BJDs and Yellowing/Mellowing

Note: I plan to update this post when I can with some examples of yellowing from my personal collection.

You can't reverse yellowing. The good news is that yellowing is very, very gradual. You're not going to see severe yellowing in your doll just from walking to your car and back. They may mellow within a year or so, but you will not see severe yellowing for the most part until after many years of love and play.

Most people find they barely notice the yellowing, because it is something that happens so slowly you often don't notice until you compare the inside of a doll's headcap or a newer doll from the same company to an older one.

Is Yellowing Damage?

In most cases, yellowing should not constitute damage. What yellowing can indicate in a newer doll is a lack of care and preservation for the doll itself. Blotchy yellowing, or the yellowing equivalent of a farmer's tan could be considered damage in most cases. You're obligated as an honest seller to disclose any yellowing. Personally, any doll at least a year or more I always note that it probably has some yellowing.

On Popularity, Shame, Perfectionism, and Internet Cruelty

My life motto. (Brene Brown, I don't know who created the photo.)

Today ladies and gentlemen and all others we're going to talk about Shame and Perfectionism and how this relates to popularity in the doll hobby. This will probably be another one of my possibly offensive and controversial posts, so I apologize in advance if I hurt your feelings.

You're probably wondering what perfectionism is doing on a doll blog. I've written about everything from confidence to honesty and economics on this blog, so why not this? With the proliferation of BJD Confession blogs full of snarky confessions about poor face ups and styling or photography to complaints about not being popular (enough), perfectionism is very much a part of our hobby.

I am not a person who is very open about my own struggles. Most of you know my teen brother died last August, and I've been grieving since then. This is on top of an anxiety disorder and cyclical depression and yes--- my perfectionism.

Through the therapy I've been attending for a few years, I've been learning how to deal with my anxieties and with my perfectionism. I've learned that perfectionism is based on something we call Shame. At the end of this piece I'm going to link my favorite Shame and perfectionism books and researchers, and I highly recommend checking these out!

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed mental health professional. Do not take anything I say here as medical advice.

Rrabbit Clothing Review

[Note: At the time I took pics, I wasn't planning on a review so they're pretty bad quality, lol. Since then, everything has been mixed up in my doll stuff boxes, so eventually I'll take better pictures. You'll have to deal with these for now. XD I'm also having major format issues with Blogger today, so if anything's weird I apologize. ]

English Site: http://rrabit.com/rrabitstore/rrabitshop/

I ordered during Chinese New Year, so I'm a little shocked this shipped when it did. Here are a few pics of the items I ordered:

Iplehouse B.I.D Review and Posing

Hi again everyone! I realized I never did a post on my lovely little BID Anne, Pearl Kingston. (I made the little lady a DoA doll profile though!)

Basic Review:

I purchased her last year on impulse. I wanted a little YoSD and fell in love with her because A) my name is Ann, and B) teefs. I love dolls with teeth! I bought her in their white skin, which is a lovely rosey-pink white that almost looks like a very, very pale normal skin.

She shipped very quickly, and arrived in what's probably the cutest doll box I've ever owned. Thankfully, it was spared along with her paperwork when my basement flooded.

As far as criticisms, sad to say but her acrylic eyes sent with her from Iplehouse cracked, so I never ended up using them. I'm not a fan of lower-end acrylic eyes, so I swapped her out with some blue Makos I had laying around. I'd much prefer more realistic eyes in her, but I'm lazy and have yet to do so.

Also, she does have rough seam lines, nothing I couldn't fix myself, but they keep collecting dirt and color from her stockings which is a little inconvenient.

All in all, 10/10 for quality and service.

Info: Though she calls for 14mm eyes, I prefer 12 or 10mm for more realisim. Her head is a little smaller than a 6-7, so I'd guess she's almost a 6" exactly.

Clothing:
The little chubby thing is big, like all Iplehouse dolls are, and a lot of YoSD clothing runs small. Any YoSD shoes I've tried fit her fine. I can force a lot of stuff onto her body, but then her limbs have reduced movement. Promise of the World clothing is the worst offender. It's cut really, really small. Some of the more generic stuff on taobao fits her as long as it has a little stretch, and she's never without this little bear jacket:

Posing:
Note that she has not been sueded, and has not been restrung so she's like ridiculously floppy. Most of these pics were taken at night by lamplight when my kids were asleep, so pardon the gross flash.

First let's start with some head movement. The head has limited range of mobility for up and down movement. You have to use the torso joint to really give the illusion of more movement than is there. This is due partly to the way they sculpted the slope of the BID neck as well as the way the faceplate and head back meet.

Updates: I'm Back!

It's been about 6  months since my brother died. I can't say I'm really much better, but I'm coping better. I haven't written anything really since he died, and it feels good to be getting my spark back.

There for awhile, I'd gotten a bit soured by the BJD community and started feeling burnt out and overwhelmed again.

