The Magnolia Tree ~ A Photoshoot

I don't know how to start this post except by saying that I swear I really do think my collection is complete after every new doll. And yet, more find their way to me. 

This is no exception.

A few weeks ago, I came across the cutest custom doll on eBay. She was a good price, and in really great shape, and since I had some money, I thought "why not?" It's been a long time since AG has released a doll that gets me genuinely giddy, but I felt pure excitement when I saw this doll for the first time. I think that has to be a sign, right? I really did try to convince myself I didn't need her, but I ended up hitting "buy it now" anyway. I have no regrets. 

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present...

Judith "Jude" Spector!

She is a custom Evette with brown eyes and a vegan mohair wig. I didn't know she was an Evette when I bought her, but I certainly feel lucky to have snagged her for $75. Evette was a doll I wanted for a long time (although my interest died out before she retired) so I'm not surprised I was attracted to this doll. I think Evette's tan skin tone is really lovely combined with the brown hair and dark eyes. Dare I say, I like her better than AG's Evette.

I mean, really, how can you not fall for Miss Jude's charm? 

I kind of hate this angle. I feel like it doesn't work with how I posed her.

For editing, I was stumped. The photos somehow turned out with a contrast and color very close to how I normally edit my photos?? But, ultimately, I stumbled upon a preset that felt very reminiscent of a lot of AG photography I used to look at as a kid, and that felt right. It brought out all the highlights in her hair and the color of her eyes. 

I have a bit of a project going on for Jude that involves making outfits, so I sat down to make a doll Gunne Sax dress. About an hour into that, I decided that wasn't her style, so I stole an outfit from another doll instead. This was on Blaire before, if you can imagine that. Blaire isn't a doll I reach for typically, so I guess I gave her the Hozier shirt to try to fix that. It didn't work. I did make a new outfit that I fell in love with on Blaire, so she is back on my to-take-pictures-of list.

Jude is in front of a Magnolia tree in my backyard. To get her a place to stand, I used a wheelbarrow. You can see the wheelbarrow pretty well in a lot of these, but I think it's kind of chic. 

I kind of think she should have glasses. Which reminds me... I've been on the lookout for the Brownie Ombre glasses for either her or Luna, but would you believe I can't find them ANYWHERE? You'd think someone on the secondhand market would have them, but I can't even find them for high prices. At this point, I'm willing to buy a whole doll if that's the only way I can get them. I'm not optimistic, but dang do I want those tiny glasses.

To be totally clear, this girl gave me so much trouble while picking out a name. My dolls profiles aren't linked in the Meet the Dolls page right now, otherwise I'd say to go check out how pretentious some of their names are. I love patch-working together names that have some significance to me, and I'm especially fond of names that are old-fashioned, but sound quirky in modern context, and are a bit edgy. I mean, I literally have a doll named after the Greek goddess of strife. But it happens sometimes. It took me like 3 days to decide on Min-Ji's name, and more than a week to settle on Kate's. I pointed out to my friend that my new doll looks a lot like a character from Marvel's Moon Knight show, so I ended up stealing the last name Spector from Marc Spector because it's a really cool last name?? And I've really liked the name Jude for a long time, so it's what we're going with. A middle name is still on my agenda.

I'm fairly certain Jude came from another collector, and I would love to know what drove the customizer to customize her. Was this an Evette purchased on sale? A passion project? I do think it's really special that she's been passed on to my collection, where she is going to be so loved and cherished. 

Jude's character is still very much in the works. But I can tell you she loves y2k fashion, and I'll probably give her a creative hobby. 

I cannot get over Jude or these pictures!! I've been so happy with my photography lately, both with dolls and people. 

I honestly think there's charm to both dolls with painted eyelashes and dolls without. It's a different charm, but they both have it. Although I think I've been leaning more towards the older, no-eyelashes dolls, which are the majority in my collection, I think the face paint is one of the things that attracted me to Jude. She's different from my other customs in a good way. 

I'll never underestimate AG's brown eyes. I know they're a majority in my collection, but there's something about the brown eyes that are just so warm and alive, in the least creepy-possessed-doll way possible. Jude's eyelids are a good bit darker than her skin tone, so they definitely came off a different doll, but it's kind of pretty, like eyeshadow?

There's that wheelbarrow handle again. 

I need Hozier to release a new album. Random side thought.

I don't feel like there's anything to say other than continuing to gush over Jude. I'm sure I've done enough of that already.

Omg, for once I really like the exaggerated pointing-up angle. 

Something strikes me as odd in this photo, but I can't place it.

This one isn't my favorite.

But I do like this one a lot!

I did a lot of different angles and framing for each shot, so this one is very similar to the last, but framed differently. I like the last one better.

I tried to get the sunset through the magnolia leaves, and I like that you can see the light here. 

I have so many more pictures and so little left to talk about. I really love this photo though!

For whatever reason,  I really love the shots I got when I posed Jude this way. She just looks so cute.

I absolutely love the Josephina mold. There are a handful of dolls I don't love for some reason, but Lea, Rebecca, Eris, and Nellie are some of my dolls that I'm most visually drawn to for photography. Ironically, I don't think any of them get a ton of spotlight? But Eris is definitely never left alone in my collection, and that's probably fair considering she's literally TM 86. Anyway, Jude seems to have a wider face, which as a fellow round-face girlie, I find so cute??

I think this is my favorite shot!

I love how subtle her freckles are. I didn't have any dolls with this freckle pattern yet, but it's so cute. They make her look a little sun-kissed, which I adore. I feel like she comes across this way even more with the darker hair and eyes. This is another side tangent, but in a nutshell, I write (technically fanfiction) stories to entertain me and my best friend, and I envision one of my characters to have this same skin tone and freckle combination. I would love to maybe have dolls to represent my story characters one day.

I did some digging, and I think this wig might be from Zazou Dolls. That's actually where I usually get my doll wigs, ironically, because I'm particular and love the vegan mohair options. Zazou seems to have this wig in other colors. I really like that the curl pattern is similar to Evette's, so Jude is still really reminiscent of her base doll. I loved Evette's curl pattern when she came out because her hair reminded me of my own less-defined curly/wavy hair. I love how much Jude feels a fresh twist on a doll I loved in middle school.

I'm excited to make her some outfits! I think Jude would look really great in some American Girl of Today outfits, and since I'm adverse to buying things I want for some reason, I'm going to make her some pieces. The y2k and late 90s stuff---actually as they were, not Isabel and Nicki Hoffman style---has stuck out to me in my own wardrobe (I have fallen for thrifting big time), and I love infusing what I like in with my dolls. 

I'm just realizing I cut off the top of her head in this picture, and that's really bothering me. Moving on now.

I've been thinking about doll combinations that would make me excited, and I've come up with some ideas. This is relevant because I really like all of Jude's features. I want a Josephina mold with the darkest skin tone and loose curls (actually I think playline Jasmine is basically that? I haven't seen her much, though.), a Jess mold with Kaya's skin tone, a pale doll with really curly red OR really curly black hair, literally any doll with #4's mold... and yeah, I'll stop before this list gets too long. 

This angle feels weird to me.

Oh hey, a full outfit pic! Incredible. Ignore the wheelbarrow. 

I adore this photo as well. I tried to take out any duplicates, but apologies if any of these photos showed up more than once, by the way.

We're almost to the end!

And here we are! Ending this post on a high note!

Have a fantastic week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3