Throwback Thursday review: Shibajuku Girls Shizuka

Once upon a time, once when you were mine, there were these dolls called Shibajuku Girls.  They looked a lot like a poor woman's Pullip doll, with small bodies, big noggins, inset eyes, and brightly colored hair.  One minute they were here, and the next minute they disappeared from shelves.  As with the Rainbow High dolls (and indeed, most modern-day doll lines), these girls have/had their own personalities.

Yoko appears to be the goth of the group.  She enjoys tinkering around with hair colors, playing guitar, wearing "edgy" clothes, and wearing black.  She also mentions a fondness for spooky novels and spiders (yikes!).  Her guitar (which sadly was not included with her) even has spiders on it.  Yoko aspires to be a writer.
Koe is the animal nut of the bunch.  She loves nature documentaries and taking selfies (random, much?), and her dream is to run her own...habitat???  Must be the same thing as a wildlife sanctuary.  Koe also states that if she could be any animal in the world, she'd be a falcon.  Well, I wanted to be an albatross once, so I can understand Koe there.  Birds are nifty!
Suki loves colors and hair clips, though that's not saying much since all of these dolls appear to love colors and hair clips.  On the other hand, Suki is the only one who claims to have a collection of hair clips, plus bracelets and necklaces of varying colors.  This suggests to me that she leans towards the decora spectrum of harajuku fashion.  Suki also loves food, especially baked goods like donuts and cupcakes.
Shizuka likes to play with hair colors, just as Yoko does.  She's the quiet one of the bunch (fitting, since "shizuka" means "quiet" in Japanese), hopes to be a fashion designer (sigh, I always get the fashion lover), and is obviously fond of the color pink.
Namika is the reader of the bunch and loves science as well.  She claims never to get bored and loves to help out her friends at school.  Namika is unusual in that she appeared in both light and dark skintones.  Miss Emily had the dark one, for example, while Rachael had the light one.  Namika disappeared from the line in later waves.
Miki was a latecomer to the party, and she appears to have been Namika's replacement.  Miki is another stinkin' athlete (barf) AND a fashionista (double barf), who dreams of both being in the Olympics and traveling the world.  Good way to kill two birds with one stone, since going to the Olympics requires traveling to somewhere (usually abroad).  Her sport of choice is soccer, which I can get behind since soccer players don't get a lot of attention here in the U.S.  One of Miki's hair accessories is/was a ghost, so I wonder if she didn't also share Yoko's fondness for the spooky and the off-beat.

All of the names are Japanese names or words, and Rachael noted that the dolls' bios are pretty random.  While I commend Namika's love for science and Koe's passion for animals I have to say that I agree with the random bit.  Miki's strange sports-meets-fashion story and Koe's love for selfie-taking seem particularly hodge-podge.  And seriously, how self-centered can you get, loving to take selfies???  I can count the number of selfies I've taken on one hand, but then again I'm not exactly easy on the eyes.  Regarding the dolls themselves, Shizuka was actually my least favorite in the first wave.  She was blonde and pale, and her light pink outfit washed her out even further.  She did have mismatched eyes, but that didn't even the balance enough for me.  When the second wave rolled around, though...oh my!  Shizuka stood out!

Truthfully, if all five characters had been available at the time I wouldn't have bought Wave 2 Shizuka either; Koe was my favorite with her blue hair and her purple romper.  But Koe and Miki were not available at Dexter's Wal-Mart at the time, while Shizuka, Yoko, and Suki were.  Even though I have often complained about the overuse of pink in the dolly world, I grabbed Shizuka.  

It was August of 2017 when I first saw the Shibajuku Girls (I stole the above picture from that post, LOL), and at the time I noted that they were a lot like Blythe and Pullip.  Indeed, Shizuka bears some resemblance to both Blythe and to Pullip, as well as to the Cutie Pops, but she also has some differences too.

Jaylin, my factory Blythe, is shorter than Shizuka and has a smaller body, but she can move her eyes.

Candi also has a smaller body than Shizuka does, and her eyes pop in and out and her hair can be switched around.

Too bad Candi didn't come with any cute hair barrettes.  She could've shared them with both Shizuka and Jaylin.

Shizuka's hair is rooted and very long, falling clean down to her knees.  Most of the fibers are about fifty percent hot pink and fifty percent pale pink.

The styling is minimal, just a center part without bangs.  The root job is...not the greatest.  Along the hairline and the part the rooting is fine...

...but try doing pigtails and/or multiple braids.  The part doesn't look good in the back.

Shizuka's stock jacket has a hood and thus covers most (but not all) gaps, but there are times when I'd prefer that she NOT wear the hood.  When she's without her jacket the only hairstyles possible are all down or a single ponytail or braid in the back, like so.

Since Shizuka has so much hair I usually tie it back.  The cute pink hairbands that I used for this job came with a future doll, and they do their job very well.

Below the hair is the face, of course, and these dolls are a little moon faced!

Ha!  Maybe a more than a little!  Having a moon face is a common problem for dolls with large heads, so I'll let it go.  Shizuka's dominant feature are her eyes, which are large and inset with rooted eyelashes, silver and mint eyeshadow, and black eyeliner.  Her simply-painted eyebrows betray her real hair color (LOL).

