Atmica

Our dog, Rudy, passed away this afternoon after a long battle with congestive heart failure and related illness. I have a huge empty space in my heart. This beautiful poem helps a little. Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awaken in the morning's hush I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there. I did not die.  by Mary Elizabeth Frye
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit My Favorite Doll

I rinsed out and combed Ginny's rooted wig cap and it helped somewhat. I twirled it while it was still damp and let it dry flat on paper toweling. It looks much better. I eliminated some of the more difficult frizzies in Photoshop. Ginny is wearing a gown by SL Doll. (Sanglian Lu, Xiamen, China)  She was gone a long time but I see she is now selling on Etsy.  "Sanglian's Homework"   There's not much listed there but she's worth checking out from time to time. With Ginny is a Jem line doll called Rory Riot Llewelyn.  His hair was on the wild side. I dunked it in boiling hot water and then combed it out and let it dry straight. It's held back with a ribbon. Rory is wearing an Homme suit and Fashion Royalty ID tag jewelry from forever ago.  The original Rory, below, definitely did not fit into my collection. I was able to purchase him nekkid. IT Promotional Photo
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit Demi-Ginny and Rory Riot Llewelyn

Life de luxe in a smaller scale Monday, July 14, 2014 Mood Violet A golden voice in an imperfect world born.  Violet Waters, the famous jazz star, was celebrated as such in her country, yet much more revered in Europe. Her story is not unlike the lives of many of other talented artists such as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Lena Horne who faced great challenges and triumphed by the sheer force of their artistic gifts and resolve. Violet Waters joins Gene Marshall and Madra Lord once again as the reigning beauties of Monolithic Studios thanks to the collaboration of artist Mel Odom and JAMIEshow Dolls . In her " Satin Doll " iteration, Violet is perhaps at her most gloriously exquisite. For this Dolldom exclusive feature Miss Waters, in all their " Smooth-J " resin gorgeousness and non-toxicity, poses wearing some irrefutably memorable fashions and hair designs. The past and the present meld to offer dollectors a gift of beauty, unadulterated and enjoyable playtime, and of course, music. Special Appearance. Violet Waters wears her very first gown and her trademark orchid. The gown, designed by José D'Saenz, is delicately beaded in iridescent sequins and pearls. At Radio City Music Hall, Violet enchants in "Evening Sunrise" designed by Tim Kennedy. Violet's wig is by Ilaria Mazzoni for Time of Doll . Spring Offering. Violet wears "Jonquille" and desgin by Integrity Toys first issued for Madra Lord. Dolldom believes that on Miss Waters, the look evokes a more exquisite flower. "Phoenix" wig cap by JAMIEshow Dolls . Chanson d'automne. Violet wears the classic "Autumn Lace", one of many gowns produced by Ashton-Drake for the famed singer. Mystère. Violet appeared in the Jean Cocteau film Les passe-temps terribles along with Trent Osborn. Her wardrobe was designed by DAE Originals . In this still from the film, Miss Waters models "Simply Smart" in rich chocolate brown. What A Swell Party! Monolithic Studios' stars unite to wish studio chief Reuben Lilienthal a happy birthday. Miss Waters intones the customary song in "Twilight Rumba" designed by Doug James. Transatlantic Voyage. In "Mood Indigo" designed by José Ferrand, Miss Waters boards the Queen Mary with her band. First stop: Paris, City of Lights! Once in Paris, a wonderful new look: :"Undulation Marcel!" Rooted wig cap by JAMIEshow Dolls . At sunset. A serenade. In "Sunset Serenade" created by Integrity Toys, Violet sings of golden love. Bloom Boom! Violet Waters was asked to model "Garden Party", a Deborah Silva design inspired by Jacques Fath, at a fundraising luncheon benefiting Central State College's scholarship fund, where her father was a literature professor.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit Mood Violet

Angelo is wearing Chewin from head to toe. Brunel is wearing a Sybarite sweater and a wig by Cheryl Woods.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit Deva Doll Angelo and Kingdom Doll Brunel

