Happily Candied's photostream  

As I noted on Facebook earlier this week, I must be the only person in the world who gets joy from taking photos of a doll's sales tag. I was just so impressed with this particular tag's great condition, considering it's from the 60s or 70s! (Yes, I'm rationalizing...) I also liked the fact that the tag matched Lollynd so perfectly. It's hot pink and turquoise, like her dress (hot pink) and her base (turquoise).

As always with my very favorite dolls, it's very important to me to keep all types of documentation upon the doll's arrival-- photos of her accessories (box, tags, clothing accessories, etc.), her shipping box and the all the shipping receipts that she came with. Everything that makes up a doll's history and her arrival carries meaning for me. That way, I can look back and remember the very first few moments I had with the doll. I love that kind of memory!

This was a last minute photo I took after I had Lollynd's first "official" photoshoot yesterday. I was happy with how the warm lighting coming through the window complemented her pretty face so I thought I'd share the photo. Lollynd has been keeping me company at my desk while I work on photos and dream up new products for my shop. She's become quite the inspiration for me! I woke up around 5:30 this morning because I started thinking about a new product I'd like to construct that's pose doll related. I love it when dollies can be such a driving force in my creative endeavors.

I didn't mention it in yesterday's photo description, but Lollynd stands 16-17" high (not including her stand)! She's a lot taller than a lot of my other dolls, which makes her presence even more stunning when walking into my hobby room.

Prepare for more Lollynd spam in upcoming days/weeks...

This darling pose doll has a story of her very own...

I've admired pose dolls for the longest time. Through friends' photos, books and memories from my childhood, I've been dreaming up the perfect doll for myself. I loved their vintage-ness. The fact that they carried such history with them, dating back to the 60s and 70s, was incredibly appealing. The two main styles around are southern belles (donning Victorian style attire) and retro girls from the 60s and 70s (usually wearing neon colored mini dresses and similar pieces of clothing from the era).

For what seemed like an eternity, I searched online shops and forums for a doll that would fulfill my dream. I looked at thousands of different pose dolls, and finally, just last week... it happened. Very casually, I searched through the auctions on Yahoo Japan because I was determined to find a pose doll that had been made in Japan. The Japanese designs seemed to suit the doll I had dreamed up in my mind. Then it happened. I saw her very late at night, around midnight, and fell instantly in love. She fit the description of a doll I had been looking for...

Era: As much as I'm obsessed with the Victorian style and Lolita-wear, the pose dolls with the attire are a little too much for me to handle. I need to be able to carry around my doll without worrying about the frills and big hair... so I opted for the retro pose dolls instead. The neon pink used in the clothes is to DIE for!

Hair: Her hair was dark and in two looped braids, one of my favorite pose doll hairstyles. She had bangs, and bangs are an absolute must for me when it comes to most dolls.

Pink themed: I was determined to find a doll that had a major pink theme-- and I'm not just talking about her clothes! I'm talking about her dress, her hair accessories and everything about her face. Not only did this doll have gorgeous hot pink blush, but she had blushy pink accents all over her face! A true pink miracle in dolly form. Her neon pink dress and pink ribbons in her hair were in perfection condition. I was sold on the pinkness alone. It was like I was looking at candy.

Facial expression: A beautiful quality about pose dolls that I always admire is the fact that they have such unique facial expressions that make them "individuals" when compared to one another. Some have squinty eyes, while others have very wide, open eyes. Some have detailed eyes, while others have very simple eyes. Sometimes dolls' faces are scrunched up (which can give them an older, more mature, type of look-- with attitude), and sometimes dolls' faces are more open (giving them a younger look). My particular dream was to have a very young and innocent look on my doll's face. I wanted her expression to be open and sweet looking. This doll provided all those features. Her eyes were full of lots of hand painted details, and the eyes were brown, which added a chocolaty essence that matched her yummy hair.

