Headless no more!

Phineas was the second character I created and the third to arrive. But when I'd gotten him back from a face-up I realized that I didn't like him as much as I thought I would. So I sold his old self and started the search afresh. Finally I came across a Narin heartbreak with a custom face-up and realized that this was Phineas! Moody, stubborn but essentially a good person.

Once I had settled on his face, I went over to the Dollfair waiting room and checked out the waiting time. Even though people in there assured me that dolls were bound to arrive soon and that Catrina, the retailer of Narindolls had never let them wait long, I was wary (I got caught up in an 11-months long wait for a Custom House order, no way I was repeating that experience any time soon!). Good thing I decided against ordering at that point of time. When Bimong opened up his own store I was glad and after waiting two months to see how things were going I finally ordered Phineas's head in January.

He arrived today!

Box. He was really well protected in there. Luckily I didn't have to pay taxes for him. ^^


Err, I caught you? Didn't know that was Bimong's motto.


It says Narae on the back but mine will be a boy. (It's really more of a unisex head anyways, I think.)


His face. I had ordered him without having seen the head blank. I rarely ever do that. When a Heartbreak without a face-up arrived on DoA last week I was glad to see it and wasn't disappointed in it. Though I have to say now that I have him here and can see him IRL, his head is tiny!


I got out his body and pair of pants for him.
Head, meet your body!


Yeah, don't ask. ^^ It's a Soulkid body wearing Angelheim hooves. I've started to mod them so they fit a bit better. Not quite done yet. He won't be wearing them a lot really.

At this point I had to ask my brother to help me. Soulkid bodies are strung insanely tight. The Soulkid thread has yet to agree, if Souldoll employs robots or the Hulk to string their dolls. I'd restrung the body once when he got here but now that I had to put the head on, the strings were way to tight for me to pull up the S-hook far enough. My bro is stonger than me though and was kind enough to put Phineas's new head on him. I also switched him back to his human legs and put some pants on him to make him decent.


Random 12mm eyes I had lying around. They are actually a bit big. So is the wig. I tried a blue Leeke wig I had gotten for him but for some reason it made him look gaunt. He looked like he had a bad drug addiction. I didn't even take a picture of it, so much did I hate it. So here is a wig I made for his first head way back. I think with a bigger body he just needs big hair as well. My Unoa hybrid has that same problem and a big fur wig solved it nicely.


The wig is just for now (so he doesn't have to look like a drug addict). I'll make him another one soon. The bangs look weird on him so maybe I'll try a different style. Or maybe he'll get a fur wig instead. And yes, his hair will stay blue. ^^


One last picture of him. After that "Eeeeech" moment with the other wig, I actually went back to liking him pretty quickly (luckily!). The head is there to stay. The resin match is off unfortunately. The Korea normal skin is a pale yellow while the Soulkid NS is more pinkish. Well, heads can be blushed to match. 

Ok, this will be the last box opening in a while. Gosh, this is the first time in how long that I don't have a doll I'm waiting for. Wow. The last time was probably February 2010. All thanks to Custom House. >.>

Return of the Heads

The heads! They have returned! I didn't like to admit it but I was worried. This is the longest that a package from Canada has ever taken. Finally the suspense is over and they are back safe and sound. 

 Yanír and Siltár, the two Lesun brothers. 

A close-up of Yanír's most awesome face-up. 

He looks sort of windswept unfortunately as I was in a rush. The wigs are great on them though. Exactly how I imagined it. Siltár doesn't have his own eyes, yet. But doesn't he look like he's scheming? ^^

 Santana (also still missing her eyes)

She turned out great as well. I love her little red nose. Unfortunately a bit of it rubbed off on the journey back. I'll attempt to carefully repair it but it isn't really obvious. All in all I'm just so glad that they arrived that this is nothing in the big scheme of things. Huzzah!

Leekeworld Mikhaila - What do you say to that??

I've been following the whole affair secondhand, not participating in the discussion. I'm not one two say, "Let's light the torches and get out the pitchforks. I'll bring the snacks." - but damn, Leeke!  For people who haven't the slightest idea what I'm talking about:

Picture by Edhelwen

Yes, Leeke created a doll with a body that looks remarkably like that of Püns by Dust of Dolls. Outrage ensued and I believe rightly so. When Leeke commented and showed pictures of the creation process of Mikhaila, people looked a little closer and found this:

 Picture by jade.citronrouge
(Click for bigger picture)

Leeke claims then wrote a letter to Dust of Dolls in which they denied that they copied their design. Further, they said pointeds out two dolls with a pear shaped body that were produced before Püns and said "But the Dod's doll is made after those two companies.
Then Dod's artist copied that company's doll?"

