Passionate Pursuits
Feb. 8th, 2026 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snowazaleaI got lots of lovely things in the mail this week!
My Loving You Barbie showed up. She was shipped a few days later than I had hoped she would be, but she did arrive -- and she and her outfit were so incredibly dirty.
I may have taken a sick day, a mental health day, if you will, on Thursday to clean her and her outfit.
Here is Barbie united with what would have been most of her original accessories. Her stationary set is missing a sticker sheet, but that's okay. I did not even know there was one until after I had bought these.
What did come in the set were Barbie's instruction booklet, brush and comb, heart-shaped stationary pad in a heart case, an unsharpened pencil, and a stamp pad. The stamp pad is, of course, very dried-up, but I very much want to get some inks and stamp pad cleaner from the hobby store to try it out -- being respectful of its age, of course.
I should have gotten some "before" pictures of Barbie and her outfit, perhaps, but I just felt like getting down to business. Her hair was matted with a dusty, greasy feel, and there was a thick layer of dust across her face, as though she had been lying in some open area for many years. Her white underskirt had a deep brown stain and various other discolorations, and her heart-flocked overskirt and sleeves were gray with dust. The rubber band that had originally secured her pony tail had disintegrated and stained her hair as well as her overskirt.
I felt confident cleaning the doll herself, since I have worked with much dirtier ones. I soaked her head in dish soap for several hours, then rinsed her hair out carefully, worked conditioner through it (I have a new Raw Sugar hair masque that worked better than what I have used before), and combed it until it was perfectly smooth. Then, I let the hair sit with conditioner for one day, and on Friday afternoon, rinsed out the conditioner, combing her hair under running water so that it would dry in a perfectly smooth mass. By Saturday morning, she looked like a brand-new doll.
I have ruined many a vintage Barbie outfit with my cleaning attempts, and I was really nervous about working with the legendary Loving You pieces. I soaked the underskirt in oxyclean for several hours, being very careful not to let it touch the overskirt with the red flocking. The oxyclean got the underskirt perfectly white again. Carefully, I wet the sleeves only of the bodice and gently worked dish soap through them. I tried not to get the velvet bodice wet, but it did get wet -- didn't hurt it. I puffed the sleeves out to get them to dry, hoping to restore their volume. I cleaned the flocked overskirt with dish soap and puffed it out to dry as well. After all that, the outfit cleaned up perfectly, but red dye did run all over a little white cotton storage case I was setting them on to puff out and dry. That's okay. Worth the sacrifice.
Day to Night Barbie got her reproduction diamond earrings and ring in the mail. I got them from meddyart and am so pleased! They were here in the blink of an eye. Once I saw how nice they were, I ordered a red set for Loving You Barbie, and they are going to be delivered tomorrow. I will definitely not be doing without Barbie jewelry anymore with this excellent seller around.
I also got a dress I remembered fondly from my childhood, from a set called Springtime Magic. I am going to make some reproduction accessories for the dress, because the original hat and flower basket are always so frayed and in such bad shape when I see them, and they and the white stole are pretty generic pieces, all in all. This dress was missing a snap on the back that I need to replace, but at least Barbie can wear it.
I don't believe I have shared my two R&D Angel Karens here. I fell in love with R&D Angel Karen when she was released as a limited edition through Haute Doll Magazine in 2006. Both of my Karens are secondhand, but each has such a different vibe. Neither one feels like wearing her original black hime-style wig or cute caramel-colored wig, both of which are such iconic 00's looks and were what made me fall in love with the doll.
Dove, on the left, was my first of these two Karens, wearing a wig that came with a different doll that she gravitated toward and that brought out a punk, sort of alternative, mood in her. She's wearing a Gene bridal gown that doesn't button up in the back because I have very few clothes for these dolls, truth be told.
Juno is wearing a wig she came with in addition to all of her original stuff, and which I thought suited her ladylike, elegant mood very well. Her original owner must have thought so as well.
I was just thinking today about how much I'd like to develop these girls and give them better wardrobes in the future.
Dollmore has received my doll heads and is working on face-ups. I probably have about 2-3 weeks still till I get them back. Lorien's body is ready, but I have not cleaned Glynnis's yet. It can be a tedious process, and I was trying to wait until I felt a little enthusiasm to do it, since sometimes the spark hits me. I don't want to have to force it.
Real life stuff, but also fun and special... Nathan and I went to the Lunar New Year festival at Asia Times Square. I can't believe we have lived here so long and did not get a clue about this. It was incredible. We got some delicious food and saw great performances. I had never seen a lion dance performance before, and it was very stirring. It gave me a sense of enthusiasm toward the new year that I certainly have not had.
I got a vintage blouse which I categorize as kind of the early-80s style I like, just in time to wear to the festival.
Arlington has one of the largest Vietnamese diaspora communities in the country, so this Lunar New Year festival centered Vietnamese culture, though they had Taiwanese and Korean performers as well. I particularly liked this dance from the teachers from a Vietnamese school. They looked delightfully like teachers and also like women that had their stuff together.
Performance by NINIMUSIC at Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie.
The link above is to kind of a "burner" Instagram account of mine, so I can share videos and stuff. Not really "doing" Instagram anymore, but there are few options to share videos easily nowadays, and I am not fond of uploading stuff to YouTube -- very slow and tedious.
I had heard of Nini, a Taiwanese folk metal performer, several years ago, and happened across her again recently. She is why we went to the festival. Her performance was delightful.
It was an unforgettable evening, and it felt so nice to get out and do something kind of on a larger scale on the weekend than the usual, which we have not done for a while.
