Dream a little

Blackberry Curve

Grace — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:03:10 +0000

We went to Best Buy this evening and I got a new cell phone! It is a Blackberry Curve with T-Mobile service. It is not as nice as Iphone but it will only be for emergency and stuff like when I am driving and I get a flat tire, that kind of stuff. It makes me nervous when driving a ways and I do not have a cell phone in case I need help or something. I already have Itouch and wanted something different so I decided on a Blackberry.

Not sure if T-Mobile is a good company though. I have never used their service before but people say it is pretty good service too. I wanted to get Verizon wireless originally but their minimum service cost $39.95 so I chose T-Mobile instead which is $10 less. It comes with 300 minutes/month with unlimited weekends which is really enough for an emergency phone I think.

Wordpress 2.6

Grace — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:36:49 +0000

Dream a little has been upgraded to Wordpress 2.6! I was going to wait for maybe a week or two to upgrade this journal but I was excited and very curious about the new version so I thought why not do it now. It can not be that hard to upgrade. I mean what could be so different about it from version 2.5 I was upgrading from? Well apparently they have made many improvements and added new features too!

It also seems my beautiful theme works well with Wordpress 2.6 and my plugins all seem to be working properly so I am quite happy and content with the upgrade. And it took all of 10 minutes! I was a bit worried as I might fudge things up but the upgrade it seems was a success.

Super Dollfie Sara

Grace — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:40:03 +0000

A new arrival has joined my bjd gang! She is a Super Dollfie Sara. She was unplanned and was bought from Volks website by my boyfriend, Russ. Is not that sweet of him? I needed a body for AiL Alice and Chloe so that is why SD Sara was brought home. Her head was to be my new practice head. Though I think that will not be the case now. With all these heads I have to paint I think there is no need to delegate her as practice head. AiL Chloe and Alice will just have to borrow her body sometimes.

She was ordered on the 6th which is a Sunday and UPS delivered her at my door on the 8th, Tuesday, without even needing a signature. The delivery guy just left her there at the front door. I did not even hear a knock. It is odd that a signature was not needed because all the other dolls we have received from Volks needed signature. But then all the others were limited dolls. Even the yo-sds needed signature and they are less expensive than SD Sara. She came with acrylic eyes and no top eyelashes. Poor thing.

I have always wanted a four sisters doll but I have put it off because I know she can be purchased anytime as she is not a limited doll. I am glad she is home now though. I love her! She is a beautiful doll. Her default face up does not do her justice I think. Her face has to be re-done. Yet another head to add to my pile of to be painted heads. I have named her Sara Beth. I think it suits her well. It is from a Rascal Flatts song.

Well, here are a couple of quick photos(nothing fancy) of her. My Sara Beth. One of the four sisters. The ball jointed doll that started it all. Well, pretty much anyway.

She is wearing Gumdrops eyes. I took her acrylic eyes off as soon as she arrived and gave her new 18mm Gumdrops. Hopefully next time I take pictures of her, she will have a new face up.

Alice in Labyrinth Daryl and Bertram (AiL)

Grace — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:41:14 +0000

Alice in Labyrinth Daryl and Bertram arrived yesterday. Daryl is soooo cute! I love her! And Bertram is definitely a boy I think. When I first saw photos of Bertram online, I thought that he could be a girl but now that I have seen him in real life, he is definitely a boy. A really handsome boy.

A quick flash photo of the two of them side by side. Daryl’s head is so little.

I love all AiL heads! They are so beautiful and are some of my most favorite bjd heads. I definitely want another Daryl and maybe a couple of the other heads too. Well, they are not limited so later on I will order some more after I finish painting the heads I have now. I hope to paint them all in August.

Oh and also Alice in Labyrinth said in their email that they do plan to make bodies for their doll heads in the future. Hmmm, I wonder when that will be. I would really love to have the matching bodies for these heads so each will be a complete bjd.

