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The one thing about receiving my mother’s life insurance policy plus the enforced quarantine due to the Coronavirus pandemic is that all of this free time has enabled me to get in touch with my doll interests once again. The chronic stress over finding work and finances have really impacted my ability to enjoy the things that I really like.
I had even thought about selling off some or all of my doll collection in order to raise some cash. But then I looked on eBay and I found that Asian ball jointed dolls aren’t worth as much second-hand as they used to be 10 or 15 years ago. Part of the reason is due to the faltering economy since dolls are a luxury and not really something that you need to survive. Another reason is because there have been so many Asian doll companies that have come up over the years that there is a glut of dolls on the market. I’ve seen the 60 cm sized dolls on Amazon for $100.
I’m kind of glad I didn’t begin selling off my collection because I’ve been photographing some of my dolls and I’m starting to appreciate them once again. I have a small three-inch Boboie Sunny who has a tiny unicorn horn bump on his forehead. He has the default faceup that was done in the factory and the wig and eyes that came with the doll. I hand sewed the tiny outfit because he originally came nude. (Yes, he is anatomically correct.) Here are some recent photos of my tiny Boboie Sunny doll that I shot.
Yesterday I wrote about how I attempted to make a one-minute story for TikTok featuring my Elsa doll from the Disney movie Frozen 2. As I decided to make a miniature face mask for my doll I realized that I could create a tutorial showing people how to make their own miniature face masks for their favorite doll or stuffed animal. All I had to do was to shoot pictures as I was making that face mask for Elsa then write a script for it.
I had originally intended to the video tutorial just for YouTube. But then I began to watch more TikTok videos and I found that there are all kinds of one-minute tutorials on that platform ranging from recipes to arts and crafts to brief history lessons. Many of the narrators tend to talk very fast in order to keep to TikTok’s one-minute video maximum.
Then I came up with an idea: I would create two versions of my video. One would be a standard tutorial for YouTube that would be similar to other tutorials I had done for that platform in the past (such as the one I did on how to make an art doll the easy way for beginners back in 2016). The other would be a one-minute TikTok version where I would try to be succinct as possible.
Needless to say, the TikTok version was more of a challenge because I had to make the video understandable enough for viewers while not exceeding the one-minute limit. For the TikTok version I used written labels on the screen while Natalie Taylor’s song “Surrender” played in the background. I used that song because I noticed so many other people were using that song whenever they were making Coronavirus-related videos and I even learned that this song has gone viral online. I thought that my video would more likely get noticed if I used that song myself. You can see the TikTok version right here.
The YouTube version is six minutes long because I had more of a luxury in being able to provide detailed instructions. I narrated the video myself and I used one of the many free songs that YouTube provides for its content creators to use. It’s a song by a band known as the Jingle Punks and it’s called “The Framework.” Here’s my YouTube version of the same tutorial.
I basically provided something for everyone. If you’re the kind of person who has a short attention span, then my TikTok version is right for you. If you prefer a more thorough instruction, then watch the YouTube version above.
I’ve been trying to spend my Coronavirus-related isolation trying new things. So far I managed to teach myself how to use TikTok. In the process a video I originally shot of one of my dolls, Elsa as she appeared at the end of the Disney movie Frozen 2, had gotten a lot of views, which surprised me because I originally shot it as sort of a throwaway video because I was a total TikTok newbie at the time. As of this writing, that particular video has gotten over 62,000 views with over 1,300 likes and 9 comments.
I decided to up the ante a bit and try something experimental—a video story featuring Elsa as I took the doll to the grocery store. The idea would be that Elsa would wear her own little face mask (which I sewed myself using leftover scrap fabric and cord) while she would seem to point out what foods she had too had. Of course all of the foods she would point at were all tie-ins with Frozen 2.
I chose to take the doll to a local Giant because I knew that this store did not sell the 15-inch Frozen 2 dolls so no one would accuse me of shoplifting a doll that Giant didn’t even sell and I had purchased at Walmart. (Which was why I decided not to try this in the nearby Target because that store does sell the 15-inch Frozen 2 dolls.)