Really, Leeke? 

There's since then been an effort to get a boycott started against Leekeworld. I like their stuff, especially their wigs. But I do see the point in supporting this boycott. As it isn't the first time that they have been "heavily influenced" by other artists' work, this certainly isn't a situation in which you can give them the benefit of the doubt. Supporters of the boycott have launched a list which can be signed to stop Leeke from selling Mikhaila: Petition against Leekeworld's Mikhaila

I for one find Leeke's conduct in the whole affair almost as bad as the fact that they have no regard for creative property. I can't find a redeeming factor for either. Leeke is a big company and certainly has the resource to create something unique. There is no excuse for copying. And basically claiming "We didn't copy anything. And anyways, you copied first!" is just so low that it's hard to find words for it.

New Little Gems from Soom

Teaser picture is up for the new Soom "Remaining Story" dolls. 

Picture by Soom

I find the name Trond rather weird as it is Scandinavic. In fact it is Old Norse for "to grow and thrive". Odd for a doll that seems to have an Egyptian background.

I'm curious about the legs as I love me some fantasy legs. The hands I'm not thrilled about. I know they are supposed to be kitties and have cute paws like Shonki and Appini, but the hands will not be much use. They won't be able to hold anything with them or use them in any expressive way. I like the boy's dreaming eyes though as I'm a sucker for dreamy dolls.

You don't have to pay taxes when sending heads abroad for face-ups

I've never been a big fan of most companies' default face-ups. So when I got into the hobby I quickly realized that I wanted custom face-ups for my dolls, so that they looked exactly like I pictured them. I decided on a face-up artist only then realized that she lived in Canada and I'd have to send my heads from Germany all the way over there and back. While packages can always get lost, I didn't think a bigger journey would make that risk any greater. However, a European citizen always runs the risk of being taxed when getting packages from outside the European Union. 

Before I sent my first head abroad I therefore called up my local custom's office and talked to them about it. Lucky for me, they had a lot of time and we could talk about my idea at length. Fact is
a) the head that I'm sending off is already my posession. If the doll came from Asia, I've had to pay taxes already when it arrived. If the doll was bought by a European retailer, I already paid taxes with my purchase. If it was bought privately, I didn't have to pay taxes.
b) I don't have to pay taxes on something that is in already mine yet again. 

So we came to the following idea. If I can prove that the head is mine when it arrives, I don't have to pay taxes on it. I do however have to pay taxes for the face-up (if the face-up is more expensive than whatever my country has set as a limit for tax-free import). So before I sent off a package abroad I have to include:

• proof that the head belongs to me. That can be a paypal bill from the purchase (if it was a private sale) or, better yet, an invoice from the company or retailer from which you bought the doll. Best send a copy and keep the original. You never know.
• a letter to customs in an envelope labled "Dear Custom Officer, please open!" or similar. n_n It should explain the situation and have the bill for the doll in there.

When the face-up artist is done, ask them to give you

• a detailed invoice from your face-up artist. Ask them to list the shipping costs seperately. You do not have to pay taxes on shipping!  

Ask them to put it into the envelope for customs and place it on top of the heads so that it will be visible as soon as the package is opened.
If you want to be on the safe side, also call your local custom's office before you send off your package and explain to them that you will be sending out a doll head to be painted and that you are including proof that it is yours. When you come around to pick it up, they'll be prepared and most likely remember you. Not everyone gets doll heads through the mail. n_n

If you have a face-up artist in mind who lives abroad, don't hesitate any longer just because you are afraid of getting hit by taxes twice. Chose whoever you like. And then take lots of pretty pictures of your dolls to share with other BJD collectors! ^^ 
Hope you find this helpful!

Finally! Arrival of the Uris

Well, we never thought the day would come. Bluega and my Uris have arrived. After Custom House finally shipped them, it took forever to sort things out with a stupid German shipping company called GDSK. Apparently when something from China is shipped via EMS, they have the rights to deliver it. They also want to charge you 25€ (~$30) "handling fee". After searching online for a night, I found a way around it. A great German blogger has posted a how-to-deal-with-GDSK-guideline. Thanks for that!! It appears that Google is now ranking it just below the GDSK homepage. :D

Even with the help of that blog, it took two weeks to get the Uris home. The pleasant aspect is, that I made a really great friend in the process. Thanks, Bluega for sticking with me thorugh that ordeal, fighting by my side!

Anyways, on to the pictures. They came the day before yesterday after the sun went down. I was home all day, because I coincidentally didn't have to work that day. I waited all day for the package to come, cause I'd seen that it had they had arrived in the area at 4am in the morning. When tracking updated to "failed delivery attempt" at 5pm I was fuming. I called up the local office of the GDSK shipping company and complained bitterly. They called the delivery guy and made him come back to my house.