Shizuka has complete heterochromia, sporting one green eye and one blue eye.  I thought that at one point another of the Shibajuku Girls had heterochromia too, but a quick perusal of the stock photos revealed that my memory was mistaken.  Dolls with heterochromia appear to be more common than people with heterochromia...unless I haven't looked close enough at the people around me!  The eyes are opaque, glossy plastic, though in certain lights they can look metallic or translucent.

I'm not in love with Shizuka's lip color.  It's a nice shape, but the shade of pink fades into her already-pale vinyl.

At the same time I appreciate the subtle blush on Shizuka's cheeks.  It's so light that it's hard to detect, but it's there.

Let's take a gander at ears right quick, since I look at a doll funny if she doesn't have any.  Shizuka's ears are big and simply molded like her head is, and they have no piercings.  Pierced ears would've been cute on this doll line, but long hair tends to get caught in earrings so Hunter Products made a good call here.

Body talk now!  Shizuka's body is interesting.  She's got a mature bust but almost no curves otherwise, and she's got multiple joints.

Here's what Shizuka's skinny little arms look like; they're jointed at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.

The joints here look delicate, and they ARE delicate.  I definitely would NOT subject Shizuka to my "throw her across the yard and see what happens" test.   The joints have decent rotational and hinged movement, though; Shizuka can reach across her torso, like so, and she can rotate her arms outwards as well.

Her elbows can also bend the wrong way to some degree, though I'd prefer that she not do this.  It looks like a serious dislocation.

Her mostly curveless torso has no joints, and neither do her teeny-weeny ankles.

Seriously, these are some of the dinkiest doll feet I've ever seen!

As small as Shizuka's ankles are it shouldn't be surprising that there are no joints there.  Her knees are jointed though, with hinged and rotational movement.  Her knees are flexible enough that she can sit cross-legged, for example. 

She can also sit like this.  Cassandra and my rebodied Takara dolls are my only other dolls that can sit like this.

Shizuka's hips are ball-and-peg jointed, and they're the only joints that feel pretty robust.  Shizuka can perform almost full side-splits, like so.

She can accomplish front-back splits too...

...but I have to move her back-pointing leg aside due to the cut of her hips.  A front-back split thus looks awkward for Shizuka, especially when viewed from above.

As I've said before, I almost never pose my dolls like this anyway, so who cares?  LOL

As I noted above, Shizuka's ensemble is almost all pink.

The front of the jacket has a skinny zipper that actually works, though the bottom is sewn together so the whole thing doesn't come undone.

Here's the aforementioned hood.  It has a large slit in the back to accommodate Shizuka's ample hair, plus a pair of rabbit ears.  

No bunny tail in back, though (bummer).  Here it's possible to see the sparkles on the fabric, the kind that rubs off if the fabric is handled too much.

The jacket is not lined, but all the hems are finished and look nice.  The bottom hem is even trimmed with white knitted fabric that looks like the bottom part of another shirt.

Shizuka's skirt is also pink and sparkly, though the sparkles are real glitter rather than printed stuff.

Two tulle layers with scalloped edges, plus an opaque bottom layer that preserves Shizuka's modesty.  She also has a ribbon "thong" thing to keep the skirt from riding up.  It reminds a little of Sunflower Burst Cyanne's skirt, both in style and in construction. 

The waistband is made of sateen and Velcros shut in back.  Oh, Velcro...not a smart thing to use with tulle.

As I noted above Shizuka's jacket zips, but who wants to go around with their jacket zipped all the time?  And for that matter, who likes it when their chest gets rubbed by the backside of a zipper?  Never fear, for Shizuka is wearing a white crop top underneath.  It's just your simple little crop top, not high and not low.  The hems are short, but they don't fold out when Shizuka is wearing it.

Shizuka's knee-length socks are made out of the same material as the top, and they along with the shoes are the weakest part of her outfit because they don't fit the greatest.  The socks are fairly well-constructed, with seams along the back...

...but they bag around Shizuka's dinky little feet.

Shizuka's shoes are simple pink vinyl mary-janes with thick soles.  They have slits in the heels, which in this case was unnecessary. 

I understand why these shoes are big, as they likely wouldn't have fit over the socks otherwise, but they like to randomly fall off.  This has led to great amusement for my cats on at least one occasion. 

Normally this is where I'd segue into clothes sharing, but I finished this blog in a rush last night so I didn't get to that part.  Shizuka has a thicker torso than those of Monster High, Ever After High, Blythe/Licca-chan, Cutie Pops, La Dee Da, and Bratz, so all of them are out.  But her body is smaller than Barbie's so I doubt that would work either, except for maybe the odd petite piece.  I'll have to readdress that and get back to y'all.  Anyway, part of the fun of a fashion doll is dressing and redressing them, and since I haven't seen much yet on Etsy for these dolls I turned to eBay instead.  They delivered with these.

