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strangedolls

My mother and my aunt went to the thrift store this morning without me even though I wanted to go…such bad family! jk XD Anyhow my mother brought me home another random doll pack from there in which there were these two little pipsqueaks. These little girl’s are maybe 3.5-4 inches tall and have their original clothing. I looked on the backs of their heads and found an imprint stating that they were made by a U.D. Co. Inc. in 1977, in Hong Kong. I googled this information and the closest thing I can find are Uneeda’s Pee Wee dolls, which have the same body type, but the faces on these girls are very stylized and remind me of the popular stylized Asian doll faces from that era. The images I’ve seen of Uneeda’s Pee Wee dolls have more typical North American style doll faces.

I am going to keep searching to try to find out what kind of doll these little ones are. As it is their stylization and vintage feel about them appeals to me, so I cleaned them up a bit and have given them a spot on one of my shelves. In the same pack of dolls there was also a vintage looking tourist doll that looks like she is in German dress. She’s cute and has weighted sleeping eyes. She needs a little love though as some of the hair from her braids have come loose. I’ll fix her up and keep her too and if I get around to it I’ll be sure to snap a pic of her too.

Mature Body 20cm BJD, Doll Values and Other Musings.

Recently I’ve been kind of…er…”pre-shopping” for a new doll. I know I want one, and money-wise I’ve saved and I am close to being able to get a new BJD, or if I wanted, I could already get any Pullip, Dal, Taeyang or Blythe I wanted….well maybe not so much “any” Blythe. Anyhow I’ve been leaning towards just getting another BJD because Pullip and Dal offerings as of late haven’t interested me, plus I have to admit I am a little disenchanted with Pullip since I’ve been having so much body troubles with her. I ended up taking her off of her 25cm SBH because despite all of my efforts her neck was still flopping and since her new wig it became even worse. In the end, I am far more pleased with my Dal, and would probably buy another Dal again in the future, but as of right now, not another Pullip unless a to die for design came out.

Anyhow I digress on my Pullip misgivings…..So I’ve been looking at the possibility of getting a new BJD, and I know that I no longer want anything beyond MSD size. With all of the mature bodied MSDs out there, why would I possibly need a giant 60cm+ doll just to get a more mature body shape? Besides that, I prefer smaller dolls as they are just easier to handle and you have more miniature options available to you, especially since the advent of the American Girl Dolls, and now those larger size Dora dolls. Anyway I am interested now in the even smaller BJD, especially any size that would be a nice fit for my current Pullip house or I would even go so tiny as to get a doll that would work in my 1:12 scale dollhouse that my grandfather built for me. As I got to thinking about it even more, I thought to myself, “I wonder if there are any mature bodied 20cm dolls out there” so I searched and lo and behold there were!

20061211124945_mLimhwa makes a barbie size BJD called ToYou. For a while though they stopped making them, but recently a new ToYou was offered called Sara, and she is quite a beauty. However Limhwa dolls only have certain ordering periods and seem a little difficult to get in that regard, but I will still keep them in mind. I also came across Soom’s Mini Gem series, which again are mature bodied 20cm dolls. I absolutely love their doll called Aren, which you can see in the pic I posted. So I’ve started seriously considering a “barbie sized” BJD because they would work my my new dollhouse and would be easy to clothe. I need to figure out though how easy it is to find tiny wigs and eyes though before I jump into that, and I also have to wonder how difficult doing a face-up on a tiny doll would be….there are these type of factors to consider. Plus I love all those itty bitty tinies out there too. Heh, I know I probably mull over things way too much but when you don’t have a lot of disposable income you tend to really ponder large purchases more. In the end though I probably have a bit of dolly overload from looking at waaaaay too many dolls.

Anyway after looking around for BJDs I also decided to see what people were selling secondhand on DoA and eBay and such and I seem to be noticing a trend in doll values, and that is that they seem to devalue as soon as you buy them. I saw a few people for example selling brand new dollies that were still mostly boxed that they just couldn’t “bond with”. These dollies were being offered at a lower price than what you could buy new at the maker and were seriously comparable in newness. If you have an older dollie before double jointing became commonplace, there is no way you could get full value for your dollie again…or so it seems. You see, as of late I’ve been considering selling my DIM Danbi as I have fallen out of love with the larger dolls and he spends a good deal of time in his box. However I have been reluctant to sell him because he was my first BJD, that and the fact that it looks like perhaps at best I could sell him for $125 less than his purchase price.

Of course dolls like Unoa and such seem to retain their value well, but I find it really funny that Pullip dolls can double or triple in price in 5 years whereas a BJD will most likely devalue. Blythe is another dollie that seems to keep her value too, as dolls that are only a couple years old may already be double their original value or more depending on edition.

Well, I think I’ve probably rambled on enough about dolls, so I think I shall sign off for now….and keep on musing over the possibility of purchasing another doll.

First Face-up Complete!

yaranewfacesmI finally finished my AE Yara’s new face-up. It’s not perfect, but I am satisfied enough with it to seal her up and apply gloss. There are a couple hidden areas that I think turned out a little blotchy because of my overworking it. Going through this I’ve learned that for next time, I won’t fuss so much, and I will use a larger brush for the overall blushing. In the end though I like her so much more now! I think she looks much less innocent, a little more spacey, and I love the new lip color. I am also thinking that she looks better with these darker eyes, though I think I need to re-adjust them again, lol.

Kid Dollmore Cecile

0820430002282I’ve been mooning over this adorable little guy ever since I visited Dollmore’s website again. He’s the boy version of their kid Dollmore sculpt called Cecile, and he looks absolutely precocious! What’s more is that he is also only $216 without face-up, and compared to other doll companies, that is a little on the less expensive side. I’ve been thinking lately that I’d like to try to save up for him. I thought he might be a cute companion for my AE Yara, though my Yara has the old style body, which means she has more of a Unoa’s proportions. Cecile is more “traditional” MSD sized. Maybe I’ll look on flickr for MSD/Unoa comparisons for a guide.

Anyway I’m going to let myself think on it a while though, because until I saw Cecile, I had been wanting the Pullip Kaela, so we’ll see if I cool a little bit to the sculpt over time. Also I have absolutely nothing in Boys MSD size, so if I don’t want a nude hobo doll I’d need to be able to afford a decent pair of shoes and some starter clothes as well. XP

Vintage 1995 Sailor Moon Dolls on eBay

pserenadoll02I’m selling off some of my old Sailor Moon dolls that are new in their boxes that I not longer want or I have doubles of. Currently I have the full size Princess Serena and Rubeus dolls up on ebay, and also a 6 inch version of Sailor Moon, all made by Irwin Toys. Bidding prices start at $5.00 for the full size doll and $2.00 for the 6inch doll, which I think are very reasonable considering the prices of the other doll listings. I am also planning on putting a few more up before the day is done, and maybe even some of my Card Captor Sakura dolls. If you are interested in a doll and you don’t want to go through eBay, let me know and maybe we can strike up a deal. I accept pay pal only though!

You can visit my ebay page here:
http://myworld.ebay.com/sainttail/

And see all of my listings here:
http://shop.ebay.com/sainttail/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25