On April 15th, I was told that  2 new Licca outfits would be sent out to replace the 2 that came damaged. The first ones came quickly, but I have yet to recieve the replacements. The seller, ShoppingDiction on Ebay with his 233 rating, is no longer a member. The last e-mail sent said:

"Hi I am so sorry to hear that. I am out of town now but I will resend them to you as compensation. Thank you

 

Am I just being negative that I don't believe any such items were sent? I mean, I guess they could have gotten lost in the mail but isn't it funny how I can no longer contact him to ask? But even if he HAD ripped me off, why would he walk away from such a great feedback rating? One transaction couldn't be worth THAT much, could it? Was there something big that happened? I can't find anything online about him. If he just decided not to sell on Ebay and delete his store, it would have been nice to get in contact with the customers that were waiting for items and let them know.

 

I've deleted the e-mails. I delete the e-mails when I consider a transaction finished and since there isn't anywhere else this could go, save if he saw this and contacted me to clarify, I have to consider it done.

 

 

Ooh ooh ooh. I have had some good luck with thrift stores. Not clothing-wise, since all I need is jeans and finding them is tough for a plus petite, but as far as vintage toys go, it's been good. Lately I have found:

 

* A redhead Twist Stacey doll from 1968. The hair is a bit thin and an inch or so shorter than it should be but she's still pretty. She came with a bit of clothing that I figure is mostly from that period.

 

* APPLEJACKS. Holy crap, I finally have an Applejacks MLP. She has apple-y goodness, freckles and washed up pretty nicely. YAY.

 

* MLP Baby Twiddlywinks. Apart from the tail-rust, someone has shoved a nail through each foot that had also gone rusty. I was like "WTF?" but Mum suggested maybe they did it to "shoe" her. Um...okay. I cleaned her up as best I could. There are still rust stains on the foot bottoms and on the tail-hole but she stands on the former and the latter could be covered with a ribbon.

 

* A 1991 Strawberry Shortcake Doll. I think the doll itself may be Berry Beach Park but the dress she came with is the secondary dress from Berry Beauty Shop. She still smells nice. *_*

 

* Mint Tullip. My first SSC foreign friend! Yay! She came wearing her tights and dress.

 

* Petal Blossom. My first G2 MLP :D

 

 

 

I need to find my childhood Maxie's head. I found the body and sculpted a ball on to the neck to replace the broken neck part. I had started to reroot her with some crappy wig hair a while back but I think that a doll that gave me such joy as a kid deserves some proper saran. I have started making up the plugs: She's going to be a green side-part. Hopefully I'll even get off my ass and make her some clothing.

 

 

 

Nylon hair has landed at Restore Doll. Good luck matching shades to shades though. The colors aren't named like at Dolly Hair/My Little Customs, just called things like "Ash 1" and "Red 15. You could easily make a typo and get the wrong shade. I am confused as to why they would do that, since the sarans and flockings all have names. Maybe it's just temperary though?

 

 

There is a cheap female figure body that you see on Ebay. Some people actually try to sell it as a Cy Girl body but what they really mean is that it's SIMILAR in size and whatnot. Apparently they are actually Ladies Mission bodies, or at least look like it to me. Anyway, there has been a recent change in the wrist joints. The one I bought has hands that twist at the wrist, then have a small peg that goes through the wrist peg, through a hole on either side of the hand to attach them and allow them to wave. The new ones have a ball instead of the little peg system.

 

Edit: I bought one of the ball wristed ones. When it came, the chest was a vinyl plate that doesn't really match and one of the hands snapped off the moment I moved it. The hands are hard plastic instead of hard vinyl that has a bit of give to it. Try to put a prop in there and the hand will probably break. It's looking to me like either this one with the ball wrists is a knock off or they are both knockoffs and the first company jsut did it better. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this piece of crap. I have e-mailed the seller and I'm waiting for a reply.

The hair reference group got a MAJOR boost. While doing the flickr group equivalent of going around knocking on doors, I realised just how many photos there were out there of colors from Dolly Hair and Restore doll that were actually sold by My Little Customs. Apparently, MLC stocks from both DH and RD but they are based in England so it's closer for the folks in the UK. Most of the same hair colors, most of the same names. I've added MLC to the headers on the by color listing and just noted when it's a color they DON'T carry. My big surprise was when the owner of MLC actually joined up and added her own photos. O_O Whoah!

 

I am also now NOT the main contributor to my own group! Now that the weather is nicer I am going to have to get photos taken of hair colors I have. But before I do that, I need to get painting. The rate of facelessness is danm creepy.

