Doing Science!

Got my claws on the latest Monster High classroom 2 packs. I know a lot of folk are mostly into the Heath/Abbey pack (coming soon), but as a school chemistry nerd, not to mention hardcore Ghoulia fan (with a PhD chemistry nerd for a sister). The mad science pack was the first box I ripped into!

I love this set. Classic Ghoulia with the best headband yet, and Cleo has a nice splash of color with a  glammed up lab coat (of course). One of the most fun details in the pack was the beakers. At first I was sad the lockers didn't make a come back in this round, but the props made up for that. Lids come off, tubes can be used to combine pieces or left aside for separates, even the main beaker has a removable explosion for before and after disaster!

I fixed up a background from an old turn of the century science lab (creepy) and snapped a small photo set with 2 of my favorite ghouls mixing up trouble. Reminded me of the time a girl in my high school science class unleashed a cloud of concentrated acid vapors into to the lab. Mr Hackington would have been proud!

 

Full photo set over on the Dolly Daydream site!

Phantom of the Ballet

Ballet Sindy from 1985

I love ballet dolls, as a little girl my all time favorite doll was a ballerina Sindy doll (I need to rescue and fix her up one day) but pretty much every ballet doll is all geared up for a performance in Swan Lake or the Nutcracker, which is cool, but I've always found the practice and training part of ballet just as fascinating.

A while ago I snapped up a Monster High swing dance Operetta, even though I said I wouldn't. In hand the doll was possibly even more underwhelming, aside from having zero swing dance style, the poor thing had the most undone hair I've seen on a Monster high doll yet, and she was lacking all kinda of the usual style and finish I tend to associate with the MH line. What she did have however was that fantastically elegant Operetta molding (she really is one of the most beautiful fashion dolls I've ever seen) and a cute leotard/skirt combo that would either turn into a great beach doll, or, maybe, just maybe a ballet doll....

I wanted to study ballet for so many years, but was always afraid till last year finally took the plunge and started studying as an adult, (more on that here) and it has become such an important part of my life since. So yeah, ballet Operetta it was.

One thing that originally pulled me into collecting Monster High dolls, was that they were the one kids doll line that steered away from the super princessy, and kinda prissy style and feel. The dolls have amazing articulation perfect for "action" ballet poses, but also that edginess could translate well into the hard work, and passion side of ballet that the usual "dream of sugarplums" ballerina dolls lack.

I made her some warm up accessories, such as tights, legwarmers, ribbons, arm warmers etc. painted up her bag because the mold was fantastic just needed a little extra love, and pulled that straggly uneven hair into a neat tidy bun, et voila!

As a rock n roll ballerina she might not be everyone's cup of tea, but she's made it up there for me as a favorite Operetta of mine. I hope a few other ballet doll fans might like her too.

(There as as always more photos info etc over on on the Dolly Daydream website)

Go Go Ghoulia!

I love my vintage, I love my Ghoulia, and I love to keep the 2 things as close together as possible! When Monster high dolls first came out, each character had such a strongly personal style. Ghoulia was my instant favorite (I was late to the game and got into them around the same time the wave 2 dolls were dropping) I loved her 60's Night of the Living Dead's Barbara style, and Thriller 80's touches. It seems the designs tend to go back and forth between the 60's and the 80's but as a vintage girl it's always been her 60's flavor I loved the best!

A while back I did a couple of custom monster High dolls dressed up in real world versions of their fashion influences,. A proper, elegant, lolita Draculaura, and 2 straight 60's Ghoulias. The 2nd one with black gingham trousers I sold, this dotty darling I kept!

She's found her way into my heart as one of my current favorite dolls, but I hadn't really had chance to photograph her until this week.

I recently acquired a giant printer/scanner for work, and aside from being great for digitizing my pattern drafting, it also prints out at the perfect size for Monster High doll backdrops. This little set of photos is the first with my printed backdrops, and one I hope really captures the retro geek chic of the lovely Ghoulia!

There are some more photos from this set over on the main Dolly Daydream site...

Boudoir Darlings

A few months ago I discovered, and became really interested in 1920s boudoir dolls. I love them because they had such a short run, just though the 20's and 30's, and are so perfectly frivolous!

For any one as late to the pary as me, boudoir dolls came about as part of the many crafts coming into Paris from Russia at that time. Relativly simple cloth bodies, painted faces, and at the time more Russian style costume. They became more and more popular and soon they were being made in fantastic18th century inspired costumes, as fashionable flappers and seedy undesirables. Women would drape them around their bedrooms and personal spaces. They represented the style of the times, and also the fantasies and daydreams of the young women holled up in these rooms. The dolls weren't only restricted to the house, some daring flappers would carry their dolls out for a night on the town. More than just a fashion doll, they were dolls as fashion accessories!

 You can spot them quite often in old movies, and they show up fairly regularly in photos of film stars and flappers through out the 20's and 30's.

I design clothing and accessories for a living, but also make and customize dolls pleasure, so these have so much appeal to me as dolls and as accessories.
 from cute but beat up to "I can't believe it stayed so clean for so long!" Trawling through listings and photos I found myself more and more wanting to make my own so that it could be just as personal as some of the dolls that appeared to be to their owners in the old photos like the one above.

It took a while, but after getting my hands covered in clay, and clothes whited out with dust, I finally managed to steal some time the other day to finish off my first boudoir doll! She looks like a Constance so that's what she's called.

She went from a creepy head on a stick to a (apparently still creepy) well dressed girl, swimming in ruffles, ribbons and art deco styling!

She has a little floss wig, picture dress, and lots of little ribbon trimmings, right down to mini knee level garters!

There's whole line of projects to work on using this doll, and it's got me started making old style dolls which is something I've been wanting to do for a while.

A few things I might do differently next time around, but over all she makes me smile, and a great starting point for bringing yet another new old thing into my life :) More photos over on Dolly Daydream (including the dolly garters!!!) along with a lot of the other dolls I've made and customized over the years.