The House That Jack Built

oh, mio

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:11:49 GMT

Eight months and counting on my Mio order. For all I know she's still slowly pushing the orders out there, but the last confirmed completed order was in September, and the posts on Mio's order board get more histrionic by the day. (Not that I can entirely blame them.)

I've posted to the order board again myself, offering to accept a full refund in place of my order if that would be easier on her. I don't know what I'm expecting, exactly. Some kind of contact would be nice. Hell, at this point I'd be enthused if the 'times this message was read' counter on my message jumped from '1' to '2'.

Guess we'll see!

eee

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:29:49 GMT

Once again Iplehouse proves that, when it comes right down to it, they are capable of reading my mind. The faceup on Beowulf's new shell came complete with faint smirk, thereby obviating my need to actually modify the faceup. Which is great, because it's a pretty nice faceup. Iplehouse's factory faceups have really improved since I got Jack in early 2006, I tell you.

The realskin resin is really terrific, a pale and translucent cafe au lait color without any marbling that I can see. (Also, no greening. Whew.) Of course, there are seam lines, but I've never... cared that much about seam lines? I guess if my dolls spent more time naked, I might.

Beowulf now looks smirky and wicked, instead of goony-happy. He also looks about five years older. Also, smokin' hot. Embarrassingly enough, I felt kind of bad while I was carrying the old WS Beowulf off to get stripped of his clothing and replaced--poor guy, he's been with me for three years, I thought--but I think my last burst of misplaced guilt dried up and blew away once I put Beowulf's wig on his new form. Goddamn that's a nice-looking doll.

I'll take him to the doll meet tomorrow; maybe I can get some pictures of him there.

hmmmmm

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:15:30 GMT

My large Moona arrived today, and I am... of two minds about her.

Her face sculpt is undeniably lovely, even in profile and in awkward angles, and her elf ears are very well-done. Her little hands and feet are nicely shaped and detailed, a definite bonus, since I am very, very picky about doll hands.

The rest of her is kind of unpleasant to look at, though. Even more sticklike and awkward than the pictures suggested; her body is completely unshapely, with the chunks of her torso resembling strung beads more than an actual torso. She's nearly impossible to pose, too, as a bonus. Her previous owner wired her with pipe cleaners and it does not seem to have made a difference: her underwear joint pops if you sneeze at it, her thigh balls do not sit within the hip piece... at all, her knees and elbows don't fit together very well, and her head likes to snap down into one of two contorted positions.

Several of these issues will probably go away if I string her more loosely, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to get her to stand. Her joints are just badly done. It's a shame, because she is pretty, and has such a lovely, serene face.

Ah, well. I guess she'll be a project.

INCOMING

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:31:21 GMT

My realskin Gentle Soo Ri has shipped! Oh, happy dance. Beowulf's new shell, he's a-comin'.

Since I'm just reshelling him, he'll be wearing the same wig as before, and finally, finally wearing the Gumdrops that I bought for his original shell and never actually put in him. ... I didn't want to put in his new eyes until I gave him a new faceup and I never quite got around to that, because I suck.

In other news, the wig that I bought for the Azurite was total fail. I am starting to get mad at tiny wigs. There's a Jpopdolls trunk show this weekend--maybe I can find something for him there. If not, I'm sensing a Parabox order in my future. (The Kimmy also needs a better wig, as does Lola the girl Puki. TINY WIIIIIIIGS *fistshake*)

At least the Moona has a fat head and comes with a nice tinybear wig already! Of course, she takes 12mm eyes. What size eyes do I not own any of? That's right! I do have a pair of 14mm DropRops that aren't being used for anything, though. Maybe I can get those to work.

Man, this hobby is great for people who secretly enjoy being constantly frustrated. And using that constant frustration as an excuse to buy more things.

best of both worlds?!

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:32:43 GMT

I love how, sometimes, you get people on DoA mouthing the usual platitudes of "Oh, I love this little guy but we're just not bonding, so I want to pass him on to a better home..." who then go on to say "Doll never removed from packaging, box only opened for long enough to make sure everything was inside."

