Photographing the Deboxing Project

I'm thinking that I might take photos of the filled shelves as I "break down" the DAFs and other items. Might create a WebShots folder for that purpose. "Before" and "after" photos.

Considering that ....

Home Problem - Where to Hold Deboxed DAFs?

Okay, I've launched the Great Deboxing Project or the DAF Streamlining Project. I will open up the dolls and action figures I want to keep; sell or donate the others. I'm setting aside the plastic components from the paper/cardboard parts of the packaging. (Figure I'll check with a recycling group - should have started there with my offer - to responsibly process unwanted material.) But here's a snag: where to place the newly deboxed dolls and action figures? Where will their homes be?

The boxes protected the figures. At least from dust. How to protect them now?

I've got one IKEA Detolf glass cabinet. Can't afford more of those at this time. Plus the one I put together was tiresome to put together. So the second one I had, I kept in its box only to have it broken by the next to the last movers. (Those charmers hid the broken Detolf cabinet box behind several other cardboard boxes so it was a while before I found out the damage they had done. Grrr.) What else?

Three plastic shelving units - the kind some people use in garages - and one Sterilite four-drawer plastic chest. Some of the doll boxes (Fashion Royalty, Susie, Mixis) can be used to store those dolls on the plastic shelves. A few Mattel boxes can also be retained for that purpose.

I have several plastic bins, too. Problem there is that I can't seal the dolls or action figures in because the plastics might mess up. The different chemicals might cause melting or mold or something BAD in my figures. Can't have that happening. So I am thinking, thinking, thinking about the "home" problem.

Any suggestions or advice welcome. As/when I come across solutions, I'll post them here.

New Ken Folder on WebShots

I've got photos of some of my Kens in their original boxes in a folder at Webshots. Here is the link.

I've got loose Kens, too. I'll gather them another time.

Link to Tips on Toy Hunting Article from Toymania.com

Here's a link about toy searching that I found helpful and interesting:

EGM's Tips for Toy Hunters

Happy Hunting!

Earth Day 2009 and Recycling Query

Today is Earth Day 2009.

Let's see, I have been breaking up my DAF packaging, separating the cardboard parts from the mostly clear plastic parts. In Philadelphia, cardboard is recycled. Plastic can be separated at participating work places and some schools, but it is not yet picked up separately by the city sanitation workers. So plastic waste needs to be bagged to be picked up. Shrug. Someday, perhaps.

Anyway, I have been thinking how there might actually be a need for the empty clear clamshell pieces I have accumulated during this deboxing period. Maybe someone is too shy to ask? Well, I figured it couldn't hurt to offer the stuff to others so I put a note up in my Linkedin and my Facebook accounts. If I don't try, I'll never know. So that was Try 1.

Or Try 2 since Try 1 was a blurb on Phillyblog.com ....

Roville Update - April 21, 2009

A new Roville diorama/background story has been added as of April 21, 2009:


Roville

The Roville scenes have always been incredible - check the pale wooden floors in the "Bliss Boutique," but lately, there have been new characters, action figures repainted, that almost upstage the scenes. I would love to be able to repaint figures well. Course, that would mean allowing myself to repaint some of my dolls and/or action figures.

I'm eager to find out what happened to Daphne Bliss who was being threatened by a handyman in the last photostory. I'll wait for the next one though. Has anyone else followed that story?

Honing the Collection

When I was a child, I dreamed of having rooms and drawers full of dolls. Some action figures, too, but mostly dolls. Doll clothes, doll vehicles, doll houses, doll settings. Some out of box; others in boxes. I would have a modern fashion doll museum. People would come to see my collections.

Fast forward a few decades. I have dolls and action figures and vehicles and outfits and furniture. I even have a decent-sized room to hold my mini people and their things. What more could I possibly want?

Less.

Fewer dolls, fewer action figures. Toss the boxes holding outfits and bring things out of the boxes. Appreciate what I have. Pass on - by selling or donating - the things I am not crazy about. Bring in new things, yes, but let go other things.

I have a lot of dolls and action figures and stuff that I like. It would be better for me to retain the ones I LOVE, the ones I wouldn't live without. Maybe that's why the economy has taken this rough turn - the universe is forcing me to choose my figures.

Oh, okay, that's going melodramatic. Crazier than usual. As if.

Let's just admit, the time has come for me to hone my DAF collection.