Guest Post: The Snow Queen by Wiener-Blut

Once upon a time... Ah, that is not true, for the lady that is the hero of the story exists apart from time. 

She travels all around the globe, as fast as light, as silent as dusk, as cold as glaciers. For she is the Snow Queen, Lady of Ice and Cold, Great Duchess of Winter, The One That Sends Frost.

Alas, she was terribly lonely. Whenever and wherever she appeared, people always shut the doors and closed the windows, gathered around the fireplace and waited for her to go away.

“What shall I do? Truly, it is good they fear me, for I shall be feared; however, I need the presence of another creature to whom I may speak freely and expect an answer. Oh, how I wish there was a human who would appreciate winter like a do!” the Snow Queen sighed.

Now, my good reader, we have to leave the Snow Queen for awhile, for there is another person I wish to tell you about.

In a small village in the North of France lived a boy – or rather a young man, for he was no child, yet no grown man either – whose name was Julian. He was timid and quiet; he spent most of his days with books as his only companions. When his classmates started a snowball fight, he always backed away, saying that he had homework to do, and walked back home.

But he did not head home to do his homework, oh no! He stayed for long hours in the garden behind the house. It was a very special garden: one part of it was his late mother's vegetable garden, the second – her flowerbeds, and the third and last was an orchard. Julian liked that part the most. He always found the sight of snowy branches beautiful. Even as a child, he always played in there, pretending that he was a prince and the orchard was his palace. When he grew up, he found himself another pastime: he built castles of ice and snow, and decorated them with twigs, fallen leaves, or even holly berries.


That was what he was doing when the Snow Queen saw him. She had wandered there, tired of travelling and spreading the cold. As she was taking a walk around the village, she noticed the solitary boy. She wasted no time as she walked to him and asked:

“What are you doing?”

Julian looked up, noticing the lady. As he was a very polite lad, he answered:

“I am building a snow castle, madam.”

“Ah,”, she replied, “I see, but why are you doing so?”

“I do love snow, my lady,” Julian replied. He suddenly felt the cold breeze and shivered. He felt like he had already met her... He knew the stories of La Reine des Neiges, the mysterious lady wearing white and sending winter.

“Forgive me, my lady, may I ask you a question?”, he said after thinking for a while.

“Ask and you shall be answered,” she answered with a smile.
“Is it only my impression, or is the snow falling from under your coat...?”

The Snow Queen laughed, her laugh melodious and bright like the sound of clinking icicles.

“You are, indeed, a smart youngster. However, I do believe you meant to ask me whether I am the one who you think I am. I promised to answer you, and the answer is yes - I am the Snow Queen, and”, she smiled, “indeed, there snow is falling from under my coat. Now that I satisfied your curiosity, will you satisfy mine?”

“Of course, my lady,” murmured Julian, bowing his head.

“Very well. Do not be afraid, my dear. This is simply a friendly conversation between two polite and well-mannered beings. Now please tell me, have you ever thought of making a real castle in ice and snow? A palace so big it could befit a king with his whole court?”

Julian's eyes glowed.

“Oh, I have, my lady. It has been my dream since I was a child. Imagine the windows, thousands of windows made of purest ice, refracting sunlight; imagine the colonnade of icicles; the snow throne decorated with flowers of white frost... How marvelous, how magical would that look!”

The Snow Queen smiled.

“I must tell you, my dear, you have a vast imagination. Moreover, as I saw your snow castle, I can say you are talented. And – you have a spark,” she said, touching his cheek.

“I have an offering for you, young man. I would like you to come with me to my kingdom and build me a real ice palace. As an expression of my gratitude, I would  grant any of your wishes that lie within my power.”

“I will come with you, my queen”, Julian answered, “Even if you did not promise me to grant my wishes. My only wish is to be your official royal architect.”

The Snow Queen embraced him gently.  “So it shall be.”

~*~*~The End~*~*~

Somnifer's Note: Wiener-Blut is an internet friend and fellow doll and Poe appreciator.  She was kind enough to let me share her beautiful photostory on this humble little blog (my first guest post!), and I feel ever so privileged to be in collaboration with her.  I'll let her have the last word for this post.

Creator's Note:

"The Snow Queen" is one of my favorite fairy tales, although I have always felt more sympathy towards Kay and the Queen than towards Gerda. So here I am, writing my own version of the story (and taking photos in my garden :3 ).

The whole project would probably look a lot worse, or would not exist at all, if not for Somnifer. She inspired me, supported me, corrected all my grammar mistakes and added some magic to the photos :) Thank you, dear!

