Juliette - My Volks SDGr Nono

It's about time that I introduce my newest addition to my BJD family! Juliette has appeared in pictures and some of my doll collecting friends have already seen her in person too, but I opted to not introduce her yet since I had not paid her off completely. 

Her back story is quite long and holds a special place in my heart. Juliette has special meaning to me and my sister, and she was adopted into my small BJD family with a bit of luck and fate. (^__^)*

Juliette, a Volks SDGr Nono

 Nono used to belong to D.ark who I had the pleasure of meeting a couple times during a visit to London and in Japan. Although I didn't know her very well, from my first impression she was a lovely person with a kind soul. The stories my sister would share with me when she met up with the doll collectors in London left me inspired because she was such a vital part of her community. 

It was during our trip to Japan in last May (2012), that my sister got the news that D.ark had passed away from her long term illness. It was so shocking and hard to accept because we had just seen her a few days before at the Volks Dolpa. 

Her husband, Fransgaard, decided to list her dolls for sale and I never knew her collection was so vast and diverse. I was a bit overwhelmed! My sister helped him one weekend while she was in London to piece together all the components and sets for each doll and showed me the listing for her dolls. I saw Nono and I knew I wanted to adopt her, but her cost would hold me back. It was based on sentimental attachment since it was the first doll I saw D.ark with when I met her and if it was possible, I would want to have her in my doll family.

I messaged Fransgaard about her price and told him I would think about it because it was quite a lot of money. I got back to him too late, as there was another buyer interested in Nono and she was sold. I was disappointed but I chalked it up to fate telling me that "It wasn't meant to be."

A month later I received an e-mail from Fransgaard asking if I was still interested because that buyer flaked and never made a payment. After initially spazzing out in surprise, I agreed to adopt Nono.

Juliette

 During my trip to London in November, Fransgaard was kind enough to let me pick her up and bring her home while I still had to complete my layaway. (I also went through D.ark's extensive amount of fabric to see if she had anything I could also use. The amount of lace and trim I brought home is a bit shocking (>o<); ) Bringing her home myself had good benefits since I could avoid shipping and customs fees.

I spent a long time trying to come up with a name for Nono. For months, that's what I called her anyways since I had not come to any decision. For some dolls, you just know what to call them when you receive them, while some, it takes a bit longer to that name to appear. In the end, I settled on Juliette, but I will probably still have a habit of calling her Nono. ^__^;

Winter Smile Nono

I can't do a traditional box opening post for Juliette since I didn't bring her her box with me. The SDGr box was too big for the suitcases we brought to London, so I left it at my cousin's apartment and I'll figure out when to bring it home...in the future. @_@;

Juliette is a Volks Grafitti Girl Winter Smile Nono, she's shorter than a SD16, but taller than a SD13. Her stringing and her joints are quite different from my other smaller dolls, and she can pose a lot better than I thought. Nono comes with high heel feet and optional flat feet. I have not changed her legs since I'm not 100% sure how, and I like that she can wear high heel shoes anyways.

Nono's default outfit

 I just changed her into an outfit that coordinates some of her default pieces with other items, so I did not feel like documenting her clothing pieces. We'll use the booklet images instead! Haha.. (>x<;)

I really like her default outfit, it's something I would wear! I love her twin-tail hairstyle since I have a soft spot for pigtails. Also, a couple of my smaller girls have pigtail wigs. The skirt doesn't fit that well along the waist band. I feel like instead of being a curved waist band, they just cut a straight waistband...so it doesn't fit nicely. 

The ankle warmers are a bit ridiculous, and I've opted to put them on as hair accessories as D.ark had styled her during last year's doll meet. (That meeting was the first time I met D.ark and the first time I saw Nono!)

By far, one of the best items of her default wardrobe are her shoes! They're super adorable and cute! My sister also has this same outfit and one day I'll make her dress up one of her dolls to twin with Juliette. Hehe! ( * v * );

Being my first large scale 1/3 doll, I initially didn't know how to pose her or play with her that well. At some point I'll need to get a stand for her since she does not stand well in her high heeled feet. Having a large resin doll fall over on their face is not ideal at all! 

I don't have an extensive wardrobe for her now since I'm trying to save money, I'll have to make some things for her to wear! Or I'll just borrow some items from my sister since she has so many outfits for her Dollfie Dream dolls. (*o*@)!

That's all for now, I'll try to take some more pics and catch up on the rest of my blogging in the next couple months! 

Until next time!

♥

Volks Sumika Times ft. Sora

Volks' Sumika Times blog accepts owner pictures of their Volks dolls and my sister has submitted quite a few of her Dollfie Dreams that have popped up on the blog before. Sora has made a cameo appearance before when I gave him to my sister to bring to the LA Volks showroom to find a new wig for him. 