Ma'am, I think I've spotted your problem!

oh whoops lol was that my paypal

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:37:19 GMT

Aaaand then I found a tinybear large Moona, in tan, on the DoA marketplace for a good price. So I bought her. Because I've always sort of wanted one, and I've got all these great pieces of 27cm clothing laying around... merry early Christmas to me, I guess?

ow ow ow

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:00:53 GMT

I got the Azurite's faceplate back! He looks great. It was almost worth putting his stupid complicated body back together, just to be able to put his faceplate on top of it.

Seriously, though, between the teeny-weeny nancy stringing holes and the random wire armatures in the knees, his body gave me more hassle than the bodies of dolls four times his size. I've been assaulted by doll bodies before, but I think this is the first time I've actually bled for my trouble. (I had to use very thin wire to thread his elastic through his limbs. So thin that it's needle-sharp, actually. OW.)

The only thing that remains to be done with the Azurite is to find him an appropriate wig. I chopped down one of the cheap wigs he came with (because hey, it was free and I have no other use for it) and it's drying now. If it looks okay on him once it's dry, hey! I have a complete Azurite. If not, hey! I get to go buy him a Dollfie Plus wig off eBay.

faceups are the talk of the day

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:44:17 GMT

Followed through on my threat and purchased a realskin Gentle Soo Ri to reshell Beowulf in, woooo. I went ahead and paid for the default Iplehouse faceup, too. I hope it won't be too frowny, but I guess we'll see. (He's coming with a pair of black suspenders, a pair of hugenormous EID-sized stompy boots, and nothing else. Kinky!)

In other news, I got pictures of the Azurite's new faceup back from his faceup artist, and he looks damn good. Seriously, I don't know how anyone paints that well to begin with, let alone at that miniscule scale. I'm excited to get him back! I guess that means I should put his crazy complicated body back together.

I got the Marshpants for the Kimmy, and he is now a male model: boxy ruffled shirt, skintight stripy pants, tiny stompy boots. I'm pleased with how he looks--not so pleased with how he poses. He needs to be jammed full of pipecleaners before I try to do anything else with him. Also, I think he needs a better wig. I guess the time has come to raid Mimiwoo for Dollfie Plus wigs again.

('He needs to be jammed full of pipecleaners'. Yeah, that doesn't sound disturbingly sexual or anything.)

I keep sort of thinking that I ought to sell the Pukis, but every time I pick them up I melt into a pile of goo. G'd'awwwwwww so cute 'n' tiny. I also keep thinking I ought to sell the Akando, but I'm bound and determined to get that pile of Mio clothing for him, first, so I guess he'll go on sale in a couple of years. If ever. The latest entries on Mio's order board get more plaintive and worrying with every passing day.

Oh, well. I have a new wig to try on him, anyway. Maybe a new look will get me excited about him again.

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:24:42 GMT

Ahahaha oh shiiii Iplehouse is doing special realskin versions of all the YIDs. WELP.

Several months ago I actually asked on their Q&A board if they had any plans to do so, and they gave me the typical doll-company 'la la la no plans for that at this time~' answer. Which made me kind of sad, because a realskin Gentle Soo Ri would have been the perfect re-shell for Beowulf. And now I guess I can have one! So!

Which means, in effect, that I will shortly have both an old-ass WS Soo Ri and his even older body for sale, pretty damn cheap. Not that they've ever been in that much demand, but, well, that's why I'll sell him cheap.

packpackpack

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:20:54 GMT

Packed up the Ryushin for mailing to his new home! (Hopefully tomorrow.) Because I am paranoid I have entirely mummified the outside of the shipping box in tape. I mean, I know there's cardboard under there, but I don't know if I could prove it.

Inside the box he's had his head and extremities all wrapped in bubble wrap and rubber-banded together; I then swaddled him in his pillows and strapped the resulting dollwad up inside his bag, rendering him into a white leatherette burrito with resin filling. (I love Iplehouse for shipping their YID dolls in carrying bags, and I love those bags for the internal bondage systems, as kinky as they are.) Wig, eyes, and assorted etc. went in with the bubble wrap and air pillows. And, you know, I'm still panicky that he'll get damaged in shipment. Too long on DoA makes one paranoid, I guess.