As for the dolls, Lorenzo's head is an Obitsu 1/6 doll female head 01 (white skin, silver hair), Julian's head is a Nenetl Dolls doll head N0001 (fleshtone skin, blonde hair). They both have Obitsu 1/6 doll 23 cm male bodies (it doesn't stop Lorenzo from pretending to be the Snow Queen ^^).

If you have any more questions, message me at wiener-blut.deviantart.com

Thanks for reading! I hope my story made your day a little brighter ;)

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BJD meet up pictures from Union Square, San Francisco

 Part I: Stavros

Stavros is a Limhwa Limho tan Mano and he belongs to the excellent JennyNemesis.  I owe huge amounts of thanks to her for not only hosting, but also helping me to organize this mini meet up in a city that is far from familiar to me. 

When editing my pictures of Stavros, I intentionally went for a faux-lomo look.  I associate that aesthetic with a youthful and casual spirit that seemed appropriate enough for a BJD like Stavros. 

Part II: The Boys in Black

Caulder "BlackPool" Swann (of the hood and bat broach) is a Volks F38/Ariadoll 18yrs and belongs to the wonderful Idrisfynn, whose tumblr can be found here.

Bishop (of the feathered hat) is a SWITCH Mara and he belongs to the awesome St. James, whose tumblr can be found here.

I thank both of them for coming to meet me and bringing their beautiful dolls.

To go with the moody, black outfits, I tended to soften and desaturate these pictures, though I'm afraid you will see I did not do this with much consistency. >.<

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Notes: Thank you again to JennyNemesis, Idrisfynn, St. James, and Farallon!   :0)

Angel Egg New Dentelle by Marmite-Sue

Angel Egg (AE) dolls by Marmite-Sue have been vaguely known to me for some time.  I had seen a few pictures of head sculpts and knew the name Angel Egg.  However, it was not until July, when BJDCollectasy announced a giveway contest, that I took proper notice of Marmite-Sue's work.

Every so often, as an admirer of dolls, one encounters images or objects that arrest one's attention and refuse to let go.  They change one's notions about what is possible in the medium of doll-making, and they reverberate with some deep aesthetic chord in oneself as the viewer.  Far from evoking a simple possessive urge ("I want this doll"), they demand reflection.

Such was my immediate impression of Angel Egg New Dentelle the first time I saw her with the Carousel Total Look.  Her Rococo Blue and Pink Pearl iterations are also beautiful.  With New Dentelle, Marmite-Sue confronts me with a doll whose enchanting loveliness is tinged with the frightening.  She looks gentle, graceful-- her lips are slightly parted, as if she would speak, think, or breathe.  Her legs are threaded with ribbons, like fine stockings.  Her body is covered with frills and flowers, like lace.  She seems like the perfect antique automaton, wanting only a music box heart to animate her.

 In Rococo Blue, AE Dentelle is feather-light, as perfectly powdered as a confection by Boucher, and as elegant as a room as in the Hotel de Soubise.  In Pink Pearl, AE Dentelle is subtle and soft, her pearlescence reminding me of the pair of ceramic peacocks that my paternal grandmother has owned since the 1950s.  I remember them as sudden burst of florid femininity in a sea of mid-century neutral geometrics.  In Carousel, AE Dentelle is a marvel of pink, green, and gold.  Like the old-fashioned fair carousels from which Marmite-Suite takes inspiration, AE Dentelle is a spectacle of dizzying fantasy.  She is artifice harnessed to delight.

Yet, just as a very young child may be overwhelmed with the lights, music, and unstoppable motion of a carousel when she loses sight of her parents in the crowds, so does AE Dentelle suggest something a little dark behind her pretty colours, floral ornaments, and satin ribbons.

As Freud (of course) tells us, the uncanny appears when something from a repressed psychic state returns.  This doubled thing from the past reminds us of a time when dreams were nigh indistinguishable from reality, when the world was full of unaccountable powers, and death seemed porous.  A toy might come to life, or a corpse might stir of its own accord.  We thought we might stay young forever and marry a charming prince.  Yet the stripped bone of a skull, or the un-aging face of a doll reminds us both of our younger selves, frightened of monsters in the dark, and of our mundane, hopeless frailty. 

