Hollywood Dolls

Reporting live (but only partially) from Philadelphia at the end of day 2 of the final Gene convention.
Mel did say that if people were to hold a Gene party, he would come if invited so calling this the 'final' Gene event may not be accurate. He also said that contrary to some of the dioramas, Gene is not dead. In the competition room there are several dioramas (that are just spectacular) which depict a funeral for Gene and the people in mourning. In one diorama, Trent is shown dejected and about to shoot himself. These are pretty amazing and amusing as well.

Back to Day 2:
My day was supposed to begin with a class taught by Denis Bastien but, as some of you may already know, he was denied entry into the US because some nutty border guard demanded that Mr. Bastien produce a work visa which he did not have. He did not need one as he was putting on a demonstration and as far as I know, he was not being paid for his participation but I don't really know all the facts. On the surface it appears that the border guard had a stick up his ass and demanded things which were above and beyond reasonable. Denis was threatened with a 5 year entry ban if he attempted to cross the border into the US in the next few days. Unbelievable.

I spent part of the morning doing more shopping in the vendors' salesroom. The line for the official store was ridiculous so I never made it in there. At 11:30 the doors of the dining room opened for lunch. The centerpiece was a Madra entitled "Love, Madra."
Mel told the story about how Madra came to be called Madra and why a female character was added to the line before a male character. We got the second part of our big giftset and were all given an Ivy doll as well! The "Fashion Sleuth" has provided this image of the original Dior designer fashion:

After lunch I attended two workshops. The first was with Alain Tremblay who demonstrated a unique flocking technique using positive/negative electrical current to cause flocking fibers to stand up straight on a glued surface. The results are so much more attractive than shaking powder flock onto a glued surface. We got a Trent doll who had been previously flocked by Alain. Some of us had him apply beards and mustaches to our dolls. It was a fun group of chattering, joking collectors. I am very pleased with my Trent!
My doll came out looking like a cross between Princess Leia and Pippi Longstocking. Luckily for you, I did not take an after picture. When I got home, I had a last laugh and took out the pins and bands and rinsed out the gel. Much better.

Several of my tablemates and I went to the famed Jim's Steaks on South Street in the Waterfront District. If you ask me, it was kind of a dive and although the food was decent, I didn't see the thrill.
The rest of South Street was pretty seedy but we had fun - especially in Condom Kingdom. No description necessary.
We walked to and visited Happily Ever After and stopped in to chat with Ed for a while. We arrived back at the hotel about 7:30. All I wanted to do was go to bed but not wishing to miss anything, I showered and changed and went down to the cocktail party. Some guests were really into the entire thing with their period fashions and poses but the ballroom was dark, very noisy and not my scene. I stayed in the surrounding area with a bunch of people and had fun.
I am falling asleep as I write so I'd better end here.