Strawberry Milk Tea

Ah hanami. That time of year when the days start getting longer, it is beginning to feel warm, and there cherry blossoms make their wonderful abliet brief appearance. As soon as the first blossoms begin to appear everyone, and I mean everyone (cosplayers, steampunks, lolitas, doll owners), in the LA area run to Balboa Lake. Instantly the park takes on a convention like atmosphere as everyone is dressed up armed with enough camera equipment to make a camera shop jealous.

This year we quickly swept into action and prepared a lavish picnic. I prepared a woundrous chunky strawberry sauce to be served with pound cake. We gathered on a Tuesday but still managed to find a few other lolitas out to enjoy the cherry blossoms as well. Hungry we quickly unpacked and ate our huge spread. Then we scattered to photos of our dolls amongst the blossoms. I thought I had gotten great photos of my twins but Coraline (Miruku) is so pale she did not photograph well at all. Sigh, time to hit the photography books once again!

While perusing Yahoo Japan Auctions I found this girl up for sale:

Here starting bid was a mere 80,000 yen with a buy it now price of 100,000 yen! I did have the money saved up in my "Reisner fund" (just in case Volks happens to re-release him). I knew I had to act fast and within minutes I was the new owner of a Volks Miruku!

My girl arrived this morning right before I had to leave for work. In my excitement I tore open the box and did not even photograph her arrival. But she's here and I'm happy to have her here. I chose to name her Coraline after the Neil Gaiman story.

I somehow managed to miss all the doll related events at this years Anime Expo. Being the largest anie convention in North America, there usually are not a lot of doll events other than meetups. This year, well known blogger Danny Choo  held two panels and hosted a party at the ESPN Zone. Danny Choo is the owner of several Volks Dolfie Dreams and writes about various aspects of pop culture in Japan-figures, anime & manga, music, and events. Where was I during all this?

Hamming it up with the League of S.T.E.A.M.! There was also a Steampunk meetup on Saturday I really wanted to attend. However, I heard through the grapevine that his events were crowded but a lot of fun! Danny posted several blogs about his Anime Expo experiences:

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25667/Anime+Expo+2010+Day+Zero.html

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25668/Anime+Expo+Danny+Choo.html

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25669/Anime+Expo+Exhibit+Halls.html

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25671/AX+2010.html#landing_thumb

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25672/Anime+Expo+Videos.html#landing_thumb

http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25677/Los+Angeles+CGM+Night.html#landing_thumb

Me in full Steampunk regalia. Perhaps the outfit is a bit boring? I think I should have worn an underbust corset with this blouse instead.

Sunday was more low-key. I got a bit of sleep and headed over to the LA Convention Center where I had the surprise of my life, meeting Mr. h. Naoto himself! h. Naoto's fashions are creative, edgy, and innovative. And, h. Naoto has collaborated with Volks for several outfits and dolls-including Kurumi.

I immediately apologized for wearingAfter overcoming my initial shock, I was happy to have him choose several possible dresses for me-one outfit I ended up purchasing. They even took a picture of me wearing the dress for their blog!

Mr. Naoto and me and the dress I bought!

He was very friendly, excited to get bring his clothes to the Western fansI did get to chat with him a bit wishing I had dressed my little Toppi in one of her h. Naoto dresses. I did learn that his favorite doll was Kurumi-he loved her face!

I had seen this video a while ago but came across it recently and would like to share it. Known as monkeyninja42 on Den of Angels and crinklefish on youtube, the creator of this video has been exploring stop animation and made this short for the Coraline stop animation contest.

Using a Volks SD Megu, the wings from a Soom Sard, creative camera angles and lighting she created this wonderful short video. Add soft music and the video gets a soft moody feel- capturing the world of Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

In February 2009 while visiting Japan I kept seeing girls dressed in what could best be described as a cute hippie style. They were particularly promininet in Osaka. I merely thought, "This must be the lastest from the shops."

Fast forward to May 2009 at Dolpa 21 when Volks released this outfit:

Then in February of this year, reports began to appear on EGL and various lolita blogs of a new fashion movement. Called Mori Girl, the look involves long flowing skirts, natural fabrics, layers, leather satchels, and cute accessories like antique pocket watches. The look is supposed to embody someone who lives in a forest, hence the name Mori. Mori is actually Japanese for forest!

The Popular shop that all the articles mention is  Wonder Rocket, although a lot of the followers of the fashion also like to favor vintage pieces.

So will doll retailers begin to offfer these fashions? I've seen a few pieces from Dollheart, but Volks has already offered another design they blatantly called "Mori Girl," (it was translated as Forest Girl for Volks USA) which sold out within 5 minutes of the Kyoto Dolpa 7 clothing items release yesterday at Volks USA

For completeness, Volks also relased some Mori-inspired outfits for boys (which also proved popular at Volks USA yesterday) although in Japan it appears that only girls follow this fashion movement. I can't wait to see if other retailers will offer this look and what they will create!

