A new soul, Emilia

To introduce you to the next lady in the collection I asked Isaac Hayes to help me set the mood

Ever since I saw the first pictures of Adorned Vanessa I was in love with her. First of all she's got auburn hair, then she has a heartbreaking faceup! Those lips, and the eyes!!!
So, as soon as I took my decision to switch the collection to FR2 I felt free to go and get her!!

She's going to be the queen of the resident redheads, I'm still thinking who's going to be her guy....

I like her outfit, I like it so much that they both are going to star on the july cover!

Summer is here so there's a bit too much light to do her justice, but she is beautiful all the same!

The more I look at the dolls the more I'm convinced that 2014 collection was simply stunning! Maybe IT doesn't give so much value anymore  as far as accessories goes, but the dolls are wonderful!!! 

ps. the "fashion figures" are on their way......

A new soul.....Giorgia and a turning point

Since the Gloss Convention I've been resisting buiyng Adorned Vanessa, Grandiose Natalia and Noctunral Glow Veronique.
As I already ordered Rare Appearance Dania, that sooner or later shall be released by IT, I decided to stick to the girls I already had.
But I have to tell you: I don't like FR Tall Body. I thought so the first time I saw one "in person" and unfortunately it didn't grow on me. Quite the contrary.
While Nu-Face and FR2 can easily swap clothes (with the exception of trousers) the "tall body" girls can not.   I don't really like to have to sew multiple versions of a same dress and  I find the Tall Body proportions difficult to handle. Just a matter of personal taste and sewing skills.
I can understand that people with huge collections of earlier original FR clothes and accessories (in the older days  IT pulled off many outstanding outfis) are upset by the body change, but as I only started collecting FR a couples of years ago, I don't have this kind of problem. But the main thing is: I can only have dolls that I absolutely and throughly love!

I only have  Dania (red headed Margherita), Natalia (Hot Property - Edda)  and Veronique (Costanza) on a tall body, so I've been thinking (for a while now) if it was the case to buy the girls in their FR2 versions and substitute these dolls.
In fact last year it looked like at  IT's they were doing everything they could to help me: delivering dolls with the updated facesculpts (which I like a lot) on the new enhanched FR2 body, feathuring  the all time favourite faceups and hairdos.
This was the case with Grandiose Natalia for istance, who really reminds me of Hot Property (besides the grey eyes).
Ok, why I'm telling you all this? Because I actually ordered the three of them and today Natalia arrived!
So my decision is final: Margherita and Edda shall go to Carlotta's (with some dresses) and I'll only keep Costanza. Her Classic Hollywood features are too dear to me and, for the time being at least, I'm not ready to part with her!

I also decided not only to substitute Natalia, but  also to give her a new name. As she arrived at home I knew she was going to be called Giorgia!

So let's go ahead with the deboxing ritual!

I can't stop taking pictures of her!

I really like the outfit, I think I shall use this dress as a template for better homemade evening dresses to come.

Burgundy sandals .... OMG I didn't notice that!!!

I think she looks a lot like Raquel Welch, I absolutely love everything about her!

Well these outfits are so wonderfully 70's that I'm leaving you on the notes of this hit from 1974, it's from the soundtrack from the worst movie with  a stellar cast ever made: The Towering Infermo

  "we may never love like this again"

Travelling Dolly 8: Odette in Oman part 1 - Cities

After such a long stay in China the travelling dolly was looking for a change of scenery. So, what about Oman as the next destination for Odette and Carlo?
They immediately agreed, fascinated with the idea of visiting the white city of Muscat, the unbeliavable charm of the oasis and the Wahiba Sands, in the northern part of the "Empty Quarter"! To say nothing of the fortresses and canyons. They can't possibly miss all this!
First of all I had to pick the right wardrobe for Odette.
I came up with this simple trapeze dress  and a safari jacket, The colours look great! Carlo is wearing a khaki suit and green t-shirt which are part of a Male urban safari colletion inspired by D&G, I'm working on it, and  someday I'll be able to post the whole thing! In the meantime Carlo is going to introduce the single outfits....

I also brushed a bit Odette's hair, I love her natural look now....

This time I decided not to show a route but to make four instalments showing: cities, forts, wadis and last but not least the desert. This will, I hope, help to show how diverse is the experience of visiting this wonderful country!

Muscat, the Capital: a white gem nestled between mountains

This is the Great Mosque. Omanites are very kind and tourists are allowed to visit it, but Odette didn't want to ruin her new hairdo so she posed ouside of it (I went inside!)

