A Real Mixed Bag -- June thrift store dolls

Local thrifts weren't offering dolls I wanted over the last couple weeks so there hasn't been anything to report here. That changed when I went to Value Village yesterday and found a slew of new bagged dolls to look through. They finally cleaned out the dolls nobody wanted (true junk) and brought in at least three dozen fresh faces. Hurray!

Thrift store prices can be all over the map. If processed on a different day these bags could've been $4 or $5, it depends what the pricer on duty thinks the dolls are worth. I was happy to see each bag marked $3, that works out to 6 dolls for $9, or $1.50 each. Sometimes they put as many as 5 or 6 dolls in a single bag, which I wish they wouldn't do. Usually I only want 1 or 2 of the dolls and bundling so many together pushes the price up.

Note: I combed their hair but didn't do much else to make the dolls look better for this photo shoot. Most of the time I give thrift dolls a bath and wash their hair (because they really need it), but these dolls will have to wait for spa day. Fortunately they were in pretty good condition right out of the bag.

BAG #1: Mystery Doll and Alexis Liv

I spotted Alexis from several feet away and knew right away I'd buy her after checking the reasonable price, but her tag-a-long partner has truly enchanted me. She was nude in the bag so she borrowed another Liv Alexis outfit and I put her hair in ponytails for the photo shoot. Alexis's little bag was a surprise, the accessories are usually missing from thrift store dolls. It's an extra good buy when their shoes are included too!

Mystery Doll and Alexis

Mystery Doll has no visible company name, just (c) 2011 and Made in China. I have no clue where she came from, other than China. Her body is not the hollow lightweight plastic found on many clones from China, it's actually very nice. Photos don't do her justice, she is so pretty in person.

Normally a doll with no identifiable markings is a clone and the quality is lacking, so this no-name doll is not typical. Do you recognize her?

BAG #2: My Scene Nolee and Bratz

Mortal enemies! Sharing the same bag!

This bag included My Scene Shopping Spree Nolee from 2004 and a Bratz doll. I don't hate Bratz but I can't be bothered to identify this particular doll, I don't care that much. Her clothes fit Monster High dolls so that helped justify buying this bag. I put it back on the peg but went back a few minutes later to retrieve it and don't regret changing my mind. ( (I actually bought the first wave Bratz when they were released in 2001, plus the first Bratz boys, but soon decided it was a doll line I didn't need to keep up with.)

Monster High Operetta will look great in that Bratz skirt

My Scene dolls have a secret: there are Barbie size feet hiding in those oversize shoes. So you have a choice, let them wear big My Scene shoes or put Barbie shoes on their dainty Barbie feet.

According to Wikipedia the My Scene line ended in 2010. I bought the first wave in 2002 and have added 2-3 other My Scene dolls thanks to thrifts. They aren't too easy to find at thrifts around here, if there's a huge pile of dolls I might find just one, and there's no guarantee she'll be in good condition.

Mystery Doll from Bag #1 looks like Nolee's sweet innocent younger sister

BAG #3: Barbie and Jenny clone

Forget the Barbie. Ugh, I greatly dislike this facemold (more Mackie please) but the facepaint is subtle and not too bad, it can look a lot worse. This bag was purchased just for the Jenny clone. She's amazing. I have a soft spot for clones, especially vintage Barbie clones, so I'll often buy one if they actually look good. Jenny isn't vintage Barbie but I couldn't pass up her clone. In a nutshell, Jenny is the Japanese Barbie. You can read more about Jenny on Wikipedia if you're unfamiliar with her story.

This clone has a super cheap plastic body but her head is decent quality, thankfully they didn't use the same lightweight plastic for her head. The facemold looks like a direct copy of an official Jenny doll.

Clone in the middle!

Here you can see the Jenny clone in the middle of two real Jenny dolls -- which were purchased NRFB online many years ago, NOT at thrift store prices. Jenny Clone will look fantastic with a new body and outfit.

Well this felt like a pretty good haul, I won't complain if there's another long dry spell ahead. Thanks for stopping by!

Killer Style Monsters

A few months ago I ordered two Monster High dolls from Amazon. Turns out I overpaid for one but got a good deal on the other (and both qualified for free shipping, a very good thing).

The monster I wanted more than anything was Dawn of the Dance Clawdeen Wolf. I love everything about her, especially her rave green hair and tights. At the time she was only $21, which seemed like a great deal because the DotD dolls are no longer in stores around here. Her price has since gone up to $35 on Amazon but it could go down if a large number are made available again.

