Wow! I JUST Found Myself!

      I just found this!!! All my posts from the previous blog host, now defunct, have suddenly appeared back on my computer. How it happened, I have no idea! Do I care? N*O*!*!*! I'm just thrilled that it DID! I only discovered it because I was looking for some stuff that I had written for the old blog and there it was. I am testing to see if it has the power to store anything new. I don't mind "hosting" it on my own—putting it up on my own website etc. As soon as I actually get one, that is—and if you are reading this? I did!
     This is a test to see if it actually comes up somewhere if I hit "Publish". Here goes something—not sure what, but here it goes, nonetheless.
     Y*E*S*!*!*! It'S THERE! HOORAY, HOORAY, HOORAY! 
     So now I can communicate with y'all STILL and in the same format and name and everything! We can just pick up where we left off. I'm totally thrilled, delighted and punchly pleased.
     Stay tuned now for all the new stuff I'm getting rid of so I can indulge my new passion: making copies of my performance gowns for my American Model Miss Goth! I will also still be offering for sale to the highest bidder all of my Genes, et alia, and their accoutrements.





     

My life upon the wicked stage 

and all the adventures thereon and 

therefrom, etc. etc. etc.

Worry not, 

dollies are in there! 

 Here follows the saga. 

  Born in Kentucky, I grew up in the Panama Canal Zone when it was still occupied and operated by the US. I started fulfilling my longtime desire to do theatre when I returned to the Canal Zone after college to work for the Panama Canal Company Graphic Branch (have a BA in Fine Art), by starting voice lessons and doing some theatrical things with a little theatre group there. Five years after I graduated from college with a BFA, I decided to try my luck at singing/acting for a living (hah!) by going to the University of Washington in Seattle as a voice major in grad school. 

  

  After my first year at UW School of Music, I started singing first in the auxiliary (read: unpaid) chorus and then a couple of years later, the professional (read: paid) chorus of Seattle Opera. Finally, after I made my solo opera debut (more of which later) I did the Valkyrie Sigrune (one of 9—the star Brunnhilde being our most famous "sister") in the now-famous Seattle Opera Wagner "Ring Cycle"—complete with shield, 8' spear and winged helmet. 

  Since that time, I have spoken to Luciano Pavarotti who was wearing Dracula teeth at the time--another whole story. I have walked in front of Placido Domingo and said "Excuse me!" as he smiled at me—be still, my heart. I have stood backstage—waiting to go on—beside José Carreras who was observing the action. Yep, all three of the Three Tenors! 

   At the Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, I have been assigned the dressing room formerly occupied by Maria Callas, the famous soprano whose lover, Ari Onassis, was appropriated later by Jackie Kennedy. 

  But the "coup d'étage operatique" with which I am most happy? I made my operatic debut (in the Seattle Opera production in 1972 of "Lucia di Lammermoor" by Gaetano Donizetti) as Alisa, the companion to the other woman in the show, who was playing "Lucia" (the star, natch)—Beverly Sills—singing about six measures of duet with her at the end of her first aria. 

  I got to do two more shows with her along the way—La traviata, playing Annina, her maid, tucking her into bed in the last scene of the show—just before she got up to  sing her last high note of joy before dying and collapsing in a graceful heap on the floor while her anguished Alfredo runs to her and the rest of us stand aghast at the horror as the final curtain comes down—also in Seattle. The last time I worked with Ms. Sills was as the slave girl Myrtale in a San Francisco Opera production of "Thaïs"(Massenet, composer), Ms. Sills playing the lead rôle—of course—as Thaïs, a courtesan who becomes a nun in the last act. She signed my program "Best wishes to Ms. Navel from Mrs. Navel"—referencing our mutual "bellydancer-esque" costuming in the big revelry scene in, if I remember correctly, the second act.

   Besides Valkyries and Norns in the Wagner Ring, among other supporting and feature roles, up and down the West Coast from Vancouver to San Diego and inland as far as Houston, I've sung Prince (yes Prince) Orlofsky complete with mustache in "Die Fledermaus", Nicklaus (another guy! I'm a mezzo—we do that) in "The Tales of Hoffmann", and Mrs. Ghandi (yes, the Mahatma's wife) in "Satyagraha", the opera by Phillip Glass (the language of which is Sanskrit), along with the standard German, French, English and of course Italian fare. 

