EpicDollFair 2023

Today I have visited EpicDollFair 2023. It was also the first time that I went somewhere with a doll with me. 
At the beginning I kept her in her back until I came by a booth were custom Blythe dolls were sold. 

These Blythe dolls contain a very interesting mechanism with small ropes on the back to change the eyes (four different pairs of eyes were attached in the head). With one of the ropes eyes could be closed. Never seen an eye device like this one before. 
In the photo you see Pip looking to the right side. That is because she is impressed by the face up and body blushing of this girl:

She is a gorgeous girl. Both Blythes were for sale. It is unknown if the booth owner successfully sold her. 

During my talk with the shop owner, she noticed the doll in the bag that I was carrying. Feeling a bit insecure I took out Shisha Sosei from the bag and from that moment I kept her out of the bag during this fair. 
In the beginning it felt weird, feeling a bit ashamed but that improved really quickly and in the end the thought of walking with a doll in public faded away.

Please note that most photo’s have been made with Shisha in one hand and my phone in the other hand. This has some influence on the quality. Apologies for the inconvenience.

I visited a lot of booths and by some booths I also made photo’s. 

By this booth in the bag there were very nice Resin girls on display. The owner really love to create tattoos for her girls and I can tell you, she is very good at that. 

The details for example in only the hands is amazing. Also the nails have been painted too.

I really love the old Chitose and I had to make a photo of her. She is wearing a dress made by her owner. 

This booth also sold buttons that you can place with magnets on your dolls outfit. I have bought 10 of them in the Star Wars theme and think these are very cool. 
 

3D printing is a technique that was highly present. One of the items coming forth from 3D printing is the wheelchair below:

Shisha doesn’t need one (yet) but who knows. Maybe at some point one of the girls needs some support. The wheelchair is an incredible detailed piece of art and I love all details about it. The chair is adjustable to fit multiple sizes. 
 

A few booth’s further there was this girl sitting on a well made 3D printed chair. There is a lot of details in it and it looks very sturdy. The only thing I personally dislike is the color of the chair. But that would be an easy fix with a brush and paint.

At the same booth there was also this girl doing some quality napping. I think K2’s Chitose would really love this bed that is made of a wooden tray. This girl took it easy during today’s fair. 

 

Sometimes you see outfits that are impressive. The one below had so many details, the longer you look the more you see. I love the head and the small gears. 

I met a guy that walks around with two impressive girls.

One of these two is easily recognisable as a Navy from the Avatar movies. Everything is handmade and both are 3D printed with resin (if I understand the owner correctly). This Navy doesn’t have her dark blue stripes yet, on the photo’s of his earlier projects I could see how the result looks with them and it looks amazing. Outfits for them are a bit of a struggle. Mainly because of the uncommon size.

Yes, she is tall. Despite that she doesn’t weight more than Shisha.

Also I came across this lovely girl:

She started as a blanc girl and I think the wig, face up and eyes looks gorgeous. Her dress (which she received today because of the difficult doll size) compliments with the hair accessories and with the doll in general. Her eyelashes are also a nice detail.

 

I really love the girl below. She has a gorgeous sculpt and intense gaze. Her owner plans to repaint the horns. In my opinion I do like the current horns. But who knows, maybe a repaint makes them nicer. 

 

Last but not least:

The loot I took back with me. 

I know that some of my girls want to play the guitar. So I bought a few. Shisha demanded cigarettes because every succesful celebrity and artist has her unhealthy addictions after succes. So in other words: She was trying to came up with an excuse for starting smoking. Also there was a Photo Booth that resulted in some souvenir photo’s. They even had a Polaroid. 
 

Last there was an interesting Smartdoll girl up for adopting. I adopted The Mandalorian and Blurrg yesterday so she has to wait.

 

This is the way……………

 

….. to end this blogpost. 
 

Seeya next time.

Rajke

The Epic Doll Fair looks like a fun event! Thank you for sharing your photos and taking time to describe your experience. Pip is so cute, and I love the little pumpkin girl beside her in the first photo. There are so many lovely and unique dolls to see ❤

Thank you for sharing! I really wanted to go to this event but couldn't make it, so I'm happy to have seen photos at least.