Eventually I'll probably wash the shellac out of her hair

The other monster goes by different names because Mattel didn't give her line a special descriptive name. On Amazon she's listed as "Classrooms Draculaura." According to this Wikia entry, Amazon sellers mistakenly thought she was part of the Classroom line. This is odd because she doesn't come with a locker or classroom accessories. The boxes are also completely different. I've seen her called "Killer Style Draculaura" by fans and that name at least makes some sense so it's what I'll use.

I resisted the classic shhh! pose

What is she exactly? Essentially she's a Gloom Beach Draculaura dressed up in a modified version of her Day at the Maul outfit. (Day at the Maul is a clothing pack featuring two outfits, one for Draculaura and one for Frankie Stein, and some accesories for their friend Clawdeen.) A few months ago I paid $27 on Amazon for this Draculaura and now she's $18. I hate it when that happens!

The other half of the Killer Style line is Frankie Stein. She also has Gloom Beach face paint (but with a new hairstyle) and like Draculaura she's wearing a modified version of her Day at the Maul outfit. I had no plans to order her off Amazon (where she's listed as "Classrooms Frankie Stein," so weird!!) but I saw her at Fred Meyer on Sunday for $15 and decided it'd be nice to have a matching set of the two Killer Style dolls. I'd much rather buy a doll in person due to the messy facepaint and bad hair these monsters are often plagued with. It's hard enough just being a monster, get with the program Mattel!

Love the neck bolts

The Killer Style dolls and Day at the Maul clothing pack were released a month apart, in June and July 2011. It's not clear why the Killer Style outfits are very similar but not exactly the same as the two outfits in the Day at the Maul set.

Let's be honest, it was likely a scheme to get more money out of fans who neeeeeed both versions of the outfits. I think they're too similar so I won't buy the DatM fashion pack. It pops up every so often at the TRU here, I think it's $15 retail.

Killer!

These two dolls come with a stand, hairbrush, and a cute but fairly useless charm, also found in a Monster High keychain sold separately. The charms are plastic instead of metal so I think the skull shaped part would break due to normal wear and tear if attached to a bag or keychain. I pinned them to the wall where they will likely stay FOREVER.

Draculaura's pet Count Fabulous and Frankie's pet Watzit

A Moxie Surprise

Guess who I saw again?

Looks like nobody wanted to spend $5 on Moxie Teen Arizona. I found her again at Value Village with a new price tag. This is definitely the same doll, I remember the flower sticker on her forehead added as a unique touch by her former owner. The jacket would've been nice but I'm happy she has her shoes and a basic shirt. My plan is to dye her clothing, maybe I'll experiment with dyeing the doll too (she's a duplicate in my collection). Don't ask why $5 seemed too much but $3 was acceptable, I can't explain it.

Aside: As you've probably noticed I usually round prices up because it seems silly to say $2.99 when $3 is essentially the same thing, and $3 is a more accurate reflection of the price, if that makes sense to anyone else. I won't report something cost $2 when it was really $2.99 but that's how we as customers are trained to think of prices ending in 95 or 99 cents.

First wave Arizona, she needs a bath

Her lips look different than my other 1st wave Arizona, the lip liner is more pronounced. I wish Arizona had brown eyes, Madison has blue eyes with a tan and they look too similar on my shelf, though it helps if I put a blonde wig on Madison. Oh well. I could change them if I want to but it's not worth ordering new eyes and switching them out, the eyes would cost more than the doll. :)

Let's see what all was included in her bag, I don't think I've documented one of these thrifted random bags of toys before.

1. Moxie Teen Arizona w/ pink shirt, skirt with attached lace leggings, black boots
2. Mattel fairy doll
3. cute Mattel picnic basket
4. brown and white skirt with blue trim, homemade
5. plaid skirt (the waist is a little big on Arizona, she's wearing it here)
6. red and pink striped hat, too big for any of my dolls
7. tiny shirt
8. two pink and white chairs, one is missing the white back piece
   
9. a rectangle of purple nylon fabric

Not bad for $3 but none of it's worth anything to me without the Arizona doll too. As usual I'll do one of three things with this extra stuff: 1) keep it, 2) donate it back, 3) give it to my nieces (they're almost 3 and 5). Sometimes I'll throw an item out if it's true junk and not worth putting back into the thrift stream.

