Lam Loves Robert Tonner's Tyle-Body-Size Fashions.

The original Tyler body is a fair match to Lam with these differences: Lam has a slimmer waist and hips. Her bust is a bit smaller as well. Lam's extra 1/2" of height doesn't make a discernable difference. I like my dolls in shorter skirts anyway. 

Lam is modeling Robert Tonner's outfit from Carol Barrie called "Hollywood Treasure." Her Harrod's tote with teddy bear and silk scarf are from the Purse of the Month Club. Wig by Ilaria.

Kingdom Doll's Siddal Arrives

During this pandemic, many dolls and fashions have been added to my collection. The most recent doll is Siddal.

Siddal wears a Kimono inspired gown of imperial silk satin in a richly vibrant indigo hue, lined in berry silk habotai with an open wrap neckline edged in silver lame. A waist-cinching belt adds further silver lame accents. The dramatic kimono sleeves are embellished with unique silver Celtic dragon embroidery, a first for Kingdom Doll. The resin shoes are created with a sparkly silver to mimic the lame texture of her belt and neckline. Finally, her jewelry is a sterling silver necklace featuring sterling silver tassel details and a clear Swarovski crystal butterfly charm. 

Siddal's wig is of blended silver/grey tones. In addition to applied upper lashes, she has bottom lashes as well. Her eyes are pale sapphire blue and are framed with cool-toned smokey shadows of charcoal and taupe with pale lilac under her brow.

She is an edition of 50 dolls.

The mirror is a Wilde Imagination product made for Evangeline dolls.

Last week, a fashion order I've been awaiting from Viet Nam, was delivered. 

Avarice models "Perle Noire"

Destiny models "The Signature"

Liberty models "Forgetmenot"

Pandemic shopping can be very dangerous. I list below the dolls and related doll stuff purchased since 5/1/2020.

Wigs by Ilaria (TBR)

Assorted Studio Props

Assorted Doll Props

Beaded Outfit for Kingdom Doll by Kha

Rococo Shoes for Kingdom doll by Eikollander

Tonner Tyler 16" "Carol Barrie Hollywood Treasure" Outfit

"Lady Penelope’s" Outfit

Tonner Tyler "Checker Bold" Boutique Coat

Wigs and a fashion from Chewin

Tonner Tyler Boutique "Winter White Coat"

Robert Tonner Hollywood Glamour "Dancing on a Cloud" NRFB Outfit

Valet/stand chair, Bar Stool, Shell Chair,  Doll Lounge Sofa  (From Russia) (TBR)

"The Best Look" Doll & Gift Set Silkstone

Outfit from "Poppy Sizzling in Paris" Doll

"Afterglow" Keeki Adaeze (FR)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Action Figure

"Dressing Barbie: A Celebration of the Clothes That Made America's Favorite Doll and the Incredible Woman Behind Them"   Book

Barbie Signature Jean-Michel Basquiat x Barbie Collector Doll

Superdoll Outfit "Picollo"

Filip of Filmideco 3-piece display furniture

"Let's Sew: Wardrobe for A Wood Doll"  E Files

29cm (11.41") Grödner Tal Wood Doll with curls (TBR)

16" doll shopper from La Boutique

Traded "Taeus" for "Evan"

Kingdom Doll "Siddal"

"Le Flamant Rose" Gown by Kha Hoang (TBR)

BFMC "The Gala's Best"

Couture Fashion by Taras Kozak (TBR)

Looking at the list like this can be disturbing.

Holiday Photos with Kingdom Dolls Guinevere, Rosalind, Envy and Eden

Guinevere is wearing her original wig, a dress by Aquatalis and shoes by Superdoll.

Here is Rosalind. She's wearing a Tonner Antoinette gown. KD earrings. Dimitha fur. Wig by Ilaria.

Envy is wearing an Integrity Toys gown, Dimitha fur, KD earrings and Wig by Ilaria.

