Updates, kinda....

Hello kind readers! I have been away for awhile, mostly focusing on getting through the grief process and pretty much ignoring my dolls at the moment. I have some ideas for posts in the next month or so, but it's going to be a little slow for awhile.

I'm toying with the idea of leaving this blog up, but inactive, at least for awhile so I can focus on my family and such through this process. We have had 9 deaths in the last two years of people very close to us, so we've a lot of grieving to do. We'll see what I end up doing.

I am venturing into mature 1/6 size dolls and have plans to purchase a couple of them next year, so expect reviews of that, plus clothing help. I've dived back into Azones and hoping to purchase a Blythe next year as well, so there might be a teensy bit of non-bjd stuff on here occassionally.

As a non-doll related distraction, I've been blogging over at mamagoth.blogspot.com, so you can find me over there whilst I think of some more doll related stuff to write about here. I haven't been on DoA in sometime nor on tumblr, but I'm alive, haha.

My main distraction though, and my main method of healing through my grief, is swimming. I'm still saving up for that awesome silicone mermaid tail, so I might not be buying much in the way of bjd stuff for awhile to make that happen. Money tree, why you no exist?

(Big hugs to everyone) I'll keep you posted. 

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 Part 2

Holy crap, that's all I have to say. They've already confirmed my order so I sent my first payment. Here are a few more screenshots of their process with some commentary. Basically, I LOVE their system. You can view each item in your cart, and it will show you a "yes" or "no" that the item is in stock and then when it ships. Each item also has an estimated shipping time. So far, so good.

They do charge paypal fees, which I don't recall Taobao Trends doing, but to me this is like when you send money for a group order- they're doing you a favor, a service, and making very little in the way of actual profit in my opinion, so I'm not bothered by it.


Taobao Agent Review: Taobao Ring Part 1 here .

So first up, here's an example of the email they send with a status update. This one was letting me know the boots won't ship until next week to them. 

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.

Review: Elleo Dolls- A Friggin' Amazing Company to Work With!! (with poses)

I'll start by reviewing the order and the order process and then review the dog itself! See a couple poses at the bottom of this post.

Site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ElleoDolls?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Ease of Ordering and Payment: 10/10. Super easy. I contacted them via Etsy and they worked with me using pictures I sent to create the dog. They sent me emails throughout the process with 3-D models as he was being made. 

Price: 8/10. For the work they did and the effort they went to to make this dog, they get massive props! They did roll the cost of painting into the dog's price, which is amazing.You be the judge if the size for the cost is worth it!

Accuracy: 8/10. They get bonus points for how realistic the dog is. Be SURE to get the measurement at the head and at the withers (shoulders) to make sure the doll is the right size for the breed.

Speed: 10/10. I ordered him in February, so it took about 5  months to get him to me, and that's with them having to sculpt him from scratch! 

Shipping 10/10: I've had good experiences both times I've used the Russian postal services, but both times I paid for EMS. He arrived quickly and was packaged perfectly. 

 

Material: The dog itself is made of a very light plastic. I am not sure what type it is, but it is whatever they use for 3-D printing. It has an interesting texture to it, which actually kinda works to give the dog a little more realism. I am a little scared of moving all his joints too much in case it is fragile.

Painting: This is fabulous. Hands down one of the best animal paint jobs I've seen. The artist was so humble, not sure he could pull it off, but seriously. It's perfect.

Eyes: You can't change the eyes on this little guy. With the way the head is glued together you can't really get into the head anyway. This is okay with me though, because the likelihood of finding eyes that are small enough is slim and look at how great the artist did at making them look so sad and watery and brown!

Posing: Wonderful. My only qualm is that the middle joint is too long. I'm thinking of modding the joint from one joint into two so that he can curve more and scratch his own nose with his foot. 

The range of motion of his neck is really awesome. The neck joint mechanism is really innovative!!!

 

Scale and Accuracy: He's a perfectly replica of the breed, but I think the artist thought basset hounds were small, like a dashund or corgi, when they're actually much bigger. He'd be great for a very small, maybe mature tiny or mature MSD. 

He is sculpted beautifully. The little folds of skin on his feet are perfect, his jowels look great, everything about him just screams basset.

 

Overall, he's very cute, and worth it!!! I'm going to just have him be a puppy and see if Elleo dolls can print me an even bigger one next year!!!