   My most exciting performance? I sang the role of Lady Macbeth in Giuseppe Verdi's version of Shakespeare's wonderful play in Mexico (see "dressing room" above) in the Ópera de Bellas Artes, their incredible 1930's opera house with a Tiffany glass fire curtain depicting all the different landscapes of Mexico from desert to mountain, day to night which is absolutely breath-taking. 

   In addition to the languages mentioned already, I've sung in Spanish, as well as eight more—including Sanskrit (in the opera about Gandhi) which, like Russian (plus Czech and Hungarian), I learned strictly by ear.  French is probably the language I like best to sing in because it fits my mouth and throat really well. I've sung the most in German, because I've done 27 complete Ring cycles in addition to other performances in German opera. I've sung many operas translated to English because I did a lot of second cast performances in Seattle which were always done in English translation during my years there. Plus some operas actually have been written in English in the first place! 

  Now that I have gone into the broad expanse of my musical life, I will explain how dolls are tied into it all. As I mentioned, I did all those Wagner Rings, about 14 in German and 13 in English, plus performances of the individual Ring operas: Die Walküre (Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera and Portland Opera [OR]) and Götterdämmerung (San Diego). In case not, here is the connection. 

   

   As a singer, I have also done concerts on stage for which I had to make my dresses. I'm tall and long-waisted and store-bought dresses, well, aren't! Therefore, I made the gowns myself. Therefore, I have a bunch of concert outfits, as well as good-sized leftover scraps and pieces, put away in boxes doing nothing useful. So I decided to miniaturize them, including my original valkyrie outfit—when they retired the production, Seattle Opera costume department gave me my complete costume, including spear and shield! That way, I can have them around to display or play with, and if I have enough material left over (I will!) I can make copies for other people to use for their gals. At least, that's my plan. 

  However, beautiful and glamorous as they are, my original plan to use Gene Marshall (doll) and her friends as models of the outfits, I found—after accumulating a number of them which I am afraid to total—when I actually started to make the gown copies, these gorgeous creatures are really too small for my less than magnificent sewing skills to make exact copies feasible. Lots of detail must be left out. So I am reluctantly winnowing my collection to a "few" who are impossible to part with. Sigh. 

  But to the rescue has come—tah dah!—the glamorous, incredible Tonner Miss Goth 2012 American Model!!! She's perfect. She's quite dramatic of visage, and is almost the size, lacking about 3 or 4 inches of height but much closer than Ms. Marshall, of the Theatre de la Mode figures. So there's lots more room for the needed detail. 

  For the Valkyries? I still plan to use Gene because "Spirit of Truth"! Definitely it should be worn by the star Valkyrie, Brünnhilde! Who but Gene to play the leading lady! The others? They can be my something something Pacific girls as they all look alike except for their hair colors and styles. Besides, they can bend easily to ride horses without unsightly joints (sorry, jointed ladies, but that's life as a plastic girl!)

  I have five (only five mounted valkyries) wonderful American Girl horses of various ("different"?) colors and poses. They are a bit large but the Walküren would ride larger than life ponies, no? For Gene, the Brünnhilde, a white AG horse to play her faithful stallion, Grane ( Grah-neh) whom she rides into the end-of-the-world funeral pyre of her great love Siegfried. It's complicated. Look it up : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen. 

  So now all I have to do is get rid of the extra Genes and friends, along with their vast wardrobes. They are a bit too sophisticated to play the other Valks but since Gene has that outfit "Spirit of Truth," she is halfway there already! I just have to make her a long green skirt to go under it all to make it look like the other costumes only fancier.

  I'll let all of you see the results…when there are some!

  Right now, my main problem is too many 16" girls cluttering up the place. Did I mention we have downsized, moving some time ago to about half the square footage we had when I started this project? We wanted to stop spending our time as servants to a house and start letting our home serve us for a change. Priorities evolve as time marches on, doncha know!

  So here is where all my doll friends come in. I am letting go of all the girls except the one who is going to wear Spirit of Truth etc. I may keep a couple more of her and make several more valkyrie outfits in case anyone else wanted one. Also, it is possible that Seattle Opera might want one for their office or something weird like that. 

  However, that means I will be selling off such things as the bald Gene with a set of mix and match clothes and accessories plus a blonde wig thrown in that we received at the last IT convention. The Blue Avenue Gene came to me at my table and I have never taken her or the bald Gene out of their boxes. I have a Zita and a Marsha Hunt, ditto. There is a Gene with a poodle cut with white satin gown and cape lined in red from the Dallas convention who has not been released from captivity either. There are other things too such as the alley set up (never even taken it out of the box!) that has been made such marvelous use of by Dennis Norris. For instance, see the back of the first Gene magazine (the only physically printed issue) from 2010. The other issues (2 or 3??) were pdfs online. I don't know if they are still up on the HYLAG site or not, now that it's been Yahooed!