While I still feel a little bored and overwhelmed, I think that is starting to abate.

I'm going to resume posting doll-related stuff here, some of which is likely to ruffle some feathers/offend people. I like writing so it's good for me to keep at it, and dolls provide lots of inspiration.

I'm going to start with a 2 times per month schedule, posting on Mondays. This week's post is an Artist head review on KKeRRin dolls. Please check her out and give the artist some love!

Some upcoming post ideas I have:

• EID Woman Review and Posing Pics
• Zaoll Review and Posing Pics
• Modding a Single Joint Elbow to a Double
• Some clothing and Prop Reviews
• The Decline of the Second Hand Market (and what that might mean for the future of the hobby)
• Confession Blogs and Why They Suck
• Why You Should Go Outside (With your dolls!)
• Dolls and the Grief Process
• What fits a Zaoll
• What fits an EID Woman
• And possibly a guest post on different types of fibers for wig making

I've updated a bunch of the pages to link to more posts. There's a still a bunch of unclassified posts, but I''ll get to them eventually. I'm trying to do a few at a time and make sure everything worthwhile is easily referenced.

As usual, I hope this blog continues to be a good source of information. Chances are I've written about your question before, so feel free to search the blog. If I haven't answered it yet in the past, I'm always interested in new topics and ideas. No matter how dumb you think a question is, feel free to ask away. I always answer the best I can. Check out the archive- I've written probably a hundred posts since this blog's been active.

I'm considering changing to a website instead of the blog, though I'm not yet sure about that. Anyone have any thoughts? Would that be better for you than a blog? I know websites are a bit easier to search for info, but my HTML is limited.

Regarding Emails: Please, if I haven't responded to an email know I'm just really lazy and hate checking email. It's best to comment directly on a post, especially one like this. XD

KKerrin Doll Mae Review

 

I stumbled across this sculpt on Flickr awhile ago and forgot about her. She resurfaced on my feed, and I fell in love. I purchased her from the artist's etsy at the beginning of February.

The artist is based in Russia. It took approximately four weeks from the time I ordered to arrive at my door, accounting for 2 weeks in transit.

The artist is quick to respond, and her English is good. She answered all my questions and was very nice to chat with.

This doll is currently not on topic for Den of Angels, because according the mods she has not properly submitted the doll for topicality. Hopefully Kkerrin will do this soon!

Artist Etsy
Artist Flickr

Info:

The head is MSD size, but very small MSD, with realistic proportions. She fits in a 6-7 wig, though all my 6-7s slide off her head. I think she's closer to a 6" wig.

5mm pupils work best in her, but they gap on the side. I'm currently on the hunt for the right size of eyes for her. (Just ignore the gaping in the photos for now.) The artist suggested 6mm-8mm fish eye style eyes.

She arrived in the cutest little box with a certificate of authenticity.

Taobao Agent Review: Final Notes

I absolutely cannot recomend Taobao Ring enough. They are my agent of choice from now on. My order arrived quickly (as quickly as possible once the USPS got ahold of it anyway) and shipped quickly from China. Everything was accurate, or as much as I cared.

There was one mistake: the rose leggings were supposed to be 1/3 but the seller sent 1.6. It wasn't worth arguing, as I'll just do it again for the larger size too because they're that cute.

When your order arrives, there is an option to click "arrived" and move the order to your past orders list. They also immediately ask you to provide feedback on the order, which I did.

Taobao Agent Review: Taobao Ring, Part 3

Okay, here is Part 3 of my experience with Taobao Ring. I'm being detailed with this and doing so many posts on this because ordering from Taobao can be stressful, and so can be finding a new, trustworthy agent. Feel free to ask any questions I haven't answered so far.

Note: This post was done by checking out their mobile site, so things might look slightly different on desktop.
Additional Note: Taobao Ring will not knowingly purchase fake or bootleg goods on your behalf. This applies to recast dolls, parts, and replica Lolita items, among other things.

A few things seem to be missing from my order, and I'll update when these get fixed! They're very friendly and accommodating, so I'm honestly not too worried at this point.

First, they updated me to let me know via email that they'd ordered my items. When I check on my account screen, I see this cool notification:

You can click on multple orders to see their status and to see which items they're still waiting on.

Taobao Agent Review: Taobao Ring

With Taobao Trends now asking for Western Union and having repeated issues with their shopping cart system, I decided to be brave and try a new company. I placed an order for about $122 worth of stuff. Unlike Taobao Trends, they do not calculate their commission, nor domestic shipping in the total.

Their process is pretty much the same.

You input the items you want in the cart, select any options, confirm your address, choose your shipping option, and then submit your order.

They will confirm if the items are in stock, allow you to make any substitutions if not, and then ask you to send the payment for the items plus domestic shipping.

Once everything arrives, you'll receive a second charge for overseas shipping to you.

