Playtime for Francoise

Today, I am feeling well enough to take some photos so I decided to pick a doll that I haven't taken photos of for quite a long time. She is Francoise Arnoul from 009 Cyborg. She is a Pullip made by Groove and released in 2012. Pullip and Junk did a great overview of her here. I bought her in 2016 and she's been with me since. 

I changed her out of her official costume and into something more petite.

I really adore her sweet face and lovely blonde hair. And she poses pretty well. I had her sitting on a swaying branch at one point with the wind blowing and she never fell off. Had that been my bjd, it would have been a disaster. 

Pink Power

Happy First Day of May!

A few months ago, I ordered a pink wig for my Obitsu girl however I didn't like how it looked or sat on her so the wig was left in the wig container until recently. I decided to try it on Clara for a bit of fun and was surprised at how much I liked the wig on her.

A Surprise

I hadn't realised it had been a while since my last update. Hope everyone is doing well. I wish I could say I was busy with creative doll stuff but sadly that's not been the case. Let's call it a "doll block", similar to the writer's block.

Got a lovely surprise in the mail today from Fantasywoods. (Thank you my dear!)

Some tasty treats, post cards, stickers, a robot themed memo pad (that's going to come in handy!), a lovely box, Totoro (*insert squeal here*), gorgeous necklace, a lovely floral head piece which Isabelle is modelling and a really gorgeous purple scarf (my favourite colour!) which Isabelle is also modelling. I love how fine and delicate this crochet scarf is. She's so talented!

I feel lucky. (I've also already eaten one of the chocolates, yum!).

A Cyborg and Alice

In my last post, I mentioned that my latest Pullip girl arrived the day my friend was here. I finally got around to taking some photos of her.

**Used textures from DivsM-stock in this photo manipulation.

She is Francoise Arnoul from 009 Cyborg. She came out I believe in 2012. When I first saw a photo of her on someone's blog, I said to hubby, "You know, she looks like she's from the 60s or 70s." And this is what drew me to her. She had that very old vintage super hero feel to her. Hubby says she reminds him of Thunderbirds.

I was drawn by her whole style and after reading up on 009 Cyborg, I fell even more in love. I love this kind of story concept so I ordered her from Amiami. Technically she was on backorder and I had to wait a bit to find out if they could get her (which lucky for me, they could).

Here she is pictured with her scarf which has two tiny wires enabling the scarf to hold its shape or act like it's blowing in the wind.

The Mad Hatter Alice

I wanted Cyrene to have her own blog post because she is such a stunning doll. I had doubts about her for a while there but I've since put that aside and got on with the job of admiring her.

Don't get me wrong, I do adore her default outfit but I also loved mixing it up with Alice's steampunk dress and Cyrene's original hat. I decided to remove the corset and apron and I have to say, I do prefer just the dress like this. She is wearing Pureneemo shoes (which fit!).

The Pullip Video That Did It

What got me into Pullips was a review on Alice Sepia by Omocha Crush. It got me really interested in these dolls that I had seen briefly in person once several years ago but I never really looked at again. I can't remember how I stumbled on the video or why, but I remember I was enchanted with that particular doll. And then I found the official Pullip Youtube channel and it was the How To Play With Pullip that pushed me over the edge to purchase. I watched this video a few times whilst waiting for her to arrive, that's how excited I was.

It was also interesting to watch the video on How to Pullip which was a quick video on the concept and creation behind the Pullip dolls. I really wish bjd companies would do this for their dolls. It's always nice to have a peek behind the scenes.

Still on the Pullip train right now and decided to take more photos of Clara because she's adorable and my first and you never forget your first...

It's a Pullip's World

I meant to do a Pullip 2015 post but somehow forgot during all the chaos of the festive season so I decided to take an update photo of my Pullip collection today. I hope to take another one at the end of the year as this number may increase by one or two by then. All I'm saying for now is that I am waiting to hear back from a company regarding stock on a certain Pullip girl that may be coming to live here.

While I had the girls out, I thought it'd be a good time to re-dress them. I really need to get more custom clothes for them.

The current collection, from left to right: Cyrene, Clara, Myla and Alyssa.

Sleeping Beauty

I took a photo of Clara last night having a little nap amongst the branches of the Christmas tree. Doesn't she look so very peaceful?

In other news, I got finished photos of my two MH girls that are out with the face up artist today and let me just say the girls are stunning. I literally had a jaw drop moment when I saw the photos they were that amazing. I can't wait to share photos when they get back home.