They updated this awhile back in November and I'm just getting to blogging it now, but better late than never! Sora got his big feature on the blog during his trip to London. My sister was kind enough to bring him along on one of her business trips and snap shots of him with some iconic buildings and architecture around the city! She was the one who sent in all the pictures to Volks to have him showcased.

Sora, a Volks YoSD Kakeru

You can check out his feature here on this page to see the other pictures and commentary. (^__^;)

After Sora appeared on the blog, I brought him to a doll meet the week after and some of the attendees recognized him because of his showcase! I thought that was amusing~!
Sora, you're getting lots of love!

♥

Project: KOS-MOS (Volks Dollfie Dream custom)

A long overdue post regarding the custom project I did for one of my sister's Dollfie Dream dolls. She has already blogged about the process extensively, she made the posts while I was working on the project.

This is a custom Volks DD - KOS-MOS made to resemble the character from the Xenosaga series.

The outfit is based off the artwork and renders from Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra, version. 4 outfit.

Photo credit: Archangeli

Check out more pictures on this Page link. Enjoy! ♥

Doll meetup with Alice

Alice came by today to pick up her BJD items I`ve been keeping for her since our group orders. Seems like every time I see her I have more of her doll things to give her...LOL

She wanted to meet Lareine, who she still calls Sage (so I`ve just opted to have Sage as her middle name) and the usual looking at my room which is kind of overkill for the eyes. `SO MUCH STUFF` as I can quote from Alice.

She brought over Louis and Myles!

Here are the little ones, Myles meets Lareine for the first time!

Funny how they`re all wearing the same color scheme. I like all the pom poms on Myles`outfit! Haha It`s super cute :)

The lighting kind of washed out Louis` face! Darnit.. but his outfit is so cute!! Alice....I see you splurged on some random outfits! I really loved his hat.

I was showing Alice some of the funny settings on the new camera I have. There`s this `Magic Frame` function and I decided to use it for some funny pictures.

The wall paper is WIN! LOL Look who`s on tv! We spend so much money on dolls that we can`t afford a better looking tv... ;)

Group picture!

From top to bottom, left to right:

Ventus, Volks MSDB Ken (`10 Renewal)
Louis, Blue Fairy Basic Louis
Myles, Luts HDF Taffy WS
Delilah, DollnDoll Heart Mo
Lareine, Rosen Lied TC Sage WS

Alice asked if I had a movie reel magic frame. This is the closest I have to it...but it`s still as cool I think!

I like the additional color effect it adds to the picture. :)

Alice was nice enough to give me one of her Rilakkuma Re-ment sets! We all know my love for yellow birds...and this was just too awesome, I had to take a picture!

I think she had a good time checking out the mechanisms for Lareine`s legs. She likes how they all click in place and how she`s very sturdy. She kept talking about the clicking and the kicking, and I had no clue what she was talking about. So I decided to pick up Myles...then it all made sense. LOL

I also showed her the pelvic joint that Rosen Lied has for their dolls instead of the torso joint on Tuesday Childs. I quite like how the joint is lower..helps with the positioning better. The white skin between Lareine and Myles matches very well. I think if we decided to do a body switch and give Myles more chubby hands and legs, you probably wouldn`t be able to tell the difference between the resin much.

Anyways, I was supposed to update with post-Cafe Delish stuff...but I`ll definitely update about it in the next post!

♥

Extra: Omake picture!

Kam Kam is looking at you...!

Ciel Phantomhive

I finally finished the small project I started on a few weeks ago. I got this idea to dress up my boy BJD as Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler). I had all the fabrics to make it..and it seemed like a fun project :)

The only thing I didn't make from this outfit are the shoes and the wig. ^__^' I commissioned the eyes from a DoA member, and I love how they photograph. ♥

My name is Ciel...

Did you need something?

Ven is giving off this cold vibe as Ciel! It's quite unexpected..he looks a lot more like Ciel than I originally thought he could look like...

This is my favorite picture of the bunch.

The pentacle eye is so striking. ♥

It was fun making the outfit. The jacket is fully lined, I made it when I had some night shifts and I was trying to keep my sleep schedule consistent. It was funny cause I was sewing throughout the night and by the time 8am rolled around...I went to bed. Talk about messed up sleep...LOL
I had a bit of trouble making the hat...it not as perfect as I would want it..but maybe that's just me being a bit picky.
The shoes are such a pain to get on. It's so frustrating...and it's even worse trying to take them off. I have to say that Ventus is going to be in this outfit for awhile. LOL Sorry love >3<;

Comments...suggestions...critiques?
Go ahead and leave me some :D!


I wonder what my next sewing project will be...hmm..

Lareine arrives! Box opening pictures.

Yesterday, I was woken up by the postman who had two boxes for me! How exciting :) One was the Luts order I made with my sister and Alice, the other one was my newest doll that I just finished on layaway about a week before. 

