ended up getting her from there.

She's pretty incredible in person. I love her outfit quite a bit. It adds to her softness I feel. I've named her Synestra. She likes gardening quite a bit. I didn't bother taking a photo of her box as it's pretty much the same as all my other Momoko boxes.

Singin' and Chillin'

Cyclone veered off its direct course towards us and headed south. We dodged a bullet again although my heart goes out to those who did get hit. It was a very slow moving cyclone leaving destruction in its wake. Let's hope that was the last for the cyclone season.

I was pretty stoked that this guitar (which was part of a set that included a record and a music book) was the same colour as Zoe's new glasses. Total coincidence. The set is a small accessories pack that belongs to the "Our Generation" Dolls. These dolls tend to be big, MSD size I think. I'm not that drawn to the dolls themselves but don't mind some of the accessories. I was surprised this one worked for a 1/6 scale doll. I'm looking forward to comparing this with the Barbie guitar I have incoming from Tiny Frock Shop.

Box Opening: Poppy Parker Winter Wowzers 16"

The Poppy Parker Winter Wowzers 16" doll arrived Wednesday. I picked her up before work that morning and didn't get a chance to do a proper box opening so I'm just posting the "after" photos.

I really love her very retro flavour. I feel like she could be a pin-up girl.

Running on Air + Box Opening

I've finally got a chance to sit down and do some things today after a very hellish two weeks, more on that later.

First, some box opening photos back from the 11th January. This one was from Amiami.

She is the Merry Go Round Momokodoll. I ended up purchasing her with part of the Christmas gift money I received from my dad. This makes her the fourth Momokodoll to join my collection. I was particularly drawn not only to her outfit but to her hair and eye colour combination. She also looked like a girl who liked to have fun.

Twas the Night Before Christmas ...

It is 9pm on Christmas Eve and I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Whatever you decide to do, however you celebrate Christmas Day, I hope it is one filled with much happiness and much love.

Thank you for all your support. I went a bit crazy with the Christmas photos this year so be warned, there are quite a few!

A Christmas Room Cheat

This year, I've really had to think outside the box as I haven't really been able to get my hands on everything I need for every diorama idea I've had. So I've had to figure out little workarounds. Some of you may recall that I mentioned a while ago about the use of old magazine pages as backdrops which work particularly well for 1/6 scale dolls.They work similar to the vinyl backdrops you can buy for dolls except they're really only small enough to work well for smaller dolls.

If you're finding that time is an issue, particularly this time of year and you haven't been able to get a diorama together, the magazine page method is a quick solution. It's a no fuss, no frills version that can be put together in under five minutes.

Read on for instructions ...

Box Opening: Momokodoll Orion's Sonata and Rune's Surprise

My 'surprise' finally arrived in the mail. It's my third Momokodoll, Orion's Sonata. However, there's a bit of a story behind this one. Rewind back a few years ago when Luts actually sold Momokodoll on their site. This was my first exposure to Momokodoll. Back then, I didn't really know what these dolls were but flicking through the pages of available dolls, I saw Orion's Sonata and fell in love with her. I decided I wanted to buy her. Not long after, Luts had a big sale on these dolls reducing them by more than half price. Sadly, I didn't have funds at the time and didn't think much more on it until a few weeks later when I did have funds and all the Momokodolls were listed as sold out. It was at this point that an announcement was made that they would no longer carry these dolls. I had pretty much blown my chance to get her.

I didn't see this particular doll for a long time afterwards and I slowly forgot about her because she seemed pretty impossible to get. Until a few weeks ago thanks to Minimagine. She was available from Mimiwoo plus she was on sale. Of course I didn't want to repeat the same mistake I made last time so I snapped her up and the rest as they say is history.

Box Opening: The Platform Departure - Momokodoll

My second Momokodoll arrived in the mail yesterday but I was at work so picked her up bright and early this morning.

She is Platform Departure Momoko, the only other release I really liked this year. I feel really lucky to be able to actually get the two girls that I was drawn to from this line. I thought they would have sold out a lot quicker to be honest. Both girls I thought were really lovely and a little bit different from the other Momoko releases in 2016.

Photo Sunday

Massively productive day today. I made three display stands out of foam core for my Pop Vinyl dolls, Nendoroids and Cu-poche figures following this nifty tutorial. I also added a window and curtains to my previous room box. And to finish the day, I made a 1/6 scale wooden bed. I'm still sewing the pillows, mattress and bed cover so I won't have photos of those until they're done.

I think this one will end up being my Momoko girl's lounge or front foyer. I'm working on her bedroom at the moment but it'll be sometime yet before it's done.

Box Opening: Momoko Tartan Syndrome

I've kept this under wraps but I bought my first Momoko recently from AmiAmi. The story behind this girl was that I was going to buy her but then dithered for too long and she sold out. I was a little devastated as she's been the first Momoko doll that has really grabbed me (out of the recent releases). I checked the site a few weeks later hoping to find another Momoko that might call to me and she had been restocked. I wasn't about to miss out again and took the plunge.

I've been eyeballing these dolls for a time now but was never sure whether I wanted to add them to my collection or not. Minimagine's gorgeous Momoko dolls enabled me a little ... okay, a lot! All I can say, it's really lucky that I've finished collecting MH, EAH, DC Superhero Girls, Pullips, Pureneemos AND Fashion Royalty dolls. Because it means more money for Momoko dolls.

Honestly, I don't know why I hesitated. Seeing them in person just blows me away. They're smaller than Barbie but the size is really cute on them, the clothes are incredibly well made and they stand way better and more solid than Barbie and even some of my FR girls.

Here she is, all boxed up. I adore this box. It's simple but I find it so charming and you can see the doll really well through it too.