Inside My World

Time flies, like the whooshing sound of a bullet train as it passes. Now that I am feeling well enough to return to doing school drop-offs and after school activities - life has been busy. However that doesn't mean I haven't had time to dip into my hobbies. 

Let's start with the photoshoots. I recently joined a Barbie Collector's group that has a new theme each week and I've been finding it quite inspiring. For this week, it was 'Weddings'. Not owning any wedding dolls or gowns, I found a pattern and tutorial at Galaxia Dolls and decided to make a Maxi dress and give my doll wedding a boho vibe. 

By My Side

Right now, I am unable to use my big DSLR camera which is on a tripod. I'm not allowed to lift anything remotely with weight for 6 weeks and even after that, only small weights. So I am using my phone camera to take most photos. I have been so bored on "rest" that I have had my husband bring up dolls to me so I can take photos of them next to me hence the title of this blog, "By My Side."

Playlist: Sunny Mornings by Peder B. Helland

Sayuri got some new clothes recently that I ordered before I went into surgery. Sadly, only 1 of the 3 dresses I got fit her. The other two were too short but that's okay as they will work perfectly for my Momoko girls. 

Snap and Smile

I've been taking a lot of photos over the past few days. Of different subjects. It's been interesting, challenging and frustrating. But it's also been a lot of fun. I haven't had time until recently to really enjoy taking photos for a while so it was nice to have the time to be able to do this.

We'll start with one of my most neglected dolls. She's an Obitsu 48cm doll with the Mafuyu head. It's been such a long time since I posted her on this blog. I'm going to call her Anya. 

Bounty

I really wanted to make use of the good weather outside yesterday for a change so borrowed two of my husband's Star Wars figures for a quick photoshoot.

It's a little hard to see as I wasn't sure if it would work. I had my daughter help me with this one. I gave her a spray bottle filled with water and got her to spray it up into the air. I wanted a fine rain mist effect which it provided however the camera doesn't do a great job of catching it. But if you look closely, you will see tiny water droplets on the figure and a fine mist on his helmet (courtesy of my daughter who decided to spray the water onto the figure at one point). I wanted to give the illusion he had been trekking through the rain in pursuit of a bounty.

The Colour Sphere

I mentioned in a previous post I had been watching tutorials on toy photography. I purchased a neat little portable light that has multiple colours (for adding mood and atmosphere). I wanted to try it out and thought it would be fun to grab a couple of my figures to test drive the light. I also thought it was a great opportunity for me to play with my camera settings on my DSLR. 

Here are the results of my little experiment.

The New Kid On The Block [DOD YU]

 If you've been in the hobby since the early 2000s, you'll remember a company called Dream of Doll. They were among one of the first doll companies I came across back in 2004. I stumbled onto them by chance when I was heavily into The Sims 2 game. A custom content creator had made a "BJD Skintone" for the sims and credited the reference to "Dream of Doll". Naturally curious, I followed the link and found a website devoted to BJDs. Thus began my love affair with these dolls. (Angel of Dream, Dollzone and Luts were the next companies I discovered.) 

On a side note, I actually created a Sim later that was inspired by one of the Dream of Doll sculpts.

Back in those days, I didn't earn enough on a waitress wage to even consider owning one of these dolls but they were always there in the back of my mind... "One day, I would buy one." I thought to myself. It took until 2009 before that dream became a reality (however my first doll ended up being from none of the companies I first discovered - it was a Doll Family Lyre. He was all I could afford at the time and he was on sale.) Ah but I do still remember the feeling of pressing the "Buy" button on my first. You always remember your first even if they have moved on. 

Dream of Doll have that old school aesthetics that I fell in love with and still prefer to this day. Don't get me wrong, I love all my dolls but the old school aesthetics has a particularly special place in my heart.

Now that we have that super long nostalgic trip out of the way, let's move on to the subject of this post. The New Doll. It is Dream of Doll Yu.  Back when I first found their website, there were many sculpts that I wanted but realistically could not afford. However, I started to save and Yu was one of the sculpts I had been saving for when Dream of Doll closed its doors. It came out of the blue and frankly I had to give up on ever acquiring this sculpt. Yu became yet another sculpt in a list of "Never to achieve grail dolls." Until now...

My Tiny World

Recently I've been watching tutorials on Toy Photography and wanted to try my hand at this. I used my DSLR and phone to take photos. I got a new phone recently and I have to say, I love the photo quality on this one. Although that makes no difference on the blog as blogger does something weird to my photos and they never look quite as clear and crisp as they do in my photo editing program. Oh well, can only work with what I have.

