Merry Christmas!

I hope this day is magic for all of you!  More later this week :)

Day of the Dead

Last year around this time I became fascinated by the Mexican tradition of  Day of the Dead.  It is a celebration and time of prayer for the dearly departed.  On October 31, the souls of children are invited for a visit by creating an altar in their honor, on November first the souls of adults are to come for a visit, and on November second, the families of the dead decorate the resting places of their loved ones.

The loving way in which the dead are celebrated brings comfort to me and it solidifies to me a personal notion.  I always felt that the door between this world and the next is left ajar around this time of year.  I have lost many a loved one from September to December, I believe it's easier to cross at this time.  This is my tribute to those people.

Declan and Erin Visit the graves of their beloved

Of course fashion models can't resist a photo at magic hour.

Reverence

They never truly leave us.

For more than a year I searched high and low to find Calavera and Catrina decorations.  I finally found both from this Etsy Artist.  I love her creations so much.  Look for my review of her here.

Happy Halloween

In honor of the Dead on this Day

I wish you all a prosperous Samhain

-Mark

NOCTURNAL. AUTUMNAL

Happy Late Summer Everyone!

I'm sitting here in the middle of the night posting.  I recently took a temporary assignment at work that has me working from 8:30PM to 5AM, just for three weeks.  On my days off, I'm attempting to stay awake, so I don't have to go through jet lag (shift lag?) every week.  

Here I offer to you Harmon and Mel posing in this little room I made for them.  The pattern walls are prints I bought at IKEA.  The white walls are just stretched canvas that I layered beneath.  When I built the structure, it became clear that this room was to be very clean and modern, and a bit moody.  It kind of gives off that modern vampire vibe... so I went with it.  My better half therealdollnerd, gave me the little organge Oleum cat this past holiday, I love when things come together.  All I needed were a few pumpkins to finish off the Autumnal mood, and the terrible ol' Walmart had just what I needed.  How charmingly coincidental that I'm posting as it closes in on the witching hour.  

Even though it's still summer (technically), I guess my dolls are ready for all the fun Autumn has to offer.  Even though I never am... SUMMER FOREVER PLEASE!

I wanted to dress them to fit the mood, and Mel's dress from Inamorata was perfect, even though I already photographed her in it.  For Harmon, it was a little harder.  He's a bit bigger than Tonner guys, he's more robust around the chest, and his legs are long.  I had to dig a little deeper to find him some kit!  After researching for a bit, I found a spread sheet of BJD measurements.  Lo and behold, Harmon was close enough to Iplehouse's JID body.  It had to be ordered and shipped from Asia.  When the box came, I was so excited, because as any doll enthusiast knows, a box like this could be a big win or big loss.  I won!  

Too Much...

Hi Everyone!  I've really missed posting.  It's not for a lack of inspiration.  Maybe too much.  It was all so easy during my Fashion Royalty era.  That time of life was so much fun.  Integrity would release a batch, I would go cuckoo for one, I'd purchase.  Then I would scour the rest of the collection looking for a companion for the first one.  I'd start with the current batch, then I would scour DOLL PAGES (remember that little piece of heaven).  Looking for just the right friend.  Then I'd purchase that doll, and start creating something special around those two dolls.  It only lasted so long though.  I was running out of room in my little row house.  I wanted to build a FR mansion, but it wasn't logistically feasible.  I had to scrap that idea, and just do temporary room settings.  

After awhile, I started seeing other things in the doll world.  Like Asian Ball Jointed Dolls or ABJD, and 17" resin dolls.  Next thing you know, I have three scales competing for my brain.  I was hogging the shop table with ABJD stuff and DH couldn't do his stuff.  My photo table was housing the resin dolls from last post, and all of my playscales were sadly collecting dust in their bookcases.   It can get overwhelming.  so... Here I am at the tail end of my staycation, with a lot of relaxing done, I've decided to take a picture of something... anything. 