I followed the events of the convention on several social media boards and on the phone with my proxy. The organizers certainly had huge obstacles to overcome but luckily for them and the attendees, the missing dolls arrived. I think this was their largest convention at 500 people. I would have loved the Friday night Halloween event. From photos, it looks like the costumes were fantastic! In a message from the W Club we were told that due to technical difficulties, photos of the convention dolls can't be posted yet. Whatever. There are many people posting pictures of their own dolls but the official photos would be nice to have as in past years. You can  find them on eBay. Do a search under "Gloss Convention/dolls & bears" and you will come up with several hundred postings. That being said, I had to decide to keep only a few dolls so I've been selling the ones that can't stay. Here is what remains. Sheer Sensuality Vanessa (Magenta) (Centerpiece) $300. Poppy Dark Moon  (Purple) (Convention collection) $250. Grandiose Natalia Fatale (Convention collection) $225. (Nude $175) (Outfit $75) Veronique Nocturnal Glow (Convention collection) $200. (Nude $150) (Outfit $65) Simonetta Bertorelli  La Ville Lumiere  (Convention collection) $200. Victoire “Dial V for Victoire” Mini Gift Set (Store exclusive) $200. Both for $350. Jolt (ITBE Store exclusive) Blonde in pink dress. $115. Chrome Noir Erin (NuFace) (Luncheon Gift Doll) $225. Evening Siren Ayumi  (NuFace)  $250.  (Nude $175.) Time Served Color Infusion Homme Male Doll (Workshop) $200 Kyori  “Nightshade”  (Convention collection)  Outfit Only $75 A huge shipment from my proxy is due to arrive tomorrow. I got the notice from UPS this morning. The convention collection, coming from Integrity, will take a few days longer. Prices do not include postage. Email me if you have an interest. I do have some pictures. The dolls I am keeping: -Intrigue Elise - Saturday night centerpiece. -LE Smoking Adele (Convention Collection) -After Hours Hanne (She was an optional purchase.) I'm undecided about Cold Shoulder Eugenia and Adorned Vanessa (Convention collection.) They are gorgeous but I'm holding off deciding until I have them in my hands. I think I'm done with Vanessa.  I had to ask myself what dolls I would have been willing to pay secondary market prices for and then decide whether or not it was worth it to have a proxy. It's a lot of work and time to sell the dolls I don't want to keep. I bought three of last year's convention dolls individually (Both Elise and one Monogram) as I did not have a proxy. This year, I got a bit caught up in the extras offered and bought dolls that are beautiful but not for me. Such problems. These CI male dolls are interesting. The frenzy for them is unbelievable. Here's a picture of one I found on eBay. They're all very different and many are other than Caucasian. They sell out quickly at the event. This is the workshop one.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit Integrity Toys 2014 "Gloss" Convention

Life de luxe in a smaller scale Saturday, November 15, 2014 All The Leaves Are Gone Fall (well, winter, for some of our readers) has arrived and with it shorter days and longer evenings. Evenings meant for glamorous activities like stargazing on an outdoor deck while sipping a well-shaken and even better-strained classic cocktails. But what to wear? RDG Doll's Ujjwalla honors Dolldom by being the model for this fall-themed entry wearing the sensational styles also created by Keith Kwek for his very limited Les rêves d'un garçon line of resin mannequins de mode and couture. The look is hued to match Dolldom's cocktail of choice: The Manhattan. Mix one part black mesh long sleeved top with one part Bordeaux lamé skirt . Add two parts burgundy fur coat , and a dash of gold toe-capped leather booties . Ujjwalla wears a titian center part ponytail wig by Chewin .  The golden drop necklace is by the always fabulous Joy Jarred . Posted by
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit All The Leaves Are Gone

