One day in July I was clacking away at my computer when I received a ping from an unknown messenger. “Hello” The message said politely. The message was from a Christopher, who wanted to surprise one of my favourite dolly people ever (Omochacrush) on her birthday with a dolly. And… because I love surprises, covert operations, dollies, and Angie, I gleefully typed yes, and our grand plan was in place.
I was so excited to see another creator’s label doll released this year. This time, it was a pair of twins (Callie & Cassie) by the fabulous HAPPYDOLLY/Memento (I’ve linked here to the promo pictures and her facebook profile). I thought I was on a pullip wind-down, but as soon as you say that of course, you fall in love with another. It took me a while to decide on just one sister (it was hard not going to lie), but she arrived in all her glory straight from Japan this week. Let’s meet Callie.
Nancy contacted me to create counterpart to her Pere Noel – the Black Swan to the white swan. She had quite a vision for her – an young lady-in-training, not the perfect ballerina, but close. She would become an amazing dancer in her own right, one day. So with this little brief, I started work on Anna, the Black Swan (and not the black swan from Natalie Portman’s story, that’s a whole other kettle of fish).
I have had a few regrets in my dolly-collecting journey. One of the major ones, is not picking up the original Pullip Kiyomi when she was available – because, truth be told, she was the one that made me love Pullips. When I missed out on her, I tried to keep filling the void with other releases – so when Groove announced a Kiyomi remake in a new minty colour scheme, I didn’t even think, I just hit order.
I remember years ago going to a movie without knowing really what it was about. I knew it was vaguely about magic, and love, and fairytales, and it sounded really quite grand. But boy, did I was not expecting falling head over heels in love with the characters (Tristan, with his amazing hair), the fabulous Pirates (De Niro, what a champ), and a pretty dysfunctional family dynamic. So when Cecilia asked me to make a doll of one of my accidental favourite movies ever, of course I had to say yes! So, lets meet our leading lady, Yvaine.
As you might have guessed for a while now, Poison Girl is one of my favourite customisers. She’s the creator of my gorgeous Toffee, and Chibi, so when I first discovered her awesome work, I was delighted to find that she had collaborated with Groove to create Dal Heiwa, part of the Creator’s Label series. The only problem, was that Heiwa could not be found in the wild anymore.
She was the protector of nature and the hunt; both wild and tame animals were under her protection. She also protected the agriculture and animal herding.
I had a lot of fun researching Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt. She was a bad-ass Goddess with her twin Apollo, and she ruled the moon. It bought back a lot of memories of when I was a child, and would with great fascination read about the adventures of the Greek Gods. So when Melissa asked if I could make her Artemis (or Diana, in her Roman equivalent), I completely jumped at the chance.
Emmeline isn’t a Wicked Queen or anything like that, but she’s a bit of a beauty and she knows it, and flaunts it. You can constantly see her flicking her hair – understandably, as it falls past her shoulders and many lengths past her toes. I’ve shown you guys a sneak peek of this girl before, but now that she’s finished – here are her final pictures. I’d like you to meet Miss Emmeline, an ethereal, ghostly, beauty.
Things have been super busy at Chez Dollhouse. My exhibitions have finally started to wind down, so I have been able to work on a few girls. Currently, I have 4 girls in progress mode, and one girl has just arrived this week for a New Year’s makeover. So… here’s a little sneak peek of what I am going to be up to!
Back in May, I excitedly shared Groove’s announcement that they would be releasing Alura as a Dolly Japan Magazine exclusive. Alura is the sister to Laura, released earlier this year and is part of the “Creator’s Label” collection. They are both styled by the ever-talented Laura (or Pure Embers as she is known on Flickr), and have a combined collaboration with Mistubachi@BabyBee (face up) x Momolita (outfit).
Project Doll House 