davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2022:

nice 'stache

She's cute too.
What IS it...?

Alliecat wrote:
What IS it...?

"It" is an Edison Cylinder Recording, a type of sound recording popular in the late-1800s and early 1900s before flat phonograph records became the standard format.

An Edison cylinder  features prominently in the 2015 Disney movie Tomorrowland, which prompted me to try to make a miniature version for a custom action figure project:

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23 September - A Doll A Day 2022:

24 September - A Doll A Day 2022:

Side-By-Side comparison: TBLEAGUE S41 and S37 "Anime" Bodies

Left: S41 - stock head and costume
Right: S37 - stock head and S36/37 hybrid costume (because the straps break)


Both bodies feature detachable feet.

Bracelets are 10mm jewelry supply jump rings.

General visual impression:

The new S41 has a more detailed head sculpt with more realistic eyes, is nominally taller, and the bust sits higher than the S37. The waist directly above the hips is perhaps ever so lightly thicker, but not significantly.

The S37 features a more stylized, cartoonish head sculpt, is nominally shorter, and features a slightly larger bust that sits lower on the chest. The waist may be slightly more slim. The provided hand set with the S37 is different than the standard hands provided with most other TBLeague bodies, offering the "splayed fingers" hand as seen here on the left hand.

I noticed the different hand. Nice to be able to change them.

You might find this wax cylinder project interesting to read about -- been going on not too far from where I live for a while.

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/748604202/historic-recordings-revitalize-language-for-passamaquoddy-tribal-members

Alliecat wrote:I noticed the different hand.  Nice to be able to change them.

Yes, the multiple hands that come with these figures offer posing flexibility. Plus, they can hold stuff!

Interesting link! I shall check it out in more detail later! Thanx!

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Oh boy, a Cheerios spaceship from the renowned General Mills Shipyards!
Looking forward to the result!

Alliecat wrote:Oh boy, a Cheerios spaceship from the renowned General Mills Shipyards!

That's right! Only the finest materials are used, sourced exclusively from Cheerios and Wheaties!

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26 September - A Doll A Day 2022: Rambles with Red Robot

He looks a little angry and scary close up, but on his ramble, not so much. Perhaps he is a nice character in spite of how he looks?

Alliecat wrote:He looks a little angry and scary close up, but on his ramble, not so much. Perhaps he is a nice character in spite of how he looks?

The red robot, with those side whiskers, reminds me of an eccentric Englishman out for a trek across the moors.

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27 September - A Doll A Day 2022:


I am very tired of not knowing how to use this camera! I've used it so little that it usually takes me some fussing about to remember how to turn it on. I can never remember how to activate the flip-out viewfinder (it does not come on automatically). My old model 20D was intuitive and easy and fun to use. This 80D, which is not even the latest incarnation in this Canon line, is a fussy chore to use.

I have a book about the camera that I keep meaning to read. How many years has that been now? Three? Four? A quick online glance indicates this model was introduced in 2016, so I probably purchased both the camera and the book sometime in mid-2017, so five years ago!

Today I decided, yet again, to make another attempt at learning to use this obsolete boat anchor of a DSLR. I got out the camera, I charged the batteries, and I found the how-to book. But I also ran across another book, a novel I started reading, what, like, six or nine months ago? Rather than starting on the camera book, I decided to finish reading the novel, because I was over halfway through it.

[NOTE: Son of Rhubarb (1967) by H. Allen Smith, if you are curious.]

Also, I got new eyeglasses, so I can see again. They're not fancy eyeglasses, they are just cheap plastic reading glasses (3 pair for $9) off a spinner rack at a drug store, but when I put them on... I could see again! It was remarkable, like a veil had been lifted. My previous pair of cheap reading glasses had become so scratched up from daily use that, well, actually, I did not realize how hazy everything had been looking. I had learned to look around the most badly scuffed parts. It felt quite astonishing to have a completely clear field of vision.

I've been making do with the scuffed eyeglasses for a long time, which is probably why I have not read an entire book since last June, three or more months ago. I was able to add another book to my book list -- I've now read two books in 2022, yay me!

I'm hoping that will be three books soon, and that I can add David Busch's Canon EOS 80D Photography Guide to my completed reading list. My plan is to sit down with the book and the camera and read the book completely through, cover to cover, without getting distracted; and then read it again and actually tinker with the camera as I go. When I've tried to read the book a few times before, I got distracted fussing with buttons on the camera, and then I started looking up details online, and once I go online I'm lost.

Today's pic was snapped with a point-n-shoot camera. Usually the little Panasonic does a decent job, but today's pic is plagued by one of my pet peeves: blown-out highlights! When the scene is overly dark, the camera's light meter compensates, resulting in highlights that are overex-posed. There's nothing that can be done to fix overex-posed images. The data in the overex-posed areas is lost. There's literally nothing there to tone down. I probably could have compensated for the ex-treme contrast range by manually notching the ex-posure down by a stop or so, but I didn't do that, so the photo sucks, but I'm hoping that soon I'll be able to take similarly sucky photos using a much larger and more ex-pensive camera so I can feel even more frustrated when my photos suck.