 

Obitsu, why you no make mini boys heads?? I just noticed that. So basically, if you want to make an Obitsu mini boy so ISN'T all girly in the face, you have to get a Volks mini-F head. Does Volks sell those seperately? No, they do not. So you would have to either buy a Mini-F and sell the body or post on boards hoping someone will sell one to you. >_<

 

Edit: Eh. I guess #3 could be a boy. It just doesn't strike me as being as masculine as the F head.

I was in a down town store that carries all these neat pieces of jewelery and miscellania, mosly brought in from other counties and/or handmade. In the jewelery section they had some barettes and large earrings made with photos of Blythe dolls! A few were stock photos (Miss Sally Rice and Welcome Winter) but most of them were of customs. I asked a clerk if the owners of the photos had given their consent and she told me they bought them off an old woman who had a stall in Bangkok. Aparently other stalls had similar stuff going. : /

So, a couple months ago, I bought some cheap Licca outfits. The 2 that were MIP came perfect but the 2 that were new but loose where damaged. I let the seller know and he promised to send me 2 undamaged ones. I checked his feedback a few weeks later and he is no longer a registered user.

 

Sooo! What do you think? Think I'll get those two outfits promised? It's kind of odd that he's suddenly not a member. His feedback is quite high.

So I can delete the e-mail without feeling I'll need it later:

 

Some vintage Barbie to Restore Doll hair matchups. 

 

TNT Chocolate Bon Bon- #15 Original Brunette
Blonde 1965 Midge - Strawberry Chatty #65
Titian 1965 Midge - Titian #8
Brunette 1965 Midge – Hazelnut #50

 

While I'm talking about doll hair, I don't think DollyHair's conversion table is perfect. My Little Customs is a UK based site that carries hair from both sites.  DH lists their Lagoon Blue as being the same color as RD's Azure blue, yet MLC sells both so there must be a difference. It's the same with Purple Passion and Wild Lavender.

 

Edit: Nope. They are the same. I recieved an F-mail from Robin and apparently both names are listed to avoid confusion. Some people would ask for one name if the other was used. Never mind, guys. XD

Obitsu has created a dog body. Er...robo-dog. It's awsome but the joints on the neck and torso are FREAKING ME OUT. If I got one, I'd have to make it a tight fitting furry suit like the one in this blog entry.

 

They also put out a 23cm body with a choice of 3 different soft bust and 2 piece torso. It looks taller than the usual 23cm body.

 

Junky Spot has both new bodies in stock.

 

 

C'mon Volks! Come out with something new. Like a Midi boy. EB-C is a younger boy but I'd like to see something in between EB-C and EB- Mini F. While you're at it, how bout a bust bigger than A but smaller than B?

 

 

 

 

Dude! I finally scored a Maxie doll that wasn't naked. She's a Lookin' Cool (The first one! WOOT!) that came with her tights, dress and, insanely enough, EARRINGS. I've got the doll washed, I just need to restyle her hair and finish washing the clothing. The tights no longer look grungey but they are still cream colored when they should be white. Hopefully another soak in Oxy Clean will fix that.

 

Also in the bag ($1.99) was a Rob, her boyfriend. I have no other Robs so that's awsome too. His hair (as well as hers) was STIFF. I had to soak them head first in a container of soapy hot water. I'd love to know which one he is the but site I used to ID most of my dolls is gone.

 

Natalie's Toy House on Ebay has kits for making doll eyes in whatever pattern you want.They are available in 14, 18, 22, and 24. Might be helpful if you needed a pair of eyes that were really specific but didn't want to pay for custom-made ones. (This is something I wrote a while back but forgot to post. Probably old news to alot of people. Oh well)

 

*Twitch*  Barbie shoes are cheap, danmmit! They are quickly massproduced by the hundred in Chinese factories for tiny sums. But, if you sell them as "Momoko", "Obitsu" or "Blythe" then suddenly it's okay to charge $4 or more a pair. Lolz PROFITS.

 

 

 

 

Huh.....I just put my anoyance to good use and called Mattel about the "Blythe" Mary-Janes. Told the rep about Ebay prices and more or less that if they started producing them in shoe packs they could get a piece of the pie. She said she'd pass the message on. Maybe it will just end up in the "round filing cabinet" but, hey, I tried. 1-800-524-Toys is the number, in case anyone wants to put in their 2 cents too.

