davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2025

[Alliecat]

Oh boy.
Do you have any of those "decluttering consultants" near you?  I see them advertising here & there, now & then... always wondered if it might be helpful.  I'd like someone to come in here & help me find homes for stuff I don't need but that isn't garbage-worthy.  It's just about impossible to sell anything here with such a limited marketplace.

Yeah, that. Another one of those trips coming up toward the end of the month.

Ah, too bad.  Well, one can't ex-pect to have tooo many round-the-world jaunts at once, I guess. 

[davidd]

  I'd like someone to come in here & help me find homes for stuff I don't need but that isn't garbage-worthy.  It's just about impossible to sell anything here with such a limited marketplace.

I find it discouraging when nobody wants my old stuff. But then, I don't want my old stuff, so why should anybody else want it? "But it's still good. It's still useful. Somebody could use it for...." Uh huh. So the old stuff stays put.

Scary thing is, I can look around me and think, "I am SO TIRED of all this crap!" But I can pick up any one single item and immediately know why I have it, why I'm keeping it, and what I might use it for... "someday."

Like, yesterday I picked up a little plastic hook off the counter. I think it was one of those plastic hooks that socks hang on in the stores. I was heading toward the trash bin and I paused. "Y'know, this might make a neat little handle on that 1/6-scale spaceship diorama I want to build. Or, with a bit of paint, it would work as-is as a futuristic space weapon for an action figure." So the little plastic hook found its way out to the storage shed where it was dropped in to one of the several boxes of random bits and pieces that "might come in useful" for decorating a dollhouse or action figure diorama. I'll never see that hook again, or at least not for a very long time, and in a day or two I'll forget it ever existed until I stumble across it, years hence, if I ever happen to look through one of those supply bins.

---

12 March - A Doll A Day 2025:

.

Hi

[davidd]

Nertz! Now I'm getting the "Bad Gateway" error when I try to post new entries!

I got lucky. The back button didn't erase everything I'd typed. I tried again and the post worked.

The seams are definitely leaking on this rusty old tub of a forum.

[davidd]

Nertz! Now I'm getting the "Bad Gateway" error when I try to post new entries!

I got lucky. The back button didn't erase everything I'd typed. I tried again and the post worked.

The seams are definitely leaking on this rusty old tub of a forum.

The Discord server is still up and running. It's not active, but it's accessible.

https://discord.com/channels/304371368810774529/

[Alliecat]

She needs to put on a layer or two. Space is cold

I've learned to type anything of length in Notepad & then paste it in, after losing e-mails & posts here & there, into the void.

I don't have a Storage Shed of Doom but I'm very similar with things I haven't used in ages but they "might" someday be useful. Also, I've got rid of just enough things and subsequently needed them or something like them soon after, to reinforce the idea of keeping stuff "just in case".
Like what in the heck was the little rectangle of wood with a cord through the ends that I found in the workshop? Whatever was Dad saving that for?? But.... when I came across it, it was a nearly-perfect doll swing.

I'm not on Discord so I can't see that link. What is it, a chat?

[TrueFan]

https://thedalhouse.forumactif.org/

[davidd]

I don't have a Storage Shed of Doom but . . . what in the heck was the little rectangle of wood with a cord through the ends that I found in the workshop?  Whatever was Dad saving that for??

I'm not on Discord so I can't see that link.  What is it, a chat?

You have a Workshop of Doom! That's even better than a Storage Shed of Doom!

There was a discussion here on the forum about the Dolly Market Discord several years ago.

https://forums.dollymarket.net/showthrea...id=7257894

Apparently there was once a "live chat" feature on the forum as well.

The Admin of one of the action figure forums on which I used to participate recently shut down its "live chat" feature due to lack of participation.

---

13 March - A Doll A Day 2025:

.

Breck Girl

.

I ain't no Vidal Sassoon, that's for sure!

My first attempt at a dolly boil perm - work in progress.

The victim is a circa 2007 Integrity Toys Nu Face Pretty Calculated Erin Salstrom doll.

[Alliecat]

Yay! Straws and bobby pins! It always looks dumb at this point; I've done it several times. Hopefully if one gets the curls right, the result is worthwhile. Did you actually boil it, or just very hot water? I've always done the latter -- afraid of melting the hair!
I look forward to seeing the result.
I wonder what happened to all the people who used to participate here. Did they get bored with dolls, or did they just get tired of forums?

[davidd]

Yay!  Sraws and bobby pins! It always looks dumb at this point; I've done it several times.  Hopefully if one gets the curls right, the result is worthwhile.  Did you actually boil it, or just very hot water?  I've always done the latter -- afraid of melting the hair!

I wonder what happened to all the people who used to participate here.  Did they get bored with dolls, or did they just get tired of forums? 

I used very hot water - nuked a mug of water in the microwave for 2.5 minutes.

Facebook largely took the place of forums; I've noticed when I've looked at usage trends in the past that the steep decline for forums began around 2012. Then Instagram caught on and drew more people away from both forums and photo-hosting sites.

