The GQ Christmas issue got awfully arty this year...
One of my favorite little Christmas traditions is actually buying yourself a present at the post-holiday sales. Maybe you got some Christmas money from Grandma, or you're returning the sweater you got for one in your favorite color and for half the price. Maybe you just spotted a good deal. Last year I finally caved and ordered Howleen Wolf from ebay - not necessarily a great deal, but not too bad, and at least I finally got her! - and this year I'm getting EAH Cedar Wood from Amazon's toy sale. She's not in stores here yet, but I signed up to CamelCamelCamel to keep track of Amazon's prices - it's quite handy actually: if you register, you can specify a price level and they'll send you a notification once the price drops below that. (Or if you don't want to give them your email, just check the site every day and analyze the graph of the price fluctuations.)
I have a list of a few EAH dolls I sort of want, several of which are on sale right now, but when I had to limit myself to one (otherwise I'd soon be broke and drowning in dolls) there really wasn't a question: of course I'm getting the fake wooden girl! That might sounds weird considering I'm working on a real wooden doll, but there's just something about fake plastic wood grain I find - kind of hilarious, I guess. And that's not a bad quality in a doll. I actually love that Mattel has taken this fairly unconventional approach to individualizing the MH/EAH dolls, even with the same basic body mold.
Anyway, as I poked around Amazon's doll department a bit I discovered this guy:
That's right - Arklu's Lottie now has a friend! A friend who is a boy, but probably not a boyfriend. To be honest I'm not at all tempted by this doll, even though I'm actively looking to add more boy dolls to my collection - he looks weird and troll-like, and his hairline is way too high. The clothes and shoes look ok, though, realistic and versatile - plus there's at least one new clothing set to go with him. I like the one that comes with a fishing rod and what looks like tiny boat shoes, which is kind of cool. Unfortunately British Amazon doesn't do free international shipping anymore, so that'll have to wait. :/
Oh, and I managed to remove a stain (sharpie or ballpoint pen) from a doll dress with hairspray! I didn't have stain remover, alcohol or ammonium, but after a bit of googling I found this guide which suggests shaving foam or hairspray as a last resort. Since this is just a ratty old goodwill dress, I wasn't too worried about ruining it.
I once ruined the print on my shower curtain with shaving foam, but this stain didn't budge. Hairspray did the trick, though! The fabric is blue nylon and the spot was black or dark blue and perfectly visible on the front, but now there's only just a darker shade on the inside and no visible damage to the fabric (although for a seconf it looked like rubbing might bleach it). Who'd have thought?? A chemist, perhaps, but not me.
English doesn't have a name for these days but Inbetween Days sounds exactly right. Happy Inbetween Days to you. I haven't seen Cedar Wood yet - the Ever After High dolls only arrived here as new for Christmas and so far I have only seen the first releases in the shops here. I hope you enjoy her when she arrives. And I'll have to keep the hairspray tip in mind. I know my mother used it to get pen marks off vinyl but didn't realise you could use it on fabrics too.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting a EAH Cedar Wood doll. I think it's neat that you'll have her coming after Christmas. (Hope you had a fun Christmas.) I used to place something from me for me under the tree.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to look into CamelCamelCamel. Sounds like a useful site ;-)
@Carrickters Happy Inbetween Days and New Year to you too! And I know shouldn't complain - I understand that e.g. Australia has to wait ages for Mattel's dolls.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try the hairspray trick on a couple of t-shirts and see if they survive. Vinyl might be less fragile.
@Cedar will be going under the tree as soon as she gets here, Christmas or not. Since she's supposed to be made of wood, it'll be like a family reunion. :)
Camelx3 is pretty convenient. I'm always slightly paranoid about signing up for stuff, but the email notifications are a really useful service.
For some Christians who observe things like Advent, it is still Christmas! Yes, the Twelve Days of Christmas come *after* Christmas Day. :)
ReplyDeleteI had some EAH dolls on my Christmas list, but Mr. BTEG doesn't like how they look, so I didn't get them. Oh well. The older ones are going down quite a bit in price on Amazon, at least in the US.
I hope you have a great 2015.
That's right, I forgot about Twelfth night. According to a well-known Christmas song, Christmas lasts all the way til Easter, but that seems like overdoing it a bit... :)
DeleteI hope you got some other things from your wishlish and that you have a happy new year too.