Rosalind, Eden and Envy. Eden is wearing her own wig, jewelry and gown. Fur by Dimitha.

Wishing everyone a beautiful, happy and healthy December, 2018.

New Kingdom Doll Photos

Chaucer wearing a fashion by Magdalena Bareja. The wig is from Kingdom Doll Viola.

Savile models a Tonner gown from a doll called "Cyclone Cantata." Her wig was made by Ilaria.

Viola is wearing an Antonio Realli gown and jewelry by Integrity Toys. Wig by Ilaria in the first photo. I'm not sure who created the platinum wig or the rhinestone jewelry in the second photo.

The second photo of Viola was shot on an iPhone using it's built-in flash. I did tone down some of the glare on her face and chest. You can see that the highlights in her wig are burnt out with no detail. It's far from a perfect way to take pictures but the doll is gorgeous anyway!

Arnamentia is wearing her gorgeous beaded jacket created by Priya Desu Bohra, a Tonner's Precarious "Scandal" skirt and jewelry, possibly by Joy Jared. The wig was made by Cheryl Wood.
She is the newest release from Kingdom Doll and I plan to spend lots of time redressing her.

Looking seriously bored.

My doll room is in a different part of the house from my studio where I take pictures. After I redress a doll, I take pictures with my iPhone. Once in a while they turn out OK, like the one below of Arnamentia wearing her original wig.

Below is a silly photo of Viola and Arnamentia seated on furniture I recently acquired during Horsman's amazing sale. The tables and mirror in the photo are Horsman as well.

Black Lipstick Gene, Wigs and Props

I was fooling around with Black Lipstick Gene yesterday. She got tired of the 1940's look and I had a modern wig just waiting for a bald head.

It's a Monique Gold wig (http://store.monique.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=monique&Category_Code=WIG-MGC&Product_Code=&Search=&Sort_By=disp_order&Per_Page=-1.)
The wig is called Jade #415 and it's priced at $19.  Gene wears size 4-5. It comes in 7 colors and 5 sizes. 

I do not recommend them for someone who is used to hard cap wigs from Ilaria, Chewin, Patta and the like. You will find that these wigs have a lesser quality fiber and construction. They are not well-styled right out of the box. Their benefits are the lower price of $12-$27 each depending on size and style and they do have a stretch band inside so the fit is more flexible. They come in a very wide variety of colors and styles.

Be prepared to do some styling, perhaps with a hair product and pointy snips in order to get the look you want. I was not pleased with my results as I feel the top of the wig is too pouffy. I would have had to do some thinning.

If you're good at it - this is definitely a great way to go for quantity and choice.

Her glasses are by Horsman for Urban Vita.

 The wonderful drafting table is a Tonner Tyler furniture item. The clip on lamp works. The drawer opens as does the top of the table which is held in an angled slant by a rod you pull up inside. The stool comes with the set.  Recently a nearly new set sold on eBay for $50.99. The seller also included the Design Essentials set which is adorable. Tonner furniture is perfectly scaled for our 16" dolls. It never looks too small.

The sweater Gene is wearing is a handmade product from Retros. The buttonholes are real working ones. I love this item. I purchased the jeans from Marlbe last year. It was a very small edition from Marcelo Jacobs.

The platform sneakers she is wearing are from Ficon. Sadly, I broke one of the zippers. These are fitted inside to support a fashion foot with a built-in wedge. I'd buy a replacement pair in a minute if I could find them.

Another item in this photo that I've used zillions of times is the CED folding screen. There are two in these photos. They are wood with three panels that depict scenes in Italy. The screens are two-sided making them incredibly useful and easy to customize if desired.  Folding screens are an essential tool for a quick photo set-up. They're also easy to make from foam core board.

Kingdom Doll Star and Turn on Your Lights

The third in a series of three Kingdom Doll "Angel" dolls, Star, arrived last week and I am very happy with her.

She is super photogenic. Here's a shot taken with my iPhone.

