Plans for 2017

I looked over my New Year's dollie resolutions from 2016, to see how I did, and what I wanted to change or continue this year. Last year, I managed to post four times a month for the first half of the year. The second half of the year got really crazy, and there is still some chaos and stress at Casa BTEG, so I don't feel too awfully about meeting my posting goal for the whole year. I'm going to shoot for four posts a month again anyway. I like to keep this blog active.

I was planning to photograph my 10" Georgia doll, but she needed a wig, which I never bought. I also have a Patsy that I need to re-wig. I've never bought a doll wig before, and I keep second guessing which wigs would look best. There are also a *lot* of choices out there! I ought to make the wig thing a higher priority this year, so these dolls can be complete.

Of course, I wasn't sure last January that I would be buying much, and then I went crazy about Ever After High, as you'll see when I blog about one of my Christmas presents. It didn't hurt that most of the EAH dolls I bought were marked down, being older releases. I was thinking seriously about getting another Makie, but that didn't happen, after the company suddenly disappeared.

At least Meg has a lot of doll friends to play with.

Other than Ever After High dolls, I bought one curvy Barbie, one petite Barbie, two Star Darling dolls, and a discontinued LIV set that I bought mostly for the display window. Unless I fall in love with another doll line this year, my doll purchases will probably be down. However, I've also purchased some furniture, and a LOT of accessories like Re-Ment. That will probably continue in 2017.

I've found making time to sew doll clothes difficult. This is probably partially because of my depression issues, and partially because of a schedule which changes every day. I keep trying for big blocks of time to get sewing (or knitting) done; what I need is to do a little at time when I have the opportunity. For some reason, I don't feel motivated to go to my sewing table unless I can get a huge amount done at once. That's just holding me back.

I have a couple of construction projects that I want to begin, but we don't have space for me to take on a big project right now. Likewise, I've been trying to paint doll accessories in my sewing area, which involves a lot of moving things around. I'd like to set up a dedicated space for painting (which I will probably share with my husband and daughter, who paint gaming miniatures.) That crafting space won't be free until later in the year.

Lastly, I've been thinking about starting a running storyline here featuring my dolls! I have an idea that I'm trying to develop into a working plot; hopefully I'll get it started within the next month.

Doubt and Depression

As I like to do, I'm looking over my past year of doll collecting, and making plans and goals for the year ahead, which I'll post about. But while I have my own personal plans for sewing and painting, etc. for my dolls, my thoughts from a collector point of view are pretty gloomy. There are still Ever After High dolls out there that I would like to buy, but nothing good seems to be in the works for the line. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see it completely die out in 2017.

The announcement that Tonner is done with most of his lines was a huge surprise for most of the doll collecting community who follows his work. I was pretty certain there were going to be more Ann Estelle dolls coming out, and now there won't even be more Patsy dolls, or outfits that fit the 10" dolls. This will not help prices on the secondary market, which in my opinion are rather high already, considering how many dolls were produced, and how long ago the dolls were produced. All the 10" dolls, Ann Estelle, Petite Filles, and Patsy, seem to all be very popular among collectors still. There are currently 10" articulated bodies only for sale from Tonner, and I may try to pick up one or two on the chance that I might want to rebody one of my dolls, but I'm afraid they'll sell out rather quickly as people scramble to buy before everything is gone for good.

Makie is not in business anymore, either. In my plans for this year, was the possibility of getting another Makie doll, since I liked my first one. Unfortunately, this company too disappeared in 2016.

So in my doll collecting life, I really don't have any new releases to be excited about or look forward to. The only new dolls I might be interested in, for now, are Barbies, and Mattel is so hit or miss that I don't have a lot of confidence in what will be made this year. I will admit that at this time I am trying to power through clinical depression. Everything right now seems undo-able. But life continues.

ETA: I guess I can't absolutely say that there will never be any more Makie dolls. What I do know is that the company suddenly declared it was moving from the UK to the US. After that, there was no more news, and Makies are no longer for sale. It would be great if there was a chance that the dolls will be produced again, but it's been, I think, close to a year now with no news. Actually, I think orders for Christmas 2015 were cancelled at the last minute, but that's just a vague memory, and I can't find anything about it. I do know many people were upset because they had saved doll designs on the Makie website, which are now gone. 

Plans for 2016

I've had vague ideas about what my 2016 doll collecting and blogging goals should be, but when I took some time to really solidify my plans, they boiled down to putting more time into my hobby! I still want dolls to remain fun, but I want to push myself a little farther this year. I'm hoping that I won't burn myself out on doll collecting, but that I'll get more out of it if I put more into it.

I would like to add a few more dolls to my collection, but I'm not in a huge hurry. I have some J-Dolls on my wishlist that I'd like to acquire if I find them at a good price. I picked up a Georgia doll for my 10" Ann Estelle crew, and I'll be posting some pictures of her. I wouldn't mind picking up a few more dolls in that size. I might think about getting another Makie.

I did dip my toe into the world of Ever After High dolls! I had some store credit at zulily from something else, so I was able to pick up Ashlynn Ella and Hunter Huntsman for only $13.99, including tax and shipping! Yeah, like I needed another type of doll in my collection, but there are a few I've thought about getting that I still really like after a period of months, so I couldn't resist kicking my collection off with a fantastic deal.

Sewing more doll clothing is a big goal. Buying dolls on a budget often means buying nude or basic dolls, so there's not a lot of doll clothing going around to begin with. I also need to make more items to sell in my Etsy store. Yes, I know you're not supposed to start an Etsy store with only one item. I'm hoping it will be a motivator for me personally to sew more if I have a shop open. For sewing doll clothes in general, I need to remind myself that the more I sew, the better I will get.

I would like to write four new posts every month. Usually in a good month I publish three. I figure if I do more sewing, more doll dioramas, and more traveling with Meg, I'll have enough to write about. Speaking of which, Meg is accompanying the Evil Genius family on a trip very soon! I'll tell you about it when we get back. I also have a surprise or two that I hope to share as the year goes on!

I'll close this post with a couple pictures of Ann Estelle in the dress that I made for my Etsy store.