  What I have planned is that anyone who wants something from the list should make me an offer. I am going to take the best one, natch, but if you're the only one…well, you win by default. Give it a try. How can it hurt? If I accept your offer because it's the best—or the only—one, you win. If I don't? What? No harm, no foul, right?

  Right now, I'm trying to make space for my husband to take photos of all this stuff.  I need a space for him to use to stage the photos, i.e., I have to clear off a surface in the doll room. Easier said than done, at the moment, space being the commodity currently the most rare here abouts. When that space is found and I have all the items sorted and photoed, well then! There will be an organized non-google website with pictures and links to paypal and other such stuff. But until that sunny day, I will keep running on here on Blogger.

  Stay tuned!

Okay, here at DDD??

New way to get what you want.

Sound good?

It IS!

So this technically isn't a list, right? I know. But what it is is all about a new way of making an offer—not counting the sad tale of Google problems, all of which descriptions follow. 

First of all, the new way of making an offer: I'm going to be awarding all requested items to the highest offer (sent to "my last name", which is code to fool spammers. Clever, huh?), so give it your best shot—you'll only get one! At each individual item, that is. You can offer on as many as you please. The more the merrier say I! Back to the one offer/one item thingy: NO, I'm not being mean. I think it's a good idea because, if you're like me? You'll over-extend yourself in a bid-off just to win—that compulsive gambler thing. 

Also, if everyone who wants something gives it their best on the first go 'round, things don't drag out, no one (we hope) over extends, temptation is gone before anybody thinks about an item too much getting something they sort of want instead of something they've just got to have because, you know, competition. If you rethink your offer after you have won an item, just let me know privately and I will give it to the next-best offerer. No harm, no foul! This is the way they do it in those fancy auction places in New York and Paris. Or if that is just something I made up and it really isn't, it should be! ;D

Does this method make any sense at all? I'll put out what I don't want less-than, a base price, on some of the items—the ones I really don't want to let go of. Which. You may well ask why I put them out to sell in the first place. If you come up with the answer, tell me! If you can figure it out, I'll even give you a 5% discount or pay the shipping, whichever is less, on whatever you buy! Here's a little hint: I have no place to sit down in my doll room. Um, or half my living room either for that matter, because dolls/dollstuff. Truth.

When you are awarded an item, you can write me back and tell me how you want it sent and I will respond with the amount of postage unless your offer is generous enough to make that unnecessary. I am not in this to make enough to retire to Monte Carlo. I just want to be sure these things go to people who really want them rather than people who automatically wave their hands in the air shouting "Pick me! Pick me!" like that annoying know-it-all kid in 4th grade. 

   

So this technically isn't a list, right? I know. But what it is is all about a new way of making an offer—not counting the sad tale of Google problems, description of which follow. 

   

Okay, I'll confess. I also want enough $$ to buy shoes and furniture and backdrops and like that for my American Model Miss Goth 2012. So shoot me. As I have said before, the reason I'm abandoning the 16±" ladies is that I can't sew that tinyly. Is that really a word? I can't sew that teeny tiny is what I meant.

Another confession: This is not the post I was going to post. That post has something very wrong with the type fonts. They are not behaving. I put "large" and they come out "teeny tiny" (see paragraph above), but only in some places. Other places they come out WAY WAY LARGE. Then in one place, all the internal instructions the computer talks to itself with to tell itself what to do? Printed it all out on the page...like I actually care what its little innards are doing. 

So. Make me your best offer and I take the best best offer or maybe the best sob-story about how you have to have the item because your cat can only get well wearing that particular dolly hat and no other and you don't have much money because vet bills. Or your best friend must have that outfit for her doll or she will go crazy and be sent to the asylum and you will be stuck having her kids at your house to take care of because her husband is in Siberia mining tigers...or something. Whatever. I'm a sucker for helping sick kitties and crazy friends, secret story. Mostly because I've had my share of both. Or was it sick friends and crazy kitties? Never mind. You'll think of something.

I'm Baaaaack!!