Here are my ABJDs.  Magnus and Mimi.  During Christmas I bought a grab bag of MSD stuff from Wickedstichery .  I think grab bags are a great inexpensive way to build a wardrobe and try out a vendor's stuff.  I love the stuff that the owner of Wickedstichery sent for Mimi.  It's not supposed to go together, but in the age of the Hipster , anything apparently goes.  (Full disclosure, I'm firmly in the GEN X age group, so I may and quite possibly have gotten all of this wrong.)  I think she looks really cute with all the mixed patterns.  Magnus is wearing skinny pant shorts from Springfield.  They produce fashions for 18" American Girl type dolls, but sometimes you get lucky!  His hoodie and shoes are from Nine9Style and Tatabjd.  I swear I'm not getting paid by any of these people. I hope you enjoy... -Mark SCD

Ps!  I'd love to know what scales you guys are into and how you manage your hobby :)

Kung Hei Fat Choy

Happy Lunar New Year!  Kung Hei Fat Choy is the way you greet someone on Chinese New Year in Cantonese, Gong Xi Fa Cai in Mandarin.  Yay learning!  I wish all of you prosperity and abundance in the coming year.  It's the year of the monkey!

How auspicious to have a new doll to share with you on this festive day!  It's very appropriate because she did travel from Hong Kong to be with us tonight!  Her face sculpt is distinctively Asian, and as an Aisan-American, I appreciate this nod to my heritage.  I hope you like these photos of her.

 I've never been a collector to have a grail doll in mind.  However, this one comes very close to a grail. I've been a fan of the doll's creator since her blogging days, she started her blog one year before I started this one.  She was a building a Fashion Royalty dollhouse.  She may be part of the reason I thought it was even possible to do such a thing LOL.  When she released her very own fashion doll, I wanted one, but I quickly squashed the thought.  At the time the price was unimaginable and I wasn't working with that scale.  So, I let it go...

 Last Christmas, when I fell hard for another artist's doll, I knew I wanted a partner in crime for him.  (Asher of New England is getting a second wave ready for market right now by the way!)  I immediately thought of Inamorata.  If you look through my blog, you'll find that all of my dolls have a partner in crime!

 Long story even longer... I contacted Emliacouture and now I have Chiharu, that's the name Emliacouture gave her.  I'll call her Melody Chiharu, or just Mel.  Her name can mean "song of a thousand springs."

She is an Inamorata from Emliacouture.  She is wearing an Inamorata fashion called Vertebrata.  Her face sculpt is  Miao, and her body and skin tone are from the first wave of the brand.  They were first released in 2012.  Emliacouture releases a Limited Edition (LE) batch every so often, but one can also purchase an OOAK from her.  When you do so, you get to specify the attributes for the face-up.  It's really a fun experience.  I was lucky enough to get one of her last two Miao in peach skin tone.  Check out the creators photos of this doll here, they put mine to shame, but I try.

That face though...

Every doll person, be you an enthusiast, hobbyist, collector, nerd or geek knows this following story.  You're innocently scanning every doll website you know.  Maybe you're looking for a gift for a fellow doll person, maybe you're looking for 16" fashion doll  scale cowboy boots, or maybe you just need a break from Facebook.  And so it goes... click click click -STOP... you see that face.  It's a perfect storm which may include among other things:  fatigue from seeing the same doll faces all the time, you're starting to cycle down from your last doll obsession and want something knew or for whatever reason, the universe connects you to that doll face.

Timidly you peek at the price, laugh out loud and move on.  Then you catch yourself, searching for the doll over and over on the web, finally bookmarking it so you're just a click away from your new obsession.  

Sooner or later you have a pile of things in the corner of the doll room that you're going to sell, so maybe you can get some coins together to make your purchase.  You probably start mentally spending birthday money you haven't received and mentally giving up Starbucks for a month or two.  You still can't pull the trigger on the purchase.

Finally.  Finally.  Finally, you pull your best doll friend aside and explain what's happening and how serious it's getting.  That person always comes through and confirms your suspicions,  "you need that doll... that doll is worth it... you'd be a fool not to... when are you going to have that opportunity again"  LOL

click click click  It's on your front porch.  This process can last 3 days to 3 years. 

Here's that face I was talking about.

 

Boy, was I right!  When I de-boxed him, it was all I could do to not start making a dollhouse for him!  'cause you know... that's like my thing :)  I'll go slow with the diorama part, for now.  I wanted to start with a simple photo shoot.  I knew that with this particular sculpt he'd have have some awesome angles in different lighting.

Check this out.

He is Kent from Asher of New England.  He is a limited edition of five!  I think Kent has one more brother left ready to ship out, in case you were wondering.  Leigh the creator is super cool, and has a few other doll related businesses.  Check him out here :)

Thanks for looking!

Here's one more shot!  Check the rest out on my FLICKR.