I also packed up the Azurite's faceplate to be mailed off for a faceup! Oddly, I'm much less panicky (if no less careful) when shipping something that still belongs to me. I'm hoping to get him a light, natural faceup in tans and browns, but I'm a little uncertain about that, because his resin is kiiiiiinda yellow-gray from age and, well, age. I'll see what colors the artist ultimately recommends.

Received a handful of Volks 'WTG? Boyfriend' clothes for the Kimmy. I'd heard that Kimmies were wicked hard to fit, and boy, I see what they mean. The shirts are a little oversized, but definitely workable; the pants, however, are hilarious. The right length, at least, but at least twice as wide as they need to be--he looks like he's doing the Subway-Jared thing in the Volks jeans, if Jared's 'fat' pants had had rhinestones on them. Fortunately, there's nothing like having Marsh in your arsenal, so to speak. Kimmy-sized Marshpants are en route, and should shortly turn him in a sulky male model with knees that bend the wrong way. (So terrible, those knees. So terrible.)

depth of field

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:28:48 GMT

There's nothing like carefully scrubbing out the assorted crevices of a disembodied doll ass with a toothbrush (at one in the morning, yet) to give one a fit of blindingly-clear insight.

Ours is really a very... silly hobby, isn't it?

In a related note, did you know that an Azurite's lower leg makes a very passable whistle if you blow into it just so? (I was only clearing the excess water from the elastic hole. I swear.)

bookkeeping is go

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:43:34 GMT

Updated the cast page for my guys, since it really needed doing (and other people have been making LJ entries about their casts recently, and I am a sheep).

d'oh

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:20:36 GMT

As part of my ongoing medical drama, yesterday I was dosed with radioactive iodine to treat my stupid, stupid thyroid cancer. This, of course, renders me mildly radioactive for four days. I'm supposed to stay strictly away from people and animals and take a whole bunch of other precautions. No problem.

Then I got home from the hospital and discovered that one of my buyers had just that moment paid off her layaway.

After a vigorous facepalming, I PMed her on DoA all "Thanks so much for paying off your layaway! Unfortunately I'm kinda sorta radioactive at the moment and can't mail your doll out until Tuesday or so--I promise I'll ship him the instant I'm able, and don't worry, your doll is packed away and will not be affected by the radiation!" She was very understanding, fortunately, but I can't help but feel like one of those 'oh lol I was in the hospital' jerkwads that occasionally go down in flames on DoA.

The doll is all packed away in a safe place where it will not become radioactive--really, in order to make it radioactive I'd... pretty much have to lick it all over or pee on it, and these are not my kinks, folks. Still, though, can you imagine the problem transaction thread that would ensue? X_GALLYE_X SENT ME A RADIOACTIVE DOLL, WAT DO I DOOOO

why I am a bad doll owner, part the next

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:26:23 GMT

I got a spare hour this evening to finally put the Peroth head on the SDGr body and painstakingly wrestle him into his Dollheart clothes. He is a beautiful, swanky, well-dressed fellow! He poses well! His eyes do not vanish in their narrowed sockets! I have created in myself a lust for Dollheart which may never die!

I can't take pictures of him worth crap!

Oh, well. At least I learned how to use my new tripod. Maybe I'll have better luck when the sun is up.

I'm gonna go buy clothing for the Kimmy to cheer myself up. >(

kimmy get!

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:33:24 GMT

And my Souldoll Little Kimmy arrived today, theoretically 'completing' my collection of mature tinies! Theoretically. Ha ha ha. (I may at some point splurge on a tan Aren, but while I like Aren's face and her default tan faceup, I hate the Minigem body like burning.)

I wasn't sure if I'd ever find a Kimmy. He was only sold the once, a while back (hmm, shades of the ToYou) and I don't think many were sold at the time (shaaaaades of the ToYooooou) but I decided to put up a WTB and I got an offer within three days. I took it, and overall, I'm pleased. He hasn't yellowed at all. He's really in superb condition, all over; even his original default faceup is present and well-kept, his elastic is still springy, etc. etc. The seller really cared well for this older doll.