About Gumdrops, some eyes are still not finished I am afraid some will take until the end of the month to be mailed. I have been putting more hours though so maybe they will be finished before then.

Volks Yo-SD Tanpopo, Beatha

Grace — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:33:26 +0000

I stumbled upon these photos of my Yo-SD Tanpopo, Beatha, again today while looking for a file in my computer. I did not publish these photos on my site before as I planned to re-shoot but I have not got to it yet.

Here she is anyway looking so cute and yummy. I was not very fond of dolls these size but I changed my opinion when I got her. She is my very first Yo-SD and I brought home 3 more after she arrived. I do not know what got me to bring her home in the first place. Maybe it is those cute chubby cheeks and big puppy eyes.

Beatha is wearing wig from Can Can, outfit and shoes by Dollheart and her eyes are 16mm/8mm custom Gumdrops eyes.

Many people seem to be very fond of the new four sisters yo-sd. I am just glad I do not really like them. They are very cute dolls too of course but I just do not feel like I have to have them. I heard they are pretty pricey on the secondary market. All my dolls were acquired directly from the makers or agent of the makers except for one which is my Hypermaniac Choyangbi, Dumuzi. I got him from Michelle who was the first owner and also I was the first and only one to do face up on him so I know his history quite well and I know he was very well taken care of. Otherwise I would have not adopted him. I do not really like paying secondary market price and also I like my dolls brand new when I get them.

Dolly Post

Grace — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:46:17 +0000

Well, I used my $50 Google adwords coupon from my web hosting service to promote Dolly Post. It is a new Asian ball jointed dolls forum. Actually it is the replacement of Ethereal Angels Forum and started around the end of May. Instead of just upgrading and keeping everything, I decided to just start new and with a new domain too. So if you see Dolly Post ad on the right hand side when searching about bjd on Google, do not be surprised. I check in on Dolly Post whenever I can to help keep it going. The beginning is the hardest part, specially getting people to register and participate since we do not really have any kind of big exposure like in a doll magazine or anything. I made it my browser homepage so I can keep up with things otherwise I might forget to check in for a couple of days.

Dolly Post has a very small number of members currently. Hopefully we will have more soon. I do not mind it being small as long as the few members we have are fairly active. Smaller groups usually have a more intimate feel and better camaraderie because you get to know each other better.

Anyway, Gumdrops March pre-order are not all finish so I can not do face ups on my dolls yet. We are getting late on the orders again. *sigh* I wish there is an easier and faster way for us to make the eyes. But we just keep on going and soon they all shall be finished.

After the eyes are done, I plan to take 2 weeks off and do face ups on my dolls and just have lots of fun with them. It has been a long time since I have done face ups and I miss it.

Also finally ordered and sent payment for Alice in Labyrinth Daryl and Bertram. AiL said they will be shipped in a few days. It says on their website that they will be releasing their white skin version heads. Not really fond of white skin and I much prefer the normal skin. Dollstown 15girl body or 13girl body might be a match for Alice and Chloe.

White balance correction

Grace — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:34:38 +0000

Ever took photos and it turns out to have a bluish, reddish or yellow cast to it? I have had this problem on and off with my photos. It has always been a hit or miss type of thing. From my old beat up Kodak 2 megapixel camera to the current Canon camera we have now. This problem has plagued me forever and I did not know how to correct it until a couple days ago.

I always shoot in raw file format now and my Canon camera came with this bundled software called Digital Photo Professional(DPP). In the sidebar under white balance there is an eye dropper to sample an area that should be white. This will adjust the white balance correctly assuming your exposure is correct. Yes, I have now just found out about it and I have this camera for almost 1 year now.