 

I really love the wheelchair, it's absolutely perfect! I've been wanting one for years now and that one is absolutely perfect! Do you happen to know if the person sold any, and if so if where they might be found?

19 hours ago, NerdyGirl said:

The Epic Doll Fair looks like a fun event! Thank you for sharing your photos and taking time to describe your experience. Pip is so cute, and I love the little pumpkin girl beside her in the first photo. There are so many lovely and unique dolls to see ❤

Your welcome. It was a fun event and that made it easy to write a short blog about it. The amount of dolls representing was very high. I still see photo’s on Insta with dolls on the event that I missed. It is not clearly visible but the face up artist also carved (or used another technique, it was hard to tell even close by) the details lightly in some of the dolls. I have never seen that technique before but it really ads some realism to the dolls. The pumpkin girl was no exception. The paintjob was amazing. 
 

4 hours ago, Roxanne said:

Thank you for sharing! I really wanted to go to this event but couldn't make it, so I'm happy to have seen photos at least.

 

I really love the wheelchair, it's absolutely perfect! I've been wanting one for years now and that one is absolutely perfect! Do you happen to know if the person sold any, and if so if where they might be found?

Your welcome. I actually hope that the staff will release some of the photo’s made by the Photo Booth. Would be awesome to see everyone’s dolls posed. 
 

The wheelchair is a custom made one. The artist takes commissions but I have to warn you, these wheelchairs are not cheap. The quality however is high, definitely an item I would recommend. 

All right, you've inspired me.  In two weeks San Diego's BJD Con is happening and I've put off going for years, so I'm going to go this time.  This just looks so fun!  I'll try and remember to take photos to share like you did, but I'm terrible about that kind of thing, I just get so caught up in what's going on! 

7 hours ago, DesertPhantom51 said:

All right, you've inspired me.  In two weeks San Diego's BJD Con is happening and I've put off going for years, so I'm going to go this time.  This just looks so fun!  I'll try and remember to take photos to share like you did, but I'm terrible about that kind of thing, I just get so caught up in what's going on! 

I must be honest. When I was driving towards the event, I had a few times that I wanted to turn back. Thinking: What the hell am I doing and what if someone from work sees me. I was very nervous. Also by the entry I still had that feeling. 
It was a SD Ariel sitting on a table that breaks the ice. I complimented the wrong person about the doll (a bit awkward), the person from the Blythe dolls started a conversation with me noticing the doll in my bag. Asking me to take her out. From that point onwards my feelings of insecurity and fear faded away. 

In the end it was my own fear that stands in my way. That in combination that I went alone (friends and family don’t share this hobby, so I didn’t want to bother them asking to go with me). The people I met were really nice and I have talked with a lot of people. A tip that I want to give is to let your doll wear something that looks unique. It will help making contact and feeling more secure. In my case the Haori and necklace Shisha was wearing helped me a lot. 
 

Making photo’s is somewhat difficult with one hand. And with some booth’s I could place her on the table. In the end I managed somehow. I arrived 30 minutes after the starting time. That way I could avoid the waiting row to go inside. 
 

Don’t let the insecurity and fear rule. The event was way more fun than I initially expected. 
I definitely want to go again with the next event. 

Oh, it's not the insecurity that stops me.  It's just that they always hold it the Saturday after Thanksgiving here in the US, so I usually blow all my spending money on Black Friday sales or I'm not in town.  Thank you for your concern though, and I'm thrilled to hear your story and that you were able to go!  

14 hours ago, DesertPhantom51 said:

Oh, it's not the insecurity that stops me.  It's just that they always hold it the Saturday after Thanksgiving here in the US, so I usually blow all my spending money on Black Friday sales or I'm not in town.  Thank you for your concern though, and I'm thrilled to hear your story and that you were able to go!  

Looks like I jumped too soon to conclusions. My apologies.

I know the feeling for a lot of events in a short time. I was glad I could take the opportunity to go. 

I regret that I didn't make it this year to San Diego's con. My mother came down for a surprise visit and I only ever see her once or twice a year.  Here's hoping for next year! (Unless Volks revives Dollpa LA.)