The Toy Box Philosopher Reviews and opinions about dolls and doll-related toys. Monday, October 27, 2014 "Basic Patsyette" by Tonner Doll Robert Tonner is one of my favorite doll designers.  A few of his Cinderella and Cami dolls rank among my all-time favorites.  However, it's been a while since I have reviewed a Tonner doll, and there's a great variety of new faces and characters to choose from right now.  For example: I am crazy about the Sheldon and Amy dolls from The Big Bang Theory collection, I'm thrilled to see the return of Tiny Kitty, and I'd absolutely love to have another Deja Vu girl in my house.  However, the rascal who grabbed my attention this time around is the 8 inch redheaded Patsyette.  With Tonner's high prices, this basic doll's relatively low $69.99 cost was also part of her appeal. There's not a lot of information about Patsyette on the Tonner sales page.  She is introduced as "brand new" and credited to the Effanbee doll company (now owned by Tonner).  In fact, the Patsyette character has a rich history.  She was first produced in 1931 as the little sister of Effanbee's popular Patsy doll.  Patsyette was re-introduced in 2004 with a face sculpted by the original Patsy artist, Bernard Lipfert.  After another short retirement, the newest version of Patsyette debuted in 2014 with a brand-new face and the articulated Betsy McCall body.  While I have enjoyed all of the incarnations of Patsyette, it is the newest version of her face that I could not resist: "Basic Patsyette" by Tonner Doll, $69.99. Like many Tonner dolls, Patsyette comes inside a cardboard box that's enclosed within a white shipper.  These dolls rarely get shipped in just the shipper, though.  My doll was mailed inside a brown mailing box about three times as large as the shipper. This doll's inner box is light pink, with a very simple "effanbee" written across the front: The doll is held securely inside the box with two white satin ribbons, the lower of which is padded with a rectangle of foam.  The packaging is very plain and the de-boxing could not have been any easier. Little Patsyette is stable on her feet and can balance by herself: This basic doll comes in a very simple white stretch-knit jumpsuit with tights and vinyl shoes.  The tights look weird with the short jumpsuit, but it's nice to have them on hand as an accessory for other outfits. I wanted this particular doll because of her hair and eye color, but it would have been a better financial decision to buy a non-basic doll.  My basic doll cost $70.  The non-basic, fully-dressed Patsyette dolls cost $90.  The outfit sets (dress, tights, shoes) on their own cost a whopping $80.  So, for me to have the doll I wanted with a full outfit would have cost $150.  That is too much. Also...if the full outfits alone are worth $80, and the dolls with full outfits are worth $90, it suggests that the Patsyette doll herself is only worth about $10.  This would mean that my basic doll's simple outfit is responsible for $60 of her price...which is completely ridiculous.   I tried hard to figure out a better rationalization for these unintuitive prices.  I noticed that the outfit-only sets have smaller edition sizes than the dressed dolls (250 as opposed to 500).  Also, the fabrics and designs on the outfit sets might be higher-quality than those on the dressed dolls.  My favorite outfits are, in fact, the ones that are sold separately. Still, an expensive doll with affordable clothing makes much more sense to me than outfits with substantially higher price tags than their intended doll. I definitely didn't buy this particular doll for her outfit, though.  I bought her because of this face: Patsyette has short bobbed auburn red hair with wispy bangs.  Her bangs looked pretty ragged and uneven right out of the box (see above).  The rest of her hair is nicely smoothed down with some judiciously-applied hair styling product.  The hair is pulled away from her face with two small ponytails, one of which is decorated with a black ribbon bow: I trimmed the bangs a little and arranged them more evenly across Patsyette's forehead: Better. This doll has very large, hand-painted green eyes that are glancing slightly upwards.  Her eyebrows match her hair color nicely and have some brushstroke detail.  She has serious, slightly pouty rosebud lips: Patsyette's jumpsuit is well-made, but it reminds me more of underwear or pajamas than of a full outfit for a child in this age range: She looks three or four-years-old to me. The edges of the neck, sleeves and shorts of the jumpsuit are decorated with delicate lace.  The slightly dropped waistline has a black ribbon sash that matches the hair bow.  The whole outfit is one piece and closes in the back with three metal snaps: Under the jumpsuit, Patsyette is wearing white patterned fishnet tights and black dress shoes: The tights have an elastic waistband and are easy to get on and off. The molded shoes are made out of flexible vinyl and have a peg-and-hole strap than can be unfastened: These shoes look fine from a distance, but closer inspection reveals rough edges and many molding imperfections:   These are pretty unremarkable shoes compared to a lot of the doll shoes that I have seen.  