Based on the artwork on the packaging I'll guess that these outfits were intended for Yoko (left) and Suki, but beggars definitely cannot be choosers with this line.  Yes, I foolishly stuck to character-specific clothes during the days of Monster High and thus missed out on some cute clothes as a result.  Won't make that mistake with the Shibajuku Girls, though!  Here's how Shizuka looks in Yoko's outfit (left) and in Suki's.  I kinda wish Yoko's ensemble came with some new shoes, but since Shizuka has pink hair her shoes don't clash too terribly.

I like how these two ensembles contrast, by the way.  Harajuku fashion is all about mixing, matching, and having fun with one's clothes, and with Yoko's all-black ensemble and Suki's sparkles-and-rainbows set I'll be able to do that easy-peasy.  Indeed, pairing Yoko's jacket with Suki's skirt is like an outfit I'd have thrown together during high school.

I wouldn't have gotten away with showing that much boobage, though.  Good thing Shizuka has that white blouse.

That's better!  I'd have layered on a couple of necklaces and some goofy earrings, and then I'd have been good to go.  Alas, earrings are a no-go for Shizuka since her head is too hard for ear piercing, but I can still make a couple'a necklaces!

Oh yes, how could I forget the clips???  Shizuka came with four clips (the star, the cat, the bow, and the pink flower-thing), and the other two (the planet and the ice pop) came with the extra outfits.  They come in enough colors and shapes to make Suki's heart sing (remember that Suki loves hair clips).

Heck, they make my heart sing too, as I'll top my hair with goofy clips if I'm not in the mood for a goofy bow.  Regarding quality these are okay.  They're mostly made of stiffened felt and other fabrics, though the first wave dolls were all accompanied with at least one metal clip.  I kinda wish some of Shizuka's clips were metal, as these softer ones are prone to bending (the cat and the ice pop are the main culprits there).  The metal ones also slide easier into the dolls' hair easier...I think.  Metal clips slide into my hair more easily than clips built like this do...

...so I figure the same is true with doll hair.  Seriously, I hate it when clips and bows have blunt attachments like this, as they make a mess of the ponytail they're being shoved into.  But these are super-cute, so I just go slow when I'm shoving them into Shizuka's hair...or I just clip them to her hood.  That works too.

I think that wraps it up.

BAD
*I didn't discuss this above, but Shizuka's joints are very loose.  Her knees are particularly prone to collapsing.  This doll could've done with a stand, but Hunter Products didn't give her one.
*Hair could potentially become a nightmare if it gets tangled, and the roots don't allow for many styles.
*Face is very pale.  This is true of almost all of the Shibajuku Girls.
*Shoes (and socks) come off a little too easy for my taste.
*My particular doll has a LOT of pink, though I have no one to blame but myself for that.

GOOD
*Can't beat inset eyes, especially mismatched ones!
*Hair is a fun color and handles well during styling.
*Stock ensemble is well-made and has BUNNY EARS!!!  You can't beat bunny ears!
*Jointed.  The joints are loose, but they ARE joints. 
*Clothes are well-made and can be mixed and matched if one has multiple dolls or multiple outfits.
*HAIR CLIPS!!!

LOL, I like the hair clips just a little, even though they're sometimes hard to place.  Overall the Shibajuku Girls were a cute line with a cute, simple idea, but I think they may have fallen victim to what I like to call "Blythe syndrome."  Blythe was alienating to children and their parents with her large head and staring eyes, and I think the Shibajuku Girls may have been the same way.  I THINK, now.  I don't know that for a fact, but that's the best explanation I can hypothesize for the line's failure.  Collectors of Blythe and Pullip might like these dolls though, since they have the same aesthetic as Blythe and Pullip.  Indeed, that's why I picked Shizuka up, as I saw her as a sort of poor woman's Pullip.  If you're a fan of the big-headed, big-eyed types then Shizuka is worth owning, but I'd recommend getting a stand for her so she doesn't go falling off the shelf!  I'll have to follow my own advice for both Shizuka and Candi, as they're too big to store in my doll box!  Anyway, I urge my followers to pay close attention to the next few posts, as the dolls I'll be addressing bear some important similarities (and a few differences) to Shizuka.  Stay tuned!

Much love,

RagingMoon1987

lll

And then there were eight

Yes, eight cats.  I solemnly swear that I adopted these guys with their well-being in mind, not because I just want a trillion cats.  The story begins around six-thirty yesterday evening, when my mother and I came home from work and from a munchie run.  I was blinded by a pair of headlights, and it turned out to be one of my neighbors.  He was carrying a black dog with blue eyes (a German Shepherd-husky mix, it turns out), and he wanted to warn me about the dog's escape antics.  In doing so he also told me that there was a young cat hanging around who liked to climb peoples' legs and purr.  "He's about half-grown," my neighbor said.  Sure enough, as I was unlocking the door this little feller bounded out of the shadows and tried to climb my leg.  With rain being in the forecast, I grabbed him up and ferried him inside.

When I peeped under the hood and discovered that my new pet is a boy I randomly trilled "it's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy!"  Hence his name, Tommy Walker.