My Loving You Barbie showed up. She was shipped a few days later than I had hoped she would be, but she did arrive -- and she and her outfit were so incredibly dirty.
I may have taken a sick day, a mental health day, if you will, on Thursday to clean her and her outfit.
Here is Barbie united with what would have been most of her original accessories. Her stationary set is missing a sticker sheet, but that's okay. I did not even know there was one until after I had bought these.
What did come in the set were Barbie's instruction booklet, brush and comb, heart-shaped stationary pad in a heart case, an unsharpened pencil, and a stamp pad. The stamp pad is, of course, very dried-up, but I very much want to get some inks and stamp pad cleaner from the hobby store to try it out -- being respectful of its age, of course.
I should have gotten some "before" pictures of Barbie and her outfit, perhaps, but I just felt like getting down to business. Her hair was matted with a dusty, greasy feel, and there was a thick layer of dust across her face, as though she had been lying in some open area for many years. Her white underskirt had a deep brown stain and various other discolorations, and her heart-flocked overskirt and sleeves were gray with dust. The rubber band that had originally secured her pony tail had disintegrated and stained her hair as well as her overskirt.
I felt confident cleaning the doll herself, since I have worked with much dirtier ones. I soaked her head in dish soap for several hours, then rinsed her hair out carefully, worked conditioner through it (I have a new Raw Sugar hair masque that worked better than what I have used before), and combed it until it was perfectly smooth. Then, I let the hair sit with conditioner for one day, and on Friday afternoon, rinsed out the conditioner, combing her hair under running water so that it would dry in a perfectly smooth mass. By Saturday morning, she looked like a brand-new doll.
I have ruined many a vintage Barbie outfit with my cleaning attempts, and I was really nervous about working with the legendary Loving You pieces. I soaked the underskirt in oxyclean for several hours, being very careful not to let it touch the overskirt with the red flocking. The oxyclean got the underskirt perfectly white again. Carefully, I wet the sleeves only of the bodice and gently worked dish soap through them. I tried not to get the velvet bodice wet, but it did get wet -- didn't hurt it. I puffed the sleeves out to get them to dry, hoping to restore their volume. I cleaned the flocked overskirt with dish soap and puffed it out to dry as well. After all that, the outfit cleaned up perfectly, but red dye did run all over a little white cotton storage case I was setting them on to puff out and dry. That's okay. Worth the sacrifice.
Day to Night Barbie got her reproduction diamond earrings and ring in the mail. I got them from meddyart and am so pleased! They were here in the blink of an eye. Once I saw how nice they were, I ordered a red set for Loving You Barbie, and they are going to be delivered tomorrow. I will definitely not be doing without Barbie jewelry anymore with this excellent seller around.
I also got a dress I remembered fondly from my childhood, from a set called Springtime Magic. I am going to make some reproduction accessories for the dress, because the original hat and flower basket are always so frayed and in such bad shape when I see them, and they and the white stole are pretty generic pieces, all in all. This dress was missing a snap on the back that I need to replace, but at least Barbie can wear it.
I don't believe I have shared my two R&D Angel Karens here. I fell in love with R&D Angel Karen when she was released as a limited edition through Haute Doll Magazine in 2006. Both of my Karens are secondhand, but each has such a different vibe. Neither one feels like wearing her original black hime-style wig or cute caramel-colored wig, both of which are such iconic 00's looks and were what made me fall in love with the doll.
Dove, on the left, was my first of these two Karens, wearing a wig that came with a different doll that she gravitated toward and that brought out a punk, sort of alternative, mood in her. She's wearing a Gene bridal gown that doesn't button up in the back because I have very few clothes for these dolls, truth be told.
Juno is wearing a wig she came with in addition to all of her original stuff, and which I thought suited her ladylike, elegant mood very well. Her original owner must have thought so as well.
I was just thinking today about how much I'd like to develop these girls and give them better wardrobes in the future.
Dollmore has received my doll heads and is working on face-ups. I probably have about 2-3 weeks still till I get them back. Lorien's body is ready, but I have not cleaned Glynnis's yet. It can be a tedious process, and I was trying to wait until I felt a little enthusiasm to do it, since sometimes the spark hits me. I don't want to have to force it.
Real life stuff, but also fun and special... Nathan and I went to the Lunar New Year festival at Asia Times Square. I can't believe we have lived here so long and did not get a clue about this. It was incredible. We got some delicious food and saw great performances. I had never seen a lion dance performance before, and it was very stirring. It gave me a sense of enthusiasm toward the new year that I certainly have not had.
I got a vintage blouse which I categorize as kind of the early-80s style I like, just in time to wear to the festival.
Arlington has one of the largest Vietnamese diaspora communities in the country, so this Lunar New Year festival centered Vietnamese culture, though they had Taiwanese and Korean performers as well. I particularly liked this dance from the teachers from a Vietnamese school. They looked delightfully like teachers and also like women that had their stuff together.
Performance by NINIMUSIC at Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie.
The link above is to kind of a "burner" Instagram account of mine, so I can share videos and stuff. Not really "doing" Instagram anymore, but there are few options to share videos easily nowadays, and I am not fond of uploading stuff to YouTube -- very slow and tedious.
I had heard of Nini, a Taiwanese folk metal performer, several years ago, and happened across her again recently. She is why we went to the festival. Her performance was delightful.
It was an unforgettable evening, and it felt so nice to get out and do something kind of on a larger scale on the weekend than the usual, which we have not done for a while.
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Date: 2026-02-09 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-10 12:00 pm (UTC)