A tricky situation...

So I recently decided to sell my bought-on-a-whim Pukifee Icis. She was cute, but just not fitting in with my twins, so I put her up for adoption. I gave options for layaway, and also for possible trades/partial trades.

A DOA member messaged me back, offering me several limited RosenLied outfits and a pair of boots as possible trades. I made her an offer for their trade value that I thought was fair, but she valued them at their brand-new price. She said the outfits were in excellent condition and hard to find .I accepted this reasoning and valued them at their original purchase price.

The outfits were sent to me, and I received them today. They are beautiful, as expected of RosenLied, but there are damage issues that were not disclosed. The net petticoat on one dress is torn and has holes in several places around the elastic.


There are also some small BRIGHT BLUE stains on the center bow of the matching cape that I have tried to wash but aren't coming out.

On the second dress I found no damage, but one of the snaps in back refuses to snap shut. It simply will not close no matter how hard I press it, and I find it hard to believe it ever worked at all. The boots are perfect, no complaints there.

So, the question is, how to proceed? I have sent photos of the damage to the DOA member. I feel sort of uneasy, because the most heavily damaged limited set with the holes and the stains is the one I have decided to sell because it doesn't suit my girls. =/ I could never sell it without disclosing its issues, which seem irreperable (the netting is not fixable and I can't get the stains out) and to my mind, would lower its value. The dress with the wonky snap I want to keep, and I can replace the snap myself (even though I'm miffed that the problem wasn't disclosed to begin with).

The member still hasn't replied because there's a huge time difference and I've only just sent her the photos, but I'm very flustered by how to proceed. The pukifee I'm selling is brand new, and will include the wig, dress I made, and shoes in the photo. I feel like the items I got in trade should have been without issues. "Excellent condition" doesn't seem quite an appropriate description.

How would you proceed? Am I being to nit-picky?

Have you ever?

Does anyone ever change their mind about a doll based on something as simple as getting a new wig or eyes? Well I have. I was going to sell my soom afi because I never did anything with her, but after trying on this new wig, I'm in love again. Look at her now, isn't she gorgeous?

I got my soom afi a long time ago because I loved her face and hands and the color of her tan. But after I got her and gave her a faceup, I sort of got stuck. I plopped a long blonde wig on her because it seemed like the obvious thing to do, but somehow it didn't really click.
Then I tried giving her a short blonde wig (admittedly it's sort of scraggly) and giving her some pretty light brown glass eyes to replace the pupil-less pink glitter ones. This is what she looked like...
But I was still not happy. I tried black wigs, pink wigs, grey wigs... no joy. But then I tried this light brown wig from Fairyland and some grey glass eyes I bought on a whim, and she just clicked!
I wonder if anyone else has ever been on the cusp of selling a doll, and then changed their mind at the last moment after making a seemingly small change. I've always suspected that getting the right wigs and eyes and almost as important as getting a good sculpt... now I think my suspicions have been confirmed!

Reopened Shop and New Listings

I re-opened my DOA shop about a week ago and put a few things up for sale, and today I added a whole bunch more. I've got tons of clothes sewn and my boxes are full, so I'm putting things up for sale that I can free some space!

This set includes the shoes!
And a pretty silk rose headband...

Dress and little lace ankle socks :)
Pretty nightie set

I love this fabric, I can't wait to use it again!

Lots of new stuff, and more to be added. Still working on my puki commissioned dresses... I've got two out of three done. Blue, pink, and mint on the way!

My newest addition... a baby!

For the longest time, I've wanted a Felixdoll Small Comfort baby to make a puki hybrid with. The small comfort body looks incredibly natural with puki heads, and of course I had just the puki head in mind. However, when Felixdoll unexpectedly went bust 2 years ago and stopped production of all their dolls, Small Comfort babies became hot commodities. Secondhand market prices were unstable, the SC babies just didn't come up for sale very often, and when they did there was crazy competition to be first in line to snag it. (Can you blame 'em?)

So I waited and tried to put it from my mind. I had given up hope almost entirely, when I happened upon a listing for a SC baby on DOA. It was incredible, the listing was a day old, but when I messaged the seller to inquire she said the baby was unspoken for! Imagine my joy. :) So after a long long wait, I have my dream baby- Baby Alice.The first night she wore some puki clothes (white panties and pink vest) but everything was hopelessly large and I knew she'd need some clothes of her own. I planned on making a snuggly onesie, but somehow I got my hands on some dove grey silk and instead of a onesie I wound up sewing a victorian baby set, complete with lace ruffled baby cap to keep her little head warm.


It was sort of a challenge to figure out how to do the back because even my smallest metal snaps are too large and bulky for clothes this small. I eventually settled on some micro velcro.
The result is pretty good for a first try, but next I definitely want to make proper soft and tumbly baby clothes. This means I'll have to venture into knits and fabrics with stretch, but I'm willing to try! For tonight, my baby girl is sleeping bundled up in a vintage linen hankie...

It's been a LONG time...

Wow... I can't believe my last past was in 2009! o.O That's insane! Here's a shot list of big things that have happened since then:
~ Got married! <3
~ Had appendicitis and surgery >.<
~ Graduated law school
~ Took the Bar exam

I've been dipping my toe into and out of the dolly hobby in the meantime, because I can never stay away for long, but my blog was neglected. Well no more! I will resume my dolly blogging post haste!

Wedding... Alice was there, but she felt comfier hanging out in the dressing room
Appendix... Alice stayed with me in the hospital and kept me company


Graduation... I was up all night studying for a final so it took a LOT of makeup magic to look normal


And of course the bar exam!


Now that things are settled down more, I'll have time to be dolly blogging and sewing again. =] Yay!

Alice's First Meetup!

Alice and I went to our first dolly meetup today. We stayed for about 2 hours and we met so many other dolls and dolly owners! We're still bummed about the loss of our beloved Bernard, but we're not giving up hope of finding him someday. Perhaps by some miracle the puppy did not eat him, and he's merely on an vacation somewhere.

In the meantime, Alice has an adorable new little friend, Mr. Benjamin. This bunny is a gift from a lovely girl we made friends with at the meetup. :)

I bought Alice a miniature donuts and coffee set... I think she likes it!

Missing Bear!

Alice's beloved teddy, Bernard the Bear has gone missing. :( We are very sad about it, and many tears have been shed but Bernard is nowhere to be found.

Alice and I made a missing poster for him, and although I've searched my apartment top to bottom perhaps when I'm asleep my other dolls will help Alice search?