Yep, as the title states, I took the plunge so to speak and ordered a Kid Dollmore Sona, she will come with the eyes in the picture, but I ordered a black mohair wig for her…well let’s just say I requested it. I heard that Dollmore listens to your requests so I am hoping I get the black mohair wig. Now is the waiting game. ^^; I know Dollmore ships faster than most doll companies, but this is actually going to be the first doll I have ordered through the maker rather than a reseller. I know I have been spoiled by the fast shipping from places like Mint on Card and Junkyspot though. ^^;;;; So yeah I am prepared for a longer wait even though I hope for a short wait, lol.
Narrowing the Playing Field.
So I’ve taken Island Doll’s Amy off of my list of possibilities. The main reason why is that after doing some searching I found some threads on DoA and saw some owner pictures that leave a little bit to be desired. For some reason in a couple of the pics the doll’s faces looked shiny for some reason. Maybe it was just bad photography, but I don’t want a shiny doll, lol. The other reason I am taking her off my list is that out of the few who posted their box opening, their dolls arrived flawed. 🙁 One the foot broke off and the other had a broken finger. I realize these things can happen, and their problems were resolved to their likings, but when I see that kind of stuff it turns me off a little bit.
I’ve also decided to take 5star doll’s Yoka off my list because when viewing owner pictures I found her eyes to be a little too large for my tastes, though her pout is still very cute. I think really I have narrowed my list to Latiblue Yern and Kid Dollmore Sona, but I could always wind up adding more to the list again. I really like a lot of the Iplehouse head sculpts….but sheesh, the JID bodies are so very Amazonian. XD
Well, enough random blabber, time to go drool over dolls again….
Discovered a new girl – Dollmore Sona
I decided to have another look at the Dollmore MSD sized dolls even though they don’t have a mature style body. Despite not having a mature style body however, the girls have similar hip and chest measurements to Latiblue, which makes me wonder if they can’t share clothing with the slim MSD. The only difference is that that they don’t have a mature bust and their waists are 2cm bigger than the Latiblue. A nice point of the Kid Dollmore is that they take a 7-8 wig which I feel are easier to find, but maybe that’s just me.
What really got me about the Kid Dollmore dolls is they have a few dolls that I feel have really unique face sculpts that are absolutely adorable, one of which is Sona who I added a picture of in this post. 🙂 I really love Sona’s face, especially with the dark eyes and dark hair. I have to admit that Sona and Miro are both really enticing to me despite their non-mature body styles. Another enticing factor is that Dollmore gives you both eyes and a wig with your doll, all for the base non-face-up price of $216. However their face-up service is $55, which I think is a bit on the expensive side. If I got myself a Sona I would definitely want to get the default face-up because I love how her eyes are done, and they are done in such a fashion that I feel my novice hand cannot recreate it.
I’m near the point in my doll window shopping where I feel I could make a commitment to buy. I’ve seen so many different sculpts over the past week that I swear I’m seeing doll’s faces when I shut my eyes! lol! Because it’s always a lot of money to buy a doll, I really want to make the right choice and get one that I will get the most enjoyment out of. I want to get a buddy for my Yara soon though, so I need to try to come to a decision! *faint*
Window Shopping – Mature MSD
I decided I might start collecting a list of dolls that I’ve been interested in purchasing. I think it will still be another month or so before I can get one though, so sad. Hehe…..Anyhow as far as mature bodied MSD dolls go, I find that I really like the LatiBlue Yern sculpt. I like her gentle looking eyes and her general neutral to pouty look. I also really like the LatiBlue body in general and she has measurements like my AE Yara, so they can share clothes and wigs too I believe. Yern is also in my price range, especially if I decide to do my own face-up. I read on the website that Lati is planning on restocking a lot of their dolls on July 5th. I would love to get in on that order, but I’m not sure I would have the money for the shipping by then. I imagine being involved in a GO would help, but most GOs don’t allow resin purchases, and also I have never run a GO and it’s probably a little late to try to get one started for their restock anyway.
