Wedding Frenzy Part II

 I received a very nice response yesterday when I put out a call for wedding pictures of dolls. Although there are too many to post, I am including a representative sample of those sent and a few I snatched on my own off the boards. More tomorrow and Friday.
The first is my own Innoqui Bride's first time out of her box.

Terri Gold

laughon45

aquabluerose

George.G

NikkiinWales

Steven.Casey

SueTownson

watbetty

Caren

Superdoll Sale

You know you're in trouble when a collector in Germany emails you about a sale in Great Britain. But I'm so glad she did! I got my Bride Innoquii - still not inexpensive at 120 GBP plus postage plus the little extra Paypal tags on. It came to $230.64 which is a lot nicer than the nearly $350. it would have cost at full price. I'm so excited. Now my pirate will have a sister.

Superdoll



Why is everything going on sale right before the convention? This is a bad time for a convention. I hope next year's is earlier in October.

Picture of the Week - 9/26/10 - NylonBleu

Many people know that the Haute Doll exclusive Innoquii "Traveler" went on sale for the unbelievable price of $75. about three weeks ago. Interest in this doll was revived and pictures began to pop up on the boards. One collector's pictures intrigued me. NylonBleu, who obviously has skill not only as a photographer but also with Photoshop, posted a series of images of Traveler. Here are some of my favorites:

 

The big black dot on the back wall is inspired.

The strange positioning of Traveler on this 1/6 scale shiny silver sofa is fun. Innoquii is strange and it suits her well.

If you would like to see more of NylonBleu's photography, click here.
This is the link to her blog.

There are still some Innoquii available but now they're being sold on eBay - for $75 plus postage. Go get it.

Updated Extravagance and Escapade Pictures

After yesterday's photo shoot, I sat down with the new stuff to figure out how I could rework things to make them wonderful. My favorite Monogram doll, LifeBall, was ready for a change. I put the suit on her and hunted through my stash for shoes, a handbag and jewelry. I think what I came up with is works with the suit. I put a pin through the top of the hat. I used one with a green head so it would show in the pictures. The pin is short and very slim and goes into the vinyl head without too much difficulty. I used the earrings that came with the set and a bracelet of black beads.

It was harder to make the dress on Extravagance look good so as a temporary measure, I put a stole over her shoulders. I suppose that is what the coat was for. :-(
I gave her a freshwater pearl choker which does not interfere with the fringe on the dress.  I wish I had a short white shrug instead of this gigantic stole. I wonder if there is a way to alter the dress to correct the poor fit.  Or maybe I need to make a shrug.

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Some quick pics of Innoquii. She really looks her best without clothing!

..and Invisible Ink Ellowyne. She's kind of a big Ginny Doll with articulation. She's going to stay but I don't see more Ellowynes in my future. I would like some of her beautifully designed, fun fashions.  And, like I said before, I'm going to get her crazed cat.

Haute Doll "Boutique" Closes September 15, 2010

The last orders for remaining merchandise in the Haute Doll store will be taken in the next few hours. There's not much left but what remains is seriously reduced in price. 

The "La Dolce Bambola" gift set was originally sold for $510.00 non-members/ $500.00 members  It is marked down to $300 now. This is a 1/6 scale French resin BJD of 29 cm or 11.4." Lingerie plus two resin wigs and two outfits makes this a fairly attractive package is you like the style of the doll. I think she'd be prettier with a different face-up and a non-resin wig.
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I don't know anything about this doll other than what the listing says: "NRFB 1990 Barbie Style Special Limited Edition collector doll #5315. $7.99
Anyone out there know something about this item?
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Miss Sydney World has been listed in the HD boutique for a very long time. She was originally listed for $160 non-members/$150 members and is now on sale for $79.99
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"Traveler Innoquii" is one of a series of four porcelain dolls from Superdoll.  This one was HD's exclusive and was so unpopular that they wound up including her for a very low price if one purchased another doll that was also hard to move.
I've been enabled by other collectors who were so excited at the sale price of $75., that their excitement was infectious and I ordered one. She's going to have to have that black eye removed to live here.

If any of my readers remembers her original price, please let me know. (Note: I've been advised that her original price was $300.)

There is one other doll available - literally. There's one Royal Red Jac Tonner doll. @$150.

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Those of us who had subscriptions to Haute Doll have been handed over to Doll Reader. I have been sent a link to the October 2010 issue. It's not exactly a magazine for which I would purchase a subscription. I have, of course, received an offer to pay for a subscription. I have no idea when my HD subscription was supposed to end.

When my pirate doll arrives I will discuss.

Rumor: The Magazine "Haute Doll" May Be Closing Down Production

If you go to the Haute Doll site and try to order a subscription or renew an existing one you will get the message "no products found."
Yesterday the unconfirmed statement that they were shutting down erupted on one of the doll boards and spread like wild fire. Later in the day, HD sent the message that they would be issuing a statement. They did not say when.
I'm rather surprised as I thought the last issue of Haute Doll was one of their best!
I know something went wrong recently with their ordering system during a big event and shortly after that they went on leave for a while.
In spite of the fact that I write for FDQ, I enjoyed most of what HD had to offer. The main focus of each publication is different.