There was a part of me that felt scared that I was going to humiliate or embarrassed myself. But then I remembered that the stores in the state of Maryland currently require all customers to wear a face mask. Part of my face was going to be covered anyway so no one will remember me as the “doll lady” when I return to that same grocery store at a later date.
Shooting the video was mostly uneventful. There weren’t a lot of people in the Giant when I was there and most of them were practicing social distancing so no one noticed that I was a grown woman shooting a video of a doll wearing a face mask inside of the grocery store. It wasn’t until I was ready to go to the checkout lines that one woman who was waiting in one of those lines saw my Elsa doll and tried to ask me where I had found that doll. I immediately rolled the cart over to the self-serve line so I wouldn’t have to deal with that fellow customer because I just didn’t want to go into what in the hell was I doing. I managed to check myself out and quietly put the doll in one of the grocery bags before I wheeled my shopping cart out of the store.
Like many videographers I had shot more footage than I really needed and TikTok has a 60-second limit on all videos. I tried editing the footage through TikTok but, to be honest, I didn’t like that platform’s software interface all that much. So I decided to import the clips into my Google Photos app, edit them through that app, then upload the edited clips on to TikTok and combine them into one.
But then the TikTok app didn’t recognize the edited clips at all because it claimed that they weren’t .mp4 clips, despite the fact that those files all had the .mp4 extension. I was stuck.
But then I started doing Google searches for any Droid video editing apps that would be compatible with TikTok and some of the searches I found had recommended Adobe Premiere Rush.
So I went to the Google Play store and downloaded the app. I found the Adobe Premiere Rush app to be very intuitive and user friendly. I was able to combine the edited clips into one video and even add some snazzy captions. When I exported the file I learned that Adobe Premiere Rush only provided a maximum of three exports for free. Afterwards I was going to have to pay.
I really liked that app and I would’ve had no problem with paying a flat fee for that app because it was really that good. But then I looked online and found that Adobe Premiere Rush was yet another Adobe Creative Cloud app where the company would charge a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 per month. I balked at subscribing because I don’t know how often I would actually need to edit videos on my smartphone. (I generally tend to hook my Droid phone to my MacBook via USB then run Android File Transfer on my Mac in order to download any pictures or videos I shot with my phone before importing them into iMovie so I could do the editing. I prefer using the MacBook’s larger monitor over my Galaxy S9’s small screen.) This is yet another example of Adobe being very greedy in recent years ever since it insisted on having people pay subscription fees for all of its software instead of having people buy the software outright. I know people who pay around $50 a month in order to access the popular graphics software like Photoshop and Illustrator. I know even more people who either use older outdated versions of Adobe software or use free open source alternatives like Gimp, Krita, and Inkscape. (I could easily write a separate rant about why I used to love Adobe products but can’t stand the way that the company is price-gouging its own loyal customers by making them pay monthly subscription fees.)
So I managed to export my one video and TikTok accepted it. After I uploaded the video on to TikTok, I uninstalled Adobe Premiere Rush.
My TikTok video originally got some views but it seems to have stalled at slightly over 1,100 views. It’s not bad but it’s a far cry from the over 62,000 views and 1,300 likes that my previous Elsa video got (where all I did was just briefly rotate the doll in front of the camera). I don’t know what happened. I thought trying a cute one-minute story featuring the Elsa doll from Frozen 2 would get more views than it has gotten so far. In any case, you can see the video for yourself right here.
I also uploaded that same video on to YouTube, which, as of this writing, has gotten a measly 21 views.
I even decided to take a few stills from my video and make a short photostory. Here it is below. Enjoy!
I’ve been making TikTok videos of myself playing the ocarina. I recently combined two of those videos into one and uploaded it on to YouTube so more people will have the chance to see me in my ocarina-playing glory. (LOL!)
After I filmed myself playing the ocarina, I decided to walk around the neighborhood with two dolls in tow. At that point the cherry blossom trees were at its peak bloom. The National Cherry Blossom Festival had been cancelled and the local officials were doing everything possible to discourage people from traveling to the Tidal Basin to see those trees. However there was a cherry blossom tree close to my house that was in full bloom so I was able to take pictures of that tree.
I took a selfie while I was standing next to the tree.
