2020 - Reset and Doll #1 of 2020

How miserably I failed on my guidelines in 2019!   Upon reflection, I can come up with many excuses but the facts are the facts!

I only sold 10 dolls in 2019 (compared to 74 in 2018)!  I have been reluctant to sell some of my older FR2 girls because I like the hip joint for posing my dolls; however, I prefer the body without the hip joint for photographing or displaying dolls in swimwear or lingerie.  It's almost like I need both bodies.  It finally hit me that I could use the hip-jointed FR2 bodies that pull apart and keep one lower torso without the hip joint in each skin tone (or vice-versa)!  I could just replace the lower torso for whatever photo session I was working on!  Problem solved.   It felt really good to figure this out (too bad it took so long), and now it will be easier to let go some of my older FR2 dolls that need new homes.

FR has really saturated the 12" collecting market over the past few years.  A lot of collectors are trying to refine their collections.  This caused some great deals on older dolls to show up.  Since I find it hard to resist great deals, paired with the fact that I sold several grails in 2018 and had a tidy sum in my Paypal account, I shamelessly lost my ever-loving collecting mind on the secondary market.  In addition, I attended my second doll convention this year which added 26 dolls to my collection at one time!  I wound up adding 85 dolls to my collection in 2019 (compared to 45 in 2018).  I feel sick at my stomach.  

... But there is simply no use living in the past!  It's time to move forward, learn from previous mistakes, and try to do better.  

If I am to do better, I need to stay away from any website where dolls can be purchased.  Who am I kidding!?  All the websites where doll collectors gather sell dolls!  I just need to be more selective.

An example of this was when someone posted a MIB Complete Prosperous Complexity Kyori Sato for $110.   Just the ensemble sells for almost that price on e-bay.  I rationalized that, if I didn't like the doll, the ensemble and body were easily worth $110.  

#1 of 2020 is Prosperous Complexity Kyori Sato.

Organizing for 2020

I've simply got to get my collection organized!  I say that every year!  Last year my purchases got totally out of hand - mainly due to some great deals on secondary market and then attending the IT Fashion Week Convention (24 dolls somehow sneaked into my luggage home).

I'm thinking about revising my guidelines to require two dolls to leave for every one doll coming in.  Like that will happen!

We've had a lot of emergencies in our family over the past few months, so I've not been able to photograph, list, or sell many dolls.  (Isn't it funny how I find the time to troll e-bay and doll websites to purchase dolls though?  Hmmm?  A thought to ponder for about half a second!)

I recently purchased a cosmetic organizer at Tuesday Morning for $5.99.  They are quite common.  I believe they are for lipsticks or small bottles of nail polish.  The compartments aren't very large,  but they are just big enough to comfortably display a pair of doll shoes!

I don't want my doll shoes falling out all over the place when I pick this little gem up, so I used 1/2 a glue spot on the sole of each shoe.   I found these in the craft department of Walmart.  They were fairly inexpensive (less than $5).   The glue spot hold the shoe in place.  (I also found out they help a doll hold a pose on a stand!)

This is how it looks when you set it up!  Voila!

It's an easy way to display 15 pairs of shoes that can be easily seen and used!  You can even lay the organizers flat in a drawer if you prefer!

I know this is just a tiny, baby step ... but even baby steps feel very good!