2015-01-13

Doll talk... (Style sale, Volks clone??, rebody musings)

Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud about dolls again... 

Why oh why do I always have to be broke when there's a sale?? Oh well, I might be able to squeeze a couple of dolls out of what's left of my budget. The Style dolls are finally on sale, so I got a Raquelle to use as body donor. I think I'll give her body to Mattel Rapunzel, but she needs a reroot and a repaint first so she doesn't look so creepy... Tomorrow I'll see if I can find a Midge. Since I already have LitD Midge and I like her hair better (even though she has wonky eyelashes), Style Midge's body will probably go to Hannah Montana until I can get her an Obitsu. 

Of course, I just saw photos of the 2015 dolls that seem to be fully articulated, with ankle joints, and now I kind of feel like I should wait for them instead... but if I'm going to wait for them to go on sale it's going to be another year at least, and my floating heads are getting restless already. 

(Actually, I just found out Style Midge's belt is just a plastic clip-on that doesn't reach all around! A bit disappointing, but not enough to stop me from getting her if I can.)

I've been thinking about finding a better articulated body for World on Ice Belle, who is a bit too pale for Raquelle. Of the ones I have both Disney store Merida and Liv (Katie) are a close match, but of course they're both taken... Actually, I think a Liv body might suit Hannah Montana better than a full-size Barbie body (Liv bodies work best for teenage characters imo) but not sure which one. Katie is a bit too orange. 

And I still need another articulated Steffi Love for Ariel (and I have to get rid of her glue soaked hair too). 


Oh, and I bought a Volks clone. I think. I'm not sure what the deal is with those bodies - the listings on ebay etc seem to usually say Volks, the package says Holbein Art Materials and looks nothing like Volks, the stamps on the doll says Volks... and as far as I can tell (without owning that exact model to compare with) they're identical to Volks' bodies. I've never seen them before, but from what I can tell from googling they're been around several years at least. I'm not sure whether I should feel bad about buying a clone, but Volks has discontinued their 1/6 line and some of the models are getting pretty hard to get a hold of (particularly when international shipping costs are taken into account). 

Oh well, I gave the new body to Britney - it's not a perfect match colorwise (the clone is sliiightly more pink than Volks) but it's ok until I find the perfect head or body for either of them. The only downside as far as I'm concerned is that you don't get the different neck connectors that the Volks bodies usually come with, so I had to improvise with some rubber bands to get Britney's head to stay on. Also I think the body they cloned here is called S-type, which apparently originally came with extra leg sections to make the doll taller, but of course you don't get them either. This body still has the extra long foot pins to accomodate for them, though.

(There are no pics here because I'm lazy. I might add some later, otherwise they're all on my Flickr.)

5 comments:

  1. I've seen people say that the Holbein bodies are repackaged Volks, not clones, being sold as artist manikins, because Holbein is an art supply company. (And the extra neck connectors aren't included because these weren't marketed to doll customizers--there was probably whole bin of the unused connectors at wherever it was that Holbein repackaged these...)

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  2. I had an image of "floating heads ... getting restless." Scary scene - except to us collectors ;-)

    Good luck finding complexion-appropriate articulated bodies for your floating heads.

    Thanks for mentioning Holbein bodies. Good to know.



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    1. @Andrea Wilson That would certainly explain everything, although it seems like an odd decision by Volks. Not that I know anything about the industry, of course. I've seen them advertised as artist mannikins but I can't find them on Holbein's site, which I guess could be because Volks discontinued them? Either way, the thought of all those discarded neck connectors makes me sad... :(

      @D7ana I keep the heads in a 1/6 cupboard. I don't think they can get the door open, but they might try to gnaw their way out... It's a spooky hobby, this one. :)

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  3. I had never thought about rebodying my 1/6 scale dolls before, but many of you are giving me second and third ideas! (goes off to research bodies)

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    1. I like to give all my dolls articulation if it's possible, but some of them have unique bodies that can't really be replaced. It's a matter of taste. :)

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