Speaking of changing prices... starting last week the local Goodwill is once again putting $2 and $3 stickers on a lot of their fashion dolls. This isn't a big deal but it'll affect how many dolls I thrift. On Monday I ended up not buying a couple $3 dolls I would've purchased if they had been $1.29, which is the price I've grown accustomed to. One was a Moxie Girl missing a foot-shoe (it snaps on at the ankle, just like Bratz shoes) with wrecked hair and a cute but dirty outfit that had noticeable play wear. I wanted her for a Monster High CAM body but I'll wait to find a cheaper donor doll. Oh well! If the Goodwill doll is in great condition then $3 is fine, but I'll be a lot pickier now.

Here's an example of a Moxie Girl I bought a couple months ago for $1.29:

This is my only intact Moxie Girl (the other one was a thrifted mess and I turned her into a MH CAM body last week). I probably would've paid $3 for this MG, but at $1.29 she was an easy purchase. I'm not cutting her up because she's adorable and there isn't anything wrong with her. :) I can't imagine buying more of these Moxie Girlz dolls new in stores because they're not exactly my style but I couldn't resist this cutie with such a great outfit.

I love her freckles!

 

Monster Mash-Up (two new CAM bodies)

Yesterday I was at the Goodwill and saw a Mattel ballerina in the doll jumble. She is smaller and thinner than Barbie and her limbs are thin as well. Her hard plastic body is marked 1999, her head is marked 2005. One leg is permanently bent at the knee and her ballet slippers are molded on. If someone can identify this doll that would be great! Mattel could've used this body for some fairy dolls because it's small.

Who am I?

Her size made me think she might be able to donate her torso and limbs to a Monster High Create-a-Monster add-on pack. These are the CAMs that include an outfit, wig, head, hands, forearms, and lower legs with feet. The add-on packs do not include a torso, thighs, and upper arms. You have to borrow those missing pieces from the CAM Starter sets, buy a homemade molded torso on eBay/etsy, or perform surgery on a donor doll.

The molded torsos I've seen online look great but you'd still be missing the upper parts of all four limbs. Also, the torsos are NOT cheap. Around here Goodwill donor dolls cost $1.29. I like that price!

Important: If you're a kid please do not perform surgery on your dolls!!! You could cut off a finger or do serious damage to your eyes, please ask a parent to do this for you. They are old and have more life experience than you, they can make do without a finger or eye.

First I used the toothiest saw on my Leatherman tool to remove Ballerina's legs at the knees and then her arms at the elbow. This didn't take much time at all, less than a minute per limb. Then I sanded the rough edges to a smooth finish. Her legs and arms are hollow but I had to remove the pegs from her articulated arms stuck in the upper arm. On one arm this was rather simple, the seams weren't glued cleanly so I gently pried up half the arm (just a bit, didn't want it to snap) and flicked the peg out. Her other arm wasn't cooperating, the seams were glued firmly shut so I had to drill out the peg hole.

(Kids, do NOT use your parents' drill. I was a kid once, I know you'd think of doing it when they're not home so they won't be there to scream down the stairs, "What's that noise?!" That means if you hurt yourself, which is actually very likely, no adult would be home to help you. JUST DON'T DO IT. Your parents love you and would much rather do this doll surgery for you. It'll make them feel needed, parents like that sort of thing. Remind them to wear safety goggles. Thanks.)

Sea Monster starter CAM with the 3 Eyed Ghoul add-on CAM

Pretty cool! The monster on the left is the Sea Monster from one of the CAM starter sets, she's using a CAM starter set torso and a Liv wig. My three-eyed Ghoul will look even better with her new body parts painted blue to match. I was so happy with the way this CAM turned out I looked through other Goodwill dolls I've accumulated over the years for more small bodies.

I found a Moxie Girl missing her feet (they have the foot/shoe combo like Bratz) and her hair was a wreck, she was purchased just for her dress. Her body and limbs are a little thicker than the ballerina doll but her torso is still small, I figured she'll work if clothing is used to hide her limbs.

I cut the hooks off the neck knobs to make head swapping easier

Notice how much longer Barbie's thighs are compared to the other three, look at the knees

I easily snipped Moxie's arms off at the elbow with kitchen shears, they are solid soft vinyl (not hollow hard plastic like the ballerina) so the scissors worked much better than a toothy saw (the saw tore up the vinyl more than cutting through it). Then I drilled small holes into the upper arms. After seeing the above photo it looks like I should make their upper arms a little shorter to match the Monster High upper arm length.

There's a hard plastic click mechanism inside Moxie's vinyl legs at the knees so I sawed through that and then used a bigger drill bit to remove more of the plastic and vinyl inside her thighs.