DPP

White balance correction can also be done with Adobe Photoshop. A raw file is not necessary for this. Open up a photo that needs correcting then click Image>Adjustment>Levels. Choose the middle dropper and sample an area of your photo that should be gray. This should adjust the white balance correctly assuming your exposure is correct. You only do this if you do not have a gray card. If you do have one, take a photo with your gray card. The gray card does not need to occupy a large portion of the photo. It just need to be visible. Then do the steps mentioned.

Note : It is really preferable to use a gray card for white balance adjustment in Photoshop for accuracy.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe White Balance before and after

In the photo of Danica above, I sampled an area that I thought should be gray with the middle dropper in Photoshop. It is not the perfect coloring I think but you can play around with the dropper until you get the white balance as close to real life.

Alice in Labyrinth (AiL) Chloe, Alice and Elijah arrives

Grace — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:47:41 +0000

Yes, today, Alice, Elijah and Chloe came! The postman delivered them this morning before 10am. I like getting EMS mail. They are always delivered earlier than regular mail.

The heads are exquisite. They do not have faceups but already they look beautiful. It is very exciting to receive dolls made by a newer company. Or in this case, doll heads made by a newer company. The postman must think we are so weird for ordering only doll heads as it says so on the customs forms, “Doll heads - Qty. 3″.

AiL dolls have smaller eyes than most Asian ball jointed dolls I have seen. All these 3 uses 14mm eyes. Their quality is really very good and they have magnets on their headcaps just like Volks Super Dollfie. Their faces have an old world look to them. This is a big plus as I love these type of dolls so much. They remind me of Koitsukihime dolls. Oh and Alice in Labyrinth bjd is made in Japan too. So it is good that there is another ABJD company in Japan besides the well known Volks that can ship international.

A quick photo

I am placing my order for Daryl and Bertram this week. I will not be able to paint all these heads though until around the end of July as I am currently finishing this order of Gumdrops eyes. There are a lot of dolls I have to paint. One of them had been waiting almost a year now to be painted. It is my Hahanbi by Hypermaniac. I ordered her with no faceup and she has been in her bag since the day she arrived last year in July. Then there are my 2 U-Noa kits I got last December, Heath, U-Noa Zero and the new AiL heads. It is about a year now since I last repainted a doll. I am bit rusty I think and need more practice. The production of eyes has taken over my time. I want to catch up with my dolls so I am trying to finish the orders on time.

Narindoll BJD Narae, Lorelei

Grace — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:27:01 +0000

Too bad that Narindoll only recently released their urethane ball jointed dolls. I would have loved it if my Narae, Lorelei, was made of urethane. The new tanning urethane option is specially lovely. Because of her French resin-ness, I have considered selling my girl for I do not know how many times now. I am afraid of her changing color but then every time I take her out of her box I just could not do it. Her face is just so gentle and serene. How could I ever part with her?

French resin is really beautiful but it is known for turning yellow after only a short period of time like 2 years or sometimes sooner. My Narae stays in her box when she is not being played with. Only comes out for re-dress and photo session. This is fine with me as most of my bjds stay in their own boxes anyway but it is the thought of her turning yellow that makes me cringe. On her certificate it says she was made on the 15th of May 2007 so she is over a year old. She has not changed color at all. Maybe it is due to her being in her box all the time. I love her anyway. She is the classic type faceplate. Such a delicate, beautiful mold. Narin doll Narae is truly a classic beauty.

Lorelei had her pictures taken very early this morning. She is wearing shirt by Brennil, skirt by dollwearbystaci, wig by me and 12mm Gumdrops eyes.

I uploaded all 8 photos at Dolly Post.

* Photos may not display properly with resolution of 1280×768 and below. *

I know it is a bit weird to get so attached to ball jointed dolls. I never sold any of mine. Well, I did sell one ball jointed doll a while back but I bought her specifically to do face up on and then sell. It was a Lishe by Cerberus Project. It was hard because I loved that Lishe so much after I was done with her but I had to keep my promise to sell her. I never bought another doll to be repainted and sold after that. I just can not do it. Maybe when I get bored of the hobby then I will have a change of heart and sell all my bjds. But it is not going to be anytime soon I think.

