W Club Dracula & his Brides have arrived...

I know alot of people who collect Fashion Royalty, and they order dolls as soon as they are debuted. Feverish calls or emailing to dealers, looking for the best deal, to 'get the dolls' before they sell out. Most of the time, I have had to pass up on dolls, not that expensive, when they are debuted by the W Club because of lack of money...sometimes my budget just will not allow it. sigh. Such is the case when in 2011 Jason Wu unveiled his Count Dracula, and his Brides collection- as well as designing/collaborating with Ashton Drake to make the Countess, Lucy, and Mina as well as Acheron and Simi. 

I  have been looking for these dolls and saving and squirreling away my money when I hit on the idea maybe someone on the  WCLub forum would trade me dolls for some of my Bespaq furniture. And I hit the jackpot. I had only asked to trade for the Count, knowing I could get the brides I wanted from some dealers and/or collectors willing to sell them. This kind soul wished to trade me the Count, the Countess and Mina as well as the Ashton Drake Lucy and four of the blood chairs as he was interested in some 1:4 scale Bespaq furniture! 

Well...they arrived today and they are stunning! I had been working on a quick diorama for them to 'feel' at home. I intended it to look like a marbeled tomb but did not get to finish covering the foamboard walls on the ends with the contact paper. Dracula has settled into his signature Red Dragon chair and the brides are busily attending to his needs...Mina is serving a Bloody Mary she just caught, er, poured....

Today I am rushed so I cannot play and take as many photos I would wish...but enjoy the photos as it looks like Dracula and his harem have moved in!

Changes in Barbietown...

There are some changes coming to my doll room/diorama setups in Barbietown. This has to do with the growing population of the dolls, and my focus is going in a different direction than when I first originally set it up with the 'hangout' for the young teen dolls and ones in college and the moms with small kids, of McDonald's diner. Well for now, we're saying goodbye to McDonald's Diner. Don't worry, the McDonald family isn't that upset, they knew that better dioramas will be coming in the future.

Here is the diner now with Ricky, Ryan and Hannah, Tina and Poppy, Ryan's fiancee.

Here you can see how large the diner diorama is and how indepth it is. The door fell over before I took these pics and didn't notice the gap until I had the pics uploaded. Which is ok, because it very quickly was broke down.
I measured for the next diorama and I have about 49 inches wide and 20 inches deep. My walls will have to be 20 inches high to accommodate what I would like to build next. 

As to the incoming dolls- I have many dolls from Integrity who is simply pelting my want list and my wallet very well. I have only ordered two integrity dolls from one dealer this year!! (Joyful in Japan and Spicey in Spain) There are more 'exclusive ' dolls I preordered that are going to be coming soon as well. 
Which brings me to my 'wish' list. In 2011, I think it was, W club did the Count Dracula and his brides, along with Ashton Drake with Jason Wu designing those dolls (I think) I have managed to score some of the blood chairs, The Count, Mina, the Countess and Ashton Drake- Integrity Lucy. I have always loved the brides that Integrity did and now I only need to secure from the Ashton Drake collection the Countess in that Victorian gown, as well as Acheron the Dark Hunter. 
As well as Integrity has debuted three Dynamite Halloween girls!! Be still my heart- a Sooki with pale skin! (I missed out on the 2008 Halloween Sooki who had the Wednesday Addams vibe. Hopefully I can get the outfit because this Sooki will make a better Wednesday I think) so she is 'incoming ' as well. Which brings me to my diorama dilemma.
I am essentially a builder- I love love love building dioramas. It comes from my passion for building when I did 1:12 scale dollhouses- once you start, you cannot stop. The problem with building in 1:6 scale is you quickly run out of space. Mostly I sometimes cannot bear to dismantle the dioramas after they are built- which is how LaBelle's boutique came about. I plan to also use it as an upscale restaurant with different props and bakery cases, for a French restaurant. That is the beauty of it.
Now with the Count arriving with his bevy of lovelies, as well as Sooki, I need an appropriate diorama setting. McDonald's takes up a huge amount of space, and in truth, I am a little tired of it. I will probably set it back up temporarily but not to the extent it was set up. 
Here is what Barbietown looks like now- it is quite a mess. Though the school rooms are set up- very little time to take photos since I am still working on The Scrap Box Studio and planning this new build as well. 