In any case, I hope this helps you make the decision of whether or not to go with Elleo Dolls. As a seller, I cannot recommend them enough. They are thorough and accommodating and an absolute pleasure to deal with.

I hope this convinces you to take the plunge and get your dolls a furry, four legged friend from Elleo Dolls!!!

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.

Kemper Wigs Review

Another belated review!

The Raven wig in black on a Delf Soony.

Note: According to a friend of mine, Kemper prices fluctuate based on the cost of mohair at any given time. If the price seems high, wait a bit to see if they drop.

Site: Kemper Dolls
Price Range: Varies, usually $5+

Communication: 5/5. Typical, nothing bad, nothing extraordinary either.

Ease of Paying: 5/5. Just used Paypal.

Speed: 5/5. Shipped really quickly and packed well.


Like the picture: BETTER. Seriously. The pictures on the site do not do these wigs justice.

Quality:4/5. These wigs are great for the price, but they do take elbow grease to make them pretty. Don't expect something flawless right out of the package. Pet them. Style them. Love them.

I ordered a black Raven mohair wig in 8-9. It has this great little velcro dohicky to make the wig stay on tighter. I only paid about $9 give or take for this one (it may have been more). As you can see, it's fluffy. The bangs were awful when I got it. I just flat-ironed it and styled it and now it just looks like messy black hair. You can do more with it if you try.



This was a random fluke. I needed a teal wig and I found one on the site, not mohair, for $5. So I bought it. When it arrived it looked like a Halloween costume wig. Shiny, gross, blech. It had potential though, so I used hairspray and baby powder to remove the shine. voila! Pretty, cheap, tough teal wig. I traded this away with a doll, but I'd like to order it again.



I have plans to order a carrot wig and some others from them when the current prices drop. If you're willing to work at it, these wigs are nice, and I can't recommend them enough. Because of the effort it takes with these I can't say that they're worth more than about $15 a piece though.

In a nutshell, give them a try and don't get frustrated as you work with them. They do take some effort, but they're soft and look really realistic.


Thanks for reading and happy collecting!

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!

Identifying a Recast: Aileen Doll

Legit Violet

As many of my readers know, I mostly own recast Aileen Doll dragons. I recently purchased my first legit dragon, and thought I would share some things that I found.

Company: Aileen Doll

Website: http://aileendoll.com/

Sculpts Available Recast: Ashes, Rot, Sleeping/Dreaming Ashes, egg






 
Stringing: Recast AD generally have their legs strung backwards (unless the current owner has switched them).

Backwards legs.

Identifying a recast: La Legende De Temps

About LLT: Is a one woman sculpting business, ran by a Chinese lady named Julia.

Website: http://lltdoll.weebly.com/

The following sculpts from LLT are available recast: Little Edria and Roderich; Roderich comes by default on the SD17 body. 

If you purchase these heads second hand, you should be aware of what comes with the legit heads in order to establish legitimacy.

Identification card:

This little card contains the number of the sculpt, the name of the sculpt, the assigned gender of the sculpt, the date/birthday the sculpt was made, and should have this picture on the back.

Mine also has the artist's signature and a handwritten sentiment. I have blocked out these in order to limit potential forgeries.

Juri 12 vs Juri 08

(Apologies in advance for the crap unedited cellphone pics. Any weird formatting is because I'm on mobile writing this.)

So I decided to reshell my Juri 08 into an SD, and I thought Juri 12 (the updated version of Juri 05 back in CP's Luts days) was the closest. I'm not brave enough to mod Juri 12's eyes to be more narrow, but I did mod her mouth. Here are some pictures of 12 vs 08 before the mods on Juri 12:

As you can see they are basically identical, except for Juri 12s eyes being less narrow. A brave modder could easily make a Juri 08 clone with her. 

And for kicks and giggles, here is Juri 12 with a slight mouth mod and the face up in progress. (I'll update when she's done. )

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?

Identifying a Recast: Migidoll

***Disclaimer: I do not own recasts of this company, but I would appreciate any useful tips from anyone who currently owns one. Pictures for identification/comparison purposes are welcomed as well. If you have a recast MD boy, you can message me on anon on tumblr, via email, or here in the comments. If you choose to help me, you can be left anon or credited. Your choice!***

I don't own a recast Migidoll, but I thought this might be helpful since I own legits.

Website: http://www.migidoll.com/info.html

Sculpts available recast: Cho, Miho, Ryu

If you're buying one of the sculpts available as recast secondhand, here are some things to ask about or watch for.