My quibble is with Souldoll, here. What I find hilarious is something that none of the Kimmy photographs on DoA ever showed me: his knee design is awful. Just awful. Most dolls have knees with some kind of vague slot-and-tab mechanism to help the dolls' legs lock in a standing position; Kimmy's knees just have two smooth semicircles of resin that touch each other without fitting together at all. I can dislocate his knees by breathing on them. In fact, I did!

When his legs are, in theory, in the 'correct' position, there's this goofy inner bulge to the knee joint. I think the sculptor was trying to make him a little knock-kneed, but honestly, between the bulge and the poor knee jointing, it looks more like the poor guy dislocated both kneecaps and is hanging grimly in there.

gimme gimme

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:18:52 GMT

If anyone out there has (or knows someone who has) a Souldoll Little Kimmy that they're interested in selling, hit me up?

Long story short, I'll pay $275 + shipping for a naked Kimmy in good condition, no matter the state of his faceup. I'll also negotiate for a Kimmy in less than excellent condition (yellowed or with small chips). I'm in the US. I don't give a damn about eyes, wigs, or clothes; just the head and body is fine, although I wouldn't mind getting his box, too.

[EDIT:] Well, that was quick. Never mind~

... huh!

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:08:37 GMT

On DoA, doin' my research--as all good girls and boys should do--and, as it turns out, the bright pink joints on my Unola Azurite are neither faded nor changed in color, but instead a purposeful pinky mutation.

After the first batch of Unoa Lights were released, Araki received a lot of complaints that it was difficult to keep the insides of the joints properly blushed in the 'official' Unoa 'bands of pink' blushing style. Accordingly, he made a run of Unoa Light 'Special' dolls with inner knee and elbow parts of brighter, pinker resin, so that the joints would match the blushing on the outside pieces without having to worry about the blushing on the inside rubbing off.

Of course, if you're not using the official Unoa blushing style, then you're left with... bright pink non-matching joints. Still, though, it's good to know that my Azurite isn't mutating with age, but, rather, that he's from a specific, special run of dolls, and that he was meant to be that way all along.

welp

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:43:30 GMT

I know Mio is still slowly pushing those orders out there, because there are two posts with September dates on her order-board thanking her for packages received. Therefore, I'm still (reasonably) confident that my Mio EID clothes will, some day, turn up in my mailbox.

I placed my order on the very first day she had ordering open, which was (sigh) April 1st, 2009. Yep, we're rapidly edging up on six months, here. Some things in the doll world do just take that long--Mio, Dollflower eyes, certain waves of Narindolls and Unoas, newer CustomHouse dolls, Gumdrops--and I was definitely resigned to the wait when I placed my order. It's kind of sad, though. In the six months since I placed my Mio order, I went from being fascinated by my Akando to seriously considering selling his too-heavy ass; I'm waiting to make my final decision until I have those Mio clothes in hand, so that I can a) see if awesome Mio clothing changes my mind about him and b) sell off everything I have in the EID size at once, if I decide to sell. Meanwhile, he'll just sit there, a massive gravity sink of wasted potential.

I do worry that Mio is going to implode spectacularly, along the lines of Vanillashine or Moggie or Grace-from-Gumdrops. Not yet, I think. (I certainly hope.) But if she doesn't come up with a different way to handle ordering, I fear that she'll stagger along for another year or so before collapsing under the weight of other people's money and expectations.

workin' in the doll mines

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:24:47 GMT

Man. I was all set to spend half an hour carefully scrubbing the grungy old faceup off the Azurite, but three gentle passes over his face with a soft toothbrush and that faceup was history. It took me maybe another sixty seconds to clean stray pink paint out of his eyewells, and then his face was as blank as new. (Also, displaying that semi-unpleasant shiny-ass resin that Unoas are known for.)

I wiped his body down with a magic sponge and succeeded in removing most, but not all, of the grime. To get the rest, I'll have to unstring him, which looks to be a pretty lengthy and complicated endeavor: the Unoa Lights are held together with elastic, interior resin armatures in the torso and head, and little wire armatures in the joints. Accordingly, I'm going to hold off on that until I can get my hands on some Oxyclean. Even if I can't significantly lighten his yellowish tint, maybe the Oxyclean will reduce the glaring difference between his yellowed 'skin' resin and his pinky-pinky-pink 'interior joints' resin.