Pokémon Syndrome: Acquisition Disorder, Recasts, and the Doll Hobby

All Teh Dolls.

All instances of you* in this piece refer to general “you”, not anyone specific. Also, there is nothing wrong with buying or selling. Even buying or selling a lot. This is not meant as a critique or criticism of anyone or anything in particular, but rather a cautionary tale to explore your own motivations for doing so.

“Gamers have a term for this madness.  It’s “acquisition disorder.”  It’s when you have to have the new shiny.”- Click for Source

The problem with collecting hobbies is what I call Pokemon syndrome: Gotta catch ‘em all! Meaning that the compulsion to buy and buy and buy often overrides need and good sense. For some people, it gets dangerous. They obsessively buy everything they can pertaining themselves to their hobbies, shop out of their budgets, don’t live within their means, and can even rack up massive amounts of debt. (Have you seen the Star Wars documentary on Netflix where they talk about their obsession with buying and collecting? Watch that shit. Then come back here.) It’s not quite the same as a shopping addiction, which is a whole entire other issue that can be aggravated by Pokémon Syndrome, but it’s a very, very real thing. If you have a shopping addiction, like any other addiction, and you feel it’s a problem or becoming a problem, then please seek help.

Buying becomes a panacea. You’re feeling stuck, uninspired, sad, or whatever, and shopping takes over. You buy a new doll because you’re bored with the old ones or simply “not feeling” it anymore. A new outfit brings the spark back: the excitement of shopping, of comparing, of imagining, then the excitement and joyful, satisfying anxiety of waiting and checking tracking, and then the climax of arrival. You open the item, gush, glee, take a few pictures, post on social and media- and then the high is gone. So you move on to the next quest.

Dollshe Urethane Eye Review

Full Disclaimer: I've edited the eyes to be brighter
here.

A bit belated but here's the review in a nutshell.

Website: Dollshe Craft
Price range: $40.00+

Related Posts on my Blog:

Big Eye Comparison Post
(And just browse the blog for more reviews because I'm too lazy to link them right now.)

Speed: 4/5. Urethane eyes take a long time. I was under the impression the eyes were in stock when they weren't (nobody's fault really so I'm not factoring that into my review). They don't seem to note whether eyes are or aren't in stock, so just assume they aren't and spare your sanity.

Communication: 2/5. They didn't respond to me for a loooong time when I asked if the eyes were in stock or not. After two months, two emails, and two posts to their board they finally responded and apologized for the delay. I did get shipping notices.

Ease of payment: 5/5. Typical methods, very easy.

Like the picture: 3/5. A friend who owns Dollshe eyes suggested I check out the colors via a search on Flickr, as the site pictures aren't true to life most of the time (they seem to be more pale in person than on the site). The eyes I chose ended up BETTER than the pictures, but do some research before selecting a color based on their site.

Price: 5/5. Worth every penny.

Quality: 5/5. Absolutely gorgeous. I love that they are small eyes (10mm urethanes are a pita to find), and yet they're as beautiful as the larger urethane eyes I own. I prefer Dollshe urethanes over Vings at this point! I'd like to order again in the future.

No edits to the eyes. This is how they look inside my house in the dark under a lamp. Still gorgeous.

Video Tutorial: Restringing a Fairyland Feeple 60 Doll

Sorry for all the delays! Life has been really crazy with two kids now. Anywho, I attempted to make a restringing tutorial video for Feeple 60s. You can find the video here . You can also find the phototutorial for this here.

Now I'm off to respond to comments and emails. Sorry for all the delays!

Thanks for reading and happy collecting!

CYA- It's that important.

CYA- Cover. Your. Ass.

I recently had a negative experience regarding recasts as legit. The poor gal thought, with good reason imo, that an item I sold was in fact recast. They were not, but I ran into trouble proving this. In order to spare you the headache in the future, learn from my mistake.

Amaranth's Rules for Trades and Sales

Buyers:

1. Always ask for proof of ownership, even if it's someone you know or have traded with before.
2. Always ask for more pictures, even if you're happy with what you see. Don't be afraid to ask them to take a photo with the item next to a paper with your choice of text. 
3. Always ask for proof of legitimacy EVEN IF IT'S SOMEONE YOU KNOW. That's fine and dandy, but how do you do that and what should you ask for?
1. If they are the first owner, ask for receipts from the company. Screenshot the purchase screen. Most companies keep records of sales for several years. Fairyland still has the record of the first purchase I made from them 4 years ago.
2. If they purchased it second hand or traded, where did they do this trade? DoA? Facebook (and thus, which FB group)? Flickr? Ebay?
3. Ask for the username of the previous owner before them, if any.
4. Research to know what comes with the dolls direct from the company. 
1. Does the company send certificates? What do those certificates usually say? 
2. Does the company use headplates, and if so, what do those look like?