Packaging:

Legit Migidoll come in plastic tube thingies, like this. On the outside of the tube you'll find a printed label with the company's logo, the name of the sculpt, and the resin color. These might be handwritten.

More Posing Comparisons, Fdoll/Feeple 60/Classy Doll/Supia Part 1

A quick comparison to follow of the dolls' posing capabilities. I decided to do this in multiple posts as I get time to take pictures, and to break up what would otherwise be a massive post.

The dolls are all 100% legit. 

From Left to Right: Cricket, Delf If on Classy Doll body; Callas, Feeple 60 Soony on Fdoll body; Nimue, Supia Eunice; and Hong He, LLT Red Dove on Feeple 60 Body.

All four dolls sit pretty nicely, but feeple does that stupid leaning thing.

Fairyland Tan Skin Review

 

Ease of ordering: 5/5, easy just paid with paypal.

Site: http://dollfairyland.com/index.php

Time to ship: Ordered in July, part of order shipped in November, other part shipped in January. (Will explain below.)

Communication: 5/5

Quality: 4/5

Firstly, they claimed they were having problems with white skin, so it would be an additional two weeks for my blank tan girl to ship. I had one pair of WS option hands in my order. I asked if they could ship everything else out first, and the white hands when they were ready. My order shipped in November sometime, and the white skin hands barely arrived last week. That's pretty ridiculous, but I appreciate them working with me. They didn't even charge me extra for shipping! (They send a pair of acrylic eyes with each doll now instead of glass, but to be honest I have no idea where the ones they sent me are or if I got any at all, so I cannot comment on the eyes.)

The tan color is absolutely gorgeous. It's got a reddish hue to it, without looking sunburned. It's very natural.

My biggest issue with the finishing on the dolls.

More Hybrids: Heads on Supia Body

Here are a few other hybrids I've been messing around with. Pay little attention to the color match, as some parts are NS and some WS. This is just to show proportion and fit.

First up, a WS Supia Eunice head on a feeple 60 body. Range of motion is pretty dismal, but the proportion isn't terrible.

Note and Question for my Readers

Hi all! Just noting that I'm having some problems getting messages from the contact me app, so if I haven't responded in a few days send me a direct email to either:

amaranth886@gmail.com or bug me on flickr/yahoo amaranth886@yahoo.com.

Secondly, I have a question from someone who needs to identifiy whether an IoS Shadow head is recast or not. If you own one of these heads legit, can you please comment below or email me with this info:

*Do the heads come with a plate/sticker on the back of the head?
*What should be carved inside the head?
*Did the head include a certificate of authenticty?
*Can you describe the resin, whether it's more pink/yellow, and whether it came in one specific shade?
*When was this head released?

I'll be doing some additional research on it myself, but I thought I'd put this out there in case anyone knew off hand.

Thanks and happy collecting!

La Legende de Temps on Other Bodies

Woo! First post of the new year!!

Since LLT is known to work on SDgr bodies, pretty much any doll I've shown on this blog before will work with the LLT heads. They're all very close in neck size. LLT resin is in between yellow and pink, and to my eye and the light in my house it matches my pinker resin dolls better than my yellow ones. Don't take my advice on color matching as gospel for that reason- the lighting in my house is complete crap, so I could be a bit off.

LLT Red Dove/ Fantasy Doll Body (ny)

I was too lazy to remove the neckpiece and restring this body, so this will have to do for now. The color match is fairly close, however the LLT resin is pinker and paler than the Fdoll body resin. Proportion looks like it would be fairly okay as well. 

I'm Alive!!

I've got some new dolls and some new post ideas I'm slowly working on, so expect some updates this month. I had my baby, and so with two kiddoes now it's harder to find time to dedicate to my hobby. *le sigh*

Here's my preliminary plan:

Hybrids: Supia/F60, Supia/Classy Doll, La Legende De Temps on Various Bodies

Posing comparisons: Moe F60 vs Regular F60, Supia vs the Feeples

Reviews: Another taobao review, Supia review, LLT review, Dollshe urethane eyes review,  and some other stuff as I get inspiration.


Currently saving up for some new dolls as well, so as I get them I'll be sure to do more reviews and comparisons. IF I can snag a legit AD dragon this year, I'll be doing a legit vs recast comparison of them. I may have access to a friend's recast F60 body soon for a review as well.

Happy new year!