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The Undead Charm of Ghoulia Yelps: How Monster High turned me into a doll collector.

25/3/2016

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Ghoulia Yelps - 'Scaris, City of Frights' version. Zombie geek-chic at it's finest!
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Ghoulia's 'Scaris' hoodie dress, with ribcage and brains details - side view, so you can see more of the hood
I discovered Monster High accidentally.  About this time four years ago I was in Boots (the chemist, which was a fairly odd place to come across a fashion doll), with a friend who was looking for something, when I saw a doll with blue hair;  my first thought was that she reminded me of Karou from ‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ by Laini Taylor, and I thought about customizing her.  Then I realised that she had grey skin (so, not Karou–suitable), and a rather lovely outfit, including fabulous glasses, and was called Ghoulia Yelps, from a range I’d never heard of before, Monster High, by Mattel.  I didn’t buy her then, but I kept thinking about her. For years – on and off – I’d thought about making doll clothes (for as long as I can remember I’ve loved period costume, and miniature things), but had never come across any dolls that were interesting enough to make them for – now I had, and I wanted to see what other characters Monster High had to tantalise me.  So I did some research(!), found myself becoming increasingly enchanted with Ghoulia, and ended up ordering her (the ‘Scaris, City of Frights’ version that I’d seen in the shop), and later Skelita Calaveras (I’ve got a bit of a thing for the Dia de los Muertos, and that and Skelita need at least one post devoted to each of them).  I especially love the de-oxygenated colour of her lips!  Her eyeshadow was a little too light for me, so I made it more smoky.

So, the premise of Monster High is that they are the children of famous monsters; Ghoulia is the daughter of ‘The Zombies’.  Most  dolls come with their own diary (in their ‘own’ handwriting), so their personalities are rounded-out, and you get to find out how they interact with other students; the diaries are interlinked, so you get glimpses of events from different viewpoints. There’s a lot of punning and wordplay involved with character names, and school subjects (Biology is ‘Biteology’, Physical Education is ‘Phys. Dead’).  The dolls are MUCH better jointed than the Barbies and Sindies of my childhood, with movement of the wrists, as well as hands and lower arms that detach to make changing outfits easier, and have a lot more individuality and expression.

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Some of the ghoulishly-gorgeous prints on Ghoulia's outfits: brains; blood-spatter; gravestones; ribcage-hearts; Periodic Table
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Basic/Original Ghoulia's diary - front cover
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Basic/Original Ghoulia's diary - 'About Me' page

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'Fashion Pack', 'Scaris' and 'Scooter Set' bags, with suitable gory themes, including the MH 'Skullette' with G's glasses!
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'Dead Tired' slippers, 'Scooter' boots, and 'Dot Dead Gorgeous' shoes
Every character’s clothes and accessories reflect their monster heritage and their interests.  The details are brilliant, and I love the shoes! As a zombie, Ms Yelps’s wardrobe features quite a lot of blood drips, bones and brains, with occasional eyeballs, sometimes as prints, sometimes as textures on bags and shoes; she even has a dress and rucksack with a gravestone theme. It’s a mixture of deliciously dark and very funny – sometimes the designs are so pretty that at first you don’t realise what they are – a tiny pattern on her pyjamas that could be flowers, but is blood spatter, and the lovely, squiggly brains pattern on her fabulous ‘Scaris’ hoodie dress.  Ghoulia is a sweet, shy, but hip super-nerd with a passion for graphic novels (especially ones featuring her zombie superhero ‘DeadFast’), so a key part of her style is her collection of glasses, which, as she writes in her diary, ‘go with everything’ – the glasses motif even follows through to her ‘Dead Tired’ slippers, and on the Monster High ‘Skullette’ on her bags. Such is her status as nerd-in-chief that she even has a dress with the Periodic Table printed on it!  And when it comes to those little extras that help to define someone, the icing on the cake is her carton of ‘Brain Puffs’ (perfect for sleepovers) and her DeadFast comic book and action figure.

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'Phys. Dead' goggles; green 'Comic Book Club' glasses; black 'Freaky Fusion-inspired' glasses
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'DeadFast' zombie superhero action figure and graphic novel from the 'Comic Book Club' fashion pack, and Brainpuffs from the 'Dead Tired' doll

So Ghoulia was the tip of the iceberg.  Then ‘Scaris’ Skelita then ‘Picture Day’ Spectra Vondergeist  (see what they did there??) for variety of themes and colours in potential dressmaking.  Then it just sort of snowballed.  I read somewhere that you start off saying that you’re only going to get one or two or three MH dolls at most, but you always end up getting more: undeniably true in my case.  And that’s not even counting the second hand ones from eBay that I bought because I liked the outfit and it was cheaper than buying a new doll… I started reading doll blogs.  And learning about re-roots and face-ups. Then customizing ‘CAMs’ (MH ‘Create a Monster’).  Then I made a couple of tentative excursions into ‘Ever After High’ territory, and not long after first spotting Ms Yelps I’d become a little bit fixated on the cuteness of Mini Lalaoopsies (again – that’s a topic for other posts). Through reading various doll blogs I became aware of other dolls – as you do – particularly Blythe and Pullip, and decided they were ideal candidates for custom doll clothes too. Up until this point I’d been keeping my interest fairly quiet, and I was possibly slightly in denial about the extent of it, but when it gets to a certain point of accumulating dolls – especially the more niche kinds -you just have to face up to it and admit: ‘I am a doll collector’!