Beneath Marmite-Sue's magical painting and ribbons, New AE Dentelle is white like bone china.  Her flower-detailing looks like scarring, or the naturally adorned skeleton of the Crystal Maiden in the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave.  The holes for her ribbons gape like puncture wounds.  Her chest is a hollow, dark space.  Nor can we forget that, following the French Terror, a red ribbon around the neck became a sign of remembrance after the bloody excesses of the guillotine, which makes AE Dentelle's bruised, Rococo Blue version all the more ghostly.

At every point I consider, AE Dentelle's prettiness finds a correlation in violence.  To make the female body into a true spectacle of decorative fantasy, to make the function of ornament follow the form of a young lady, to leave no part untouched by artifice, is to do mortal damage.

And still, AE Dentelle is beautiful.  She is beautiful because artifice is also freedom from the confines of the natural.  Marmite-Sue has cast her in resin and strung her with elastic and silicon.  Having never lived, AE Dentelle will never die.  Instead, the imaginations of her beholders will give her exquisite presence a multitude of meanings and identities. 

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Soom, Dollmore, and Iplehouse

Well now, I thought I would do something a little different.  My three favourite ABJD companies have all turned some truly gorgeous resin ladies this month.  Let us now take a look at my three favourite things for March 2013.  And if anything more spectacular comes out before the end of the month, I will post an appropriate reaction gif.

1. Iplehouse releases the updated EID woman body

I have the old Iplehouse EID body, and from what I can see, the updated elbows, knees, and thigh joints are much needed improvements.  "The Addiction" is the name of the new series, and Doria and Aaliyah are the first limited girls.  Iplehouse has finally succumbed to the Gothic side and is offering a vampire and a dark elf.  They seem to be set in a Vampire Hunter D sort of world, where aristocratic glamour meets modern, post-human excess. 


2.  Dollmore releases Trinity Doll Elysia

I never really liked the look of the Lusion girls, nor of Trinity Doll Jude.  Certainly, I have seen collectors do beautiful things with the Lusion girls, and Jude was conceptually ambitious enough to earn my admiration-- but Elysia, Violet Letter Knife, is the only one of these exceptionally large dolls to actually strike me as beautiful.  Her 1830s-inpsired dress is unusually elegant and lady-like, and I think that Gu mi-jeong did a fantastic job of making a large-scale head that is interesting but not too uncanny.

3.  Soom releases Garnet No. 0320

As far as I know, this is Soom's first attempt to make a cyborgian BJD.  There have been many other successful versions of cyborgs from other companies, and I have generally found the cyborg aesthetic to work naturally with the ball-jointed doll aesthetic.  Soom's contribution to this type of doll is no exception.  Garnet's artificiality is styled in a subtle manner.  The lines of her body are mainly clean (aside from the nonfunctional pins near her hips and elbows) and Soom has made the minimalist choice of barely blushing these lines.  The result is sleek, sophisticated, and leaves ample room for the imagination of customizers.

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Eric - Preview

It's been a long, grey January.  I have been working on a photoshoot with Eric to try get through some of these depressing doldrums.  The above picture is from that photoshoot, and I hope to post it in the near-ish future.

For those of you (okay, there's maybe two of you) who were waiting for news on the Enchanted Doll front, I have one word: Alas.  The Regular Mail people did not do their job properly and my would-be client's doll was sent back after being who-knows-where for over a month.

Dear and lovely readers, let this be a lesson to you: the more times we hazard the Post for our hobby, the more often disappointing mistakes are likely to happen.  Always take precautions when sending your resin people for accessory fittings, mods, or painting.

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Essay Land

It's that time of the year again.  I blame my lack of recent updates on this situation of most direful essay-writing.

On the upside:

Iplehouse has released three interesting nYID boys (Justin is my personal favourite), and I might (might-- I said might!) soon be in the position to speak in a more informed way about Marina Bychkova's Enchanted Doll resin line. 

One may also notice a few books in my stacks that pertain to dolls.  Who knows, but perhaps I shall have some research-induced thoughts to share in the future.

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Issue with the Enchanted Doll™ Resin Line

 This post is primarily a rant in response to this image that was being discussed on DoA, as well as discussions on the blog of Marina Bychkova.  If you are not interested in alarmingly expensive art EBJDs, please do carry on with your day.

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In regard to the topicality of Enchanted Dolls™ on DoA, Marina Bychkova must be considered in a different light from the other dolls featured in the image linked above.

To begin at the beginning, Bychkova has been separated from the wider BJD industry-- previously because of her chosen medium of porcelain, but now also because the price of her new resin line is not in accordance with other producers of equivalently sized and styled dolls. Unlike the other dolls appearing in St. James's line-up image, Bychkova's resin Enchanted Dolls,™ despite their comparable aesthetic, are sold for about twice or thrice the price ($700 for a basic face-up and $1300 for a blank doll, for instance).

