Not been very active on the doll scene lately so was good to get to the monthly London meet this month ^^

Had a good chat with both old and new attendees and took a few photos.

Brought my new bunny Mamachapp that I am tempted to name Bunny, Sonja, Pino and Kanu.
Wanted to bring Chloe but just could not be bothered lugging her weight around in the heat.

I am revising my collection as well, I have for a very long time been complaining about space issues and now is the right time to do something about it.

Going to concentrate on my Unoas and Dollfie Dreams which means my Soom and some Iplehouse will have to leave the house for good.

Prices will be digged out if anyone is interested for those with no price tag on them.
Please contact me via the contact form ^^

Got feedback on DoA and Ebay, please request account names if needed.

Prefer to get paid by cheque or bank transfer as I might otherwise break my paypal limit
If you are not comfortable with this payment method I am happy to do Paypal + 5% in packing and handling fees.
Shipping not included.
Will be using Interparcel.com for all shipping, UK included unless otherwise requested.

Up for sale are the following:

Soom Beryl Neverending Dream, fullset, original faceup and bodyblushing with some repairs made to the hoof area by me. 2nd owner.

Soom Cuprit, fullset, blank as I had a plan about doing a fantastic faceup but never got around to it as lost interest in her, shame really, 1st owner

Iplehouse Akando Pierrot, fullset, in the first 50 limited order out of 70, original faceup and hand blushing, $1500, 1st owner

Soom Glot (the girl), fullset + feather wings, original faceup and bodyblushing + sanding, $800, 1st owner

That is it for now, is still considering these so if you are interested, please let me know:

Iplehouse Asa Tokyo Story fullset, time limited edition, 1st owner
Iplehouse Luna Tamer fullset, time limited edition, 2nd owner
Iplehouse Tania Pierrot fullset, 50 limited, 1st owner
Iplehouse Tatiana Pierrot fullset, 50 limited, 1st owner
Volks Ami Ayase fullset, 1st owner

Silver dress, did not win anything but my own personal favourite

Gold dress won 3rd place in the costume competition ^^ Yay me! Thanks to all who voted for this one!

On a grey November Sunday morning I ventured out with my packed suitcases, camera bag and my ticket for the London doll event of the year: Midwinter Masked Ball.

Arrived at the pub before everyone else and started to be a bit worried that I had either gotten the address wrong or the dates mixed up…

Everyone finally started showing up about 15 minutes late and setting up could finally commence.

It was an epic day with lots of socialising, putting faces on user names, meeting up with new and old peeps, taking lots of photos, having a really good pub buffet, competitions and general sillyness.

A few of us ended up in Wong Kei for dinner which was equally epic although I am not a huge fan of their food, the company was brilliant!

Huge thanks to Madame Mau Mau of the Nacht Zircus for arranging this and hope that we can all help bring this back for next year if all goes well!

Not sure if we beat the Russians this time but we sure made a bloody good effort!!!

These are the finished results of a weeks hard work ^^

As any creative person will know: Doing things well in advance is what we all set out to do but in reality we mostly end up doing it the night before we have to hand in the project.

I had known about this event for months but had been pushing the outfits aside for other things like commissions and general life.

My initial idea was to make a double act in the form of two identical dresses, one black and one white worn by my Unon twins.

Only obstacle was the fact that I actually did not have my Unon twins yet as no2 was on her way with expected delivery September but with Hobby Japan’s notorious record of being late, the risk of her not turning up in time was pretty big. Therefore, did not want to start before I knew she was home safe and sound.

She arrived mid October but was busy finishing of the Misaka Mikoto commission so had no time to put her together when she finally arrived after months of waiting for her.

Then, a week before the event I finally started up the machinery to get the Unon twins dressed up.

Started up a moodboard on Pinterest.com to get some inspiration for the ball gowns.

As time all of a sudden was tight I decided on doing the dresses with fabrics I already had in stock as well as accessories and trims. Only had to go get some minor parts such as tulle and some silver fabric for one of the dresses as I didn’t have anything like that already.

So the black and white idea was scrapped in favour of a silver and gold theme and two different styles as the fabrics did not agree to being the same style.

Sasara had the honour of being my model for the mock ups – here, the first steps towards the silver dress.