Part two to the story began a few minutes later.  I left Tommy growling at the other cats and took my dogs out...and what do I hear coming from this same neighbor's yard but "mew, mew, mew"?  "Hmmm, does Tommy have a littermate?" I wondered.  I got the dogs back in the house and after multiple attempts I managed to catch Kitten #2.

Kitten #2 belongs to the same neighbors that own the German Shepherd-husky mix, and he bears a strong resemblance to Stormy, whom I once again captured from these same neighbors.  I ended up having to give Stormy back, and he's since grown up and run away, as cats often do.  Upon chatting with the neighbor I learned that Kitten #2 was not getting along well with the new dog and had thus been put outside.  The kitten had been crawling under the cars and getting out into the street, and after some deliberation the neighbor surrendered the kitten to me.  While I was incredulously discussing this story with my mother I randomly called this kitten Sir Lancelot, and that name has stuck.

So now my clowder is up to eight again, which will be no big deal for me as I've had eight before.  I know I said "no more small kittens" after Eddie and Arya died, but Lancelot needed my help and I wasn't going to turn him away.  Tommy and Lance are NOT littermates, by the way; Tommy is significantly bigger than Lance.

Y'all know what?  I think I need to sweep again, LOL!  No matter how many times I sweep I still keep finding more of my chinchilla's mess.  Anyway, both kittens spent most of the evening in my face wanting to be cuddled.  Lancelot has been well-kept by my neighbors, but Tommy has not been well-kept by anyone.  He's dirty and skinny, and his claws are all broken, and my neighbor was at a loss as to where he came from.  He DOES know what a litterbox is for, though (Lancelot does not).  Oh well, he won't stay dirty and skinny for long; he'll be fat and sleek and NEUTERED before he knows it!

Regarding my other cats, Bobbie, Chessie, and Allie are curious and making small attempts to be friendly, while Lola, Callie, and Lily are not.  Chessie is excited to have someone close to her in size (she herself is not yet fully grown), and Allie wants to play Mama Kitty, as she does with every kitten that comes to the Moon House.  Bobbie is the one who surprised me, as she's still quite shy and has not yet grown used to living in such a noisy house.  But she's meowing and bumping noses with the little ones, and she's even made an attempt to wash Lancelot.  As for the dogs, Bella wants to play and Sonic could take his young housemates or leave them.  Lancelot is more interested in cuddling with Bella than playing, and Tommy doesn't like dogs...yet.

So, looks like I've got one spay and two neuters in my future!  Chessie's prior owners did not spay her before tossing her out of their vehicle, so I'll have to do that unless I want her and Tommy getting friendly!  Pricey???  Maybe, but I can handle it.  As long as everyone stays healthy I should be fine.  The chief thing right now is having Tommy and Lancelot out of the rain and the cold that are supposed to move in tonight.

Peace, love, and purrs,
RagingMoon1987

Caomei the scam doll

Well, I finally got ONE of the dolls I ordered from HappyKomi (after two friggin' months), and she is about as far a cry from what was pictured as night is from day.  She IS a rag doll...

...but she's not what I thought I was buying.  This is what I thought I was getting.

Her dress has a bunch of grapes on it...

...but her coloring and overall shape made me think of strawberries.  Since she's a Chinese doll I've chosen the name Caomei, which is the Chinese word for "strawberry."

Oh, and the extensive wardrobe that these dolls were supposed to come with?  Caomei was accompanied by one cheap dress and a matching headband, the latter of which is just a strip of cloth with wires inside.

The dress fits Caomei's soft little body, but it clashes with her hat (which doesn't come off).  Maybe it'll fit Cinnamon...

To wrap it up, here's how Caomei and Zlata visually compare.  No contest, really.

They make a cute pair, I'll have to admit, and it's a good thing that Caomei IS cute or she'd be going straight into the trash.  Well okay, that's a bit harsh since she's soft and well-made, but SHE.  IS.  NOT.  WHAT.  I.  ORDERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If any of y'all want a Waldorf doll, don't be dumb like me and order from Facebook ads.  I was able to make lemonade from lemons in Caomei's case, but not everyone can.  So be very, very careful and do your research, like I should've done!

Ciao,
RagingMoon1987

UPDATE, 11/30/20.  My other two scam dolls have arrived, and wouldn't y'all know, all three of them are wearing pink.  I've chosen to name Caomei's friends Liu (center) and Meigui.

As I noted above, they're cute but not what I ordered.  Don't order anything from Happy Komi, folks.

UPDATE, 12/28/2020.  Debbie Behan Garrett also fell for this scam, and unlike me she contested the issue with...moderate success.  I feel a little less dumb knowing that a smart lady like Miss Debbie got suckered by Happy Komi's attractive ads and too-good-to-be-true prices.  The doll she picked was a cute one, too!  She has chosen to donate her scam doll to a nice cause.

The compleat Zlata

My Waldorf doll is finished, and it took a fair amount of work to get her done.  Here's what she did look like...

...and here's what she looks like now.