Personally I'm enchanted by the style and hope to create the looks for my girls-mostly by looking for pieces here and there and putting together complete outfits.

Here are articles I found on Mori-Girls:

Meet The Mori Girls, A New Japanese Subculture

Mori Girl Fashion and Lifestyle of Girls In the Forest

Mori Girl (Forest Girl Fashion)

And for Japanese fashion in general I love to look at Tokyo Fashion.

I went to Fanime for the first time and have to say I was thoroughly impressed. Although they have held doll events in previous years, there  were none at this years event. I suspect that is due to the fact that GoGaDoll Lite was held a few weeks ago giving them little time (or energy!) to prepare for this event. Having worked on the Doll Programming at Pacific Media Expo, it is exhausting (but worth it)!

However, the Artist Alley had several dealers selling items for dolls. I was thrilled to grab three necklaces from the always sweet Dr Seiji (as she is known on DOA). I picked up two macaron necklaces and one cookie necklace. They are extremely well made and come in cute packaging:

Mai loves the yummy looking jewelry I brought home!

I did run into doll friends from down south but I did not bring any dolls with me as Fanime is a larger con and I always find it difficult to navigate with dolls at large events. Instead I was engaged in epic cosplay:

As Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji

Cosplay Oneesan was hosting a Lolita event in conjunction with Fanime but I did not attend as I chose to hang out with friends I had not seen in a while. I have heard reports here and there that it did not run smoothly but I have not spoken to anyone regarding this yet. I did manage to stop by the Baby The Stars Shine Bright store in San Francisco where I spent money on me for once and even ended up on the San Francisco's store blog:

Isn't the store adorable?

Even if there were no formal doll events this year, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope to return next year.

After many months of saying I would send in my photos to the Volks USA Customer Gallery on their Sumika Times blog, I finally did it. However, there was a bit of drama that I will admit I created myself in the submission. On Saturday night, I emailed my submission to Volks USA attaching the photos of Mai holding her bunny bear. I thought I had sent 10 photos, allowing Volks to choose the ones they liked best for the blog. Instead, I sent 46.

Volks USA emailed me back asking which photos I was submitting since I had sent them a lot. However I was still under the impression that I only submitted 10 photos and sent them an email explaining that they could select the best out of the bunch I submitted. This was their reply:

"We were just confused as you mentioned that you wanted to focus on your Toppi, but there are photos of several dolls here and alsosome duplicates. There are 46 photos in total. 

Please let us know what you would like to do. As soon as we hear fromyou we will begin work on your gallery entry."

I was surprised. Luckily, doll advisor Bailey figured out what I wanted to submit and finished the gallery entry without my response. As everyone at Volks USA is busy preparing for the upcoming New York Dolpa, I hope I gave everyone a good laugh.:P

Finally after all that confusion, here is  gallery post on the Volks website.

While browsing the News section on the upcoming New York Dolpa on Den of Angels I came across the curious word/abbreviation  "Dolpha." I had seen this a few times previously as well as "Dolpa" and was curious as to which was the correct abbreviation. I had asked the lovely staff at Volks USA to clarify this. Dolpa is the abbreviated form of Dolls Party. There is no "h" in it because there is no "h" in Dolls Party. That was three years ago. Seeing that incorrect abbreviation again made me wonder where it began, how it happened (I'm guessing an incorrect translation) and why it continues to persist. I guess its just one of the quirks of the doll hobby.

On Sunday, I welcomed a new doll. Sort of. 

I love the Volks four sisters mold and have a Megu and a yo Kira but have been hoping to have a Sweet Dream Nana. Well Volks surprised me and re-released her last December. And last week the dolls finally arrived in Los Angeles. So on Sunday I picked her up from Volks. She comes with the Origin body, which is based on the original Super Dollfie that Volks sculpted 11 years ago but with the pureskin UV protected resin and the one touch system so that her hands and feet can be changed easily. I adore the gentle arch of her back.  I also adore the dress she came with-its so dreamy. I want one like it for myself!

So what do I mean by "sort of?"

Well, I plan to have two versions of my four sister, Magpie. A wide eyed and sleepy version of the same girl. So I will only be needing one body. So that also means I have a swarrico body to sell as well.

Words just can not describe how much I enjoyed the Volks SD Workshopand Reception. The event was so full of surprises that I am in awe of Volks. I arrived early to the Doubletree Hotel to find the Volks staff manning a table near the entrance and a group of dolls on a round table in the lobby. I set Sebastian (my Williams) and Mai (my Toppi) on the table and took a few photos before I ate my bento from Mitsuwa (it wasyummy!) It was great to see Mikey again and to finally meet Cassiel, the original creater of the "walking guide to Volks" who is now the translator for Volks and still very, very enthusiastic about this hobby.