He's already cute, though, despite his age issues. Much like the ToYous, he likes to hug himself; unlike the ToYous, he also likes to clutch at his head. He has those perfect little Unoa hands and feet, only in miniature, and a lightly muscled torso, and even the tiny molded eyebrows. Really, he does look like a miniature version of the Unoa 1.5 boy; his face even resembles B-el's to an extent, although I think that's more of an 'Araki's style' thing than a conscious resemblance.

Eyes are going to be something of an issue. Unoa Lights technically use specially-shaped acrylic eyes that fit into the interior armature of the head. Since they're not attached to the faceplate itself, the eyes glance left and right as his head moves, which is actually really cool. He came with two pairs of the special Unola eyes, blue and brown; I think I may continue to use them, despite their being acrylic. It wouldn't be impossible to use different eyes, but it would be really difficult to get them properly positioned in the deep eye slot on the faceplate.

Clothes may also be an issue: he's 25cm tall. Almost all 1/6 dolls are either 27cm or 23cm (and the 23cm dolls are almost always little girls). Azone does make a line of 25cm girl dolls called 'Pure Neemo', but again, cute girls. However, the clothes the Azurite came with seem to fit him almost perfectly; most of them have Azone tags, and the punk shorts are 'Momolita Preta', which is a Blythe line. (I suspect they were originally girl's capri pants, but on the longer legs of the Azurite, they're shorts.) Accordingly, I've ordered some Azone men's clothing from HLJ, and we'll see how it does.

I love a good doll challenge, apparently. (Alternately, see 'Hecuba', a few entries down.)

woo hoo

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:02:12 GMT

My great gamble, the crappy-looking Unoa Light Azurite off Y!J, arrived today.

Long story short: I got a bargain. He's definitely salvageable! He needs one hell of a lot of cleaning and all his joints--elbows, knees, headback--are violently pink against his current grungy yellowy-white... but his resin is in good shape, he's not really damaged beyond a few marks at the edges, and his face sculpt is still perfect under the grungy flaking old faceup. He poses like a goddamned dream and he's really cute, too--significantly smaller than the ToYous, so he's going to be their tiny pimpin' dude.

He's also still got all his extra bits: fist hands, large and small feet, geta soles, kitty ears (also violently pink), several pairs of eyes... the only things that are missing, as far as I can tell, are one eye and the piece of fake fur that was supposed to be made into his wig. He's even got his paperwork, his extra wires, and the chunk of shiny black vinyl for making him a pair of bikini underpants. (Hee.) He also came with three extra wigs, a shirt, a pair of black bondage pants, a pair of PLAID PUNK SHORTS, scary buckle-y knee boots, rubber rocking-horse shoes (wat), a metal stand... and an absolutely lovely little metal rapier with scabbard and swordbelt. OKAY THEN.

All that being said, he's definitely a kit doll, much like current Unoas, only quite possibly even more complicated. The instructions are pretty intense (and in Japanese, hooray for copious diagrams). "Here is how to trim the flashing off his resin! Here are a bunch of short pieces of wire for making your own s-hooks! Here is how to make and insert the wire armature that supplements the elastic in his knees! Here is how to make him a wig and a pair of bikini underpants! Have fun!"

I sound so deep

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:08:46 GMT

There's nothing like spending a peaceful fifteen minutes changing a doll's clothes and carefully re-fingerstyling his wig to remind me that, as little as I like the term, there is such a thing as bonding with a doll; it doesn't have to mean thinking I hear his voice in my head or pretending that he bullies me into spoiling him, but only that every minute I spend messing with him reminds me of why I bought him and why I still think he's great.

This message brought to you by Jack: still my homeboy after three and a half years.

the accretion of items

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:48:03 GMT

I got the Peroth head back from Dr. Seiji, and he's lookin' pretty good. He's got a minor case of mud-eater's mouth and his eyebrows dip under his browbones just a touch, but all in all, I think I'm pleased. Especially since it's been well over two years since I got him and he's just been hanging out waiting for a faceup and a body ever since.