In total I spent about 2-5 minutes per limb, which includes cutting/sawing, sanding, and drilling. Not bad at all.

Oh, the heads! I didn't care about the donor heads so I cut them off with kitchen shears. Brutal. If you want to save the head you can heat it up with hot water or a hair dryer (protect doll hair from direct heat with a towel) and slowly work it off over the hook. Do not break the neck or neck knob! After the head is removed cut the hook off the top of the neck knob, it's a safety feature and doesn't serve any other purpose. Try not to break the neck knob, that is what holds the head on the neck and allows you to tilt and pose the head. Swapping heads will be MUCH easier without the nasty hook in the way but you still have to be careful to avoid breaking the important neck knob.

The monster limbs plug into the Moxie Girl vinyl because her limbs are solid with little drilled holes. When I lift her up the legs don't fall out. The ballerina body looks better but the ballerina limbs are hollow. I'm not sure how I'll secure the MH limbs in there but I have a few ideas, like air dry clay, sponge, vinyl plugs with drilled holes, etc.

I think they look good but they'll look even better painted to match the CAM limbs. Next week I'll take the limbs to the craft store for a paint match. :) The skeleton is easy, ha.

One disadvantage to these donor torsos is that the bodies are slightly bigger than the monsters so the CAM clothes don't fit. This isn't such a big deal though because the CAM clothes aren't that great.

I need more CAM torsos so I'll keep an eye out for these ballerina girls and Moxie Girlz too. I prefer the Ballerina body but Moxie Girlz will be a lot easier to find at the thrift stores -- but even they don't turn up that often, Bratz are much easier to find. I'm not sure if the Bratz body will work or look as good, I might try one of those next.

After I have enough new bodies for the three add-on pack CAMs I'll experiment with removing the entire arms and legs and using just the torso for the second character in the CAM starter sets. (Yes, Mattel sold just one torso with two characters in each Starter set.)

P.S. I took photos of the pleather doll outfit I found last week and they look terrible. Pleather is hard to photograph! I'll try photographing Arizona outside in her cool new outfit, natural light might help.

New Monsters and old Livs on sale at TRU

This Friday the 13th was a grand dolly day for me. I went to TRU to buy the black & white Skull Shores Frankie for $4.13 (what an amazing promotion) and left with 2 of them and !SURPRISE! the new gargoyle girl Rochelle too!

They had two gargoyles on the shelf. Her vinyl is flecked to simulate the look of stone, which means some of the dark marks could land in awkward spots on her face, like a big blemish on her nose. I chose the doll that had a better placement of marks, but once the dolls are on display that sort of thing isn't really noticeable so I wouldn't worry about it if you order her online.

Those bangs need to be washed and brushed out

That reminds me, I looked over every SS Frankie and so many of them had face paint flaws. Some were minor, others shouldn't have gone past quality control -- if there even was any. They definitely pumped these dolls out to meet the Friday the 13th promotion demand and their quality slipped. Maybe my TRU got a bad batch. There must've been around 30 Frankies on the shelf when the store opened at 10 AM. It was cool seeing so many Frankies at once, there were several variations in the striping and shaping of her hair.

what a cutie

SS Frankie went on sale for $4.13 on 04/13 at TRU, but people are reporting that WalMart has been selling her for $4.13 every day so check there if you missed TRU's one day sale.

Another big surprise was seeing one first wave Abbey on the shelf, I'd never seen her in person before. I bought Skull Shores Abbey at TRU last week and she's gorgeous with her shimmery blue skin. The first wave Abbey at TRU today had serious greasy face problems. She was still there when I left 45 minutes later, even though several people had been by to pick up Frankie on sale. The other gargoyle girl was claimed by the time I left but poor greasy Abbey was still looking for a home. (I'm sure she was gone by the end of the day.)

Someone on a doll board told me tonight she's supposed to look like that and if so, then I'm really glad I never ordered the first Abbey online! Skull Shores Abbey looks so pretty and properly glittery and icey, not greasy at all. (Despite what that person told me, I still think something was wrong with this particular Abbey, but I'd have to see another one to have a more informed opinion.)

They had the new Jackson Jekyll boy doll too but I'm not interested in the MH boys (maybe someday on sale) so another shopper put Jackson in her cart after I put him back on the shelf, which made me happy for her. Gotta share the Monster love!

One important thing I learned today: If I want to try for a HTF Monster then I should show up on a Friday when they open at 10 AM. That allowed me to look over two Rochelle gargoyles, one first wave Abbey, one Jackson Jekyll, and a couple Operettas. If I showed up later in the day those dolls would've all been gone, leaving the usual Sweet 1600 dolls that it seems people have gotten their fill of around here.