Dolls invade the lobby!

Finally, after socializing with everyone, we filed into the room and after a brief introduction to how the class would be run we began. Half of the class was instructed by Mr Ota, the head of the factory where all our Super Dollfie are born. The other half was taught by Mikey, daughter of company president Mr Shigeta and creator of the Tokyo Boys storyline. My group was assigned to Mikey, who had Volks USA doll advisor Bailey to help her with any difficult English or explanations. She was very patient and clear in her explanations. I have done several face ups and have a good, not great, handle on face ups. But I still learned so much from her.

Mikey explains

We all were concentrating so hard in our work, that my group was actually silent for once. Even Volks USA manager Kayo-san commented on our silence as my group tends to be very energetic inside Volks. Mikey even noticed that I like to do detailed work, which can be my downfall as I sometimes tend to focus on the details rather than the work as awhole.

And all too soon, the class portion was done and it was time for the reception. The room grew more crowded as the reception only attendees filed in. I felt bad as we were not able to reserve a spot on our table for Mr Postman but he was pre-occupied with photographing the event. The snacks provided were actually rather substantial-crackers, cheese,fruit, cookies, and brownies.

Mikey read a beautiful letter from her father (who was not able to attend because the Volks staff was busy with the opening of the newVolks headquarters in Japan). I loved how during the cooling fall months he often thinks of Los Angeles! Then she stated how amazed she was by the vast array of limited dolls we all had! Some of these dolls she had not seen since the event they were released at. And starting with each type of doll, asked people to raise their hands and would ask each one about their dolls.

I had the only standard in the room, my Volks Megu. She was astonishedthat her head was from 2002. I loved her insights into each of thedolls in the room:

Toki was sculpted by Mr Enku

Toppi is the mascot and writer of the Volks USA blog

Choumai really likes Cristal (she brought two Cristals)

The new SD17 Williams has improved knees

It was really humorous when Kayo-san commented that Mr Postman is knownas the "Dollfie Dream King" who has 20 Dollfie Dreams at home! Mikey added that he has a counterpart in Japan. I think they need to meet at some point!

The staff from Japan was introduced-Mikey, Cassiel, Mr Ota, and SD doctor Wake (pronounced waa-keh). It was announced that the SD doctor would be tending to injured dolls and soon he had a line of "patients"to tend to. I was in awe of the array of tools he had at his disposal. Volks USA manager Kayo-san enthusiastically gave a wonderful speech praising each of her employees. Then came the big surprise-Volks would be holding a lottery for several prizes! The prize list included:

A Komame's Little Lessons Book (which I own and recommend!)

An SD Girl Outfit

An SD13 Boy Outfit

Two Super Dollfie towels

Two sets of zoukei mura eyes

One rei tenshi

Two sei tenshi

We all laid our numbered tickets in front of us and held our breaths.The first 7 prize winning numbers were called and then it was time for the rei and sei tenshi. Cassiel called out a number in Japanese first then repeated it in English-number 34. I gasped loudly as my heart began to beat out of control. I was mumbling "Oh my god! Oh my god!"over and over as I got to the front. Cassiel enthusiastically replied,"Oh my god!" to me. My hands were shaking as the box was placed in themand I posed for the photo-I really hope I don't look like a dork! My hands were still shaking as Bailey had me write my name on some Volks form and gave me the One Off Certificate and Super Dollfie shopping bag you get when you buy a doll.

My prize!

My hands were still shaking as I got back to my table and began to openthe box and put the wig on my new little rei tenshi. I passed the little angel around the table as everyone was curious. After my little win, I was no longer paying attention to the remaining two winners. We were then given copies of Volks News 26, which had been mailed out the day before in Japan so we were likely the first people to get our handson this issue. And Mikey announced the date of the NY Dolpa (June19-20) We all flipped through our copies of Volks news as Mikey explained that Volks was completing their new headquarters in Kyoto, which will have a store on the first floor. It was then that Bailey reminded us that we needed to clear the room by 4:00pm so we had very little time left to use the photo spaces.

Mai and my new rei tenshi

Quickly, the entire room swarmed to the photo spaces and began to setour dolls down. What I enjoy about Volks owners are how courteouseveryone is. No one crowded the photo spaces and everyone watched outfor each other as we snapped photos of each others dolls. It was alsowonderful to meet so many of the doll owners I know online and to finally put a face to the name.

Later that evening, we prepared a thank you gift of fancy cookies and I drew a little Thank You picture that everyone signed. redrosin took that into the store today.

Our gift basket