 

Pop' Schoenen is out of commision, BTW. At least for MJ repros. Aw man. I wish it was possible for me to take over. He had too many things going on in Real LIfe to keep going with it. I, on the other hand, am a single, childfree Grade A nerd so I'd be perfect to take up the mantel.

Today is my birthday XD  I want a sewing machine that will automatically detect which fabric I'm using and switch to the correct needle. I  had to switch back to hand-sewing a shirt because it was easier than figuring out why the ballpoint jersey needle was chewing on the jersey fabric. If it could switch to the perfect thread color that would also be peachy.

 

Hmm. I was wondering what fairytale they'd do with Barbie next. I saw the dolls in TRU yesterday: Thumbelina. I was looking at all the female fairy dolls and wondering how the heck they all fit into the story. In the original, Thumbelina wouldn't have met any female fairies untill the very very end. And NO prince doll? He's kinda a big deal.

I watched the trailer and...uh...it's a different story. Barbie is opening a nature park and tells the story of fairies getting uprooted from their home and needing help from a "spoiled girl named McKenna". All that remains of the original story is the name and the "babies from flowers" thing, it seemed. That disapoints me. I don't really care about the movie but they could have done some AWSOME toys if the story had been more based on original.

 

* Regular Sized Dolls: Thumbelina, The Prince, The Field Mouse, The Mole and a token female fairy. The female fairy could be the prince's sister or something, just to add in more of the "Fairies, WOW!" to the line. Why the mole? As a VILLIAN. I mean, I guess he's not really a villian but he didn't really seem to care about Thumbelina not being happy in a hole. I was talking to Mum about it and she suggested a little "powdered" wig and waist-coat might be nice touches. Miss Field Mouse could either be a friend or a secondary villian, depending on how they wanted to play it. Oh man, I would be on a doll like that like a cat on a piece of chicken. I could honestly see myself buying a few of them just so I could customize some. Anthro-animals for the win.

 

*Clothing for the dolls: I'm sure they could come up with stuff. What rises to the top of my brain are wedding gowns. The Mole's dress for her could be pretty but kind of old fashioned. High neck, lace layer over the bodice. The one for the actual Prince wedding could have a big puffy skirt and sleeves with, of course, glittery wings on the back and a tiara. Miss Field Mouse could be made with the same body so the Mole dress would fit her too in case they wanted to pair the spares at the end of the movie.

 

*Playsets: They could do something based on the fairy court. They could also make one based on her stay with Miss Field Mouse with all the furiniture looking like it was made of ordinairy objects, like tables and chairs made of thread spools. *"Life size" playsets where the doll is actually thumbsized, kind of like Polly Pocket.

 

*Remember the Luv Buds? The flowers that open when you pour water on them? This would be the PERFECT application for that technology. I'm pretty sure Mattel made a Little Mermaid doll that came out of a clamshell the same way too.

 

When my brain gets on a tangent I sometimes have trouble stopping it. The question, of course, would be "Would little girls actually WANT this stuff?" I think it's friggin' awsome but I'm 23 years old and my tastes just don't run the same as somebody almost a 5th of my age.

 

The ACTUAL dolls are Chrysella, Janessa, Joybelle (Lolz, reused name), a 4th friend (I think) and a flying Thumbelina. The faces are cute. The heads are sort of small-lipped Bratzish and the eye-print reminds me of the eyes on the Beauty Cuties. Put the heads on to nicer bodies and they could be neat.

 

 

 

 

I bought some of Dolly Hair's new polypropylene. "Camouflaged" not a color you see often in doll hair and I wanted to make sure I had a skein in case it goes out of stock. If you don't like nylon because it's stiffer and not as silky as saran you'll probably HATE polypropylene. The colors might vary a bit but I found Camouflaged more plastic-y feeling. I don't know of I'd have it hanging long and loose, it would probably work better short or curled. One hairstyle I think it would be excellent for? A mohawk. Depending on the length, you might not even need any gel.

 

Ooh! Speaking of gel, I've been looking everywhere for "Clear Ice" hair gel. The jars are just too heavy to buy online. Stores DO have Ampro's regular gel in their "ethnic hair care" section which would probably work just fine, right? WRONG. A salesperson was kind enough to open one for me and the regular stuff is BROWN. Over light colored mohair it would be a DISASTER. Just figured I should share incase anyone else was thinking "same difference". XD;;

 

Uh huh. So I was planning to get a Bratz doll or two before they pull the plug. But  the ones I want are all bought up for the holidays! Aw well. Hopefully they'll get them in in January.