Then I decided to put my dolls in the tree. Here’s my Volks Dollfie Dream doll wearing her Easter Bunny Lover outfit that I made myself years ago. Easter hadn’t come yet so I thought it was an appropriate outfit for that day.
Here’s my Fantasy Doll Tobias wearing his Red Prince outfit that I also made myself years ago.
Here are my two 1/3 scale Asian ball-jointed dolls in the cherry blossom tree together.
Just a couple of blocks away from this cherry blossom tree is a playground. When the weather is nice outside, one can normally see children playing on the playground equipment. However, that playground has now been blocked off due to the Coronavirus.
Lately I’ve been going through some of my old dolls and start paying attention to them once again after neglecting some of them for so long (due mainly to the stress stemming from health, divorce, and lack of employment issues). I picked up my Volks Dollfie Dream doll, which is one of the first Asian ball-jointed dolls I’ve ever purchased for myself. I customized her myself and I even sewed her little cherry blossom and obi set.
It’s spring now and the cherry blossom trees throughout the Washington, DC area are now at their peak bloom. Here’s a photo of one of them that I shot in my neighborhood.
And here are the photos of the doll in the tree.
Since St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday this year I decided to have a little fun. I’ve been using my Volks Dollfie Dream as a model for some rough drawings that I’m currently working on for a potential future animation. (It’s still in the planning stages so I’m not going to write too much about that project at the moment.)
I’ve been shooting pictures of her in my bedroom. Since today is St. Patrick’s Day and since today is sunny outside and relatively balmy (it’s still a bit on the cold side but it’s way warmer than the recent blasts of cold air that we’ve been getting), I decided to take a few dolls to the local park so I could take a few outdoor pictures.
I dressed my Dollfie Dream in the St. Patrick’s Day outfit that I made a few years back called Irish Lass. (You can learn more about the making of this outfit in this blog post I wrote back in 2010.)
I also brought along two of my Goodreau Dolls—Wiggles the Pig and Scrappy Rabbit.
Here’s a closeup of the Dollfie Dream holding Wiggles.
Here’s a closeup of Scrappy near one of the Dollfie Dream’s legs.
Here’s a final shot of the three dolls as taken from a slightly different angle.
This year I took part in the Greenbelt Spring Maker Festival, which was put on by the Greenbelt Makerspace in Greenbelt, Maryland. The weather was warm yet windy. (At one point a guy who had his table next to mine had mounted his iPad on a tripod. He had to leave his table for a moment and a gust of wind blew over the entire tripod—iPad included—and smashed the glass on the screen.) Here is my vending area at the festival.
Yes, I used Giant’s off-brand version of Oreos to entice visitors to my area. (LOL!)
The thrift shop Barbies that I refurbished as Fairy dolls made their appearance along with other arts and crafts I have done in the past.
I brought back the doll couch that I made from a broken Dance Dance Revolution dance pad. I had two American Girl dolls—Julie Albright and Addy Walker—sit on the couch along with a stuffed lion that I got from Build-a-Bear Workshop. (I wanted to show that this couch could seat stuffed animals as well as dolls.)
A Barbie doll models this “fur” coat that I knitted using fur yarn.
I attempted to do a live demonstration at my booth where I would crochet a small amigurumi bunny rabbit. I had this ambition that I would finish the rabbit by the end of the festival. Well, I ended not finishing it mainly because I had to tend to people who were browsing my table and there were times when I toured the rest of the festival. I would finish it later on.
Here are my photos of the rest of the festival which I took while I was going to and from the bathroom. There were 3D printers that printed various 3D items, musicians playing live on stage, children playing with Legos, woodworkers, a sewing demonstration, numerous computer demonstrations, and an information table that dealt with things like composting. There were vendors that sold jewelry, knitted hats with matching knitted scarves, and ceramics.
This boy was checking out a table where one can play music with oranges that were connected with some kind of an interface with a computer.
When I first started going to these maker events, I saw 3D printed items in only one color. At this event I saw 3D printed items based on Winnie the Pooh and Snoopy and they were 3D printed in more than one color, which was cool.
This year there was an attempt to include the Greenbelt Library in the festival even though the building is located a few feet outside of Roosevelt Center (where the festival took place). Phil Shapiro brought his portable wind tunnel where he enticed families with young children to check it out. I happened to take this photo of him during downtime where he was reading.