Not as easy as I thought it would be, but not as hard either.  I began by marking her face with a dull pencil, and I did this freehanded so her eyes are a little off-kilter.  Hey, I'm not selling her or giving her away, so who cares if her eyes are a little off-kilter.  I will say that I'm glad I spent part of my adolescence drawing faces for the What's Her Face dolls, as that taught me how to sketch a simple, smooth mouth.

Actually, I gotta back up and show an intermediate step.  To get her eyes placed where I wanted them I was supposed to use map pins, but I didn't have any so I resorted to using push pins.  The results were...interesting.

LOL, she looks a little like a Daruma doll!  Indeed, when I showed her to Mama like this Mama suggested that I leave the push pins in place and paint on pupils.  Not a terrible idea, but the push pins would never stay.  So I sketched them on and then sewed them on, using brown for the outline and the eyebrows, that violet shade for the iris, and dark pink for the mouth.

Some folks also stitch in pupils and light clusters, but I decided to just be happy with the simple results I got.  The stitching is crude in places, but for me it's worth it to have a face.

The wig was the worst part, mainly because it took forever, and partly also because I've never worked with boucle yarn before.  See, I chose to first crochet a wig cap and then attach strands of yarn later.  This was hard to do because boucle yarn is very hairy, and it can be hard to see the stitches clearly.  I wanted a neat little skullcap, but I got a shallow bowl (I used a 5.75mm hook and followed my own pattern of single and double crochet stitches, for those wondering).

I sucked it up and began hooking boucle strands to the cap, transforming the bowl into this weird spider-jellyfish chimera.

After I got the edges of the hair crocheted in, I realized that I'd have a devil of a time getting the wig on the doll if I didn't attach it right then, so I did just that and crocheted the rest of Zlata's hair while the wig was on her head.  Zlata ended up with a LOT of hair, enough so that she could pass for a hair metal musician if I dressed her right.  So I braided it to keep it out of the way.

Nice, thick pigtails, just like one of the dolls advertised but NOT sold by Happy Komi and those other scam sites.  The style is bulky, but Zlata's cap and hood stretch to fit, so it's all good.

Yeah, my first attempt at making a wig came out pretty kludgy, but she at least has a wig so I'm just going to leave well enough alone.  Next time I won't crochet in quite so much hair around the base of the wig cap.

Overall I'm fairly happy with Zlata now, though I'll admit that my stitchwork needs a lot of practice!  I was tempted to give Zlata cornflower blue button eyes, like Epaphroditus has in The Stocking Child.  Hmmm, Epaphroditus...that's an obscure name if I ever heard one!  I thought it would turn out to be the scientific name of a flower or insect, but it turns out that Epaphroditus is the name of a Biblical figure who later was declared a saint.  How the Stocking Child got the name is beyond me (he doesn't use it much in the book), but the name can mean "lovely" or "charming" and thus fits him well.  Kudos to Tam for turning me onto that book, by the way.  Every month Tam does a lovely post on a doll-themed book, and so far The Stocking Child has been my favorite.  Since Zlata is made out of stockinette fabric she too could easily be a stocking child, minus the button eyes.  By the way, when the human protagonist of The Stocking Child first finds Epaphroditus the little doll is tangled up in a patch of burrs.  I wonder if the burrs left snags!  The book doesn't say so I assume that Epaphroditus came out of the burrs no worse for wear (kinda like Br'er Rabbit in the briar patch), but I know Zlata would probably snag if she were trapped in a patch of burrs.  See how finely stitched her fabric is?

Guess what my yard is full of.  BURRS!!!  If I decide to take Zlata outside I'll have to be very careful where I put her.  That said, I think Zlata needs a friend, a friend with cornflower blue button eyes and a crooked stitched mouth, a friend who converses with animals and humans alike and has a knack for poetry.  I think a doll like Epaphroditus would make a very fine friend for Zlata, and a very fine project for me to work on during the dreary months ahead.  Yes, winter is a fine time for sewing and snuggling soft, warm dollies, provided one doesn't already have a lapful of real live children (or pets in my case).  Regardless of when or if I get Zlata a friend, I've gained a new respect for the folks who sew these dolls' faces and sculpt them.  No, I still don't believe that all-natural materials are necessary to make a nice Waldorf doll, but I know now that sculpting their interior is NOT for sissies!  I'll definitely not be making one of these from scratch; sewing Zlata's face and fumbling with her wig is good enough for me.

See y'all on Thanksgiving!  I usually try to take a break from blogging then, but...well, I couldn't think of a better time to jam a post in.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

Goodbye Pebbles, hello Bobbie

My fellow pet-lovers and I all know that no pet is forever, but to lose four in a single year is a little bit more than I care to deal with.  In April my chinchilla died, and during the summer I adopted and lost Arya and Eddard.  Then on the night of November sixth it was my Pebbles's turn.  This is my favorite picture of him, taken when he was eleven months old.  Not too long after this one of his eyes deflated.

It didn't matter much whether Pebbles had one eye or two, because he was blind in both eyes.  It was D-Day of 2012 when my sister and her then-boyfriend came dragging this sorry little bag of fur and filth up to our house.  He was dirty, covered in fleas, his eyes were dripping with infection, his mother was nowhere to be found, and he had no idea what to do with the kibble we placed in front of him.  The vet estimated that he was maybe three to four weeks old at the time.  The kitten's infected eyes resembled small pieces of gravel, and Sister's boyfriend bestowed upon him the horrid name "Pebbles."  Unfortunately, the name stuck.  And so began the summer of 2012!  My sister and I took turns waking up every three hours to feed Pebbles, burp Pebbles, doctor Pebbles's eyes, and make sure Pebbles went potty.  Things his mother would've done had she not abandoned him.  Since he was a baby we had to feed him with a bottle, and since his eyes itched terribly we had to jerry-rig a cone of shame so he wouldn't scratch (he did anyway).  We even dragged the kitten with us on a trip to Jonesboro one afternoon, just to make sure he'd be properly fed (best afternoon ever, by the way).  None of us were sure he'd survive, but survive he did.  After Sister went to Cape Girardeau for summer college classes, the job of caring for him fell solely on me.  Pebbles and I bonded strongly as a result, to the point that he nearly starved himself when I moved out of Mama's house.  I thought he'd be happier in a house he was familiar with, but...no.  I was afraid of how my new house of cats would treat him, but Pebbles settled in surprisingly well.  The girls left him alone and he left them alone...except for Chessie.  This is Chessie, whom I forgot to introduce.

Move over, Skimbleshanks, because there's another railway cat in the world.  LOL, Chessie bears a resemblance to the old Chessie System mascot that I love, hence her name.  She was tossed out of a car just like Eddie and Arya were, in full view of the local dog catcher (what an idiot).  The dog catcher caught the kitten and offered her to me since she knew I missed Eddie and Arya, and now Chessie terrorizes my house.  She loves to play and wants the other cats to play with her, but she usually doesn't have any takers.  Pebbles was no exception, though he was more patient with Chessie than the older girlcats are.  He tolerated his rambunctious young housemate and occasionally played wappy-paws with her, but usually he wanted her to bug off.

Not that Pebbles was very active to begin with.  His eye infection turned out to be caused by a type of herpes that thankfully wasn't contagious to humans (or other cats, apparently, as my surviving cats are all healthy).  The virus didn't kill Pebbles, but it did blind him and make his immune system weak.  All during his eight and a half years of life he tired easily and fought illnesses, randomly losing a ton of weight and acting like he hurt, and then gaining it all back and acting like he was fine.  This cycle would repeat itself once or twice a year, usually around October or November, and sometimes during April.  I took him to the vet multiple times, but the vet kindly told me that these things were going to happen and all I could do was treat the symptoms.  When he fell ill again earlier this week I thought "Okay, he's having another crisis.  I'll up his food and make sure he stays warm, and he'll be fine by the weekend."  But...no.  He crashed suddenly while I was at work on November 6th, and I spent the last few hours keeping him warm and stroking his head.  His last voluntary acts were to bite me (my left birdie finger still aches) and then push his head into my hand for scratches.  I love all my animals, but Pebbles was my very first special needs cat and my very first experience with bottle-feeding.  He taught me a lot and we loved each other a lot, and he'll be very sorely missed.

The good news is that I've adopted a new girl.  Meet Bobbie, the cat with a stub tail!  Pardon my messy carpet; my chinchilla made quite a mess while she was alive.

Bobbie belonged to an elderly friend of mine who is getting to the point where she can't care for her animals.  At one point I voiced a fondness for bob-tailed cats, and my friend said "Oh, I have one with a bobbed tail!"  I'd committed to taking Bobbie in before Pebbles died, but now that he's gone I have a space to fill!  Bobbie won't replace Pebbles in my heart, of course, but she'll nevertheless be loved and fed and kept warm.  Bobbie is already spayed and is only about a year old, meaning that hopefully I'll have many years with her by my side.  She is still pretty skittish, as I would be if I were in her position, but she's warming up.  She loves having her chin scratched, and for some reason she likes my feet.  Haven't figured that one out yet, but she likes to roll around on my feet and chew my toenails. 

That's all for now, rascals!  I should have a few posts up in the weeks to come; viewership was really down in October, so I'm hoping to remedy that.

Hugs and hair balls,
RagingMoon1987

The same outfit? Starflower vs. Nunavut Now

I like to joke that the end of the year is either Cabbage Patch Kid season or American Girl season at the Moon House, as for some reason or another I start looking at clothes and accessories for both entities.  I haven't seen anything in Camp Cabbie that sets my heart aflame-a, but I did find some stuff for my American Girls (what a surprise, LOL).  This is the Starflower outfit, modeled by the one and only Lindsey Bergman.

I like to never got her posed for this picture, she's so loose.  I need to see what I can do about that.  Anyway, this was one of my favorite American Girl Today outfits (as Truly Me was called back then), and unsurprisingly I didn't get it until now.  My sister and I had a bad habit of circling what we wanted in an American Girl catalog and then...hiding the catalog so Mama and Daddy had no idea what we wanted!  We weren't very bright at times, my sister and I.  But anyway, Starflower was only available during 2004 and 2005, and it's one of my favorite outfits, utilizing my favorite shade of blue (cerulean) with plum.  It represents a trend among AG clothes that I loved; during the early 2000's a lot of blues, purples, greens, and soft pinks were used in AG's wardrobe, and oh, did I love it!  Just about all of my favorite outfits were some shade of blue, purple, or both.  I'm not sure Lindsey looks as nice in it as the model in the catalog does (the catalog shows JLY #11), but she'll definitely do.

No sweat, eh what?  I've got one of my favorite AG outfits and all is good.  Then...THEN I browsed Maplelea's site.  I know some of y'all out there own a Maplelea Girl, but for those who don't know, Maplelea Girls are Canada's answer to American Girl.  There are seven little multiracial girls from various parts of Canada, and instead of storybooks they come with these awesome diaries that reveal things about the doll's life and facts about the part of Canada they live in.  My favorite dolls are Saila (an Inuit girl from Nunavut) and Taryn (she lives in Banff!), and one of Saila's extra outfits, a cute little number called Nunavut Now, looks like this.

Hmmm...cerulean sweater with a blouse underneath, dark knee-length skirt with a decoration on the hem, leggings, metallic blue shoes.  The two outfits aren't carbon copies of each other, as Saila's leggings and blouse are gray and her skirt is denim.  But...

...there's a resemblance, LOL!  I wonder if Maplelea did this deliberately or if it's just a coincidence?  Layers make sense given the latitude at which Saila lives, and the outfits are different enough that it could be a coincidence.  Plus, the construction of the two sweaters is different; Saila's buttons up the front and has a hood, while Lindsey's doesn't have a hood and wraps around.  See?

I haven't yet committed to buying a Maplelea Girl, but if I do, Nunavut Now will have to come with her so I can get a closer look at it.  Or, since American Girls can wear Maplelea clothes, I may just buy a couple of outfits and be done with it.  As always, y'all will see which way I choose to go.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987

Waldorf dolls: a learning experience

As promised on my birthday, here is the story of my first Waldorf doll.  For the uninitiated, Waldorf dolls are also called Steiner dolls, even though they apparently have no connection to Jules Nicholas Steiner and his bisque dolls from days of yore.  Indeed, when I saw the name "Steiner" attached to a Waldorf doll I thought "WTH, that's not a Steiner doll!"  Turns out there's more than one type of Steiner doll, so keep that in mind if you're a fan of the antique bisque dolls.  Also be wary of confusing the name "Waldorf" with the name "Walda," as Waldorf dolls and Walda dolls are about the same as night and day.  Anyway, Waldorf/Steiner dolls are specialized rag dolls with minimalist facial features and fluffy yarn or wool hair.  They can be either gender, any race, and any age, and they're almost always handmade from all-natural materials (uh...WHY???  don't they know that all-natural stuff just drives the price up???).  Since these dolls are handmade out of the good stuff they're almost always expensive, meaning that I'd have a hard time getting my hands on one...and that led me to do something dumb.  My mommy made me do it, LOL!  Early on September 19th Mama sent me an ad that she'd stumbled across on Facebook, one that was offering these dolls for...I think half-off of a sixty-dollar price tag.  It sounded like a good deal, but let's ask Captain Picard what he thinks of that idea.

Yeah, some of y'all are probably facepalming right now too.  Mama and I should've listened to the captain!  This is what the site was claiming to sell (and what we wanted to buy).

Supposedly these dolls all came with extensive wardrobes, like so.

The knockoffs STILL aren't here, nearly two months after we ordered them, but I know for a fact that they're not real Waldorf dolls.  Some folks on Facebook got fairly decent knockoffs of the real deal, complete with large wardrobes of poor-quality clothes, and some got dime store rag dolls that were cute but WEREN'T WHAT THE BUYER THOUGHT THEY WERE GETTING!!!  Long story short, the pictures on the site were all stolen from various sources.  Some of the images appear to have come from DollsJoy and Taisoid, but I'm not sure where the pictures I showed above came from.  Some of the untrustworthy sites are Ashley's secret, ColorfulJell, Mimgo, Foforlove, and the site that suckered Mama and me in, which uses the names Kimiss and Happy Komi.  I also do not trust Emma's Realistic Toys, as they use the same pictures the other sites use and offer the items for the same prices.  Sooooo, if any of y'all want an honest-to-God Waldorf doll, DON'T GO TO ANY OF THOSE SITES!!!  I should've known those prices were too good to be true since that rule stands for any sort of item, but live and learn.

Luckily for me there is a silver lining of sorts, as my slip in judgement gave me the impetus to purchase a kit...y'know, like I probably should've done from the beginning but didn't because I'm dumb and lazy and a cheapskate.  She's really just the frame for a Waldorf doll since I'm too lazy and cheap to try sculpting my own, but she IS the frame for one.  I've chosen to name her "Zlata," after Zlata Filipovic.  This doll spent two weeks in quarantine after arriving from Ukraine.  No lie.

The completed doll won't look a thing like her namesake, who was and still is an attractive fair-skinned brunette, but I've always loved the name.  Zlata came from Happy Waldorf Dolls on Etsy, and she is legit.  Her name means "golden" in Ukrainian, which I find fitting considering her country of origin and the color of her "skin."  There were five skin options, but I liked the ruddy tone the best.

Zlata wasn't cheap (though not as expensive as a complete doll), but I think in the long run it'll be worth the effort to customize her.  It should be a fairly simple job, as I don't have to sculpt the whole doll.  Heck, I don't even have to worry about making a dress for her!  Dressing a Waldorf doll can be a tricky affair, since the clothes are pricey like the doll is, but Happy Waldorf Dolls has Zlata covered...literally.  The proprietor included a nice outfit, and I added the unicorn cardigan, which came from Baby Jane Knits.  

It tickles the soup out of me that the cardigan matches the outfit Zlata came in!  This was strictly a coincidence; Olga, the proprietor of Happy Waldorf Dolls, always puts her dolls in some sort of cute outfit, but I had no idea what it would look like and I didn't want to request specific colors, as doing so would've made good fodder for r/choosingbeggars.  Olga even gave Zlata a hat, which I wasn't expecting.  The doll kits showed clothes, but not hats.

I also have some bloomers and a dress that I'd planned to use for Halloween...

...but I didn't know and STILL don't know how long it'll take to stitch Zlata's face, so I've just set these aside for next year.  I wish I could photograph how soft Zlata is, by the way, as she is apparently stuffed with sheep's wool, and her cardigan is soft too.  Oooo, sheep's wool...sometimes when Daddy would take us to his black powder rendezvous he'd have a friend or two who'd have a sheepskin, and those things were so soft and warm that it was sinful. 

Now, about Zlata's face.  Some Waldorf dolls are a bit like traditional Amish dolls and subsequently have no faces, but I'd prefer that Zlata have a face and hair.  I have the yarn for hair, in the form of auburn mohair boucle yarn.  I have enough to make both the cap and the individual hair strands...hopefully.

I told Mama that it reminds me of a Tribble.  LOL, another Star Trek reference!  I am NOT a Trekkie, kids...not yet, anyway.  Regarding the choice of color, black hair was a bit too obvious a choice for Zlata's ruddy "skin," and red hair was too garish, so I picked the intermediate.  It's surprisingly course for yarn, but since it's simulating hair I won't moan about that too much.  As for eyes, I wanted something that would stand out, and I think violet eyes are interesting so I picked dark purple.  Happy Waldorf Dolls appears to feel the same way, as her dark-skinned dolls often have blue or violet eyes.  For the mouth I picked a dark pinkish red, since I want the mouth to be visible against the strong coloration of the base fabric.

Being the strange person that I am, I stewed about Zlata being all-natural except for eyes...until I read the label.

100% cotton!  Looks like I've got nothing to worry about!  Regarding the actual sewing part, sewing the mouth does not scare me at all.  I'll just get a chalk pencil, draw on the mouth, and sew over the draw lines.  The eyes do scare me, as the tutorial I found has a lot of steps, but I reckon I can get the job done.  I have the tools I need, so it shouldn't be too huge of an undertaking to get this doll complete.  All the sources I've found imply that the KISS method is the best for these dolls, so that's what I'm doing my best to do:  as I sew her eyes and crochet her wig I'll whisper "keep it simple, stupid."

At the time of writing Happy Waldorf Dolls has more kits available, plus several complete dolls (some Waldorf, some crocheted).  The most expensive of the dolls costs a little less than a new American Girl doll, which is a lot for a doll, but a fairly good price for a Waldorf doll.  So if any of y'all want one of these for yourself Happy Waldorf Dolls is a good place to start.  Bella Luna Toys also looks like a good place to go, though the prices are a little higher there.  And lastly, eBay has a few secondhand dolls that appear to be good as new.  The prices for the eBay dolls are unfortunately just as high as the prices for a brand-new doll, and since the name "Kathe Kruse" is attached to some of them they'll understandably go for a bit more.  I personally am in love with Miyu, one of the Kruse dolls, but she'll have to wait since I've got plans for something else this Black Friday.

Welp, that's it for today!  I'll keep y'all posted on Zlata's progress.

Hugs and birthday cake,
RagingMoon1987

Headless?

 A funny thing happened while I was playing with American Girl's Create Your Own feature a few minutes ago.  The CYO site has had a long history of glitches, but none as freaky as this!

Sorry it's a little blurry; my screenshots don't usually do that.  Anyway, Amia is supposed to be a doll with the Addy head, very curly pink hair, light blue eyes, freckles, glasses, earrings, bilateral hearing aids, and the darkest skin available, but her eyes, glasses, and freckles were all that popped up!  I must say, I've seen some trippy glitches on that CYO site, but none quite like this!

I haven't decided yet whether I want to reel in my very unusual CYO doll this Black Friday, or if I want to go for a historical (Addy, Maryellen, and Courtney are my picks there), but before this joke we call a year is out I plan on adding another new girl to my collection.  Y'all will see which option I choose, of course, but it won't be for awhile yet.  Don't forget to vote!

Much love,
RagingMoon1987