Mood:
accident proneNow Playing: "Happy Lesson" - yaaay ! New anime in Chez Insanity !
Got Baby Ariel re-measured last night, but there hasn't been time to sew for her since. Wow. Some of those measurements were waaaay off ! I usually employ a narrow tape measure that retracts into a disc of sorts - it's convenient and thin enough for dolls. But after a third doll has to be completely re-measured and the original numbers are off, I'm starting to think that tape's messed up. I'll have to check it later.
After chain-sawing dangerously low-hanging tree limbs - the all-summer rains have made the trees and lawn grow like crazy - we decided to go out. Besides, Beloved Hubby felt bad when I got clocked by a good sized branch. Only a couple of scrapes and one small bonk on the head. Ironically, the smallest of the scratches hurt the most ! Once I was out of the shower (‘cause hauling limbs and holding the ladder in 90 degree heat is sweaty work !), nothing hurt at all. Until I nearly fell over an upturned chair in Dearest Son's room ! Grrrrr....
Since I got to choose our venue, we hit the bookstores ! I got to see the first issue of the new Barbie Collector and the latest Fashion Doll Quarterly, but bought neither. Is it just me, or have doll magazines - especially fashion doll magazines - really gone downhill lately ? All I saw was gush for the latest and greatest and price guides in between full-page doll store ads. Which also double as price guides.
BC was too many Mattel photos, not much article, with a single Marirose dress pattern that looked a bit involved - I have some experience with her patterns, from Vintage Clothing for the Fashion Doll. As usual, her stuff looks absolutely perfect but mine always leaves a bit to be desired. So I'm not exactly jumpin' up and down to get more of her patterns right now. The magazine lacked other projects or ideas, but had a surplus of ‘hey, you don't have this $280. "Barbie" MAC lipstick, so you'd best get on it !' blurbs. Even the vintage articles - stuff Mattel wouldn't make money on - were more ‘this is worth $xxx now. Do you have one in YOUR collection ?'. Meeting/fan club/con coverage was also mostly ‘aren't you sorry you weren't here ?' than anything else, and most of the other bits and pieces were already out of date - like how to sign up for the Dallas convention. And does a true Barbie Doll Collector *really* need to shell six bucks to be informed of how to tell a butt-marked #1 1959 doll from a back-embossed ‘1966' one ? There's plenty of books and reference for that (shoot, I even have some of it on my website, but without lavish photos !), but there it was, even with the photos, it was still rather dry and boring.
Today was the first time I'd actually held an issue of FDQ in my hot little hands. The pattern for Tonner's Ellowyne Wilde - a Goth Lolita dress - was intriguing, but I have 90% of the basic style already, for both Barbie and Elphie sizes. Plus, while Ello is the same height as Tyler Wentworth, the bodies are different, so they can't share clothes or patterns without alterations. So why shell $10. for a pattern I can't really use ? The Tonner articles were friendly, if not particularly witty ("10 Things I Learned About Tonner - they really, really love dolls !" my snark : how long did that take you to deduce, Sherlock ?), and the paper dolls were pretty, but most of the issue was a wash. My dolls are lucky to have shoes, much less hats made of doll hair, and drooling photos of doll accessories just don't do it for me. Plus ‘Rubber Stamping on Fabric' ? Umm, I just spent six hours making a great doll dress. You really think I'm gonna muck it up with a *&^%$ing stamp pad ?! And glitter ? Pssshshhh !
It just seemed like most of what I looked at were glossy photos. Nothing new or inspiring, unless you count the hopes that wallets would be opened and credit cards would be extracted. It's sad when you're still holding the magazine in your hands in the store and you're bored by what you're barely leafing through. Maybe I'm getting jaded. Or maybe I know the patterns won't be nearly as perfect as the photos. Or I'm simply tired of the ‘buy, buy, BUY ALREADY !' pressure that radiates from the magazines. If I wanted that crap, I'd get a two-inch-thick copy of The Knot or Bride's. Those things should come with handles sewn to ‘em. They're huge !
I did find something interesting - well, Beloved found it for me. A wonderful sixth-scale bass guitar ! Wow ! It looked more in Elphie's scale than Barbie's, but either way, it was six different kinds of cool. There were four varieties, but I preferred the electric bass Fender. It came with tiny picks, a stand, a strap, and a tiny cord and some sort of transmitter or amp that fit on the strap. It was a bit pricey at $20., but I'll definitely go back for it as soon as I can. I forgot to write down the manufacturer, and for some reason, every photo I've found shows it out of package and only one mentioned the maker and distributor, making it kinda hard to find online.
Here's a link if you wanna see - it's still out of the packaging, but if you look close, you can see those cute, tiny picks - >
http://www.fenderusa.com/store/enter.php?a=_098176pqikzhmxcf82oidf22&product=0999325000
So, pretty soon, you may see Elphie strummin' a new bass guitar !
Over dinner, I was telling Beloved about my quandary over the white-spot-legged California Dream Midge that the flea market seller had last Sunday. If I decided to shell the $4. for her, should I keep her original - i.e., not perfect, but definitely herself - or do I make her perfect by scrapping another doll ? It all gets down to whether or not I can deal with a damaged doll in Chez Insanity, really. Some folks can accept imperfections in people but it better not come near their doll collection ! And others have no problems with their dolls bearing damage and wear. We're all different, after all. Beloved listened attentively, and gave me his thoughts. He said my entire collection was a haven for slightly damaged dolls, even the ones bought new usually had some small issues, so if Midge wanted to wear pants all the time (like I do when I don't shave !), that'd be up to her. And me. But he kind of figured that Midge, like me, wouldn't want to sacrifice another doll for vanity, we'd rather deal with what we came with. And the others would just have to adjust if she wanted to wear a skirt now and then.
Can you believe *this* is the guy my parents thought wasn't good enough for me ?! In my experience, not many folk would put this kind of thought into any hobby that wasn't theirs. It's also sweet how he's accepted a new doll into the house without so much as a raised corner of one eyebrow. So, yeah, if the seller still has her, California Midge will be arriving, spots and all, to Chez Insanity Friday or Saturday next.
It's easy to be happy when you have my life ! :)