…And the gold dress

Also had to make some masks as the event was a masked ball and you cannot really attend a masked ball without a mask

Decided on papier mache as wanted something slim and delicate and from forums had noticed that other fellow crafters had issues with Fimo being too heavy and not able to hold its shape when cooking.
So, wrapped up the extra faceplates in clingfilm and covered them in a layer of tin foil in order to get the face features to stand out.
Cut out small pieces of newspaper and got myself some wallpaper glue stuff and covered up the faceplates in several layers.

Left to dry for a couple of days and then drew the shapes on the full casts and cut them out. The eyeholes were a bit tricky and could possibly have used a bit of sanding but just cleaned them out with a scalpel.


Gave the masks a couple of layers of white paint to make sure that the newspaper wasn’t shining through.
Then, gilded them with fake gold and silver leaf, never tried that before so result was a bit wrinkled in places but all in all, personally happy with the finished result.

Started the day making a quick body suit for Sasara so that she would be able to wear her default outfit. However, did not make any sleeves for her = She now got very black arms >.< Oh well.

Hubby made some lovely breakfast for me while I was packing up my suitcase and generally stressing around to get myself ready to go.

Actually headed out a lot earlier than usual reason being, was headed for Trocadero and meeting up with the DC crowd.

Got there and was picked up by Cookiedude_2332. Headed for the Technika machine and found Jezatron, Krowbar and GabrielVH hanging around Pocky who was superglued to the Technika machine.

For some reason I had imagined it to be one of those dancing games but no, something onscreen guitar hero like not sure >.< Have to google it at some point... Or maybe go try it.

Was only there a very short while, then we headed for the Royal Festival Hall. Arrived after a short trip in a VERY hot and sticky tube.

Lovely as always and Twirl had been the first on site again, as always lol! Definitely not a Londoner.

Some really nice fellow Scandinavians just passing through was at the meet but believe one of them is moving to London so hope to see her around more often.

Over the course of the afternoon it got stickier and stickier and people broke up a lot earlier than normally.

The DC people headed of for Japan Centre and Trocadero and I decided to stick with the Rezin crowd since I didn't really speak to them during the day.

Decided on dinner at Ping Pong just around the corner as convenient, fairly cheap and it had aircon! That was epic fun! Raven, Mau, Suvi and Twirl had never had dim sum before so it was really fun to introduce them to this new adventure.
Our waiter was really sweet and seemed to like our collection of dolls and figurines that invaded the table after we had finished the food and headed onto dessert.

Next time, it has to be Chinatown dim sum though, tastier and cheaper by far! Not sure if they do moist coconut balls there though…

This was the day after chasing around London after the Tokyo Trooper. Was a bit tired and a bit stressed out over all the things that I had not done the day before but decided to head out anyway as it was ages since I had seen Mich.

Took me two hours on the train on a journey that normally takes one hour >.< Stupid Sunday maintenance work.

Finally arrived after getting increasingly nervous that I was on the wrong train after Mau and Mich kept telling me I was not going in the right direction.

The rest of the party was having a sleepover in another part of town and well, over slept + did not have the address
They were a little delayed ^^

Great day, tried a lot of different lenses and got a few photos of the experiments.

Brought Mio with me on the plane and she did get quite a few stares from the cabin crew.

Other than that, did not really photograph her outside of the events that I took her too. Shame really but think I might have some hidden on my Iphone that I tweeted at the time… Will update Flickr if I dig them out ^^

Pino did get a bit more outside event camera time, she just turned out to be easier to do cute stuff with.

Last time we arrived on the day of the Dollshow and this meant that I was majorly jet-lagged and we had all our luggage with us and hubby had to sit on it for the two-three hours it took me to ‘run’ through all the floors.

So decided that this time, we were gonna arrive a couple of days before so that well, I would be awake and not miss half of the thing and hubby could come in too!

Still managed to arrive late because I managed to get us lost at the station. Seriously, don’t ask. I think it was because I secretly did not want a MamaChapp…

Anyway, after 15 minutes of faffing around in the wrong direction we arrived at the Dollshow.

I spurted towards the Mai Little Alien stall to get some of Chun’s outfits for my DD girls but well, they were sold out in like *drumroll* 15 minutes >.<

Oh well, got talking to Mai instead and ended up buying a pair of her Unoa jeans as she had made enough stock to last more than 15 minutes *nudge nudge to Chun * – very nice quality btw!