I wasn't done once the monsters were in my cart, oh no. The Liv dolls were 50% off, even the clearance merchandise. I didn't have a Sophie yet so I bought an It's My Nature Sophie for $5.50...

Love those scissors, hat, and the puffy vest. She is a pretty doll.

...and this 1st wave Katie with two wigs was $1.00. Not a typo! She was hiding behind the It's My Nature Katie dolls and her clearance price was $2.00, so 50% off made her only a buck. This is why I often check prices at TRU using the scanner in the doll section, it has alerted me to many deals. (I quickly got in the habit once I realized they often neglect to display sale prices on shelf tags.)

I'll try to fix those eyes, they're even worse than usual

Katie's chocolate mint wig is so different! What's funny is that this 1st wave Katie cost less than the 1st wave Katie I bought at the Goodwill for $1.29 (and Goodwill Katie was missing her two wigs, sweater, hat, and scarf).

I then noticed the School's Out Alexis fashion designer playset was marked down to $10... which means it was only $5 on sale. Crazy! I really like the mannequin (it has articulated elbows and wrists) and store window display. The doll alone is still $10 at Tuesday Morning, so I couldn't pass up getting the doll and her playset for $5. I think the original MSRP for this set was $30.

Her lipstick looks sloppy (this is a problem with every School's Out Alexis I've seen in person) so I'll try to carefully remove the lipstick above her top lip. The goal is to accomplish this without having to wipe it all off and paint new lips on.

Ack, that Robert Smith lipstick makes me batty, must fix! But her eyes are nice.

Note: I think this 50% off Liv sale ends Saturday, April 14th. Call your local TRU before making the trip, I'm not sure if this sale is valid at all stores. Check online too!

So I blew my doll budget for April in the first two weeks, I'm going on a doll diet until May. :) The only dolls I really have on my wanted list are the upcoming Monsters (especially the robot and plant girl), but I'm not sure which of the 2012 dolls we saw at Toy Fair are due this spring.

These dolls will all be deboxed and probably photographed again in new settings. I wanted to get something up about the Liv sale before it ends (sorry about the ultra short notice) so the dolls will have to wait awhile longer before they're released from their boxes.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Where the boys aren't

Boy dolls in general don't interest me, but I sometimes appreciate them in photos posted online. Out of all the dolls I own (er... a lot?*) only around a dozen of them are male, and all but four were purchased at thrift shops. I can think of four male dolls I've purchased new: Shave 'n Style Ken (the African American version, I neeeeded that headmold), Ken as Mulder in the X-Files gift set, Frank Sinatra, and James Dean. The latter two were found at Big Lots many years ago at deep discount. (It saddens me to report the local Big Lots no longer exists.)

This is why I was a little surprised by how much I wanted Jake to still be available at Ross Dress for Less. On Monday I returned to the store, a week after I found the Blythe dolls, to see if the toy shelves were restocked. They had several new dolls but there weren't any girls I wanted or didn't already have. I examined Making Waves Jake again, he's the boy Liv doll from SpinMaster's 2011 beach line -- which means a very basic outfit: tank top, shorts, sunglasses... and no shoes. I'd been thinking about him all week, wondering if he'd still be there, and for $5 my Liv girls would have a male friend to hang out with. Sold!

I also bought Ken's "Barbie Basics" accessory pack ($6, better than $7 like I had remembered -- funny how a dollar can make a difference. OH, IT'S A DOLLAR LESS THAN I THOUGHT? AWESOME! I crack myself up sometimes.) Anyway, I was thinking Jake could wear the youthful Converse sneakers. Poor kid needs shoes. The belts and black shirt are nice looking too. Turns out the Converse openings are too narrow for Jake (I'll try softening them in hot water before giving up) but two pairs of shoes in the set fit him nicely.

Daniela and Jake, Liv girl and Liv boy

Jake is wearing the Shave 'n Style Ken burgundy shirt and black Ken pants from an old Fashion Ave outfit. The watch, shoes, and belt are from Ken's Barbie Basics accessory pack.

He has inset blue eyes like the Liv girls but they're smaller, which was an interesting choice. SpinMaster probably reviewed various prototype boy dolls with different eye sizes (certainly digital images if not actual prototype dolls), it'd be fun to see the guys they rejected.