Well, people, I'm working on my doll room. That is, I'm trying to make a doll room out of the spare room in our house. Not so easy. Why? Because it used to be my "study"... no, I wasn't really studying anything but since I have a desk in there, I call it my study. It is really sort of my reading room because my gazillion books from various parts of my life—including but not limited to music school, art school, pre-med and the pervasive English minor throughout and since I've always had an interest in fashion, there are all those books in there too. Basically, I have an addictive personality. Drugs and alcohol do not interest me at all. So what is my vice? You guessed it...books!! Then I married a fellow sufferer. How smart was that?! Turned out to be very smart—HE GETS IT!

However, the doll addiction? Not so much. Sigh. 

So now, I'm trying to winnow books and dolls and make some space to actually sew the stuff I've been planning to sew for some...let's see...2002 was my first Gene convention... 2015 minus 2002 equals...yikes! That's thirteen YEARS!!! Oh well, even though I thought I had retired from singing when I got married and moved away from Seattle, I still did several concerts and stuff until I moved here to our current home in a small college town where I just sing the occasional solo in church. 

It's fun here though because it's close to San Francisco and besides, there is a huge concert complex here (donated by a famous wine company, initial M and final letter I with five more letters in between...get it yet?), with several halls of various sizes, that attracts performers of all kinds from everywhere. The most recent concert we went to was violinist Itzhak Perlman—such a wonderful artist, that man.

So back to the main topic here at DDD—dolls! You see I do have a difficulty. Until I clear out the "doll" room so it can become the Doll Room, the dolls are strewn about the living room and some are still in the storeroom screaming to be let out into the light! So come on, folks. Rescue these ladies. They need you to set them free! Oh, that's right. I have to let you know who they are and what their wardrobes contain. Gotta make a list, just gotta. Okay.

I'll just keep you up to date on my progress until I can actually produce such a list. My promise to you? We will not see the passing of another year without The List...or at least the beginnings of same!

Progress report soon so keep in touch.

Here is a new list, folks!

   I have now absolutely no room for all the Genes, Madras, Zitas, and so on. . . .not to mention their duds and accoutrements! It's even worse than before because I'm opening boxes from the storage room at an alarming rate. Anybody want a dressing table from the Hollywood (I think) convention? Make me an offer I can't refuse! It's still in the box, ready to ship. 

   How about the Platinum-haired Gene of Derby Dreams, from the Louisville convention of course, with her original elegant hair style pristine, not a hair out of place, but completely, um, nekkid? I'm willing to sell the outfit right off her back! (Tsk, tsk! Am I not shameless?) 

   If there's something you've been wanting--perhaps the Grauman's Chinese Theatre "concrete" sidewalk section signed by Miss Marshall, with the glamorous star's hand- and footprints (rigged as a doll stand), for example, or the Ambassador Hotel ballroom trifold backdrop from the same Hollywood convention? Have 'em. Whatever you want, ask. I might have it. 

   I have The Alley from IT which makes a wonderful "set" for any number of Filme Noir scenes. And you know what? I KNOW WHERE IT IS! NOW! I don't have to hope I find it! Not to mention it's still in its original packing. I am going to list only what I know I have from now on. 

   However, if you have a particular "Grail" please ask. I may have it. I also may not--there's that! But ask ask ask. I have a lot of things so I may just have what you want! If I do, make me an offer I won't want to refuse. ;D

  I'm on HLAYG, the Horsman Urban Vita list, Studio Commissary and my email address is harned at gmail dot com so write to me--never hurts to ask. 

Hi there! I'm back again...

     I'm finding more things. I have to make a list which I will put up with pictures by the end of October. I have a couple of caches left to find--the largest of all, the clothes the ladies are screaming for. I did find one lovely, NRFB outfit for Gene and/or other of the ladies called  Cosmopolitan. 
   
     As you can see, it's a delightful blue-gray taffeta strapless full-skirted cocktail dress with a silver sparkly lacey bolero, jewelry, purse, and beautiful black leather heels. I know there are many, many other outfits too. Just have to find them all. I found an outfit for Trent, Major E. Laine, but I have a Tonner guy, Brenda Starr's Mystery Man, that I'm planning to keep and I think he will look smashing in uniform so I will have to keep the flyboy outfit for him--unless of course someone wants it really, really, really badly.

     I know it's nearly two months late but I have the horse, the Blanket and Bouquet of Roses, as well as the trophy, and the racing silks from the Louisville convention (2002) Gene located now. I have an extra horse w/saddle, bridle and blanket (No. 8) but no more. I do have a little western saddle from the Texas convention (2006?) that could be substituted, should you want a western mustang rather than a race horse for your girls--or boys--to ride. 