After that rush I went for the Araki stand in the hope I would find the MamaChapp stand somewhere along the way.

Picked up a Little Princess outfit from there for my Chibis.

After that, was not too bothered since well, the MamaChapp was again not to be.
So we wandered the floors and took a few photos that well, turned out a bit random as the light was well, randon

Picked up a few bits and pieces but not a lot as I was hoping for a good number at Dolpa ^^

Great day!
Had a late lunch/ early dinner afterwards at one of the food places in the area with a food ticket machine.
Best dumplings ever!
For the amazing cost of 100yen!!!

Was initially planning on going to Expo on Sunday but plans changed along the way.

First there was the big hoohaa about wristbands that had to be worn in order to even be allowed to be on Exel grounds. This meant a lot of people that I wanted to meet up with decided not to go anyway. They were either sticking to Saturday, for which they had bought tickets or just staying away, because they had no intention of buying one in the first place.

Me, I was going to wing it but then the YHJ! incident with Airi happened and since Jezatron was going Saturday and could not let the poor lad suffer a week more of waiting for his dream girl, decided that Saturday would be a good day to attend.

Also, turned out there was a figure.fm meetup being arranged by CookieDude_2332 on Saturday so another reason to go Saturday.

Decided Friday evening that lugging around big box that Airi came in as well as camera bag, suitcase and handbag was not gonna happen. Ordered a mini cab for 9am instead.

BAD idea.
First, driver went around the block because his GPRS told him that the street was over on the other side of the road. How about getting an AZ + learn how to read signs???
Secondly, he hit on me! Offered to come pick me up afterwards, free of charge O.o I am broke but I am not that broke!
Thirdly, he sent me a txt!
Lesson learned: Do not chit chat with your mini cab driver under any circumstances! Be grumpy and wear headphones!

Arrived at Expo with all my luggage and went to find the coffee bar with the nice couches. Bought breakfast and sat down to chill and announce my arrival.

Was soon joined by DOA peeps and later on the figure.fm/ DC crowd as well.

Jezatron seemed very pleased with his new wallet breaking purchase ^^

Me, I was enjoying having twin Mio’s.
Finished their rock chick outfits at 3am Saturday morning.
Found the GNR socks in Next Friday during my lunch break and instantly saw potential for some cool DD outfits.
After finishing Krowbars’ outfit around midnight started on my own thing.
Socks turned into sweaters. That was easy. Quick job. Only finishing was a time eater.
As short of time and really did want to go to bed at some point before I was getting up, I decided on skirts instead of hot pants.
Cut knickers without a pattern and for the skirts, well, dinner plates is a time saver for circles.
Each skirt, half a dinner plate.
Sewing them again was fast. Doing the garters was what took a loooong time. All by hand and bows are fiddly things to do.
Stockings, well, you should think that was fast but managed to cut the first lot too small so had to redo but yes, then it was fast.

Think these outfits will have to do for next Saturday’s Camden meet as well as I really wanna tidy up my fabric stash as it has gone a bit ‘Where’s Waldo’

Must say, this has been the best Expo meet I have ever attended.
Normally, sitting on hard concrete Excel flooring is not fun and too many random people hovering around makes me stress a bit about security.
Sitting in a coffe bar in couches with a limited number of people being able to hover around the dolls felt a lot more secure and relaxed.
Could do this again.

Thanks to all of you who made this such a pleasant day for me ^^

Was a great warm up to the Eurovision party I was attending in the evening

Great day yet again ^^

Was hoping that some of the people attending the Danny Choo SOAS talk was gonna pop by but unfortunately no, could have been fun! Maybe they will turn up at EXPO.

Anyways, found out that one of the people that I chatted to at the DC event was a friend of a friend of Mao’s and they had recently been out bowling. How small the world is!

Was good seeing Mao again after her being tucked away studying somewhere up North I think and great seeing a lot of new dolls and their owners.

Not so sure it was good seeing Horse and Blood dressed up as babies but maybe in some sort of weird parallel universe kind of way it might have been Dunno. Still speculating.

Actually arrived on time for a change, instead of my stupidly late arrival last time that made me miss like, well, everyone. And managed to have breakfast with hubby before leaving as well. And doing some pattern making but that is another story.