I had planned to make a little photostory but after watching the news all day, following what was going on in Japan, I just wasn't in the mood anymore. I took these pictures mainly to share with Bluega, but I find company reviews always helpful so I'll post them anyways. Please excuse the bad quality!

Ok, now really - the pictures:


A picture of one of the inner boxes. You can imagine what the outer box looked like...

When I saw this I was not very happy. I made the delivery guy stay until I was sure that inside everything was ok.

There they are! Not perfect albeit...
We bought the Uris during a special event and where supposed to get a dress. We didn't.
They sent us acrylic eyes instead. We also got two certificates like I asked for. The eye putty they sent along is useless imho. It didn't stick at all and felt slightly oily. A no-go for me.


All dressed, wigged and with the eyes they came with. Rosalie, my Gaby wanted to be in the picture as well. 

The one on the left (my Clementine) has a weirdly shiny and sparkly head that makes her look like a Twilight vampire. o_O I suppose it is mold release stuff that got stuck to her. The one on the right is Bluega's Sputnik.She has a little chip missing from her head close to where the head cap meets it. It could be worse, as it's easily hidden by a wig. 

You might be able to tell from the picture that the Uris arrived with the new hands. Rosalie still has the old ones. They need some careful sanding but are otherwise lovely. Now I want a pair for Rosalie as well!

I took two quick pictures of Shiny aka Clementine with my Rosalie, my Ange Ai Gaby today. So you can see her in daylight.


Clementine is still a little skeptic if she will like it here...


"I'm sure you'll like it just fine."

Sputnik has already been sent off to Sweden. 
I'm still working on removing the shiny from Clementine. I used the Mr Clean Magic Eraser on her last night for two hours. Her forehead is now a nice matte, but I can't seem to get the areas around the eyes, nose and mouth. I guess, I'll try isopropyl next. Anybody got any other tips?

Too many dolls? Or: What to get next

I recently got out all my dolls to take some headless zombie pictures (as most are off to get face-ups or on their way back from one) and realized - I have too many dolls already. I know - how did this happen? I've been in the hobby for only a year and a half and have so far aquired

• 4 Minis / Slim-minis (5 if you count headless Phineas)
• 2 Quasi-minis (the CH Little Juniors)
• 2 Tinies (YoSD size)
• 1 tiny Tiny (pukipuki)
  

I have another tiny on the way and Phineas will hopefully get his head in a month. And, to tell the truth, the only reason why I list the Little Juniors as "quasi-minis" is that having them be normal minis would break my rule about how many bigger dolls I allow myself to have. 
When I started out in the hobby, I didn't set myself a limit but knew that I wouldn't be content with just having one doll. I wanted characters for stories and while stories with just one or two characters can be interesting and intense, I wanted moar! After I bought Ava, I already had plans for Phineas and before I had found the right doll for him, Micah had come along. It has been like that pretty much ever since. A character worms its way into my head and then I spent days searching high and low for a doll that fits it. Unfortunately I usually find one pretty quickly. 

That's why I finally set myself a rule of no more than 6 minis. I have 3 more characters that need to be dollified and I have pretty much already picked out what they are going to be:

• a shy girl Pukipuki, so most likely Flora
• an Unoa Lusis (my last mini)
• a doll by Pipos which will be a cute little albeit evil demon
• (well and maybe a Chibi Unoa - as she isn't a mini)
  

Pictures by Fairyland, TanyaStyle, Pipos

But -which Pipos doll to chose? I originally wanted a cat but then I fell in love with the concept of a demon bunny. Pipos has a lot of bunnies to chose from: Curo, Dali and (lately) Cube in PI-size. Then there is also Rooney in Junior PI-size. Curo is too cute and Cube has front teeth that in my head makes him speak like Bugs Bunny. That leaves Dali and Rooney. 

While I'm waiting for Pipos to come out with a limited resin color for either (mint! lavender!), they bring out "A Midsummer Night's Dream" 2 series. Man, are they evil! It's cats - in armors! How cool is that?! 

Picture by Pipos

This is just to great to be true. I didn't like Demon much when he came out - but Derek is different. He looks like he comes streight out of a video game. A young boy/cat from the country who sets forth to find great adventures, a bit naive but with a good heart. Very cliché, I know. It's a good thing that I don't have the money for him...
Pipos - now go and make me a cool limited edition bunny in mint or lavender so I can throw some money at you!

Child of Nature

Tried some summery looks with these pictures. 

Ginny enjoys the first few rays of sunshine.