Photo Day

 It's always a good day when your dolls don't mind being photographed. Just a small collection of character photos.

One of my favourite faces. Inara, my Bandorai witch and possibly a very great ancestor of Deirdre Quinn. She is one of the very few people left in the world who is able to connect to and use the Old Powers of the great Ancestors.  

Part 03 - Runaways

 After a rather long hiatus, I am finally back with Part 3 of Mareth's story. I have included links to Part 01 and Part 02 for a refresher of the story.

Part 01 -  Part 02

Jamal had been against descending into the dark unknown hole in the ground but Ydros had insisted they rest within its hidden depths. It was a good place to hide, abandoned and forgotten, reclaimed by the wild forest. If they were lucky, they could elude the Red Cabal, at least for a short time. Jamal had begrudgingly agreed and they had prepared to settle in for the night when the intruder alerted them to her presence.

Startled by the unexpected visitor, Ydros had been caught off guard, using his ability by instinct and unable to control its force as it slammed into the young girl that appeared as if by magic at the bottom of the steps.

Blue vs Red

Yesterday's photoshoot features Nikolas from ENVY (the Punk, Rock and Grunge Group) and Naoise, a fashion designer and also the stylist for the boys. After two and a half months of waiting, Nikolas got some new threads and Naoise got a new striped business shirt. The boys are finally looking the way I want.

Trouble is A Friend

Introducing my newest addition to the Integrity Dolls, Mademoiselle Jolie, Kiss Me In Paris. This doll was released as a showroom exclusive gift set at the 2016 Supermodel Convention. She came with two outfits, lingerie and accessories. I think you could only purchase her at the convention, I can't really remember. I managed to find this girl second-hand, nude at a really good price from a collector here in Australia. I was pretty stoked with that as this was one of my big regrets. I didn't care much for her original clothing or accessories so it didn't bother me that I only got just the doll.

She arrived today and boy, is she worth the long wait. I am in love with her.

 She is one of the most stunning dolls I own in this line. I have to say, I am falling in love with these Nu Face girls. She is my only second Nu Face. The other is my Violet Variation Violaine Perrin. I feel the Nu Face girls have a really nice mature look to their face sculpts. On to the photos ...

The Advisor's Robes

It took me two days and one false start but I was able to finally complete Amaryll's outfit. I went into it with a specific idea of what I wanted and ended up with something that was completely different but I like way better. I learned so much about sewing with this outfit. It's not perfect and there is a lot of room for improvement but I'm happy with my end result. I will try and make this again with better finishes at some stage. I also made her necklace and head piece. Her bracelets are actually fashion rings meant for humans but works perfectly for doll scale.

I'm just so happy that I was able to make something myself. I used no pattern for this but was inspired by the blue outfit worn by Guinevere in the 2004 movie 'King Arthur'.

Music Playlist: Song of the North (Alt. Version) ~ BrunuhVille

The Queen's Advisor

When I create my Kingdoms, I look for particular music that encompasses the feeling, atmosphere and vibe of that particular Kingdom. Ylleria is my Northern Kingdom, a mysterious land shrouded by mists designed to confuse and mislead those not of Yllerian blood. For the longest time, this Kingdom remained isolated from the other Kingdoms. No one really knows why in the past two hundred years, they have decided to take part in the affairs of the world.

They are allies of Embra and the Southern Kingdom of Tallanon. Each of these Kingdoms have been gifted with Advisors to aid and guide them in the impending war with the forces of Caizar and the prophesied re-emergence of the Prince of Shadows.

For this Kingdom, I chose the music Lumina by BrunuhVille. The music evokes the sort of images I have of Ylleria and its citizens.

The main character who represents the people of Ylleria is Lady Amaryll of House Anewen. She is Advisor to the Western Queen and is versed in all manner of prophesies and ancient magic. She is also the youngest daughter of the Yllerian Queen at only two hundred and seventy two cycles.

I recently changed this doll's character but as the dress she was wearing is way too big for her and that bugs me to no end, I changed her character back to Amaryll but with some significant changes. Namely her colour scheme being all white now with hints of silver. I like that the colour really enhances the fact that she is very different from the humans around her. She's not meant to blend in with them but to stand out even in a crowd.