Doll theft at Volks NY Dolpa

Grace — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:14:01 +0000

It is very shocking that this happened and to Volks too. They have been such good people to the US bjd community.

The dolls apparently were stolen overnight and not during the Dolpa when bjd people are there. People each have a speculation of how and who could have done such a thing and everyone hoping that the seven dolls that went missing will be found. I doubt very much that they can ever be recovered unless the crooks were videotaped during the act. If this is the case, then maybe there is hope of finding them.

List of dolls that were stolen:

SD16 Girl “Ruby” w/black swan dress
MSD Girl F-21 Fairy w/blue dress
MSD Boy F-13 Fairy w/blue outfit (2 and 3 have matching outfits and long elf ears)
MSD Girl F-22 Fairy w/yellow dress
SD13 Girl F-29 w/yellow dress (4 and 5 have matched dresses)
SD13 Boy F-31 Fairy w/dark green & red outfit
SD13 Boy “Irvin” (FDQ Limited Model) w/Fairy default dress

Alice in Labyrinth Dolls

Grace — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 10:16:09 +0000

The first time I have seen Alice by Alice in Labyrinth I was smitten. All their doll heads are gorgeous and I like that they have smaller eyes than most ball jointed dolls and their features are not like anime.

Russ ordered Alice, Elijah and Chloe for me as a very belated Christmas present. I could not decide what to get until now. He promised to buy me a full doll but I wanted these heads instead. Too bad that AiL only makes doll heads.

Anyway, they said that they will mail the heads within a week. I am thinking of ordering Daryl soon after I get the 3 heads but still can not decide if I should get Bertram. Maybe I might as well get him too to complete the set. I can always sell him if he does not work out. He is a beautiful sculpt for sure but I do not know if I want another boy because I am already getting Elijah. I am more fond of girl dolls. Boy dolls are more like props to me. They are like arm candy for the girls.

My niece, Zoe

Grace — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:51:31 +0000

She’s just the cutest little thing. No wonder my Mom is so crazy about her as she talks about her all the time. She is only two years old in these pictures and already she knows how to work the camera. Zoe is still in the Philippines with her mother(my sister Gladys). Hopefully soon they will both be living here in the states. I have already planned where to take them sightseeing as soon as they get here. We will go to Disneyland, SeaWorld and to all the other wonderful theme parks that southern California has. I’m sure that they will both enjoy it very much! Disneyworld in Florida is certainly in the list of theme parks that we will also visit. I am sure the little tot will collect a lot of toys in these visits. My niece will be a spoiled little girl I am afraid. She will have her mother, myself, and specially her grandmother giving her all the things her little heart could wish for. Well I suppose we will just have to make sure that we do not spoil her too much.

As expected, the INS is taking their sweet time in giving my sister and niece their visas. My Mom filed the papers for my sister to come to the states back in 2002. That was 6 years ago! Zoe will be 3 years old this August. I wish we will have her here while she is still very little and very cute. I still have not seen the little rascal in person. I have not visited the Philippines since I left in 1991. There is no excuse for not visiting my family but I do hope to visit them either this year or early next year. I’m sure it will be fun to be with them again. They will all see how I have grown so much older. But I’m sure I will find them so much older too.

Pride and Prejudice 1995 vs. Pride and Prejudice 2005

Grace — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:01:09 +0000

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

Pride and prejudice has had a few film adaptations but the 1995 A&E tv mini series with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle is still the most excellent and truest to the book to date. The 2005 movie adaptation with Kiera Knightley in it suffers gravely in comparison. Acting and production wise, the movie was very inferior to the tv mini series. It was and is an utter disaster.

It is true that the mini series has more than twice the run time of the movie but still, there are many things that could have been done differently to make the movie work. Pride and prejudice 2005 left me cold.

