by Elizabeth A. Allen
Bubbles [mannequin] is a Shadow High Naomi.
Daisy Bee is on a Rainbow High Delilah Fields body.
Delilah Fields [mannequin] is on an RH Poppy Rowan body.
Emeraud is on an RH Sunny Madison body.
Leila is on an RH Robin Sterling body.
Ghoulia is on an SH Nicole Steele body.
Mirabel is on an RH Kia Hart body.
PJ is on an RH Jett Dawson body.
Rosie is on an RH Vanessa Tempo body.
Little Theo is on an RH Mila Berrymore body.
Wave 4 of Rainbow High characters introduces my mostest favoritest character, Delilah Fields, a diffident creative writing major. She is an albino Black girl with a pale yellow palette. The spectacular shirtdress on the doll, as well as the cute daisies and bees in her accessories, attracted me. The character’s personality on the show [which is surprisingly cute for an extended doll advertisement] and her focus also got me. Continue reading RH Delilah Fields inspires a new character, Daisy Bee!
My latest job has an actual office that I go to everyday. It has no windows, so lots of white walls to decorate. I am slowly making it doll-themed… Continue reading Dolls at my office
Little Night tries to help Little Day roller skate. It doesn’t go so well. Finally they decide to do something else. Continue reading Dorklets Little Night and Little Day in…Roller Skating II!
When Moose Toys came out with Real Little shuz wave 2, there were funky roller skates as part of the offerings! I immediately became obsessed with kitting out all seven dorklets in roller skates. They’ve been sitting on my shelf, waiting for an opportunity to skate, for about a month, however. Today one of the dorklets, Little Allison, and her mom Elva got a chance.
Little Allison [who grows up to be the Allison in my recent Allison in Wonderland photoshoot] is a Jakks Pacific Juku Couture Kana head, repainted and rehaired by me, on a body that is Spin Master Liv from neck to waist, Obitsu 24 from waist to upper thigh swivels, and Spin Master Liv from mid-thighs to feets. This seems to be the best compromise I have found for kid bodies in other colors besides extremely white and slightly peach. Unfortunately, the Liv arms only have single-jointed elbows, but the tight, flexible Obitsu abdomen/pelvis allows for very expressive bending, curling, and crouching poses. This hybrid body can also wear shorts and teeshirts without showing any mismatching skintones. Plus the double-jointed knees are pretty decent.
Elva, Little Allison’s mom, is the black Curvy BMR 1959 head, aged, de-glammed, and given locs by me, on a Mattel Made to Move body that doesn’t fully match but I don’t care. She used to be the standard height, but I shortened her. I’ve finally found the secret to shortening MTMs. Instead of hacking through the thighs [which are solid and therefore composed of the thickest plastic on the doll], I now remove excess length from the hollow middle section of the abdomen and then from the ankles. You can significantly reduce the doll’s height this way with no harm to general proportions. In fact, the shortened waist helps the elbows and the hands to fall at more realistic places.
Continue reading Dorklet Little Allison in…Roller Skating I!
Next we went to the doll tea party, where we met up with some BJD lovers that we had seen at previous Otakuthons. Dolls are identified according to the order in which their photos appear in this post. Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/06/2022: Doll tea party and the rest
On the morning of the 6th, we encountered low humidity and perfect temperatures [low 80s F] with sunshine again. We got up really honkin’ early at 6:00 AM and waited for the hotel breakfast to be served, where I ate hardboiled eggs, chocolate mini croissants, and melon. I organized the previous day’s photos until about 9:45 AM.
Thereupon I wandered into Chinatown. Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/06/2022: Chinatown and Otakuthon dealer room again
Right at 5 PM, we made our traditional pilgrimage to Kagayaki Shabu Shabu. I had the kombu and dashi essence broth, ponzu sauce [a citrus-flavored sauce], and lamb for my shabu shabu. Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/05/2022: Kagayaki and Nanami
Lyra and I left Essex, VT for Otakuthon early on Friday, August 5th. After a quick stop at West Meadow Farm for gluten-free bakery treats, I drove northward. With cloudy and occasional misty weather in Vermont, we encountered little traffic and made good time, crossing the border in a startling 35 minutes. From the border to Montreal, the clouds cleared, and the sun shone. Southern Quebec seems strangely flat in comparison to the rippling valleys of New England, and there are many more active farms with silos and grain elevators, neither of which are seen much in my state.
We arrived in Montreal around lunch time, checked in to our favorite hotel, the Travelodge on Boulevard Rene Levesque West, very early, and dropped our stuff in room 411. I think that, with the pandemic, people have temporarily curtailed their activities, so we saw few crowds, even in the city.
Usually we have arrived at Otakuthon in mid-afternoon on Friday, starting our days much later. This time, we enjoyed a leisurely start with a partial circuit of the vendor/dealer room. As usual, I spent most of my time in artist’s alley, chatting with artists whose work I was especially interested in. Pictures follow, mostly from booths where I bought stuff. Vendors show up in booth pics unless otherwise noted.Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/05/2022: Hotel and dealer room
Finally finished touching up some Violet Flyer Real Littles shuz.
Despite Ebru’s dramatics, the Red Queen Serial Killer rampages after Allison Wonderland. Allison Wonderland defeats her foe, however. Huzzah! The Red Queen series ends. Continue reading Hardshippers in…Red Queen V: “Success”
There is some confusion between the characters of the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. Allison and Carnelian don’t really have problems with it, but Ebru does. Continue reading Hardshippers in…Red Queen IV: “Ebru Finds Out”
Carnelian is all set for her role as the Red Queen in the Alice in Wonderland photoshoot. Or is she?
Carnelian’s case of bloody tools comes from Ringdoll’s Jack the Ripper Misty Midnight figure. Continue reading Hardshippers in…Red Queen III: “Carnelian Is Prepared”
Laura Art x Toycity produces some highly stylized blind box figures of little kids with different themes. I got a few from the Passion Fruit series and the Pool Fight series, with the goal of repainting at least one and putting the head on a more articulated body. Results below. Continue reading Repainting a Laura Art x Toycity figure
Allison figures out who the Magister is playing, despite his best attempts at obfuscation. Ebru reveals her plan. The contents of the Magister’s hookah are left to your imagination. Given that he’s an Elder Witch, though, it’s probably something magical and trippy…Continue reading Hardshippers in…Mystery Shoot II: “Who Planned This?”