The comparison that immediately leapt to my mind was with the older American Girl mini doll shoes , like Kit's sandals: American Girl Kit's sandal. These are so carefully made and detailed...and they came on a $25 doll. Patsyette has the same body as Tonner's 8" Betsy McCall doll, a body which is has also been shared by the discontinued "Kickit" dolls, Santa's Little Elves, Luna's Little Martians, and probably some others that I am forgetting.   This body has seven points of articulation (neck, shoulders, hips and knees): This body has a curvy waistline that doesn't fit with what I would picture for a three or four-year-old child.  Also, the knee joints look top-heavy and ungraceful from the front, and the arms are too short.  The body is made out of hard plastic.  The color of the plastic is nice (Tonner's "bisque" skin tone) but the body is pretty lightweight, so Patsyette doesn't really feel like a $70 doll in my hands. Patsyette has great head mobility.  Her neck joint was stiff at first, but with a bit of manipulation it can now look up, down, and even tilt to the side in an endearing way: Her shoulders are rotating hinges with a ball-shaped joint: She has quite a bit of detail molded into her hands on both sides: Patsyette can move her legs forward at the hip really well, but the range of motion is not as good to the back.  For this reason, she cannot do full front-back splits: She has no sideways movement in her hip joints whatsoever, and can't do side-to-side splits. Her knees do not rotate, but they can bend to about 90 degrees, allowing her to kneel on one or both knees (if she leans backwards a little for balance):  Patsyette can sit nicely on the ground with her legs out in front of her: And she can also sit well in a chair: The insides of her knee joints have some whitened signs of wear: The sculpting in her feet is not as detailed as it is in her hands, but she has little toenails: This doll's balance is good.  She can stand, sit and kneel without assistance, and she can hold a nice walking pose without toppling over: I don't own any Betsy McCall dolls anymore, but I do still have this Kickit girl, "Little Mischievy:" Patsyette (left) and Kickit "Little Mischievy" (right). Little Mischievy retailed for $74.99 back in 2008.  You can see that she and Patsyette have the same body--Patsyette just has a different plastic and vinyl color.  I much prefer Patsyette's expression and eye shape: I have had several Tonner child dolls through the years and I have never been completely happy with any of their faces.  Little Mischievy, above, is a great example of this.  She has nice hair and I love the color and style of her eyes, but her pinched expression has never won me over.  Patsyette's face, on the other hand, is pretty much exactly what I have been hoping for all of these years. Patsyette fits perfectly into the Kickit clothing, and I love her in Mischievy's black and white sailor dress: Patsyette wearing a Tonner Kickit dress. Patsyette is also similar in size to Helen Kish's Riley-sized dolls.  Here she is next to Jada (from Mary and Her Little Lamb, 2007) and Raggedy Riley (2006): From left to right: Kish Jada, Tonner Patsyette, Kish Riley. The Patsyette body looks strikingly hourglass-shaped and short-armed next to the more realistic child bodies of the Kish dolls. The Kish girls have little tummies, and so Patsyette's knit jumpsuit stretches pretty tightly on them.  Riley-sized clothing is loose on Patsyette, especially in the waist and arms.  Dresses work ok, but Riley's pants are too tight on Patsyette. Kish Jada and Tonner Patsyette trading clothes. My Raggedy Riley tends to wear this little blue embroidered Boneka dress (made for 7" dolls), which fits Patsyette nicely: Patsyette in a Boneka dress. Here's Patsyette next to a range of mini dolls from American Girl and Our Generation :
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit "Basic Patsyette" by Tonner Doll

Here are the meal event photos. We're still waiting for the main convention collection, store exclusives, watch workshop and CI doll photos.  Starlight Poppy reminds me so much of an earlier convention Erin. Illustrious
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit Official Pictures of the Gloss 2014 Convention Dolls Part I

Tuesday, November 11, 2014 Integrity Toys Gloss Convention Part VI: IT Direct dolls and more The dolls presented here were not part of the Gloss convention collection. They were IT Direct items, available for purchase to all attendees of the Integrity Toys 2014 event. They are enough to make up a separate ensemble themselves, although they are varied enough to avoid being part of the same collection, both in style and in size. Item # 78013
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit Integrity Toys Gloss Convention Part VI: IT Direct dolls and more

Madra is modeling "Special Appearance," a gown by Ashton-Drake for Violet. The jewelry was a table gift at a convention from another collector. The wig is by Ilaria. The gown is covered with beads and sequins. It has no closures and slips on over the doll's legs - over a full length slip. Here she is in a new wig from Chewin. Both wigs were made for Sybarites but they work on Madra.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit Jamieshow Madra Redressed