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...