My Favorite Two Tonner Dolls

Although I'm busy getting ready to leave for Pittsburgh today, these two were just aching for a photo shoot. The female doll is the 16" Comicon Supergirl Exclusive and the male is Jeremy Voss. Supergirl is wearing a new fashion from the "Gowns by Anne Harper" line called Venus Rising. Voss is wearing Simon Chase's tuxedo.
I love these two dolls. I very rarely pair up dolls or make up life stories for my vinyls but these two are now married.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Tonner Photo

Venus Rising is a lovely and ultra romantic fashion. The drapey shoulder things attach by slipping the doll's arm through an elastic circle on the underside of the rosettes. The fabric is filmy and wonderful! I was surprised by the glitter, yes girls and boys, glitter, on the rosettes. That is really cheap and non-imaginative on a fashion that retails for $114.99 There is a close-up of that detail on the Tonner site but I didn't pay attention apparently. Glitter comes off on everything and stays everywhere and no matter how long or hard you clean and vacuum, there will be glitter. It will be on your nose and your butt and on your dolls' black clothes. Glitter also snags hosiery. It belongs in sleep-away camp and that's about it.
Please, Robert, ditch the glitter.

..........

And now I'm off to pack for the FR convention. This should be an interesting one with 422 in attendance, there are bound to be some traffic jams and other surprises.  Keep watching for reports although with all the excellent photographers out there vying to post their images before anyone else does, I won't be shooting as many photos as usual. There will be many to see.  I will go for quality not quantity (if possible as I'm taking the point and shoot and not my studio camera.)

Ciao...Hasta la vista...A tout a l'heure...Toodle loo...A presto...Sampai jumpa lagi...Tα λέμε σύντομα

Taking care

A new bunch of sock creatures is being gathered on my desk every morning.

At the moment, I am busy with a few other projects, so I can’t dedicate much time to stitching them.



The sock creatures don’t give up, and every time I come back home, I find them quite busy taking care of each other.

There is always something that keeps them occupied.

Integrity Toys Announces New Dynamite Girls for Fall/Winter

Three Dynamite Girls were announced yesterday. They are all LE 300 and the SRP is $54.99. The last wave of DG dolls were $40 each.

 From left to right they are:  Aria, Eltin, Neve,  Dressed in cute cold weather fashions they will be available at dealers late September/early October.  I wonder if the cute chair will be an item for sale. I like it.

It was also announced that there will be lower shipping rates. In their email Integrity says, "Integrity has been able to negotiate special online rates with both UPS and USPS, so you should see reduced shipping fees across the board on every order." I didn't know one could negotiate with the United States Postal Service.  I'm going to have to find out about that one. USPS and UPS have always had commercial rates.  What I think is more likely is that the service/handling charges have been added to the product prices so they won't show up in the shipping.

I ship cartons and packages all the time and I've shipped hundreds of items. I haven't negotiated lower rates.  When I weigh packages from Integrity they are always under the weight charged for. Last month (July) I received a carton containing 5 Gene Marshall replacement bodies. The carton weighed exactly 4.5 pounds although it said 6 pounds.  Via Priority Mail with $150. worth of insurance, the cost would be between $11.50 and $12.40 total. I was charged $23.95 for shipping.

Just to check, I logged into the Integrity store. The Gene Marshall (16") bodies are no longer available but the Fashion Royalty bodies are. Of course they weigh 25% less since they are for 12" dolls. I ordered 5 bodies and the USPS shipping came to $17.15. That's still way too high IMO.

However, it sounds like they are listening to the customers on this issue and it's a good sign that they are attempting to address the issue.

Playing With Eugenia

When I have the time, I do like to play with my 'older' dolls. It's like getting a new doll! Yesterday, three dolls were stars in my studio, one of which was Deconstruction Site Eugenia. In this photo she is wearing LifeBall's gown (a bit tight in the bust but it closed.) She is carrying an early FR purse. Jewelry by Facets. I think she looks drop dead gorgeous. I was fooling around with some mylar coated paper as a backdrop. The technique definitely has a learning curve as I'm sure I can do better. One has to begin somewhere!





Another favorite Eugenia is "Overachiever". In this photograph I have her dressed in the Tonner 13" Miss Revlon dress. It's very large and pinned in the back from the bodice down to the hips. Her coat is from the Wrapped in Decadence giftset. Purse, shoes and sunglasses are from earlier FR fashions. This coat looks wonderful with a short dress.

Little treasures

I have some beautiful little treasures to share today.
They were all made by my cute little students, 6-8 year old, during the last school year.

This little creature is known as a penguin, it was created by one of the sweetest, gifted and enthusiastic student I have ever taught.

One day, with a shy voice, she asked if she can show something to the class, then she took out of her bag this lovely pillow she had created during the weekend.
I asked her with whom did she make it, and she answered she did it by her own, since no one in her family knows how to stitch.

At the last month they have created sock dolls same as I had already taught dozens of times.

The girl who created this doll insisted to create a long curly hair for her doll, just the same she has.
I had no idea how can she make it and then she came up with the idea of cutting fabrics strips in zigzags that look like the curls she has.

This one is quite accessorized as you can see.

and this one has only one sock, the other one had been created till the last minute of the class.

New home

After two weeks, packing and unpacking, finally things get in order.
It seems like Boby doesn't care much about all this moving thing, he just sits on the TV chest, and wonder about life, same as he always did before.
The guys in the vitrine can hardly feel the change,
And I got new working space.