I Wanna Be A Rock Star

A photo session featuring Jade, an idol and rising star under the management of Olympus Entertainment. She was discovered three years ago on a street corner busking for spare change. It was her voice that attracted the attention of the talent scout.

Thanks to the public relations team, she shot to stardom quite quickly and has become the company's number one Idol. Her story is a work in progress.

Jade is my SuperDuck/Intergity hybrid doll.

BJD Crew and Dance of Seers

I've been saying for years that I want to do a group photo of my BJD collection but I never got around to it until today. This is my current collection (2009 - 2020). Obviously I've sold a lot of dolls during my collecting life but these are the ones who stayed. There is a total of 23 dolls.

It actually did not take as long as I thought it would. Maybe because they're all dressed and they all posed really well. I had them in this group standing for about 3 hours. No one fell! It didn't take me that long to do the shoot but as I rarely have them like this, I just wanted to keep them like this for a bit longer for my own enjoyment (and eye candy!).

At this point, hubby came in to see what I was doing and saw the group of dolls. His reaction was, "That is a lot of dolls!" I told him I have been collecting since 2009 so it wasn't like I purchased all of these overnight!

Seeing them like this, I am so happy with my crew. 

The Caged Seer

Today's photo subject is Serilda, my Caged Seer. I feel that she needs a more elaborate wig style so I will have a look at something a bit more in line with what I am wanting. This wig is nice but the fibres are so silky that it is hard to control.

I write more about her character and background under the cut.

I don't seem to take a lot of photos of her. She's not the best poser (she's single jointed) but she is pretty. She is a MyDolling Heeah. She was the first of my dolls to wear this style of costume. I had originally got her to be the Yuki-Onna, a spirit from Japanese folk lore. I've always had a fascination with this particular folk lore. If I can get a second head of this sculpt for this body but have her with painted red lips and a more evil expression, I will have my Yuki-onna. But this version at least is taking the role of my Caged Seer.

Serilda's theme song: Shu Lin Ru You Su - Gao QiuZi

The Light of Heaven

Yes, I am still here. I got dragged into the world of The Untamed (Chen Qing Ling) Chinese drama and I haven't really wanted to leave it despite watching the final episode a week ago. I'm that into it that I am watching it again, all 50 episodes. I never do that. So when I do, it means a show has affected me on a deeper level. You know the kind of shows that stay with you for weeks, months, years after you finish watching them? I can count the number of those on one hand. It doesn't happen a lot.

Apparently, Ringdoll had a limited release back in the beginning of last year for the two lead characters from the show. How did I not know this? I wouldn't have been able to afford them anyway but here are the links to their original promotion for the curious.

Wei Wuxian by Ringdoll
Lan Wangji by Ringdoll 

And an awesome MV of the theme song of the show with scenes from the show: Wuji

I could gush about The Untamed all day but let's move on to today's post. I had been wanting to try a different hairstyle for Gwydion for a while now so I decided to just see how it would turn out. It's not bad. This wig is really hard to work with though. I really like the hairstyles of the period The Untamed is set in. I particularly see this hairstyle in my Eastern Empire of the fantasy story. Teo definitely needs one of those hairstyles. I really don't like the red wig on him.

I'm calling this shoot the Light of Heaven. In this costume, he kind of reminds me of a God or an Immortal. He doesn't really look human or mortal. I've been debating changing the urban fantasy story to my Immortals story instead. I'm not sure yet. I'm not really happy with 'The New World" Story. Eve doesn't look good in photos next to him because of her big melon head and big stylised eyes and he's more realistic looking. If he were to be one of the Immortals, I would say he would probably be the God of Beauty/ Love or the God of Wisdom.

A Moment Between Old Lovers

Title Track: My Hands by Leona Lewis

Set about two months after Ydros leaves the Eastern palace in secret on his mission to discover if he can beat the destiny that was set out for him since his birth.

Featuring Mahalia and Teo.

For A Poultice

This series of photos is a purely visual story and is best viewed with the title track playing in the background.

Title Track: Forest Sounds ~ Guild of Ambience

Join Arianna as she makes her way through the Whispering Woods to seek out the ingredients she will need for a poultice.
 

Meanwhile in Madam M's house...

A quiet night at Madam M's share house means a good opportunity for some quick snapshots of the more rarely seen girls at their most relaxed state.

Anya enjoys a little time out in front of the television with one of the furbabies enjoying reruns of her favourite dramas. Just like Zoe, Anya is also a big K-Drama fan. Needless to say, those two have a lot to talk about when they get together.