I immediately went inside...squealed, and called my sister telling her that she had to get her bum over to have a box opening welcome party for my new doll. And to pick up her items from the Luts order...and mooch some of the food in the house. LOL

I've been pining for a Rosen Lied Sage for awhile actually...and it doesn't help that the LE editions of Sage are so lovely. I saw this girl up for adoption on DoA, and I immediately contacted the seller. She is the limited time release from earlier this year between Jan-Feb.

Lareine, a Rosen Lied Tuesday's Child Sage WS

Zephyria, Airy and Ventus come to welcome Lareine. 

Delilah sits strategically to block out my name and address. ♥

It just so happens...that my dolls were in cosplay when she arrived..just because I was making outfits for Ventus...and Delilah seems to enjoy her Hinaichigo outfit. (But they do look cute...so I didn't bother changing their outfits ^__^' )

My sister's Airy helps open the shipping box :)

Lots of peanuts and bubble wrap later, my sister and I pull out the lovely box.

The box was really beautiful. 

Delilah comes to investigate...

My sister and I pulled all the extra bubble wrap and protection aside and laid everything out nicely in the box. The certificate and manual are on the side.

I see her...one eye?! LOL

I love that teddybear case..it's so cute and amusing. I was surprised to see that the extra bunny ear parts (hidden in the top left hand corner) and the dress were not opened by the previous owner. Her wig is not the standard default one that came with this set, however I did not mind that fact. I also bought the pair of boots off the seller since I thought they were super cute...♥

The face up was custom by the previous seller. I think it's so lovely, she did an amazing job on it ♥

The Rosen Lied headplate. It's so pretty!

Her she is all dressed up. The wig is Very beautiful. My sister and I were staring and admiring it for a bit.. ;)

Delilah comes to say hi... :)

The welcoming committee!

I decided to try on the wig that I had gotten from Luts on Lareine today. It's definitely a different look...but I like the blond :)

It took my sister and I almost half an hour to change one of her hands. It was painful...since the stringing was so tight and the hook was so tiny. It was a major workout...so I didn't bother to change her other one.

The next post, I'll focus more of the swag I got from the Luts order, like the puppets and stuff I got.

I love this doll....I'm so very happy to able to have her!

Thanks for looking! ♥

A Kiss of Paradise

So..when I went by my sister's place last week, I picked up some of my stuff from the Volks order I did for her. Yay for more ZM spray and water wax :) That stuff is amusing! While I was looking around at their display cases of stuff, I noticed they had Kingdom Hearts manga, which I thought was weird cause I have all of them (or the ones that have been released here..), and I mentioned that to my sister, and she was like "Really??" 

I moved some things around cause I was picking up the random manga she had lying around..and I found my old Paradise Kiss manga books. LOL Now I know where those went...along with Vol.2 of xxxHolic. 

I've been reading them slowly over the week, I really still love this series. The anime was a great adaptation too. Too bad I don't follow Nana at all, I tried with the anime, but I found it kind of lacking..and the manga wasn't really going anywhere fast...

Plus, I really liked the Nobu & Hachi pairing. When my friends would update me what was happening, I was kind of disappointed in the plot so that pulled me further away from reading it again.

I love Arashi in Paradise Kiss...I think I just like the punk characters Ai Yazawa creates :)

Randomly, I was just looking up Paradise Kiss on the internet yesterday, and apparently...A PARADISE KISS MOVIE WAS MADE?? 

Um....I don't really approve of the casting too much. George doesn't really...look like George...

Isabella shouldn't look so obvious..cause she/he looks like a horrible drag queen!!! Like...it's like really bad >__<; I can't get over it. 

But...maybe cause I already liked Yusuke Yamamoto to begin with...but I approve of him as Tokumori. (Probably cause I'm a fangirl..LOL). What are your opinions?

And I think that dress looks lack lustre. I can only see a clip of it in the video about...but it doesn't compare to the manga or anime. I've seen cosplayers pull it off better! But..they might be trying to make a more 'edgy and modern' type of design for the movie. I'm 50/50 about it...

I didn't really like the Nana movies..this is probably going to be the same type of disappointment...? :(

~~~~~

So....Canada Post is still being a pain in the bum with their strike. Which is such a hindrance cause I really want the stuff I bought :( Further more, one of the sellers I bought something from can't ship the item to me because of the strike. I mean...it affects all parties negatively. It's so bothersome...*sigh*

Plus, because of the strike, my new visa card is somewhere in limbo! I applied for a US visa card and to get a new one to replace my old one. The US one came lightning fast...but the card that I actually need to use is...somewhere. Bah humbug. 

Since this stupid strike was happening, one of the purchases I made off of Den of Angels had to be shipped to me via FedEx. The seller was so lovely and understanding, but the shipping through FedEx was murder! The quote on shipping she gave me was way off...but only asked me to send me a bit more to help her out, and not the full amount. I had no problems with sending her more money..considering how much she paid originally. Yikes.

Anyways, I got my item halfway through this week, and it's so cute...I'm getting cavities...*o*

Delilah is so cute...♥

This is the Volks lamb suit they released in late 2009/ early 2010.