I see where I'm going to trim his hair

I like this Jake a lot but doubt I'll buy another, unless he's discounted and has a great outfit with shoes (no more beach dolls). A new character with a noticeably darker skin color would be welcome. Jake is a handsome guy and a great deal at $5 (thanks Ross!), even if he didn't come with shoes.

Two cute kids

One odd thing about the Converse in Ken's accessory pack: the eyelets are painted white but there are no shoelaces at all, neither painted or molded onto the shoe. Compare them to the running shoes with molded shoelaces from the same accessory pack:

look ma, no laces

It would probably look good to pierce the eyelets and lace up the Converse with white string. Has anyone tried that with success?

 *I've never actually counted but I know the real number would freak me out if I did.

"Why does she do this to our photos?"

A knit dress for Little Pullip

I knit this wee dress while watching my beloved Seattle Sounders (eternal blue, forever green!) win their first match of the 2012 MLS season.

This ad made me laugh, I had to save and share it

The pretty blue and green yarn is left over from a pair of socks I knit a few years ago:

The Kelly (or Shelly, as she's known in Europe) dress pattern is #645 from "Sticka till Barbie," a Swedish treasure trove featuring hundreds of free Barbie knitting patterns. She even has a pattern for a Swedish football (as in soccer) kit, too cute. There are a good number of patterns for Ken, Tommy, and Shelly/Kelly too. Some of the Barbie patterns have been converted to Bratz size, which may fit Monster High dolls. I'll experiment with that later.

This Kelly dress was knit following the instructions pretty much as written. OK, I added 2 or 3 rounds to the skirt. Also, I knit it in the round instead of flat. Just remember to change the purl rows to knit rows if you do the same.

The dress starts out with 50 stitches and decreases to 25 for the waist, which results in a dress that fits Kelly perfectly. I pinched the dress around Pullip's middle and counted stitches. I estimate the dress will look fitted on Little Pullip if it has 15 stitches around the waist instead of 25. I think this dress looks cute on Pullip even if it's too big, but I'll make a new dress with her measurements in mind. The armholes could also be smaller, next time I'll bind off 2 sts instead of 3 (1 might be too small). When I cast on stitches for the straps I'll try 2 fewer stitches on each side. Also, I'll knit the skirt in the round until the waist and then switch to working it flat, this will make it easier to put on the dolls. Doing so will require a fastener be added to the back: snap, Velcro, or hook and eye.

(I'll keep notes on all changes when I knit the second dress and will publish the results with photos.)

Here is the same Kelly dress on LPS Blythe, she's a bit smaller than Little Pullip so the dress swims on her.

"Oh, it's really too big!"  "That just means there's room to grow."

LIGHT BOX info

In an effort to improve my digital photographs I made a simple light box using a U-Haul box and tissue paper, following the instructions here: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

This lacks the infinity background because Blythe has issues*

 After I taped the tissue paper to the box it took about a minute to put my thumb through one of the tissue panels. Great. The thought of cutting and attaching a new panel every time the tissue tore wasn't appealing so I completely covered all three tissue panels with long strips of clear packing tape on one side. I would've used clear contact paper if I had a roll but I didn't want to buy anything new to construct the box.

This box hasn't solved all my photography problems, I'm still learning and want to improve more, but it helps. I'll be moving the box around the house to see which overhead lights look the best. I like the results I got from using the range hood lights today (shown in the photo above), but the laundry room lights might be even better.

Eventually I might make another box for larger displays. This box is plenty tall enough but I'm limited by the footprint. I have to make sure the inside of the box doesn't appear at the edges of the photos, which is a concern if I'm photographing 3-4 dolls.

HARK, AN IDEA!

Check this out, here's Blythe standing inside the box in front of a side panel:

I'm thinking I should put a single layer of blue tissue paper on the outside of the box (covering the white tissue already there, or maybe I'll remove the white tissue -- I can try it both ways). That should make a pretty blue glowing background instead of this plain white. The doll will need something to stand on so the cardboard box isn't visible. OK, colorful tissue paper is on my shopping list, I'll see if I can test it out this week.

*To see what I mean about infinity background compare the two pictures of Pullip and Blythe:

My Pullip's vinyl really is that white.

If your paper is long enough you can curve it so there's no line designating where back and bottom meet. Both dolls are balanced against the back of the box so I didn't have to use a stand. Pullip's hair is so poofy it clears the curve. Blythe's hair isn't poofy so I had to either adjust the paper (remove the curve) or use a stand. Does that make sense? It's almost 3 am, I have no idea.

Here's a photo showing the white background curving at the bottom edge of the box:

Pullip says, "Thanks for stopping by!"