One more sucky thing, seeing as how I'm ranting about petty things that suck: The Dal House forum was off-line, or for some reason it would not load on my computer for a few hours. (Update: obviously it's back now.) It's not just The Dal House; two of the action figure forums (both hosted by a company called Forumotion) are not loading. Yet other sites, including Flickr, Dollieh Sanctuary, Doll Dreaming, and another action figure site, pop right up slick as can be. Either some of the forum hosting sites are temporarily (I hope) offline, or there's a "node" somewhere in the Internet network that is down.

Those rambling photos are amazing - so real!

I enjoyed robot reds ramble. You have so many nice locations to take photos. -sigh- I miss taking photos outside.

davidd wrote:
The red robot, with those side whiskers, reminds me of an eccentric Englishman out for a trek across the moors.

Exactly. And you posed him nicely with his walking stick.

I’m reminded of the people who bought my prints at markets, back when people bought framed prints, who said they didn’t know how their cameras worked. I shot everything on my beloved manual K1000 and always had a laugh at the people assuming I had some sort of technological monster camera.
The best camera for anyone is the one that gives them results they are happy with and is comfortable and easy to use. The techy stuff shouldn’t get in the way of making art

CatDragonStorm wrote:You have so many nice locations to take photos.

For outdoor doll photography purposes, it is nice to have a large yard and no nearby neighbors.

Alliecat wrote: I shot everything on my beloved manual K1000 ....

I had a Pentax ME Super, which I remember even the guys at the camera shop referred to as being a fancy K1000. In the photography classes I took (back in the day), the instructors invariably recommended the K1000 as the best camera for beginner and intermediate photographers because it was fully manual, offering an excellent way to learn for beginners and outstanding control for intermediate and advanced photographers.

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28 September - A Doll A Day 2022:

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29 September - A Doll A Day 2022:


Half-nekkid Cowgirl got some more clothes.

davidd wrote:
For outdoor doll photography purposes, it is nice to have a large yard and no nearby neighbors.

Rub it in

Yes, everything you said about the K1000. Thanks to "growing into" my parents' camera, I learned how to manipulate exposure and I loved the organic process. What I learned about how light works always comes to mind when I get playing around with my low-light setups.

Half-nekkid cowgirl won't freeze now, yay.

Alliecat wrote:
Rub it in.

Well... you used to have something like that. Which makes it even harder to lose it.
Still, you have an ocean within spitting distance, so you still win.

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30 September - A Doll A Day 2022:



This is not an actual GI Joe or Action Man figure; rather, the head is from an unlicensed or knock-off copy of the Adventure Team era, flocked hair (or Lifelike Hair & Beard) Joe and AM figs.

The condition of the hair and beard lead me to suspect this figure may likely have been re-flocked (had the hair restored) at some point, or it may not have been a flocked hair figure to begin with.

The probably 1970s or early 1980s head has been grafted to a 21st Century Toys action figure body from the 2000s.

This figure was recently reassigned from BAMComix Headquarters in the UK to South-Central Utah Command HQ in the U.S.

The character's name is Felix, and he may be seen in a photo from his days in England here:

https://flickr.com/photos/116276346@N05/48923686602/

Yeah, maybe I would be less disturbed if I tried sleeping on the beach. I have just had half my house rearranged to put a bed in the basement. The place still looks like a disaster zone.  And yes, it’s the loss of the privacy and quiet after 27 years of this being a nice property that is the saddest thing.

Anyway, Felix looks happy to be there, and looking forward to new adventures.

You know that saying 'there is always someone out there in a worse situation than you' ?
I think I am that person, we have been trying to get a move for several months due to a lot of very violent incidents in our area, last month there was an attempted murder right outside my front door, which happened as I was trying to go to the supermarket but was only not witness by me and the kids because in a weird turn of events my two year old found an ants nest and got covered. By the time I got him back inside and cleaned up there was police tape everywhere.
Also just to add icing to the whole thing my Dad has plunged him and my mum into millions of ££ of debt so they are getting a divorce and have lost their house which has a beautiful garden and has been a place of solice for taking Dolly pictures. So yea, I really miss out door photography...

Sorry to put a downer on your post David.
I love your half nekkid, not so nekkid cowgirl and I would be interested to know if he was an originally flocked doll or not. I have wanted to try flocking for awhile but always chicken out.

I count myself very lucky *knock wood* as I have only slightly annoying neighbors on all sides. At least I can take some photos without the confederate flags in view.

Wow, Cat. That's just all awful. Hope you can find somewhere safer, as well as a new happy place for doll photos.
I used to think I was lucky in not having the kind of neighbours a French friend complained about... Give it time, is all

Oh I like the Gothic cancel sticks! What a pretty lady.
Thanks Alliecat its been a horrible year for sure but we have a transfer application in for another place and waiting to find out if we have got it. Yay more packing!