He had me use his phone to film him sending paper streamers through the wind tunnel. He later uploaded the footage I shot on YouTube while he added some music in the background.
Previous in This Series
The Day Before the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival
Greenbelt Labor Day Festival (Day 1)
Greenbelt Labor Day Festival (Day 2)
What a difference a day makes! Like I wrote in my last entry, I briefly attended the second day of the festival due in large part to the rain. The third day of the festival was different. It was sunny outside, the temperature reached into the low 70’s, and the humidity was low as well. It was the perfect outdoor weather for the festival!
When I arrived at the festival I saw that the STEM center Makerspace 125 had created a small miniature golf course consisting of handmade decorations that were miniature replicas of various Greenbelt landmarks and the local wildlife.
This mini golf course was especially a big hit with the kids.
Even though the third day fell on a Sunday, I blew off church that morning because I wanted to make sure that I would arrive at the Greenbelt Museum on time for another event I wanted to take part in. This year the Greenbelt Museum was the site for the Retro Town Fair, which was the first time I participated in it since 2014.
I submitted two hand-knitted clothes for dolls. One was the funky “fur” coat for 1/6 dolls, which I had my Blythe doll model mainly because she was the one doll I had who looked best wearing it. The other was the Alice’s Tea Party knitted dress for 18-inch dolls. I had my Addy Walker doll model it because she looked like those African American church ladies I frequently see in my area on Sundays walking in public all dressed up in their finest dresses and hats (or a hair accessory).
Basically I had to submit my entries between 11 a.m.-2 p.m. then wait until between 2-4 p.m. before I can see the entire Retro Town Fair. So I submitted my entries then walked back to the main part of the Labor Day Festival where I hung around for a bit while I ordered a giant crab pretzel for lunch from one of the food booths. After lunch I walked back to the Greenbelt Museum while I took these pictures.
I came upon my dolls and I found that I won two white 3rd place ribbons. I was pretty happy with that award even though the organizers had them laying down the entire time. (I guess it was probably easier to display them that way without worrying about them falling down.)
The festival area was full of people once again since Tropical Storm Harvey went away. Here are some pictures I took.
The bingo tables were reopened as well with people eagerly playing bingo.
There was this very long line at the ice cream stand.
There were a couple of pint-sized Stormtroopers from Star Wars.
That day was also the first day of the Craft Fair, where the vendors were blessed with ideal weather for selling their handcrafted wares.
What was really wild is that I got lucky when I met a prominent person whom I’ve seen on TV a few times (back in the days when I still had cable television). The former head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, is running for Maryland governor in next year’s mid-term elections and he was at the festival talking to the people and asking them for their opinions. Here are a couple of pictures I took of him.
If he gets elected next year, I’ll definitely have these photos to show people while telling them “I met Governor Jealous when I was at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival back in 2017.” (LOL!)
Makerspace 125 had a busy day. Not only were the volunteers there running the miniature golf course but they were also putting the final finishing touches on their parade float for the next day. When I was there, they were making giant LEGO blocks.
I even went to the Greenbelt Theater, which was running classic cartoons (Superman, Betty Boop, Popeye, and various Looney Tunes shorts) for free on the big screen.
I walked back to the Greenbelt Museum where I picked up my dolls and my award ribbons then I headed back home feeling exhausted yet happy at all the good things I experienced that day.
Next in This Series
Greenbelt Labor Day Parade
Greenbelt Labor Day Festival (Day 4)
Like I wrote earlier, I’m participating in two separate events at this weekend’s Greenbelt Labor Day Festival in Greenbelt, Maryland starting this afternoon at 1 p.m. (when the Art Show formally opens to the public for the first time). I took advantage of the four-artpiece limit by displaying a combination of old and new art, starting with my acrylic painting, Desire.