I also really like the Minifee mature MSD bodies quite a lot, perhaps even better than I like the LatiBlue body sculpt, especially the cutie bust and cutie leg version. However, I’m not really drawn to many of the face sculpts that are offered. I imagine I could always find another head sculpt I like that would be a good resin match for the Minifee body, but I have no experience in resin matching so I’d be reluctant to do that. I suppose I could go scour DoA for some FAQs though.
Another doll I saw during my window shopping was 5star Doll’s Yoka. She has a delightfully melancholy look, and 5star’s body sculpt is pretty nice as well. It’s not as pretty of a body sculpt as the Latiblue or Minifee, but still quite attractive, and for the price at only $190 for a blank doll, I’d say it appears to be a pretty good deal. 5star seems to be pretty new though, so I know not of their overall quality, however, Mint on Card is offering them for sale in the US, and having ordered from them before I feel that they wouldn’t be selling anything that wasn’t quality…..Then again they do carry Dollzone, which some people have issues with…something about a ceramic filler? I dunno. XD Anyway I’m not fond of the pink eyes and red hair, but I am imagining that Yoka would look pretty good with dark hair and eyes, no? 🙂
The next doll that intrigued me was Ringdoll’s Rebecca. I think it’s all about the little round dark eyes here and the dark colored hair. I am also fond of the slightly open mouth she has as well….I think I’m a sucker for those kinds of dolls, because I really love the classic Narae face too, which has the slightly open mouth, and I love Narae’s gentle partially closed eyes. Of course at this time though, Narae is totally out of my price range, but hopefully one day after I find a decent teaching job I can afford to get to get both a Narae and Narin. Anyway back to Ringdoll, who really has a lot of nice head sculpt, but really their bodies leave a little bit to be desired…at least in appearance anyway. I can’t speak for pose-ability in any of these dolls I’m talking about since I don’t own one yet. 😉 Anyhow I have seen numerous other dolls in my window shopping who are very cute, but I’m going to leave off with just one more before this post gets to long.
This next doll is an Island Doll named Amy, who actually has my own namesake, lol. I think SoulDoll also has an Amy doll, but I don’t care much for the soulkid body. Anyhow I had never heard of Island Doll until I saw one on ebay yesterday. Anyway again we have another doll with a slightly open mouth and small round dark eyes. She certainly is a cutie, and Island Doll’s body sculpt is as nice as 5star’s body sculpt, though at least to my eye, not as impressive as Latiblue or Minifee bodies. A blank doll starts at $210 though, so it’s a little lower than a blank Latiblue.
In the end I like all of these dolls, they are all very pretty, but I do have some reservations about purchasing dolls from companies I have never heard of before. However I did buy an Asleep Eidolon and was really quite pleased, so maybe I shouldn’t feel that way about these new young companies with fresh new sculpts. I imagine when purchasing a doll from a lesser known maker you can be somewhat guaranteed to have a more unique doll. I kind of get tired of seeing all the same Luts sculpts for example. Lati’s dolls though seem to retain their value well, and since they have my favorite body sculpt out of these I am leaning towards trying to get a Yern during their next sale period. Of course I haven’t 100% decided to get an MSD. I’ve been seeing a lot of adorable tinies too! Anyway at this point though I’ll be ending this long long post. lol.
Latest Project – Unoa Jeans
So, I’ve been working on a pair of Unoa sized jeans, and they have proven to be very frustrating. I am using the Unoa jeans pattern in Dolly Dolly 6 (The coordinate recipe thing). Anyway the instructions have you doing the waistband in a rather strange and fanciful way which I am still trying to wrap my head around. I gave up on trying to do the fly their way and just came up with my own way, which in the end made the waistband pattern piece too short, so I had to cut a new, longer one. My other issues with the jeans right now is that they are a little bit too big. I know that the Unoa dolls measurements are just a tiny bit bigger than the AE minis, so apparently that single centimeter in the hips matters just enough. :p
I really, really hate sewing jeans to be honest. I would much rather just buy them, but alas I lack the funds. Maybe I would like sewing jeans better if I had more practice with them so I could just belt them out like I do shirts. It would also probably help if I liked the material I was working with a little more. I picked the pale jean material up because it was on the remnants rack and the remnants were 50% off that day. Oh well, I should probably get back to work on these so I can actually finish them sometime this century. :p