When Doll Collecting Goes Badly Wrong ...

I have recently become a doll stalker.  That's right.  I've been seen three times this week lurking the aisles of local Walmarts, stealthily sneaking upon Monster High dolls and actually fondling the boxes!

The hardest doll rule I created this year was "Rule 1:  Focus My Collecting:  If I don't already have some I don't need one."    What was I thinking??

First, I need to stay off the dollboards.  BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT DO THAT!  It's my stress relief.  It is the one thing that keeps me from cocktail hour and binging on moosetrack ice cream.  (Of course not at the same time, but now I wonder how that would taste?)

All of these enablers on the dollboards (and you know exactly who you are) are enticing me with these super skinny, funky, wild haired, big eyed, freaky dolls.  They are fabulous.  I actually purchased a Ghoulia Yelps last year, but I returned her for fear of what havoc such a purchase could do to future doll spending.

I've been able to avoid these dolls for 8 months ... but now they've come out with their school collection.  And being a school teacher, I find them totally irrestible, especially Frankie Stein Home Ick.

I almost even talked myself into buying two (or three or four) so that I could "skirt around" my rule.  Afterall, it wouldn't be just one!  But, for now ... I'm still in the "just stalking" phase.

... Now to get back on track in all of this.   I can fortunately say that no new doll has entered my house since Cosmetic Takeover.  And "takeover" she has done.  She looks fantastic in Riveting Premier Isha's outfit.  I think this doll is one of the sexiest dolls ever created. 

And in my haste to get this poor girl's head onto a body pronto, I didn't get to photograph her stock. 

Here is her original body as packaged (except with the cracked neck).  I can see what Integrity means when they said, "Get back to the original quality" ... I am referring to the ensemble folks ... definitely not the crumbling neck!   Quality is definitely a word I'd use with this outfit.  Although I am not a fan of fur (even reclaimed/reused fur), the fur is extraordinary.  And those shoes are magnificent.  They have a little chain around the ankle that actually fastens with a hook and eye!  WOW!

Three more dolls have left over the past two weeks bringing my total to 44 dolls gone!  

But I have to decide about the 7 dolls waiting in the queue.  So how do I deal with making a difficult decision.  AVOID it, of course.  Since Private Goddess is freed from her box, I decided to dress her.  I purchased an outfit from a doll collecting friend name Kem recently.  Kem included a cute little Miami Collection bathing suit in with my purchase as a nice gift and surprise.  Here is Private Goddess in this outfit.  She may not be quite as dreadful as I originally thought.  She may be staying for a while.

And since I was playing with these two Nats, I decided to throw a swimsuit on Capricious who has been sporting a NuFace body for some time.  This body is from "The Making of Erin". 

And finally, I deboxed Femme du Monde.  She has been in her box for about three years now.  I believe she really is one of the most under-rated FR dolls of all time.  I forgot how much I love this doll and her ensemble.  The blue bra and earring were added.

She photographs so nicely and looks great in so many things.

... so another doll out of the box ... that means two of my six have some more time for deep consideration.  I think I will leave the two Monograms in their boxes for now; I need to decide about the Monograms anyway.   So, I need to debox one of the four others .... maybe next week!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Today one of the final Holy Grails from my list arrived.   The minute I took the package from my mailperson, I knew there was a problem.  I could feel something rolling around inside.  I was hoping to take an "arrival" photo of her in the package, but the best I can do is the e-bay listing photo from the seller.

It is a common problem with the first generation Integrity dolls for the plastic to deteriorate, crack, crumble, or break.  This usually occurs in the knee or the neck.  Since it has happened to me already in the past ... Girl of the Moment, Suited Luxury, and Sheer Goddess ... I'm not as shocked as if it were the first time.

Fortunately, Cosmetic Takeover (CT) has been on my list of Holy Grail dolls for several years.  I knew that she would be taken out and put on a tall body.  In preparation for this, I had purchased Private Goddess (PG) Natalia so CT would have the handspeak system.

When I took CT's head out of the box, I knew I had to heat it to get the neck knob out.  While the head was heated, I decided to go ahead and put it on the new body; that way I wouldn't have to heat it a second time.  I quickly took my NRFB Private Goddess out of the box and stripped her naked.  I heated PG's head and removed it.  Then I heated CT's head, performed delicate surgery to get the neck knob out and popped the head on the PG body.  WAIT ONE COTTON PICKING SECOND.  The head did not match the body!  When did Natalia's skintone change????  And why didn't I know?

I was lucky to have the body upstairs from Capricious Nat who is now on a NuFace body.  I ran upstairs, heated the heads again and did more transplanting.  Now I have CT on the Capricious body which does not have handspeak (but at least matches in skintone) and PG back on her original body.  But what am I going to do with Private Goddess?  I never liked this doll   I only purchased her for the handspeak body for CT.  And now she has been removed from box and undressed.   What a mess?!

Also of note this week was that I took out Porcelain Beauty Kesenia.  I think my doll was one of the better produced.  Her forehead was not has high as many others (some called them a "five head").  Her eyes are beautifully done as is her faceup.  She also has the slightest hint of a widow's peak which almost made me keep her.   But due to limited space, she is off to her new owner, and is off the "consideration" list.  I sold 12 dolls since my last post, one of ordered dolls arrived and was debosed, and I moved Kesenia out of the queue.  The best news is that I made enough money in my sales to pay for CT.

Nat was taken out of the box within two minutes (much less two weeks) so I have followed my rules very closely this week.  She is staying and managed to snag up the recently abandoned ensemble from Porcelain Beauty Kesenia.