I'm not sure where the doll community moved to. General toy and "action figure" photography is extremely active on Instagram, especially "super hero" and movie, comic book, and anime style figures.

And some of the forum members have probably died. One of the few remaining active members on an action figure forum I used to frequent recently passed away.

---

14 March - A Doll A Day 2025:

Wellll.... considering that I've never attempted a "boil perm" before, and that I rarely even bother to brush or comb the hair of my dolls and figures, I think my little eeriment turned out fairly well.

Yes, I used plastic straws and bobby pins. I read about that method somewhere, I think. The more common, and effective, methods are to use curl clips or perm rods made for hair with end papers to make rolling the hair easier. I didn't have perm rods or end papers, but I have plenty of plastic straws and I managed to rustle up a few bobby pins.

I should have divided the hair in to smaller bunches, but I was limited by the number of bobby pins I had. I also read afterward that one should try to roll the hair flat on to the rollers rather than allowing it to bunch up.

While the hair was still damp it kind of had a Farrah Fawcett thing happening, which I would have been very happy with.
.

Boil Perm -- Drying

.
After the hair dried, the ends became a little frizzy and the curls straightened out a bit.
.

Is the "do" done? Or do I re-do the "do?"

.
Still, the final effect is pretty close to what I was hoping for. I'm trying to decide whether to give it another try to maybe tighten up the waves, or just leave it and call it good enough.

[Alliecat]

Interesting! I thought it would come out curlier. Yeah, small bunches as flat as you can is better, but, I generally go with bunches of hair that look like it's supposed to be one curl or ringlet or whatever. Sometimes they can get big and bulky to pin.
I'd try combing the ends together with a little water and see if they... what, "cohere"?... a bit more. But it looks pretty good for a first try!

I never navigate Instagram very well. The comments seem hard to follow and don't scroll, and I was never keen on the format. Then the stupid system locked me out and I kind of said "F it."
For more online time-consuming, you could make an FB account and check out "Dolly Kingdom", and I'm sure there are others for Smart Dolls and others in your collection.

[davidd]

I never navigate Instagram very well.  The comments seem hard to follow and don't scroll, and I was never keen on the format.  Then the stupid system locked me out and I kind of said "F it."

For more online time-consuming, you could make an FB account and check out "Dolly Kingdom", and I'm sure there are others for Smart Dolls and others in your collection.

I'm taking a break from Insta. There is no logical way to navigate. Once something is seen and scrolled past there's virtually no way to ever find it again. It is literally an "instant" momentary transient ephemeral platform based upon, and encouraging, fleeting attention spans and impermanence.

I'm beginning to think that, after more years than I care to count online, I'm becoming "forum-ed out." In fact, there's a bit about that in the caption to this Photo o' th' Day.

---

15 March - A Doll A Day 2025:

.

Filter Overload

.
1/6-scale action ffigure striking a sstupid ppose for a "pose emulation" challenge on a Discord toy photography community.

I think I'm about ddone with DDiscord. I mean, it's okay, but quite honestly, my fffotography doesn't mmmeasure up anymore, nor does my tttaste in dddolls and action fffigures conform with what is cccurently fffashionable.

Anyway, this particular figure, a combination of a TBLeague S34 body, a YM Toys YMT-029 head sculpt, and an assortment of 1/6-scale military-style clothing is one of the first Phicen/TBLeague characters I assembled, dating back to 2020. Technically this is the third figure I assembled but it is the first of my early figures that "took hold" and hasn't been disassembled and repurposed in to other characters.

Even though this figure has been "complete" since 2020 it has rarely appeared in photos. I snapped two or three pix in 2020, a couple in 2021, and it made a cameo appearance in 2023. The character, called Nicolette Arkham, was intended to be a regular or at least a recurring character in a series of photo-stories that never materialized.

So what? Who cares? I'm nattering.

Crummy over-processed pic for 15 March - A Doll A Day 2025

[Alliecat]

Well, I kinda like it and am going to call it "artsy" because it has a very last-stand kind of vibe for me. At least with where I am in life right now -- I feel ya, girl.

I'm sure I've said before, if one is always chasing what everyone else likes or considers fashionable, and always comparing, one will never be satisfied. I think we have to resist the lure of fishing for "likes". Take the pictures you enjoy taking. If someone else likes them, bonus. Otherwise, at least you have fun and do what you want.

[TrueFan]

I'm sure I've said before, if one is always chasing what everyone else likes or considers fashionable, and always comparing, one will never be satisfied.  I think we have to resist the lure of fishing for "likes".  Take the pictures you enjoy taking.  If someone else likes them, bonus.  Otherwise, at least you have fun and do what you want.

This. And as random and frustrating as Instagram and Facebook are, I am still delighted by some photos and posts I come across.

[davidd]

And as random and frustrating as Instagram and Facebook are, I am still delighted by some photos and posts I come across.

There is definitely some great content and some interesting people on Instagram which is why I have not yet been able to completely give up on the platform.

---

16 March - A Doll A Day 2025:

.

Doll Fall Down

[Alliecat]

Ha ha, looks like some hijinks were happening.