Desire
Acrylic on canvas
9 inches x 12 inches
23 cm x 30 cm
Desire is the oldest of my paintings in this show. It was the one that I originally painted while I was recuperating from my hip replacement back in late 2008 based on my photograph of my in-laws’ dog, Jay-Jay, while he was begging for a snack that I was eating at the time (during one of my many visits to their home in Phoenix that I made with my then-husband before our marriage broke up). I originally displayed this painting at Artomatic in 2009 then I gave it to my husband’s mother and step-father as a Christmas present later that year. (We gave it to them during a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.) My mother-in-law passed away in 2010—just four months after we gave them that painting. When my husband’s step-father decided to move to a smaller apartment in a retirement community during the summer of 2011, he had to drastically downsize his possessions so he gave the painting back to us. When my husband left me in late 2011, that painting was among the many things he had left behind with me. I’ve displayed Desire at a few local shows in the years since (the most recent was the one in Baltimore last summer) but this will be the first time this painting will be displayed at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival. You can read more about the making of this painting in a blog post I wrote back in 2011.
The second artwork is a piece I did for a contest last year where we had to create our art using a tiny canvas. I decided to submit that to the Art Show as well. Here is my piece titled Carousel Horses at Night.
Carousel Horses at Night
Acrylic on canvas
3 inches x 3 inches
8 cm x 8 cm
You can read more about how I made this tiny painting in a blog post that I wrote last year.
In addition I created two new pieces. So far I’ve uploaded pictures of them on my various social media accounts. Here are a couple of Twitter tweets I made very shortly before the final submission deadline yesterday.
I really didn’t have much time to write anything in detail about these pieces. I’ll write more about these two pieces in a proper blog post at a later date.
In addition to the Art Show, I also intend to submit a couple of items I knitted to the Retro Town Fair, which will only be opened to the general public tomorrow from 2-4 p.m. Both are doll outfits that I managed to finish knitting last year and I made an unsuccessful attempt to sell them on eBay during the winter holiday season. The first one is a fur coat that I knitted using funky novelty yarn. This one is supposed to fit Barbie and other 1/6 scale dolls. This coat can also fit 1/6 scale dolls with large heads, such as this Blythe doll who’s modeling this coat in the photo below.
You can read more about how I made this coat while viewing photos of other dolls wearing it in a blog post I wrote last December.
Last, but not least, is this outfit I knitted for 18-inch dolls (such as American Girl). Here’s a photo of Addy Walker modeling this outfit.
You can read more about how I made this outfit while viewing photos of other dolls wearing it in a blog post I also wrote last December.
For information and directions to the festival, visit the festival’s official site.
Today is International Women’s Day. In honor of that occasion, I’ll begin this post with an old photo of my Volks Dollfie Dream doll. I chose this photo because the doll has a mature woman’s body and she’s wearing an outfit that has red in it, which I’ll explain further under the picture. (In case you’re wondering, I did the doll’s faceup and I made the outfit as well.)
Today a major international strike—called “A Day Without Women”—is being held all around the world. The women in each nation are striking for different reasons that are local to their area but a strike is going on today nonetheless.
Here’s the short answer for why women in my country are striking today: President Trump. There are other reasons for this strike as well, which Bustle has helpfully posted online as a resource for strikers when they are asked why they are on strike today.
The local schools in my area are off today because so many teachers and employees have taken personal leave. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t ventured outside yet but I will soon so I’ll see how many people are really observing this.
As for me, I don’t live with anyone at the moment so it’s irrelevant whether I sit out on doing the housework today or not. I already have a red shirt in my closet so I was able to wear that in solidarity. I also haven’t found a new day job yet so I’m home regardless of whether there’s a strike or not.
The one thing I can do is not spend any money today, which is another thing that the organizers have called for. I made an effort to go to the Verizon store to pay my latest cell phone bill yesterday so I wouldn’t have to spend money today. The word is that if it turns out that we have to buy something we really need today, we should frequent local small businesses that are owned either by women or minorities and avoid the corporate chain stores entirely. The convenience store near my home is a family-run store that’s owned by a Chinese immigrant family so I could go there if it turns out I need something in a pinch.
Today one of the local women-owned businesses is sponsoring a Craft-In at her shop where people can bring either their latest craft project or, for a fee, buy some craft supplies and do some crafting. I’m going to check that out later.
If I had a day job, I would have a difficult time with going on strike because I would not have been employed too long and it’s generally harder for recent hires to get time off than longtime employees. For other people who are in the same boat, Bustle.com has some helpful tips on other ways people can observe this day if they are unable to take time off from work.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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