Perhaps they were overextended with the amount of exclusives they took on. We may never know the underlying problem. Right now, we're just waiting for some explanation.

Some of their recent exclusives have been Sybarite: The Cross; Dolci Bambola Giftset and Peak's Woods Goldie.

 While I'm sure The Cross (LE 150) sold out even with it's $820. price tag, I don't know about the  LE60 Bambola for $510.  That's quite a specialized type of doll and I know of just one person who purchased one. The Peak's Wood doll (LE 40 @ $760-$810) is the latest and part of an entire collection of exclusives which included many fashions. When the ordering for those items opened up, that was when their system went haywire.

Previously they offered an exclusive Traveler Innoquii. This doll had to be practically given away she was so disliked. Ditto for the Valia Pivoine whose initial price point was ridiculous, was put on sale and then the W Club wound up having a 2 for 1 lottery on their leftover Valias. 

I always thought those two dolls resembled eachother. In a prior blog post, I parodied a Haute Doll cover which featured Innoqui with my version of Valia whom I named Innoquous.

Now she needs a cover.

Must be the new Abused Woman style.

Valia Pivoine Haute Doll Exclusive Finally Ships

After a wait of more than 6 months from the expected delivery date, the third Valia has shipped. Valia Pivoine graced the December 2008 cover of Haute Doll magazine as their exclusive retailing for a price of $375 to non-subscribers and $350 for subscribers. Upon the announcement of the delay, another discount was granted in the amount of $50 (to allay the anger).

Touted as having a new, lighter weight, cutting edge resin body with 15 points of articulation and a meticulously crafted outfit, the original promo text said the fashion would come with jewelry; the current text says coordinating accessories.

I have scanned the boards for posts of those who have purchased Pivoine and have found very few. It's quite possible that those who purchased her are not de-boxers. Three or four on the W Club board posted their dissatisfaction with the stringing, weight and feel of the doll. George of Angelic Dreamz posted some photographs of her. I have not seen her redressed and I look forward to that.
There's not enough information to do a valid review but I have had a little fun with her picture and that of the Innoquii™ doll by Superfrock. I see a resemblance between the dolls and have combined their features and created my own exclusive!
First is the actual cover of HD with their exclusive Innoquii.

Here's my spoof. I call my exclusive doll Valia Innoquous. Do you like her?

Is it really the economy?

 All the images from this post have been temporarily removed - in truth, they have disappeared and left nothing but black boxes.

So I was trolling the doll sellers web sites yesterday and checking to see what, if anything from this season's Integrity 12" doll lines, is sold out. That would be NOTHING. I have never seen this before. There have been a couple of the basic Fashion Royalty dolls in the past few years that weren't very popular and more than a few separate outfits but to have dressed dolls still available at every single retailer? Never. I'm not talking about the play line dolls here.

On the other hand, the 16" AvantGuards are completely sold out everywhere. Several of the Gene dressed dolls are also sold out, although if one looks hard enough, there are still some of each around. Last season's Gene dolls went on sale weeks ago at Marlbe and Mary T has been listing her leftovers on eBay for even less than Marlbe!

I find myself looking at the upcoming Fashion Royalty dolls to see if I missed something! I am not excited about anything I have ordered except for the AvantGuards. I did order two of the basic FR dolls, the Daria in red and Reluctant Debutante Poppy.

If it's not the economy, could it be the doll choices themselves? The Fashion Royalty, Nu.Face and Poppy Parker lines seem uninspired. They are just average in fashion and styling. The Nu.Face fashions are downright sloppy-looking. (I've been corrected. It's trendy, not sloppy. LOL)

There is a lot of black, white and red. Hmmm.

........................

And, what about Valia?

Do my eyes deceive me or is she wearing black, white and red, too?

..............................

If this isn't enough for you, why not get this creature? She is called the Traveler Innoquii. The weirder you spell the name of a doll, the more haute...? Trendy? If you like dolls that have tattoos consisting of a compass, passport stamps and an "erogenous flight path" and one huge black eye, then this gal is for you. Run right over to the Haute Doll site as this is an exclusive from Superfrock. There are only 300 of them at $380. each for subscribers or $400. for non-subscribers. Lucky for you, she is still in stock.

........................

Not to be outdone, Robert Tonner also has used black and white this season. Happily it's not his theme. The following are from the Joan Crawford line:

Above is a dresssed doll called Classic Portrait. LE 500 Retail Price $179.99 No, I'm not kidding.

This is a dressed doll called Hollywood Starlet. LE 1000 Her retail price is $189.99. Both Crawford dolls are available for less at the major doll dealers such as Cherished Friends who has them in stock for $153. and $152. respectively.

Finally, in this strange blog post which has become all about black, white and red doll fashions, we have another new Tonner fashion. This one is from the Bette Davis line and is called "Spotted By The Press." This is just an outfit which is LE 300 and retails for $89.99. It's cute but it's way to close in styling to the Joan Crawford outfit, "Publicity Shoot." It is not yet available but if you want to be the first on your block to have one, you can pre-order it at Cherished Friends for $76.00.

Today's lesson: never pay retail. That was yesterday's lesson, too; I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.