Thoughts on Blythe and Pullip Clothing

I finally got around to doing some photos for the Blythe and Pullip clothing that I have on a Pureneemo doll.

My models are Willow and Rosaline.  Willow is on the XS Flection body and Rosaline is on the M Flection body.

It's a Pullip World

Since caving in to the Pullip temptation, it's been a bit of a learning curve. Being used to posing Pureneemo bodies and BJD bodies, the lack of posing ability of Pullip default bodies is quite glaring. The body itself is really stiff to move in any sort of position. And sometimes, they make this noise that sounds like a crack (moving from sitting to standing). The first time this happened, I thought I had broke the body but no, it is just how it sounds.

For the Pullips I bought to be mostly display dolls (Mad Hatter and Alice), this is fine as I won't tend to want to pose them an awful lot but for the two I want to actually pose with, I will have to look at getting a different body.

Luckily, my Mad Hatter's hair is not too bad and there isn't too much frizz and I managed to comb and tame Alice's hair back to her curls so it's a lot less frizzy. Nanachan's hair however is a nightmare and I will end up changing it out for something else in a similar colour.

I've decided Clara will be the first experiment and I'm trying to source a Pureneemo L body (which is really hard to find). If anyone happens to know where there are some in stock, feel free to mention in the comments.

A quiet photo day

I've been busy with paperwork most of the day but finally finished them and took the chance to get some photos I've been wanting to get for a while.

But first, the new Azone girl mentioned in my last post.

She is the Gemini of June / Tsukiha face mold. She is just the cutest little thing and I hadn't had a doll with green eyes so she fits in quite nicely. I've named her Willow.

I've updated the AZ Pureneemo page (for those interested in specifics on the face mold/body type).

There are more photos of her under the cut along with photos of other dolls.

Pullip Mad Hatter and Cu-Poche Saber

It's been a busy morning at the Inn. Not one but two parcels from HS were delivered today. I am still waiting to see if the Pureneemo order has everything I ordered or not but so far, no shipping notice. Maybe next week.

The first parcel was Pullip Mad Hatter (Steampunk World) and the second was the Cu-poche Saber.

There's a few photos so I will put these under the cut...

Clarabelle

I finally took a deep breath and pried off Classical Alice Sepia's wig. I was surprised at how easy it came off. I must have had one of the ones that had minimum glue. I was glad as I didn't want to damage the stock wig so I can reuse it again later. Although I think I might sew on elastic around the wig cap so it stays on without glue required.

Lucky for me, Eve had the long black wig and I had been thinking of changing out that wig for a shorter one for her so Clarabelle (Clara for short) ended up with the black wig.

I love the colour on her a lot. It's not midnight black but more of a soft black (I think that's how it is described on wig sites). Of course, I had to do a photo manipulation of her ...

Getting rid of the frizz

Since my Alice in Steampunk World arrived the other day, I decided I didn't need two Alice dolls really to be, well, Alice. So I came to the conclusion to use my Sepia Alice as the custom Pullip. That and those curls were so bad, frizzed to the point of no return that it was a good opportunity to give her stock wig a bit of a hair cut. I didn't really mind too much as I plan to replace her wig at some point. I'm either going with a silver/white or black wig. I really like her monochrome look and want to keep that.

Plus, I've kind of wanted a doll inspired by Emily The Strange for ages.

I'm going to go ahead and name this one Clara. Here she is after I cut away those insanely frizzed up no hope of saving curls. Strangely, the ends of her hair does what mine does when it gets cuts short, kind of flips up. It's hard to judge length on curly/wavy hair when cutting but it's always fun.

The one thing I don't want to do when I get her a new wig is glue it down. A lot of tutorials I've found about changing out the stock wig says about gluing the new wig down. I think I might try either a headcap or rubber band to keep the wig in place. Velcro is another option but it'll be the last option as I hate using that stuff for wigs.

From everything I've read, 8-9inch is pretty snug on them but 9-10inch might be better as it'll go over the whole head and eye mech as well ...so I will try the bigger size.

I think I will also go ahead and make a choker and headband for her. I'll also really like to get a dress with sleeves but still in a similar style to the one she is wearing, keep that gothic Victorian/Wednesday vibe.

Box Opening: Pullip Alice in Steampunk World

Imagine my surprise when my doll arrived today. What a fast turnaround from the USA. I'm glad I wasn't made to wait for a week or something like that!

