Berry Juice!

Back from Volks Dolpa New York 2! As I was only attending the tea party/dinner, I ended up making a day trip out of it… left Hartford around 11 AM, didn’t get back from New York until midnight.

It’s funny… the first few dolly meet-ups I went to, I kept taking pictures of dolls without taking many pictures of their owners. The last Dolpa I went to, I took a handful of pictures with friends… and that was mostly it.

This year, I was happy to see my friends again but didn’t think to take pictures with them. :p Nor did I take that many photos of other people’s dolls… I was feeling rather shy, as I haven’t been active at DoA for a long time… and quite a few of the Tristate Angels people whom I’d met before didn’t seem to recognize me.

One major highlight of this Dolpa was the Customize/Costume contest. It was fascinating to see the many different ways that people interpreted the fairy tale theme… I spottd references to Beauty and the Beast, the Seven Swans, Japanese folk-tales and children’s songs, and more!

Congratulations to everyone who was recognized for their Customize/Costume contest submissions, as well as those who were lucky enough to win a lottery item. I feel very fortunate to know so many talented people.

Congratulations again to Kat, Mat, Aimee, Kim, Mandy, and everyone else!

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After I posted the “yay they are here” post, I spent a stressful few hours cursing at the Orientdolls and being cranky at the various doll eyes I’d bought in preparation for their arrival. I ended up borrowing my husband’s camera so that I could open the white vampire.

A Consumer Report will be coming, as soon as I have the energy to process pictures.

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Eee! They’re here, they’re here!

…just as the batteries in my camera conk out. A-heh.

Since I’m obsessive about dedicated to taking opening-box-pictures, I will have to wait on opening the second of the two vampires until the camera finishes charging.

In the meantime, I gotta change the eyes on the Chocolate one… blue is definitely not his color.

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The sun came out on the 6th, before plunging us back into late-winter weather for a week or so. I took the opportunity to take a few more pictures of Pirika in her new face-up (and body aesthetic work).

Compare and contrast…

Nurse Pirika in 2004

Nurse Pirika in 2007

Nurse Pirika, with Patient Aquillo

Oh, what a difference two and a half years make!

Pirika’s style has varied over the years… she’s been an auburn-haired young lady, a boyish brunette, and occasionally a vaguely gothy lolita in black. I discovered to my surprise that she can look quite lovely in white as well…

The corset and bloomers are from Melancholy Kitties, and were supposed to be for Yukihime… but I think Pirika looks great in them!

The pre-dressing photos are under the cut, for those of a sensitive disposition.

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I just got an e-mail that the snow-white/white chocolate Vampire has arrived at the store, and the entire package will be shipped to me this afternoon, via Priority Mail.

I no longer remember what wigs I ordered along with the dolls, so I’m a little excited. I’m getting the same “What will I get in THIS package??” feelings as I used to get when I ordered from some doll stores… I never knew which of my items would be in stock when the package was finally sent out, so it was like getting a random secret gift from my past self.

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We have two large glass-fronted display cabinets in our dining room, which my husband’s parents kindly donated to us when they moved from their apartment in Manhattan to their shiny new house in the Berkshires.

One of these cabinets is occupied entirely by recent toy acquisitions.

The other is inhabited by a rotating cast of dolls and ornamental plates/fabrics/fancy things we got as wedding gifts.

Currently, the cabinet looks like this:

From left to right:
Back row - Aiden (faun perched on sofa arm), Aquillo, Peridot, Yukihime, CertainlyNotC3PO
Front row - Shun, Pirika, Isuka, CertainlyNotR2D2

Aaand I forgot to add the two AGA Fairies to the picture. Dangit!

Note: After struggling for a long time to find the perfect white/silver/grey wig for Yukihime, I’ve come to the conclusion that pale blond (she’s wearing a Leekeworld wig in color #301 in the picture above) is the best match for her eyebrows. Hopefully someone out there will give her white wigs a good home! (Aquillo will almost certainly steal all her silver/grey wigs.)

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Okay, it’s officially been one month since I ordered. I am permitting myself to be whiny and anxious about the lack of dollies.

I guess I’ve been fairly lucky thus far. Almost all of my ball-joint dolls (7 out of 8, eep!) arrived within a month of ordering. Cookie is the odd-one-out, and he took almost two months to arrive (ordered on March 31 2005, arrived on May 10th with two left hands, new body arrived May 27th).

I’m not quite regretting purchasing from a dealer, but I am thinking that next time, should there be a next time, I’ll order directly from the company. I seem to have better luck that way, Cookie excepted.

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Pirika is back from her trip to the Melancholy Kitties spa! Alas, the weather was most uncooperative, and so the homecoming photos are poorly lit… but nothing can take away from my excitement at seeing her again.

I’ll post the pictures under the cut, for those who want forewarning before clicking on dolly nudity.

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I think I’ve transferred over all the old blog entries I could find! I’ve also written up profiles for the dolls. Up next: importing the photostories. There are odd little holes in the chronology which might get explained and might not… I discovered an entire folder of pictures that are clearly trying to tell some kind of story, but have no dialogue.

At the moment, I’m waiting for my first Orientdolls to arrive. When the Chocolate Vampire So dolls were announced in February (with seven different interchangeable pairs of wings!), I was smitten… and I decided to reward myself with a pair of Vampire So dolls when I finished a major project.

According to the doll store I ordered from, the Chocolate Vampires have arrived but the White Vampires aren’t here yet. It’s a little agonizing… I almost wish I’d ordered directly from the Orientdoll website, so I wouldn’t have to make tough choices like “No, please send everything all at once”.

I don’t know why I feel so impatient… it’s been less than a month, and surely I should be used to waiting three to four weeks for a doll by now? But it’s so hard to shop for little dolls when I don’t know what colors will go well with the skintone, or what color eyes would look best.

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St. Patrick’s Day, and not a bit of green in sight…

…because everything’s buried under a blanket of snow!

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