His wig(s) arrived from Leeke yesterday--and let me tell you, either Leeke or Dollga needs some quality control all up ins. I ordered two wigs of the same size, and they came labeled as the same size, but if one of those puppies isn't 8/9 and the other 9/10, I will eat them both. Dollga wigs are beautiful, but their sizing is almost hilariously random.

Now all I need to do is reclaim the Peroth's various bits and bobs from the other dolls that have been using them. I took his eyes out of Leon; now I have to put together a new outfit for Jack so that I can reclaim the fancy shoes. Once I've done that, I'll actually own a Peroth for real. Woo!

The second ToYou arrived, too. Beautiful shade of ivory white, never been painted, needs her strings tightened but no other issues. The Azurite hit the Celga warehouse, so I've asked for him to be shipped to me, too--now he will need some serious TLC. I'm kind of looking forward to it. I sort of enjoy spacing out at the sink with a doll part in one hand and a toothbrush in the other.

Leon's eye problems have finally been solved; his new ED eyes are light gray with a blue rim and they really suit him. (Now if only his wig wasn't a hairy bundle of suck!) I'm actually sort of considering selling him, albeit grudgingly. The EID body is a masterpiece of design, but he's so fucking heavy that I have problems dealing with him, especially with my gimpy right arm. Of course, I say that, but... but... but he's so cool. And his new eyes really look good. And he's got Mio clothes on the way, in theory. In conclusion: whine.

I'm also not certain if the Pukis are staying. They're adorable little boogers, definitely, but I don't mess around with them as much as I thought I might; really, they got lost in the shuffle when my brain went OMG MATURE TINIES. (I might like them better if the girl's wig didn't fall off all the time, too.)

Dolls, man. Dolls. You know what I'm saying?

I love creating problems for myself

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:32:09 GMT

Man. 6mm eyes. Man.

8mm for the Pukis was doable, if a touch annoying; I have a semi-decent pair of glass eyes in the open-eyed Chuchu now, and some ED urethanes on the way. (Also, putting eyes that tiny in a little bitty doll's head? FUCKING. ANNOYING.) You can even find a pair or two of 8mm urethane eyes in the marketplace, if you poke it patiently enough. But 6mm--even on eBay, if you ask for 6mm, you get a) acrylic and b) really unevenly-sized glass eyes meant to be stuck on teddy bears. On DoA, you get jack and shit.

You know who does make 6mm eyes, though? Mystic Eyes. For a while there I thought I was going to be out of luck, as the one group order that I was aware of closed a week before I got there (argh), but then chibaraki pointed me at another group order that I'd overlooked and I was able to scramble aboard.

I'm beginning to think that the lure of the mature tiny wasn't so much the size or the Barbie flashbacks as it was my earnest desire to find the most unpopular size of BJD out there and then rail Hecuba-like against my fate.

BREAKING NEWS

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:57:50 GMT

This just in: the lost Puki shoe has been located! By the simple expedient of vacuuming the whole house. Whatever works.

HA HA crap

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:11:44 GMT

... and then I may or may not have bought a Unoa Light Azurite off Y!J, crap.

Actually, I'm not as insane as I sound, because said Azurite had enough minor damage that he was going for absurdly cheap--a resin mismatch in his elbow and a nasty-ass clumping old faceup that made him look like a victim of too much plastic surgery--so I got the Azurite fullset plus a bunch of extra clothes and wigs for less than the Azurite was originally worth, and for less than I paid for either ToYou.

I'm basically betting the farm on the assumption that once I remove the crappy, gloopy faceup, he'll be fine underneath. (I suspect that the faceup was originally done by Araki, which is why no one wants to remove it. Newsflash, folks: Araki's Unoa-Light faceups weren't that great when they were new, and they're all in pretty terrible condition now.) And if he's not fine underneath, well, I'll run screaming to Buff. BUFF HALP BUFF

The mismatched elbow? Long-sleeved shirts. Works every time.