Bychkova's new resin Enchanted Dolls™ are different from the others because their high prices are not based on quality of craftsmanship or materials alone (the resin line is still just elastics, imported glass eyes, S-hooks, and resin, even though Bychkova once proclaimed that elastics Suck), and clearly (as St. James's shades-of-grey illustration shows) they are not based on any objective artistic superiority either.

Enchanted Dolls™ are sold at that price entirely because of an exclusivity that Bychkova cleverly builds into all her marketing of Enchanted Dolls™.  What is being sold is therefore not only a doll: it is an elitist mystique that perpetuates itself through unattainably.  Until she takes steps to make her resin line more like the other resin EBJDs that are being compared on DoA, I do believe they are different.

To conclude so far: the resin Enchanted Dolls™ are not drastically different in aesthetic or in quality, but they are different from the other dolls pictured by St. James due to the context in which they have been economically constructed.  A dead shark on the beach is very different than a dead shark positioned by Damien Hirst.  Additionally, as fans have already discussed on the aforementioned blog, Marina Bychkova's waiting-list system has tended to be somewhat less than ideal.  For this reason too, the economic context of the resin Enchanted Dolls™ is different; the difficulty and uncertainty of being able purchase one of her dolls is a compelling component in Bychkova's economy of value.

Although this inciting of fans through limited release and opportunity has been exploited by many other BJD manufacturers, Bychkova has never constrained her waiting lists to any temporal or physical commitment.  Whereas other companies have offered consumers limited quantities, or limited dates for release in order to encourage fans to act quickly, Bychkova has, at least once, completely abandoned her waiting list after pursuing it for an arbitrary amount of time, and reopened a different waiting list after a second and equally arbitrary amount of time.  This strategy is as much a part of her dolls' mystique as their price, for it lowers certain collectors into a kind of submission, where Bychkova's whim is value, where what is withheld is desired, and where value and unconsummated desire are conflated into an experience that is later remembered (or concurrently enjoyed) as pleasure.

And I do so like that DoA has thus far avoided such madness.  Until now, most of DoA's discussion of topicality has centered on the aesthetic qualities of various dolls, but I hope that Bychkova's dolls remain off-topic on DoA for reasons beyond their visual aesthetic.   This is because the economy of value that she creates around her dolls is much more exclusive than the usual BJDs seen on DoA, and because her relationship as an artist to her audience is vastly different from the usual relationships that most BJD studios have with their audiences on DoA.

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Edit (11/12/12):  It looks like the Enchanted resin line is probably on-topic for the new WBJD subforum.  Even though I still think that Marina Bychkova's dolls are different from the majority of dolls on DoA because of their exclusivity, they are very pretty, and I hope that anyone posting about them on DoA will enjoying sharing their pictures, stories, and discussions. No hard feelings, kay?  :0)

Garden Meet-up

I am sorry for the long absence.  I meant to post these pictures two weeks ago, but various distractions kept getting in the way.  Hopefully, I will manage one or two more posts before the end of the month. 

This was a relatively small meet compared to the few others that I have attended, and the location and weather were gorgeous.  A huge thank-you to the organizer of the event, and another one to the kind person who covered my admission when I forgot (egads!) my wallet. >.<

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Many of the resin people sitting in a row.

Close-up of a beautiful Iplehouse JID Tania.

An amazing Soom Coquina.

Eric under a bjd-sized tree.  Even though his shirt is badly blown-out, there's something about this picture that I still like.

A Teenie Soom... Grit?  He had such deep, starry eyes.

A Soom Albany looking like a steampunk explorer.

A cute SD13-ish girl... I wish I knew what she was. 

I think this charming girl is from DoD, but I'm not entirely sure.

An ingenious hybrid mermaid.

As we were moving to another spot in the garden, the Soom Coquina lost one of her stylish shoes, and Eric found it.

Another close-up of Soom Albany.  This was inside a little room with benches and a moon gate.

Eric met Iplehouse Tania and an adorable Luts Aru.

The garden on the other side of the moon gate.

Apparently this corridor is zig-zagged to confuse evil spirts.

Another picture of the mermaid girl, perched in a tiny tree.

IH Tania and Luts Aru went rock climbing.

Eric decided to try too.

At an astounding elevation of 3 whole feet.

Resting for a minute after about two hours in the garden.

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