Pride and Prejudice Scene Comparison : First proposal

Volks Yo-SD Kanon, Gladys

Grace — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:38:41 +0000

As was mentioned in the previous entry, my Yo-SD Kanon arrived home on May 2nd. The 2nd of May is my dear sister Gladys’s birthdate so Yo-SD Kanon has been named Gladys. I think it is cute that they have the same name and the same “birthdate”.

To the left is a quickie picture of the new girl looking so fresh and lovely hanging out with maneki neko. All photos from this photoshoot can be viewed at Dolly Post. I love her to pieces! What a real cutie she is! She has the parted lips which is great as my other 3 Yo’s have closed lips. It gives the gang a bit more diversity especially since two of them are twins (Tinatsu & Kuuta). They should have group photos soon I think. All four of them will look absolutely charming together.

Little Gladys is wearing Volks underwear, her default wig and 14mm Gumdrops eyes in Peony. The default wig she came with is just so adorable on her. It is a cute style. If I find someone selling this wig I would definitely grab it. I would love to have another one for my Beatha(Yo-SD Tanpopo).

Epona, my sexy U-Noa Lusis

Grace — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:46:20 +0000

I took some photos of Epona(U-Noa Lusis) about a couple of weeks ago. The background look a bit intense for this lovely girl I think. Too bad as Epona looks really good in these photos. She is soooo sexy. ^^ It will just have to be re-shoot. That’s one good thing about having dolls for a model. They will always look good and they will never complain. I will use the new backdrop I received today for the next photo shoot.

The following photos may not display properly if your resolution is 1280×768 and below.

Oh and my Yo-SD Kanon arrived today. She is sooo cute and looks perfect with my yo gang. I’m so happy with her and I’m glad I decided to get her when I did. Her wig is really cute too and suits her cute self very well. I changed her eyes right away to 14mm Peony Gumdrops (temporary, will be Dreamy Green soon) and dressed her. Now she’s sitting comfortably with the tiny gang. ^^ I will take photos of her soon. Or maybe I’ll ask Russ to do it. He takes better pictures and know how to work the camera better.

About Gumdrops, there is a bit of a bad news in the eye production. Some of the order eyes are being remade. There was a batch that turned out with imperfection. I was just beside myself when I discovered it. I really, really want to finish the pre-order Gumdrops eyes on time.

Well, I have to go now. Breaktime is over.

Ethereal Angels Forum and vBulletin

Grace — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:42:41 +0000

I have neglected the Ethereal Angels forum pretty badly. I have not posted there in a very long time nor have I approved anyone’s registration. It will be totally revamped this year though and upgraded to the latest version of vBulletin. Will probably have to start from scratch. Erase everything and start like a brand new forum.

Speaking of vBulletin, Russ purchased a copy of it for his mini buggy site. It seems pretty complicated and has many features. There are some very pretty themes/skins for it too. I found a few that I like but I have to have Russ download them for me because the site for the themes require some sort of code or something before they will allow anyone to download the themes. I guess they want to make sure that your copy is not a cracked/pirated version or something. Also, on vBulletin forum they do not want to give any info and very reluctant to answer pre-sales question. This is a turn off for prospective customer if you ask me. I have been interested in vBulletin since 2004 but I want to know more about it before purchasing of course so I did not purchase. Now that Russ has and I can see how it works, maybe I will eventually purchase it too but as of the moment, I am still quite put out about how they treat their prospective customers. It is like they treat prospective customers like thieves until they actually purchase and show them the money.

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Grace — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:34:56 +0000

A&E’s Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle has now become one of my most favorite movies. Well, it was actually a tv mini series but it was so very well made from their costumes down to the musical score. The characters were excellently portrayed. I love Mr. Darcy! He was so mean. I’ve watched it so many times I lost count how many.

Anyways, production of Gumdrops is coming along. We have received many, many orders despite the limit. Hopefully soon we can hire some help.