She is wearing her own lingerie and wig. Her necklace had opened which escaped my eye during the picture taking.

Her beautiful silver shoes zip up the back. I have a vague memory of being told these are her 'signature' shoes. They are the same style that Liberty came with and the pink suit from the Liberty event also used this style.

 I never leave my gals dressed in lingerie and Star's first redress was into this beautiful, slinky dress from one of Sandra's conventions. It's a favorite of mine and looks great on many of my girls.
The wonderful, curly wig is a Cheryl Wood creation. You may recognize Tonner's Snow Leopard from his Golden Compass line.

 The whole scene is very jungle-tropical. I really didn't plan it this way. These days most of my studio photos use very simple backdrops and props. I'm too lazy to do elaborate dioramas.  But I do have a bunch of different artificial greens and in this case, I just pinned a few to the huge bulletin board I have in back of my shooting table. There were some empty spaces and I Photoshopped that away. I also used PS to darken the background because I thought it competed too much with the foreground. I kept the focus on the doll's face to draw the viewer's eye there.

I see loads of indoor photos in which there is barely any light on the dolls' faces. So many people with beautiful dolls don't know how to light their photos. I just want to scream, "Turn on the damn lights!" You don't need professional equipment.

There is a false belief that using a flash is anathema. Seriously? Have you ever been to a professional studio? We're not aiming for Annie Leibovitz here; we just want to see your dolls!

As I stated, the top photo on this page (and the shoe shot) were made with my iPhone - using it's built in flash. In many cases, the phone's flash doesn't do what I want it to, but there's a way to make it work. Admittedly, it was daylight in room - actually it's in the bedroom. I opened the shades and the room was pretty bright but I knew I'd need some highlights and the only way to do that was with some direct light. I didn't hold the camera directly aiming at the doll, instead I angled it a little off to one side.

Here's a shot that did not work:

 The angle is all wrong. Her hair is too bright. It's a discard.

The beauty of digital photography is that you can keep going until you are satisfied. You get instant feedback. In my studio, I constantly move the lights and change their power and/or the settings on the camera until I'm happy (or until I'm so tired I can't go on.) You can take multiple shots with your phone as well. But do us all a favor, don't post all of them. Pick out the three best,  then toss two of those.  I look back at the last 15 years of my own doll photography and really should toss 80% of the images but I'm keeping them as a record of what I've had in my collection. Of course there are days when I can't take a decent picture no matter what.

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT.

There are websites, books, ezines and loads of information out there. The problem is, you may not even know you need one.

A great all around source of tips and tricks:  http://www.digital-photography-tips.net/

Brunel: A Most Versatile Kingdom Doll

Brunel is the most photographed Kingdom Doll in my collection. The first photo presents her as she was originally dressed.
Photos show her dressed in fashions by Ficon, Integrity Toys, Tonner, Superdoll and, of course, Kingdom Doll. There is one dress in there by a collector. Wigs by Cheryl Wood and Ilaria.

You can click on individual photos to enlarge them. 
 

Tonner's Deja Vu Line Expands

Four male characters have joined the Deja Vu line.  http://www.tonnerdoll.com/tonner/fashion-dolls/deja-vu on the site. Unfortunately one has to click through a few layers to get there. Main page/Fashion Dolls/Deja Vu.
I don't know when this new addition was announced because I received no notice.

The guys have the Matt O'Neill body and to my eye, the Matt sculpt as well.

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Black Tie Matt O'Neill 2004

Does his head look enormous?  I do love the tails.

Absolute Elegance $189.

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I'll let your people go...

A lot more Yul as Ramses would have appealed to me.

Ani $179.99

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Blech

 
Great costume but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Halvar $249.99

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The 18th Century was a dandy era but does he have enough snuff?

Gerard $194.99

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There's no end to the variety that Tonner & Co. produce. Hopefully, for them, collectors will like these enough to add them to their collections. I predict they will want the fashions more than the dolls.