Barbietown now with the diner dismanteled nothing but what will be the floor is left. Doing furniture placement and figuring dimensions.The cafe and boutique are in the process of probably being moved when I start to work on the large diorama.

Shelves with the elementary students and the high school class behind. 

Some of the vehicles double parked and dolls are laid on top. 

The Manor, owned by the Baroness. Ladies are having tea at one her get togethers.

    What you see up top is the bed I did last year. I was supposed to build a room on top as this would have been the additional guest bedroom. Right now it looks like a drop point for the dolly Goodwill. I am hoping to finish this and put away all the clothing and accessories. 

Sitting on my old desk is my first dollhouse that my dad built me when I was nine- it is on a scale of 1 1/2 inches to the foot- (originally it was somewhat sized for 8 inch Madame alexanders. It fits some of my tiny bjd's and my mini American Girl dolls fine. )This dollhouse has been re-done by me for the 2nd time now.

Inside and outside of the bakery? or little convenience store. I have wondered if this wouldn't make a great gas station or takeout.I still need to finish the door for this.

And here are the shelf dioramas. My Sindy kitchen is a complete mess. The shelf on the bottom right is full of dolls that need clothing or bodies. The shelf on the bottom to the left holds all of my Victorian residents/ancestors of the dolls living in Barbietown now. 

My biggest problem with the incoming spooky dolls is whatever I set up I know I will not be entirely satisfied with. My real desire is a cross between a castle and the Addams Family house. When I build in 1:12 scale I loved doing the Harry Potter themes and witchy themes as well. I love the old thirties and forties horror flicks with Bela Lugosi, Boris Korloff, and Lon Chaney..they are my all time favorites that I watch on Saturday nights with my husband on Svengoolie. I used to watch alot of Elivira Mistress of the Dark in my teens late at night with friends but she is not on any channels we have. I have never warmed up to Twilight for some reason even though I have some of the dolls. Vampires shouldn't sparkle, there is something weird with the storyline and I simply cannot stand Bella. 
So right now on this diorama I am looking at possibly two floors. I haven't figured out how I'm going to achieve that, unless I use two different thicknesses of foamcore. I do know I want a bedroom, a large living room/salon with entrance way and an impressive door. (I also want a cemetary as I have made Dracula's crypt but that will have to be a temporary setup) I think to the right maybe an impressive dining room or billards room. Everything will be in rich tones of red, black, and gold, using my red Dragon chairs. My inspiration is going to be the actual Braham Stoker's Dracula movie with Wynona Ryder in it, I will have to watch it again to get ideas for it. 
So that's the update so far. 

Poppy, Poppy..................

Today's post has come about from one of my friends on Flicker and Ipernity asking for pics of all my Poppy Parker dolls together. Intriguing, I thought. I only have five, no six, make that seven! Eight if you count Breakfast at Tiffany's but I don't count her. My friend OddMod on Flicker acquired Young Sophisticate- one of my new favorite Poppies- and so these photos were taken on the fly yesterday. I used LaBelle's as a backdrop- having no available space to set up a photo spot! All of my table spaces are taken up with props and scenes!!! So I took a variety of comparison photos.

My count so far is: Pillow Talk, Dream Teen, Lilac Frost, Joyful in Japan, Spicey in Spain, To the Fair, and Young Sophisticate. 

Most all of the Poppies have been re dressed except for Lilac Frost, Spicey in Spain and Young Sophisticate. I am going to start concentrating on getting more clothing for the dolls as my clothing selections are limited. It honestly floored me to see how many Poppies I own and there are MORE dolls in the boutique behind them! Between Mattel and the W club I have been swamped with dolls so it is hard to pay attention to my favorites. And I have different dolls who are favorites for vastly different reasons. Pillow Talk is one of my very first Poppies (I had to sell Summer Magic and Reluctant Debutante to pay bills a couple of years ago, much to my deep regret) and I adore her makeup. To the Fair is close with different makeup. Joyful in Japan is one of my favorites because of her delicate porcelain skin tone and I love the way her hair is done. (She is going to be renamed Nellie and will star unofficially as Nellie Olsen character with my period dolls in my Little House characters - I already have figured out who my teenage Laura and Mary will be- now I just need articulated bodies for those two.) Young Sophisticate is fast becoming a favorite though I haven't redressed her. 
Enjoy OddMod's flicker stream, she has an incredible 1:6 scale dollhouse she and her husband just built, as well as some fun photostories!
~Lisa