     Someone has suggested that I put a basic price below which I cannot go to give people a starting place for any offers. I will give that some heavy thought. If I am way off in any price I come up with, please make a counter offer, if you want the item. I'll try to check with eBay to see what things are going for and start with that.

     If anyone would like to contact me, harned at gmail dot com, with suggestions, I would appreciate it. I have already sold some things from that location so don't be afraid to contact me there! I'm also under my name, Shirley Harned, at Studio Commissary so you can contact me there as well. I should have a lot more stuff ready to go now that I've pulled everything out of storage. 

     There isn't going to be much time spent trying to sell these things. If they don't go pretty quickly, off they will go to my local SPCA Thriftstore! I have to have my sewing room back, and now my living room is "under water" too, so if you do want something, even if you don't see it, please contact me and ask, I really need to get this stuff out of here!

     Okay, enough for now... Back to slaving in the doll mines!

Here We Go...

Sound the Trumpets!!

Tah Rah Tah TAH!!!

     The Long-Awaited (partial) List: 
     Contact—on Studio Commissary, Urban Vita, and HLAYG or right here in the comments section.
     Terms—Unless otherwise specified, all items are best offer (seller's discretion) plus shipping (USPS whenever possible and at priority flat rate, otherwise UPS or buyer's choice), prepaid by PayPal or special arrangement with seller. 
     Except for this introductory group, which will stay up until June 30, ALL OFFERINGS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ONE WEEK FROM THE DAY THEY APPEAR. After that, they go away to the local thrift store here in my town. 

     Okay, y'all, make me an offer I can't refuse!

1. "Daily Threads": Gene Marshall Dressed Doll Gift Set, IT, Stardust 2010 Convention Exclusive, separate matching outfit included—box opened to look at (pictures as soon as I get my camera going!) caveat: Gene is bald and as yet, I have not found the wig (blondish) which was gifted to us separately (I think—if anyone knows for sure, please lmk). If you purchase the set, I will send with it a guarantee to send the wig when (and if?) I find it—I'm pretty sure I will!

2. Gene's Hat Stand/Set of Two, AD—2 sets available, NRFB. 

3. Gene Dress Form, AD—2 available, original box.

4. Gene (nonjointed legs/arms) nude Destiny—2, one with pinned in hair ornament removed, great for replacing with another doll's body, hair-do or repainting practice, and/or to make into a dressform, $2.50 + flat rate priority smallest possible box shipping.

5. Gene "Everything's Coming Up Roses"(original color) dressed doll—mint in box; if no offers, will debox, undress and sell doll and outfit separately.

6. Hatbox Gene: Beautiful blonde Gene in a lovely pink silk chiffon gown and lilac silk shantung evening coat with matching accessories, and in addition, three discs with mix and match wardrobe pieces—will ship the whole hatbox with contents, or without the hatbox, everything detached  and carefully packed in tissue in a smaller (i.e., cheaper!) box! See the post of Monday, May 18, 2015, for pictures.

7. Dallas Convention "Lone Star Soirée" Gene (picture in post here), black poodle cut hairdo, beautiful white satin dress with red lining with matching  wrap—NRFB (mint)! Selling elsewhere for $125!

8. Set of Brian Bulkley drawings of Gene in her outfits—ask which ones, one of which is the Dallas Convention picture linked above, best offer for the set or individually for $5 ea. (list of the ones I have to be announced later—when I figure out all the names of the outfits!)

9. Stardust:Gene Marshall Dressed Doll, Stardust 2010 Convention Exclusive (#220 of 440)—NRFB, in addition to the dress, which is black net gathered over a salmon-ish pink under gown, three-button elbow length black gloves, elegant evening purse, pointy toe iridescent black heels, and a gorgeous "diamond" necklace with matching drop earrings. Also enclosed, is a copy of the final chapter of Gene's "autobiography"! This doll is VERY beautiful with luxiuriant blond locks flowing to her shoulders! 

     I don't put prices on things. I want people to make their best offer. In case of a tie, the earliest of the identical offers will be accepted.

     Well, there you have it, friends of mine! A start on the oceans of boxes and boxes and more boxes of the beautiful ladies and their stuff! Don't wait too long to make a bid. I'm going to be moving these ladies and their stuff in and out in pretty quick rotation. If they don't go to you, they go to a local charity. I'm clearing the decks for action and don't want to drag it out!

     You can always write to me or to other visitors here on the blog's comment section. Sometimes I visit Studio Commissary, Urban Vita, or Here's Looking At You Gene. 
    Best bet would be to contact me at harned at gmail dot com. 
     I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon!