Vita Plastica

Well my friends, Year of Luxury strikes again. Due to that magical extra paycheck in a month thing that happens once or twice a year, I had a little extra play money. I was a good girl and did some responsible things. Bought the Hubs some business cards, bought a swanky winter coat and bathrobe for the Youngin' and a just a wee Barbie Basics accessory pack for me. But you know how when you have no money you always know exactly what you would just DIE to have? But then you have some money and can't find anything worth buying? I thought maybe I'd go ahead and buy my first action figure girl. I know exactly the one I want but I just couldn't close the deal. I went to ebay to search for the elusive 1/6th scale PT Cruiser. (Lemme know if you guys run across one.) Anywho, so no luck there. I decided to hit up some of my Favorites on etsy. I really wanted that Birkin, but I just couldn't. $35 plus $10 or $15 shipping for a doll bag that doesn't open? I dunno, I just co...

Hi you guys. Tell me: How did you get into doll life? Leave a comment or blog about it. For me it was Indian Barbie. This was about 14 years ago: Being at the time obsessed with India and having never grown up with a Barbie that wasn't either black or blonde, I was amazed by her. I was just walking through Target minding my own business and there she was. I thought she was gorgeous. I named her Pria. I took a few pictures of her but without proper furniture it looked silly. And without fellow dolls, she was a useless knick knack. For the next several years, I would buy lots of dolls and furniture, then get sick of it and give them all away to my niece. I did this 2-3 times. Finally my niece grew up, packed it all up and gave it back to me. I did a couple of silly photostories, but mostly just posed them and didn't name anyone. I moved to NY and started doing a couple of silly photostories and making oh just the saddest looking sets ever: Then I found Fashion Royalty. I was sudd...

Okay so I'm telling you that for nothing because I just don't have a good method of presenting it to you. My rarely used website www.vitaplastica.weebly.com is just no good. Last time I put my captions in, they all mysteriously deleted. Plus you had to click on every picture to view the caption and they posted out of order anyway. Using Flickr is okay I guess, I've seen it done, but I confess that I don't really like Flickr. One of these days I'll get another website on my own. Just seems silly to spend the money on a website that isn't making me money. So I think I really have to buy Comic Life and get to work! I have so many old photostories, from back when I had never even heard of Fashion Royalty. Or realism. I'd love to get those up in some kind of archive. I'm still not happy with my photography, I totally broke one of my new lights. Photography is taking the fun out of photostories, but I know it's necessary. I also miss crafty doll work so ma...

So Wednesday night I arrived home to find Vintage Vinyl Gavin waiting for me! So I had to break her out and take some pics. Forgive the quality, I wasn't trying very hard. First impression: Cutey pie! Her eyes are a bit too big and cartoonish to me. Well I guess some real people have eyes bigger than their mouth... She seems a bit sturdier than previous Dynamite Girls. She seems heavier and her joints a bit stiffer. At first I thought her hands were not removable, but a good tug proved otherwise. But trouble in paradise. Her shoes don't stay on AT ALL. I mean at ALL! Like they weren't even made for her. Look at that toe cleavage. Not a fan. And the paint job (you can't see here, but they're platforms. The sole is painted black but the platform itself is the same color as the shoe). I have seen better shoes made for Barbie. Well, it's time to comb out her hair and get this girl dressed! I tried on a few outfits. Turns out she can't do the goth/punk thing. S...

I just have to say I HAD to get another Jonathan Adler Barbie (with the side table). What good is a side table when you only have one? Okay the real reason I bought it is because it's only $24 on the Barbie Collector site. Quote the husband: "What? I paid $50 for that crap!" That pink lamp and tray never found a use. Now that I'll have two, I think I'll paint them. Huzzah! The doll will go in the trash (aka: to be repainted) but now I'll have a duplicate dress to be worn by... I dunno back up singers? Okay, that's all! smooches, dani

I think you photostory people can attest to this. These dolls really do have personalities! Sure, we assign them a role and sometimes they attack it with relish. And when I set up relationships, I set the dolls next to each other for a few days and see what faces they make. I swear, they make faces!! They will really look disgusted or pleased. But sometimes, they just don't agree with anything you try to do. Take for example Dynamite Girl African American Heartbreaker TJ. I love Dynamite girls. They are wonderful posers and if you just tilt their head, the emotions on their face are really different. But this one has given me trouble since the beginning. I renamed her Alanna. A name I really don't like. Doesn't seem to suit her at all. It really came from a former personality I assigned to her. First she was a lawyer with a double life. One with her real estate mogul boyfriend: Another with her thugged out boyfriend from high school: Then she was a reporter: Then a dancer:...

Yeah, this weekend was supposed to be about learning photography, setting up lights and things working perfectly. Turns out photography isn't that easy. I took my picture for the Figurevore Halloween challenge and I'm pretty happy with it. It purely came about by chance. And eliminating like 60 other shots I took. But then I tried to put together my Halloween party and photograph it. I have a lot to learn. First of all, lighting 16 characters crowded into a room? A room that is actually a shelf, not a nice open set? Not fun. So then I tried some test shots of some girls and none of them came out right. I think I'm going to need diffusers. Ah, another hobby that requires all kinds of money and STUFF. Ah well, I'll try to make a couple. My husband suggests that I actually read the manual for my camera. Hmmph. I'm like a dude asking for directions when it comes to instructions. But I guess I must since pressing a flower button caused me to be totally unable to get th...

Happy Friday All! What a great night I had. The hubs and I ordered our new luxurious king sized bed, bought new bedding and I came home to a surprise: stuff from Smidgehouse ! I ordered a doll photography book and a set of lights from her and they were waiting for me, lovingly packaged. Thanks Smidgey! So tonight, I will be lounging in my enormous bed, reading about photography. Then tomorrow I'll set up my doll room (furthermore to be called my 'studio') and try some practice shots. But ya'll, it's payday and it's basically the Year of Luxury so what's say we buy something yeah? I know I said I could not fall in love with any more dolls but you never have enough do you? I was not very pleased with Dynamite Girls' Vintage Vinyl Collection. They look so cartoonish this time around. But the way other doll collectors photograph them can change everything. For instance Electropop Jasper. She looked like the dorky one of the set, the lonely and unloved. Afte...

I'm sloppy. I'm starting to wonder if it's even in my personality to change that. I'm sloppy and clumsy in many aspects of my life, to which the neat freak husband will attest. So my doll creations are sloppy. Sometimes when I see the fine work you all are doing out there, I get down on myself, feel jealous and that I'll never be as good as you guys. But you know what? That's fine! I'm just going to go ahead and NOT listen to the lady at the dollhouse store talk to me about fancy pants glue and learn the hard way that Elmer's Glue is warping my foam core. So anyway, you know my doll "apartment building"? This thing: Well in the interest of space and not totally blocking all the light in this weird, cedar paneled room, I have flipped it vertical and let it sit on the floor. The room looks more open now, but there are a couple of issues: You can't really photograph the bottom shelf. I mean, I'd have to lay down on the floor and in my adv...

Hello all, I trust you had a good weekend. I wish I had another day. It seems to me that I have a terrible and wonderful addiction. Not to dolls, that's too obvious. But to rearranging furniture. I have total control over two rooms in my house. The doll room and the baby's room. For this reason, these rooms have been rearranged at least 7 times each. There's just always a better way to organize! So much of my Sunday was spent rearranging these rooms. This is my excuse for not having more pictures for you. But anyway. So I'm not sure if I've discussed this, but I'm growing wearing of Fashion Royalty. I am really never satisfied when I get one. The first ones I got were Kyori, Veronique and Natalia from that Exotic Fusion Collection. At first, when all you know is Barbie, they look really exotic and amazing. Then you realize they have crooked eyes, loosey goosey joints and this terrible hunch. I never thought I would do it, but I'm stealing their bodies. (L...

Dear Blogger, Why are you so difficult to work with? You give me this tiny window in which to write my wordy posts. It takes 100 years to scoot my pictures around in my post because you make them all appear at the top when I upload. Then I go to my post and readers can't even enlarge them. And what happened to all your templates? There were some very decent basic ones and now there is just crap. You suck Blogger, but I can't leave you because I just got my follower number back up. Love, Danielle

Okay so my birthday isn't until Thanksgiving week, but the hubs decided to give me present #1 early. A new digital camera! I'm so excited. I've only just been fiddling around but I've gotten the best shots. It's a Nikon Coolpix L22. I don't know what that means, but it's red! He also got me a small bendy tripod (and a full tripod on its way). And not only that, but thanks to Smidge , I will soon be in possession of not only lights but the FDQ book I've been thinking about getting. My dolls goals for the new year are really taking off! Anyway here are some shots I just took: Nadia finally has a moment alone with her crush, Miho. Felix has had enough with Hana's overt flirting. Josephine and Ms. Fear look on. Goth teen with daddy issues, Sooki, escapes her sister's party with Aragorn Ken. With flash: And without flash: I think this is the best picture I've ever taken. I love this camera. Who's a good boy? Of course a better came...

The Year of Luxury won't begin until October 31st, but it hasn't stopped me and the hubs from getting a jump on it. After DJing at a Dragon Con for David Mack, illustrator of the Kabuki comic, his love for his comic book collection has been revived. So yeah, he dropped some coin on mylar bags, pricing guide and some particularly good deals on comics he wanted. I, as you know, bought my lovely couch and the beige and brown LV looking luggage from Fashion Royalty. I wantd to do a little set of photos for you but then I decided to throw a Halloween party in doll land. And the hubs said I may get my bday camera in a week or so instead of the end of November so I might as well hold out and give you some good pics. BY THE WAY, if you have purchased FDQ's book on doll photography, lemme know how you liked it. Anyway, I love the luggage. The vanity case even has a little mirror. I can't wait to play with it. But I digress. The real point of this post was to talk about the Year ...