Introducing Alice in Steampunk World...

A bump with the post

I had posted on here about my Pullip Alice in Steampunk World coming into stock. I did get a shipment notice four days later. I always get actual doll purchases shipped via EMS because who knows what could happen when it comes to international postal services. Plus, it's trackable and insured.

EMS is a bit more expensive but honestly, it's worth the peace of mind it gives me should anything go wrong. And I am glad I do this because for the first time, something went wrong.

Two days ago, I jumped on and checked the EMS number because in my experience, it usually takes 1-2 days before status updates on parcels actually show up on the tracking website.

So you can imagine my utter surprise when the status update said my doll was in Chicago, USA. What the hell? I am in Australia. My first thought was, okay, so they must have given me the wrong EMS number. I sent an email to the company straight away in a right panic.

I finally heard from them today (there was a delay in their response).

So instead of my doll arriving within 3 days as it usually would via EMS from Japan, it's going to take longer because even though it is EMS, I've found from the USA, that doesn't really mean much and I usually get it maybe a week and a half at the earliest if I'm lucky (I've actually had Priority Mail from the USA arrive before EMS parcels). So there's that, which I am not happy about.

Anyhow, the company I ordered from was not responsible for this error. In fact, they were really good in finding out what was going on. They had addressed my parcel properly with my correct address.

The fault was with Japan Post who for some inconceivable reason decided to ship my parcel to the USA. Again, what the hell? How on earth can you mistake "Australia" for USA. I would understand mistaking 'Australia' for AUSTRIA but USA??

So the postal service in the USA have redirected the parcel back to Australia so hopefully my doll will arrive without any further issues *fingers crossed*. It's now a waiting game. I think several strands of my hair have turned white from the stress.

Oops, did it again

I really shouldn't be ordering yet another doll but ... when I saw the notice from Hobbysearch about the newest in the Steampunk World line, namely, Mad Hatter, reinterpreted as a female (I don't collect the male counterparts), I really couldn't pass up the opportunity to have her in my collection.

So much for only having three Pullips ...

 Photo courtesy of Hobbysearch

Honestly, look at her. How could I resist? I love the hairstyle. I love the whimsical outfit. I adore her make up (she has really dark smoky eyes) and she'll go so well with my Steampunk Alice.

I did take twenty-four hours to procrastinate on her so I didn't make a snap decision on her. Oh Groove, you really are turning me into a Pullip addict.

Now I have to reorganise the darn display cabinet yet again to fit everyone in...

Of Butlers, Cats and Herbs

The herb garden is really thriving which brings a smile to my face. Living in a town that tends to lean on the side of brown and more brown, it's nice to see a little green.

The plant markers were ones I made myself out of DAS airdry clay. I'm currently experimenting with making pendants with this product. They're stamped with the name of the herb (Parsley, Basil, Chives, Mint).

During the online absence, I also received my Sebastian Michaelis of Black Butler fame.

Slow and Steady...

Firstly, I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and thoughts regarding my situation in my previous post. Your words and thoughts were appreciated very much by both of us. It's been tough but we're getting there, one day at a time.

I've been enjoying catching up on what everyone has been up to lately. It puts a smile on my face to see how passionate everyone is about their hobby. It inspires me to want to do something with my own dolls. So thank you for spreading the love.

Mostly, I've been spending time gardening. I'm trying to grow some shallots in my new herb garden a close friend bought for me. The act of helping something to grow is very healing for the soul. I'm probably more excited than I should be that new shoots are starting to sprout.

I did take out Sebastian and change his wig and clothes earlier in the week. I wanted to try a more "hipster" look for him. I am not sure if I will keep this look though. The idea is to try and add some decorations to those dreads.

* * *

I also did some retail therapy. Okay, in all honesty, it's Alice in Wonderland and Steampunk. That combines two of my favourite things. It's a match made in heaven.

* Photo from Hobbysearch

She's supposed to be released I believe in July or end of June, something like that, so something to look forward to.

I will get around to taking a photo of Nana Chan. She's a little tempermental on her stand so I try not to move her too much.

Box Opening: Pullip Classical Alice Sepia

My Pullip girl came in today and I must say, even though I have seen Pullips in person before, that was quite a few years ago, I was still surprised to find how big she was. Knowing and seeing I think are sometimes two very different things.

That in no way affects how much I adore her though.