~~~~~

I've had some crazy shifts for the past week. It does suck that work functions on 24hr shift work, but I mean...I still need to pay off bills and stuff, and a job is a job no matter what. But midnight - 8am shifts are really tough. I can do the 10pm - 6am, it's not as bad, but for some reason this one is just horrid. My sleeping schedule has completely been messed up...either I couldn't sleep or I just sleep at off and random times. Hopefully it gets back to normal...as I have 'normal' shifts this coming week.

Well, that's my update for now. Going to sew...and relax. And eat some BBQ.

On nom nom :)

Building Volks F-12 Miisha MSD

 Zephyria and Ventus welcome a new cousin.

So I had the fun task of building this doll for my sister as a gift. 

The love and labor and documentation of how I did it is on the side bar under Pages! Or you can just click here.

I still have yet to present the doll to her since I've been working, but I'll give it to her soon so she can take lots of pictures. ^__^

BJD Face ups..Hm...(Part.2)

I finished touching up Ventus' face up a couple days ago, I just didn't upload pictures yet. I think after I finished Zephyria, it was much easier to control the brush strokes. Of course, I didn't have to do as many lashes as I did for her...since he is a boy and I wanted to keep it simple.

I reset his fake lashes, instead of them drooping, I set them to curl up, so then at least when I photograph him, you can kind of sense he has lashes! They're quite short..but now you get the hint of them! I re-painted his lower lashes and added some details to his mouth to define his smile.

The differences are quite subtle right?

While I finished up with Ven, I decided to test out the eyes I recently purchased, I won't show the gold ones, but here are the blue ones. They are really lovely and photograph very well. The ones from Volks (above) are more realistic, and there is a reason I chose these eyes...
But aren't they pretty? I've left them in for now and since Ven and Delilah sit next to each other in my room, their blue eyes compliment each other :)

More random face up things to come! A DD (Dollfie Dream) will be next..once I finish it ^__^'

Love getting mail!! Duckie & Delilah are here!!

I received this earlier in the week.

LOL. Some ghetto packaging! It came from Hong Kong...and I find it amusing, cause seriously, who uses twine to keep a package together anymore? I haven't seen it used a long long Long time!

The surprised that's inside, hidden beneath the random shopping bag and bubble wrap?

"Quack!"

 DUCKIE!!
I was wailing about this for days. Darn Volks and their Limited Items...Grr. And Curses to the person who was selling it on eBay at an obscene price!! GRR! My sister was nice enough to get it for me on eBay. THANK YOU <3 <3 <3
BUT, it's so darn cute, I don't care!

While I was typing this blog, my doorbell rang and my latest purchase had already arrived at my door! I'm very impressed with the seller, she shipped it Xpresspost! Since I've had Marketplace place access on DoA, I've been checking regularly just to see what dolls have been listed up. Since Alice has been 'subtly' hinting at me to get a Tiny BJD and I've succumbed to the cuteness of them, I found one on the site for a good price. I really liked the sculpt and the face, and when I looked her up on the official website, I was sold!...This hobby is gonna break the bank. (This will be my last BJD in a long time though..where's my job when I need it?!)

So here is her box opening! My first one! (Since my other two dolls were kits that I had to put together...I've never had a doll that I bought that was all put together before)

~Delilah~

DollnDoll Heart MO

The box.

My other dolls come to greet my new girl <3

Her box is so tiny! It's so cute!

 The certificate and I see Delilah! Her head is twisted funny..LOL

Her certificate. She was put together on Dec 29, 2010.

 Enyka was kind enough to even send me an extra! Mmm donut...:)

 I see her!

It's kind of like the mummy...she's got lots of bubble wrap protection.

Standing. LOL, Kam Kam knows something..

Her default face up is beautiful.

She came with default blue eyes!

I went away to get my other BJD boxes, cause I had the Tiny wig and outfit in them..

The picture is cute though.

Her other hands, I haven't opened them, but the shape/pose is similar to the ones my other two have.

With the princess wig. LOL Sis bought it for me intending it for Zephyria...

But Mandarake fails on packaging, cause the outside package said S/M.

Inside tag said S. So it didn't fit on my Minis. Fits on Delilah now though!

I love her hands! They're so small and dainty! <3

 The only YoSD size outfit I have. LOL The duckie!

I had to put Zephy's other wig on Delilah's head cause I don't have a short hairstyle in her size...

So it's only staying on because of the hood...^__^'

She's so adorable. Love her!