The Troll Doll Channel: Birthday Unboxing of SWEET Grandma and Baby!

Another birthday. . . another family unboxing, though this time we couldn't get the crawling baby to crawl. My first birthday dinner was on the actual day (February 9 - I was 70 on that day, a nice round number which I actually like, so I may stay that age for a few years), and Bill and I went to Red Robin where I had my free birthday burger. But that was just the beginning! When our long-awaited dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory didn't materialize last weekend (Shannon and crew were all sick with the flu), we invited Erica, Lauren and Jeff over, and had a jolly unboxing along with the cake and flowers. If all goes well this weekend, I will have my THIRD birthday dinner, which I guess will make me 210 years old. 

🌺The Troll Doll Channel: Venus in the Garden🌺

Some of my loveliest trolls, with my favorite YouTube music by Sir Cubworth. Just wish the light was brighter, but my office is very dark. 

💗The Troll Doll Channel: DANCING TROLL Comes Alive!💗

This troll dances and crawls, but makes so much noise that I replaced the soundtrack with music. You'll thank me for that!

The Troll Doll Channel: Best UnBoxing EVERRRRR!!

Such a hilarious time we had last night, unboxing a truly exotic dancing, crawling troll from Greece! She was even wrapped in Greek newspapers. The whole family got into the act.

 

The Troll Doll Channel: 💦I give my Dirty Trolls a BATH!💦

I seldom wash a troll's hair unless it's seriously dirty or sticky. The color can actually leach out, and the texture become frizzy and dry. But in this case there was serious dirt in the ceramic troll's hair. Not to put too fine a point on it, it was a bloody mess: though it was obviously meant to be pink, it was more of a stringy brown, especially at the ends. My cave troll was in better shape hair-wise, but I felt he still needed work. Pinkie first got a thorough shampoo, in which I really had to work the dirt out, and rinse and rinse. Cave guy was more of a swish job, but once it had been wet and fluffed and dried, a miracle happened and the mohair doubled or tripled in volume, while maintaining the nice wooly texture and contrasting coloiurs. My troll vids are getting VERY low views now, while some of my others are getting hundreds or even thousands - so I've had to adjust my expectations, though of all my videos, the bird ones and the troll ones are the most gratifying. They've helped me keep those vital hobbies going, and I have to sometimes tell myself - if even ONE person looks at my videos, it's one more than would have seen them if I didn't bother. So. . . I bother. 

The Troll Doll Channel: Unboxing of RARE Swedish and Irish Imports!

These guys are both extremely rare, and cost remarkably little. It's so fun doing these, and Bill now operates the camera so I don't have to use my doddering collapsible tripod that my son used for astronomy in 1985. 

The Troll Doll Channel: 💜Ready for Halloween: spooky, magical JUJU DOLL!💚

These are two of my favorite custom trolls going for a spin to the Monty Python theme. 

💗The Troll Doll Channel: MAGICAL Trolls on a Carousel!💗

I customized these two trollies for Erica and Lauren, and gifted them after their dance recital. Erica will be getting Trollina, the first troll in my collection, as a grad present.

Did I ever see myself doing this? Well, yes. For years and years, I knitted blankets and made stuffed animals and dolls for the grandkids. To see their renewed interest via my channel was unexpected, but delightful. I'm nearly at 16,000 subscribers now, and over 10 million views (most of them for one VERY dumb video, but never mind).

The Troll Doll Channel: A lovely surprise!

This was such a nice surprise! At my grandkids' dance competition, Celina, one of Erica's teachers, came bustling up to me to thank me for the personalized troll I gave her. So, the next day I gave her another one! I honestly have to start doing more giveways, as I am running out of space. But nothing gives me more joy than sharing my hobby with others, whether through videos or more direct means. Celina takes her troll, Esmeralda, wherever she goes. I hope she likes the new troll just as much!

🌈The Troll Doll Channel: RAINBOW TOWERS!