Lashes: Most pose dolls have lovely long lashes and I had to make sure mine had this quality about her. Sure enough, the doll I saw in the auction had lots of perfect long lashes...

From what I could tell after reading a translated version of the auction's description, the doll was in good condition, but had a little dirt on her. The photos showed just a little dirt smudge on her cheek, which I figured would be no problem for me to clean up. And if I couldn't clean it, I wouldn't mind a small speck of dirt. I showed the doll to Shawn and he immediately suggested that I buy her so she could be my Valentine's Day present from him. I couldn't say no to that!

I had been extremely nervous about using a Japanese third party service that would help me, an English speaking person, bid on an item on a Japanese site, but I knew I had to do it-- or I'd be suffering from regret the following day. Without much hesitation (and a little help from some friends on Twitter), I placed my bid and hoped for the best. I woke up at 4am to see if I had won... and I did! My dream pose doll was mine.

I was surprised to find that the service I used worked so perfectly, and so quickly. Within just a week, my doll had arrived. The packaging for her was truly amazing; I haven't seen a doll packed that well in ages. In fact, the box was so big that I almost expected to find a BJD (MSD size) inside, haha! I eagerly cut open the box and took out the layers upon layers of bubble wrap, paper and foam. I then opened the wrapping surrounding the doll... and was horrified to see that my "new" doll's face was covered in dirt smudges ALL over. The auction photos had not looked edited, but the seller must have done something to remove so much dirt on her face. I was still very excited to have my doll with me... but I was also feeling a nervousness creep over. Could I clean her up and not damage her in the process?

I looked at a pose doll forum on Flickr and took some mental notes on the advice pose doll owners had given for cleaning up a doll's face. Using a little water (with q-tips), a clean white eraser and some of my chalk pastels, I was able to entirely clean and rework my doll's face. Because there was so much smudging on her cheeks, some of her original blush was damaged. I mixed my chalk pastels and concocted a pink color that matched her original blush. I then worked on her entire face, covering all the smudges very carefully. I was so relieved to find that my doll looked like new when I was finished. I would have taken "before" photos, but I had been so eager to clean up the doll that I didn't get those photos done.

(After the dolly ordeal, I feel more confident with working with pose dolls and am happy to say that customized and restored pose dolls will be up in my new shop within the next few months, along with pose doll prints. I plan to only keep one pose doll in my dolly family, but others will come to my home to be photographed and then rehomed. ^___^)

Lollynd (lahl-lind): I debated quite a few names for my pose doll, and in the end, I've decided to call her Lollynd. It's a name full of sweetness. With the idea of "lollipop land" in mind, I combined the two words. Lollynd is a darling vintage doll who comes from a land of candy (like most of my dollies!). <3

The big valentine in the background is something I picked up last weekend when Shawn and I celebrated Valentine's Day. He asked me how I wanted to celebrate the occasion and I told him I wanted to go antiquing. ^^ I found some pretty beautiful vintage items that day. And all the while, I had Lollynd in mind! She's a true inspiration.

I finally got around to taking a photo of Plum's full "Sweet Tweet Polly" set! I was really happy when I found boots that would match the outfit so perfectly. Plum wears baby blue a lot so the boots will definitely come in handy for future outfits, too. ^^

I was super excited to have snagged Jane's two Polly "Sweet Tweet" pieces (helmet + sweater dress) a few weeks ago. I fell in love with the two exact pieces she had advertised in her promo photos, and I was lucky to have gotten both of them as soon as they were posted! All the helmets were OOAK and there were just a few of the sweater dresses available. They were all made in blue and white; some had the @ symbol and others had the # symbol. I think Jane did a beautiful job of capturing Twitter's bird logo. in the helmets! SO sweet and well done.

Since I'm often babbling on and on about Plum on Twitter, I thought I'd let her show off the appreciation set. ^__~ Her two little pigtails remind me of birdy wings, tee hee. I'll reveal her entire outfit soon. <3