Sunday, July 19, 2015

Ten Ping's jointing and articulation

Ten Ping by Ruby Red Galleria

I was really fascinated by Ten Ping's joints, so I wanted to go in depth about them.  This 8"/21cm vinyl/plastic Ruby Red Galleria doll has the range of motion of a ball-jointed doll, but without the stringing.  She's built more like an Obitsu doll, with tight joints that hold their positions beautifully in a lots of natural-looking poses. 

I have a lot of pictures to show you, so I'll keep the sizes small so the page will load faster.  You can click on the pictures to see them larger.


First, Ten Ping can both touch her forehead, and touch her mouth.  A lot of dolls can't do this!  Some doll's hands can reach almost to the mouth, but stop short and can't quite reach.  Her arms can be very expressive, and stay in whatever position you put them in without flopping.  I really like the hand and foot sculpts.  They're detailed and cute.


Each of the knees has a two-part joint.  When the legs are straight, the joints are closed and look like this.


But they bend into a sitting position with a small manipulation to the kneecap.   Ten Ping can sit up nicely in a chair. 


You can fold the legs further by carefully bending each of the parts of the knee caps as far as they will go, which looks like this.  She can kneel and stay upright while doing so, although the knee joints look kind of funny when she's in a kneeling position. 



On top of that, there are swivel joints in the legs that let the legs swing out or in, and allow Ten Ping (or her friend GiGi) to do any of the following cute little girl poses.

This pose is SO CUTE!!!


She can even sit with one leg over the other, like so, ANNNNND she can sit cross-legged.  Oh, and she also stands nicely unassisted, which is useful for photography sometimes.  In the photo where I have her standing with arms out, she was actually balancing by herself unsupported. 


Oh, and I forgot to mention her head is on a ball joint, so she can look in any direction, including up and down as well as side-to-side. 

Anyway, I thought the articulation on this little doll was pretty neat.  Hope you liked my pictures.

You can see my first post about this doll here

Friday, July 17, 2015

Hearts For Hearts dolls being discontinued


I was very sorry to find out that Hearts For Hearts dolls by Playmates Toys are being discontinued.  These were one of the nicest and best-quality play-line dolls you could find on the toy aisles.  I bought two for my daughter for Christmas a couple of years ago, and always thought the dolls were lovely.  So if you want them, you'd better grab them before they're all gone from the shelves. 

:(

Friday, July 10, 2015

Ten Ping by Ruby Red Galleria

I was lucky enough to get this lovely little girl in a trade.  (Thanks, Deb!)  My new little girl is Ten Ping by Ruby Red Galleria.  Or, more specifically, she's a version of the Ten Ping sculpt reinvisioned as a Malaysian girl named Mia, part of Ruby Red's Four Kindergartner doll series.  She's one of the sold out editions, so I feel particularly lucky to get her. 

Here's a little bit about the dolls:  As of July 2015, there have been 8 versions of the Ten Ping sculpt as the character Ten Ping.  There have also been three separate offerings of the "Four Kindergartner" dolls, with four dolls in each set, all with the Ten Ping sculpt but representing different characters (Miki from Japan, Jar-Lu from China, Ishara from India and Mia from Malaysia).  Plus now there is a new (and very beautiful!) sculpt for the Ten Ping line, a smiling girl named GiGi who is designated as Ten Ping's best friend.  GiGi is sold out everywhere as far as I know (I could be wrong).  I'd love to get a little girl with the GiGi sculpt some day! 


My Mia was apparently the first Mia produced for the original Four Kindergartner line in 2013.  I love her hat and her sweet little face!  It's very apparent that the entire doll was made with care and attention to detail.  She even comes with separate panties as well as tights, which is so nice for redressing.  So many dolls will come with one or the other, but not both. 


There are so many nice little touches that I'm not sure I can even go through them all.  The doll herself has little delicately hand-painted freckles, and applied eyelashes that are set just right.

The handbag is a rich, dark green satin to go with her outfit, with a gold embroidered design.  It's a functional bag, and really opens. 


I absolutely love the hat.  It has cream lace just on the crown, and is the sweetest design!  It has shirring around the outside and a brim of dark green velvet, and is fully lined. 


The dress on this edition is all one piece (no separate shirt or skirt).  It is fully lined in a cream cotton, and closes in the back with hooks.  I've seen other editions of Ten Ping where the dress is in several separate pieces (a separate shirt and overdress, for example). 



She is a vinyl wigged doll with a 5.5" head.  I put a Monique Gold Collection "Honor" wig on her in size 5-6 and it looks SO CUTE!!!  It's a perfect fit, too.  Here's the pic:


By the way, I discovered the 30mm Monique Elegant Ankle Strap shoes fit her perfectly, even with socks or tights on.  I bought four pairs of these in different colors, and they all fit.  The picture on the web site shows them as glitter shoes, but the 30mm size doesn't have glitter.  You can find them here.  Weirdly, I also tried the 30mm Monique Lace-Up Boots on her, but they were slightly too tight!  I guess it just depends on the shoe.  If I could find boots in a 32mm, that might be perfect.

EDIT:  I just discovered another web site (an eBay store, this time) that sells a large selection of 30mm and 31mm-sized doll shoes.  They're called Juju's Dolly Mall.  You can find their 30mm shoes here and their 31mm shoes here

To see my post with pictures of Ten Ping's jointing and articulation, please click here.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Mister Dollface - a doll marketplace


Why did I not know about this site before now???

I just discovered Mister Dollface, a site where people can sell their used dolls and related accessories.  I used to use the DollPage Show & Sell to re-sell my older dolls, but since that site shut down, I hadn't discovered a replacement until now.  Mister Dollface is free, so no 10% eBay fee (or whatever the fee is now on eBay).  Plus, I'm always terrified I'll be taken for a ride by a scammer on eBay.  At least on Mister Dollface, I can control who I sell my items to. 

Here is the link to Mister Dollface.