Does it ever end? No, it does not. The troll collection frightens me a little bit, when I see how it has grown organically from just a few trolls I had lying around. But I LOVE coming up with new and innovative ways to display them. It's one of the great joys of my life to be able to share this hobby with others.

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The Troll Doll Channel: Tons of TEENY TINY TROLLS!

This is one of the rare videos where I appear in person. These little trolls are adorable, but as usual I have no place to put them. I love the housing units, but where - ?? At any rate, Bentley makes an appearance as usual.

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The Troll Doll Channel: POP goes the TROLL DOLL!

Pop goes the troll doll - yet another "grumpy" (sigh - I said no more grumpies a long time ago, but - ). I try to put this new arrival into context with the entire collection, with which I surround myself. Trollandia is a lot saner, safer and more fun than the world at large.

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The Troll Doll Channel: CURSE OF THE JUJU DOLL!

One of my more exotic custom trolls, from Lucretia's Lair. Does he have magical powers? Well, what do you think?

The Troll Doll Channel: GRUMPY CHORUS sings "DREAM, DREAM, DREAM"

What can I say? I never knew my trolls could sing like this. Wakes me up in the middle of the night. I LOVE one of the comments a person left: "Jesus Christ". Oh yeah! 

💗The Troll Doll Channel: TROLL VILLAGE!💜

The only thing more gratifying than collecting trolls is displaying trolls on my YouTube channel. This has become an aesthetic exercise for me, which I share on a modest level with others (meaning not that many views - but the way I see it, if ONE person watches it, it's one more than if I HADN'T posted it). I've had a number of comments from people admiring my collection, which is gratifying as well. It has become an organizing activity in my life as well as a compulsively enjoyable one. 

My channel has burgeoned to nearly 13,000 subscribers in the past few months, due to ONE silly video which, for reasons I never counted on, blew up to over SEVEN MILLION views. All due to the algorithm and a similar video on Tik-Tok, which I was barely aware of over a year ago when I first posted it. It`s oh-so-typical of the capriciousness of the internet that the video I just threw together in five minutes went that ``big``, whereas one like this - which took a lot of troll arrangement, fancy camera work, several retakes, and finding a compatible audio track - gets just a handful. But it was ever thus! At one point in my life, in fact at many points in my life, I wanted to be famous, or thought I did. Now I think perhaps I was spared. Famous people now strike me as perhaps the single most miserable group of human beings in existence. Maybe it`s just more wholesome and even safer to do what you want to do, and if someone sees your creation, enjoys it, or even wants to see another one, then that`s an added blessing.

The Troll Doll Channel: GRUMPY CHORUS SINGS!

Lord, can these grumpy trolls SING!

💗The Troll Doll Channel: TROLL VILLAGE!💜

And this isn't all of them. Not by a long shot! These are just the trolls which have invaded my "workspace" (such as it is! Who wants to work anyway?)

💗The Troll Doll Channel: DOUBLE UNBOXING of Juju Doll and 9" Bearded Tro...

Unboxings are always exciting, though I keep thinking: where am I going to PUT all these guys? I haven't quite figured it out yet, nor have I tired of the Christmas morning feeling of unboxing a new troll for my collection. Custom trolls are the best of all, and real works of art. This juju doll is gorgeous, but a little intimidating, so I had to display him in the other room. Not that I'm scared!

🌈The Troll Doll Channel: My Magic ZELF (slightly damaged)!

Zelfs ARE trolls, sort of, though they don't resemble any of the others. This one was so gorgeously customized that I HAD to have it. A little piece of crystal fell off its crown, so I repaired it with a gold leaf off an earring. But I have since glued his pedestal down so my cat won't knock him off the shelf again.

The Troll Doll Channel: DOUBLE UNBOXING of Juju Doll and 9" Bearded Troll!

O happy day - to have TWO trolls to unbox, with Bentley helping me every step of the way.