One of the forts presiding the bay of Muscat

The sea promenade

Muscat has a huge and colourful Souk, Odette and Carlo bought some Halva and Incense

No Odette, it doesn't look like original local harticraft.....

Sur: In Sur Odette and Carlo visited one of the dockyards where they build the tipical Dhow boats, described by Marco Polo in his book

A beach with fishermen's boats

A nice overview of Sur with her many watchtowers

Nizwa: Before visiting the fortress Odette and Carlo take a brief straw in the local souk, they saw many beautiful and expensive articrafts, pottery and the tipical daggers with filagree sheats

See you soon!

In the next instalment: Fortresses and doors

Previous Instalment: Odette in China part 3

Kisses
Billa

A new girl: Ofelia

This year I only added one girl to the collection, after much tought I decided to buy Full Spectrum Veronique, first of all because Veronique has the most beautiful face sculpt, second because I loved her short hair and green eyes.

She's a perfect doll IMHO, I called her Ofelia, and I liked her outfit so much that I haven't yet redressed her!

Now she's resting in the display, actually she took a lift from Orso Maria!

African Tales: Pulling off a Veruschka

In my continuing search for new inspirarion for my urban safari collection, which someday I'm going to sew, I met this wonderful picture by Franco Rubartelli.

OMG this is exactly the Dolly Forever Dress!!!!

As you imagine all the girls wanted to try to pull off  this one, expecially Odette and Cecilia lobbied very hard. But as soon as I saw Veruschka I knew that only Edda had the right attitude (and hairdo).

So I patiently managed to get my hands on High Visibility Agnes hat, and Fashion Explorer Vanessa Boots, Bag and glasses......

It took a while to find these accessories at a reasonable price!
Then I tried on Edda the Dolly Forever dress (it fits!....somehow) and now I only had to try my hand on the photosession.
This is the first ensemble I put together without sewing a single stitch....

I din't have a gun so she's playing with her new bag.....

Nicola is modeling one of the Urban Safari Male Fashions
They look pretty gorgeous together. Maybe they will meet Odette and Carlo somewhere in Africa!

My Gloss Convention Aftermath......Sebastiano

I thought I could resist buying any new guy, but when I saw the first pictures of the Color Infusion Hommes I was flabbergasted!
I loved at least three of them: the bearded Declan, the fuzzy haired Remi and the the new carachter: Callum Windsor!!!
As they come anything but cheap on e-bay, I had to make a choice, and I choose Callum, even if I know I will look for Declan (if anyone has one for sale, for a fair price, please contact me!), as I see him as the debonnaire guy I need for some Thin Man photoshoots I've been dreaming to do for a while.

The screening of this doll is exceedingly good, as for what I saw from previous collection color infusion  had some sloppy coloring.

I can't say if he's got dark blue or dark brown eyes, but he has a piercing look!

These are some pics I found on e-bay of Callum,  can't tell who the photographer is, now I'm looking forward for him to arrive home!

I found Declan Too!!!!

Dioramas

Almost all the pieces have arrived, so here are the four rooms so far:

the Traveller's library,

looks like Vittorio is putting up a front, I don't believe he's such an intellectual

 the Norma Desmond's Lounge

boys and girls throwing a party

the Sunny living room 

the guys are not happy with my choice of magazines......

the  Kitchen/dining

Odette and Carlo having a cozy breakfast

I still have to prepare the carpets for the last two rooms and maybe a couple of pillows for the Norma Desmond's Lounge, but I'm thrilled.....

Reorganizing!!!

It looks like reorganizing is everybody's priority around the doll's collector community lately.....

And finally I decided myself and went to Ikea. I've been planning a reorganization of my collection for a while. and now here it is: my new Detolf showcase!

Ligthting is awful, but it gives you the general idea.....

that's me in the corner

It was not the easiest thing to do, but we managed to put it together, and the girls now have a lot (well at least enough) space:

This reorganization left me with my other showcase empty, and this is another thing a was looking forward for: now I have the place for a few dioramas!

I've been scavenging e-bay and etsy for months, and planned four different rooms

the Traveller's library, this was the only room I was able to do with the furniture I already had:

For the Norma Desmond's Lounge I bought on E-Bay:

This lovely side table from MiniPlacesStudio:

and a beautiful old phone from MiniPastisserie

For The sunny living room I ordered this great set from Miniio

Last but not least, for The Kitchen/dining

Table and chairs from miniCHAIR

and this fully accessorized kitchen table from bedsbystar

I'll have to complete the dioramas with some rugs and perhaps some more little piece. As for now I'm pretty satisfied and can't wait to receive all these items and to start to set up the dioramas.

See you soon!
Billa