Useful links:
For MH diaries: http://monsterhigh.wikia.com/wiki/Doll_diaries

For posts about all sorts of different dolls and aspects of doll collecting - Confessions of a Doll Collector’s Daughter:
https://dollyconfessions.wordpress.com


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It's fun to mix-and-match! 'Freaky Fusion-inspired glasses, & 'Love's Not Dead' earrings on 'Scaris' doll
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Two VERY different dolls: Monster High Ghoulia Yelps with Mini Lalaloopsy April Sunsplash! If you search for mini Lalaloopsy customs online, you'll see several that are based on MH - this is obviously NOT one of them!
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Welcome to Sparkle Malarkey Spritzer!

18/3/2016

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Peacock feather, lace & studs headpiece
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Sadie - 'Sally Salmagundie' Blythe, post-makeover
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Rose centre
So, this is the start of my blog.  "Does the world really need another one?" you may ask.  Possibly not, but Instagram (much though I love it) doesn't allow for going into great detail about things in one entry.  So here we are.  This blog is a bit of a mishmash, because that's how my mind works; some of it will be about millinery and headpieces; some of it about doll clothes and customising (Blythe and Monster High in particular); parts of it will be about books and films and flower photos and anything else that takes my fancy, because all sorts of things tend to end up being inspiration and influences for my work.  So be warned: if you can't cope with a mixture of ribbons and re-rooting (of doll hair); feathers and face-ups (doll repaints); beading and body-mould comparisons, or  flowers and fashion, this blog may not be for you!
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'Night Circus'-inspired headpiece in progress
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Ivory & blush ostrich feather pompom headpiece
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Peach & gold 'Peony' headpiece with veil
I've had a bit of a thing for headwear for as long as I can remember.  I also love feathers, ribbons, beading, small things, and sparkle.  And I have a love of renaissance fashion and showgirls; so when I make headpieces those elements tend to make themselves known.  I love making petite, detailed pieces, that are like little treasures.  Sometimes I'll base a whole piece around a particular type of fabric or ribbon, other times I get fixated on something and it just seeps into whatever I make.  A few years ago I fell in love with a book called 'The Night Circus', by Erin Morgenstern, and that's been such an influence that it's spread from headpieces to brooches to doll clothes and Mini Lalaloopsy makeovers, and requires at least one separate blog post all of its own!  I love colour and texture and vintage-esque glamour (without slavishly following the style of any particular era), and flowers, and sparkle - sparkle is good.
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Ghoulia Yelps & Wydowna Spyder looking at fabrics for Monster High doll clothes
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Cresta Eyrie - Monster High CAM Harpy (re)root
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Mexican-inspired skirt toile for Skelita Calaveras
The doll-collecting thing crept up on me over the last few years, and I only really came out of the doll closet last year, when I started posting on Instagram.  As a child, I was more fond of teddy bears; I had Sindy and Barbie dolls, but found them rather uninspiring.  I was always making miniature rooms and things, and loved sewing.  In the back of my mind was the thought of finding interesting dolls to make clothes for - and then, by chance, I happened upon Monster High, and that led me to Blythe and Pullip.  I'll save the voyage of discovery for other posts, but I've ended up with various different dolls, some of whom are customized (or in the process of being customized), and all of whom are inspiration to make doll outfits.  I'm starting out with dressing gowns - because a girl needs something to wear when she's in-between outfits, or is having a spa session - and then trousers (Sadie, my first Blythe, likes wide-leg trousers), and intend to indulge my love of gorgeous fabrics and sparkle with skirts, dresses, capes, and whatever else I fancy.  Oh, and hats! Doll hats: it seemed a natural progression from human headwear to doll headwear; so far it's witch's hats, and top hats, but I have a feeling that bonnets will be putting in an appearance sooner or later... So future posts will cover a crash course in Blythe for beginners - because it's a bit (as in VERY) confusing to the uninitiated, well me, anyway(!), work in progress on clothes and hats, Monster High doll re-roots, and all sorts of other things.
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'Cloud 9 Bowl' & 'Simply Love Me' Blythes pre-makeover
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Sasha & Sadie in Pullip and Blythe dressing gown toiles
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Blythe & Pullip witch's hats
Enough for now, I think.  I'm aiming to post once or twice a week, with future posts dealing with just one thing at a time (less confusing all round).  I hope you've found this interesting/diverting/promising enough to visit again.  Happy Sparkles to you!
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    Sparkle Malarkey Spritzer is a place where I can go into more detail than on my Instagram about work in progress, current obsessions, past projects and anything else that takes my fancy.  All photos  ©Tonya Robinson unless otherwise stated.

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