Sunday, March 30, 2014

Saturday's Doll Enthusiast Meeting at West Oak Lane Free Library

It was a dank, rainy Saturday in Philly. The kind of Saturday morning where you want to pull the blanket over your head to sleep just five more minutes. Had chocolate, tea, books to read, DVDs to watch, blog posts to write ... I did not have to go out. But I had something planned. Saturday was my second doll enthusiast meeting. I would get to talk dolls and action figures with others who knew the lingo. Bye bye rainy day routine. Checked that I had stuff I hoped to get rid of - doll clothes and accessories - and stuff to show - hello Opal and Rosa. 

This time we met at the West Oak Lane branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. I entered and let the front desk staff and the guard know that I was there to attend the Doll Club meeting. They sent me to the librarian. The librarian introduced herself and then lead me to a good-sized room. The room had huge windows, several long tables, and those molded plastic and metal chairs. It was clean and scentless. I would recommend using that branch again.

Ms. Leo followed, and she had Dunkin Donuts and coffee. Oh and stuff to show and stuff to trade or give away. We pulled out two of the long tables - one for showing, the other for trades/giveaways. I had doll fashions and accessories that I hoped to give away. Limited Edition Rosa and First Edition Opal were there to be seen - along with their footwear and backpack. Ms. Leo brought a Kenya's sister, Keyshia, the new Hunger Games guys, and the Divergent guy. Also some accessories and fashions to trade. 

My comments/thoughts?

I would rebody Keyshia. Her head is too big for that tiny body. 

I would use the Keyshia body to age progress one of my kiddies.

Hunger Games Peeta is cute - his face is more spread out than the actor's.

Hunger Games Finn has a craggy face - no way he's a teenager. Bet he's at least 38. And I would kitbash him to become my Peter Cushing. I mean "my" playscale Peter Cushing. And he should have a castle or mansion. He gives off a horror movie vibe. 

Next Miya and Kev came. Squeal and jump up. New doll enthusiasts. Playscale doll enthusiasts. Yippee.

They brought stuff, too. An almond pastry that I savored later that day and cream cakes that I passed on. (I try not to be greedy.) The pastry was not as sweet as Entenmann's, but it had a velvety texture, delicately crunchy almond slivers, and a subtle flavor. Good different. They came from a bakery called "Bread Top House." Are you screaming, "Shut up about the food! What did they bring?!" Okay, here goes.

Miya and Kev brought a tall suitcase. They laid it on the floor and oh the wonders that came forth. Doll clothes they made - tweedy pants, floral dresses, leggings, a mini mountain of fabrics and fashions. Ohhhh ... Then the dolls. Sakurana, Momoko, Daisy, Havoc, High School Musical characters, a Rebelde head, One Modern Circle Barbie, Fashion Royalty dolls including a new Black Kiyori, some Japanese fashion dolls I have seen online but NEVER in person, oh ... what else? These cool pop-apart fashion dolls whose names I missed. 

And we talked dolls, we talked Internet Wayback Machine, difficulties of doing doll research when sites get removed, Sindy furnishings and those uber-Seventies colors like harvest gold, avocado green, brown and orange, Gayle, Japanese fashion doll book projects, sewing by hand vs. sewing on machine, doing a kitbash with a Disney Snow White doll, etc.

Darn, but that was the day that my camera's batteries died. I'm ducking. But not for long ... cause Ms. Leo will have photos up for her blog post. And I'll update this post later this week with photos I can show with the outfits I got from Ms. Leo and Miya and Kev. Promise.

I look forward to our next meeting. Date has not been set yet, but the month mentioned was June.

8 comments:

Muff said...

Even without photos, this sounds like a blast! I would love to attend something like this, just to share and to see. Like old school show and tell!

Unknown said...

Hello from Spain: an interesting event. Always nice to talk to people who share our same hobby. Keep in touch

Vanessa said...

This post was quite entertaining. It's always nice meeting up with doll people. Sounds like you had a great tiime.

D7ana said...

Hi Muff, Marta, and Vanessa! Collecting WITH others is more fun than I realized. If I captured half the fun of my experience. I have to get out more ;-)

Barb the Evil Genius said...

How did this group get started? I'd love to start up something here, but I have no idea where to begin.

D7ana said...

Hi Barb the Evil Genius! Ms. Leo thought getting together with local enthusiasts would be fun. So she contacted us via e-mail. We then set a day to talk dolls. This is a good idea for a post - thanks!

cyano said...

I love donuts! I would be the first one to eat! I'm sorry I had to miss this again, the thirds time the charm right?

D7ana said...

Yes, let's go with the third time being the charm, Cyano! It will be specially fun to meet you. Did I mention that they were Dunkin Donuts? Just in case that helps. And Ms. Leo brought a BIG box of them. Yum, yum, yum, lol.

Oh no shame to me - bribing with someone else's donuts, ha!