Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Store Tours: Fabric Friends and Dolls


What's better than getting dolly goodies in the mail? Getting dolly goodies in person, of course!

Recently, I had the opportunity to finally stop in and see Fabric Friends and Dolls for myself! I was in Maryland visiting family and quite ironically, the shop was less than a half hour from where I was staying in Gaithersburg. I've been purchasing from them online for a while, but nothing beats buying doll items in person, that's for sure.



FFD carries an impressive amount of company items (including the company I take pictures for, Leekeworld!) and dolls. The owners are super kind and let you try things on your doll, sort of like VOLKS did when their LA shop was still open.



Items are sorted by company and size - oh my! It is easy to get lost in the sea of high quality Nine9 Style and Freedom Teller clothing sets they sell. I was so overwhelmed by their amazing stock and organization. It was hard to choose what to get! Stay tuned for a box opening and haul video featuring the Momoko doll I purchased here.


Check out my video tour of the shop!

Thank you to Iris for letting me film in the store and to the lovely doll owners and dolls I met: createdbymonsters, aggrosongbird929, and all the others (sorry that I missed you)!



If you'd like to visit Fabric Friends and Dolls, here is their information:

6836 Olney Laytonsville Road
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20882
(301)-740-8830
fabricfriends@comcast.net

Store Hours (to call):
SUN, MON - CLOSED
TUES - FRI: 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM EST
SAT - 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST

Sunday, January 8, 2017

BJD 365, 2017 - Week 1

Since I never completed my first 365 back in 2015, I decided 2017 was going to be the year that I completed one. I once again decided to go with a BJD theme (with my Azone and Dollfie Dream making an appearance too).

In addition to making a blog post each week with all 7 photos, I will also be posting each new photo daily on Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, and Instagram. Check the links to the top right hand corner to follow along.

I hope you enjoy the photos from Week 1!

Sunday, October 16, 2016

HG 1/144 Z'Gok E - "Imaginary Sky"

I'm so proud to share this set of images of my first ever finished model and GBWC entry, "Imaginary Sky" - featuring a HG 1/144 Z'Gok E. Believe it or not, but this is actually my all time favorite MS, so naturally he had to be my first finished kit. This model isn't perfect, but I am pretty proud of him and I certainly learned a lot. I'll talk about my process and concept behind this model later in this post, but for now, here are a handful of photos I took with my light tent:





The title "Imaginary Sky" comes from my favorite song off of the War in the Pocket OST. I imagine he is looking up into the faux sky of a colony at the end of the One Year War. I chose a custom arctic color scheme for him, helping to camouflage him in the snowy diorama scene.



This was also my first diorama base and I tried to keep it simple. I purchased the wooden base at Michael's and painted it with acrylic paints. The ice effects were made with Liquitex Heavy Gloss Gel, which goes on opaque, but dries clear in thinner layers. Testing the consistency of it, you can get some pretty neat effects with it that are similar to the water effects used by modelers.




I finished the base off with a few coats of the heavy gel before giving it a generous coating of regular gloss, which I hand painted on. I used the layer of gloss as an adhesive to which I then dusted the whole thing with modeling snow I found at a model train store.



I have to thank my boyfriend, Jordan (00gundamreviewsv2), for teaching me the basics of modeling and airbrushing and also for that extra push I needed to complete this model on time. He took home Best Small Scale for his diorama this year too! Check it out here on his blog.

I have so much more respect for the gunpla community now that I'm actively building. The amount of work that goes into these guys is just incredible!

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

NYCC 2016: GBWC + VOLKS

This year I had the amazing opportunity to attend New York Comic Con for the first time ever as well as enter the Gunpla Builders World Cup (GBWC). I decided to submit my favorite mobile suit variant, the Z'Gok E shown in 0080: War in the Pocket. It was a great honor (and also quite intimidating!) to have my entry stand with such an amazing group of modelers.

Without further adieu, here are the 2016 NYCC GBWC entries and winners:







Winner of Best Large Scale (left) and winner of Bandai Judge's Favorite (right).



 Exhibitor's work by Mr. Dash and The Paint Pusher.










Winner of Best in Show.








Winner of Bluefin Judge's Favorite.

Winner of the Bandai Judge's Favorite and Winner of Best Small Scale.

Jordan Neidert of 00gundamreviewsv2/Gunpla with ED and his winning entry, "A Bridge Too Far." He placed for Best Small Scale. So proud of him!

Also on display at the Bandai booth were a bunch of future releases, slated to hit the market sometime later this year or next.





Bandai also had on display exclusive products you could only purchase at Comic Con, including the amazing HG Clear Thunderbolt Gundam and Psycho Zaku, which I wanted very badly. Maybe next time.


 Check out the rest of my GBWC photos on Facebook too.

The other highlight of my Saturday was being able to visit the VOLKS booth! I had been anxious to see which dolls VOLKS had for sale, as I was really hoping to bring a Dollfie Dream home with me that day. I was surprised that instead of bringing the standard models, they had limited edition DD girls that had since been sold out including Hatsune Miku and Snow Miku, who were also on display.



Other dolls they had were Akira, KOS-MOS, and M.O.M.O. Can you guess which girl I brought home?


I want to thank everyone who made my first NYCC experience so special, including everyone at Bandai, Bluefin, and VOLKS.

Stay tuned for my GBWC and VOLKS videos, coming soon!

Search This Blog

Popular Posts