Header

I just wanted to put up a new header to replace my first one. It was a picture I took quickly so I would have something there. I don't have a dedicated spot to take pictures, and the best source of outdoor light that I have is a skylight in the living room, while most of my dolls and accessories are in my bedroom. I'm hoping I can improve my doll photography with practice. For starters, I want to get a white cardboard tri-fold, so I can have a good backdrop, and also block all the other miscellanea in my bedroom from view. Right now I have one blank wall between the two windows, and another blank wall across from the bedroom from the windows. Neither provides good natural light.

This doll, by the way, is the Franklin Mint Gibson Girl Josephine doll, in particular, the Orient Express doll. I will be doing a post on her soon. She's one of the favorites in my collection; I love the fashions of that era, and the Gibson Girl's confident attitude towards life in particular.

Some American Girl Accessories

When the Toy Box Philospher visited an American Girl store recently, she admired the play violin, but the block of rosin was missing. I decided to take pictures of the violin we bought for the Dancer's AG doll, and include that item. As I commented at TBP's blog, AG accessories are often more expensive, but the quality and details are often better as well. In this case, the violin included several items that I found with no other off-brand set: a music stand, a doll-size book of Christmas music, and the rosin.

Here's a picture of the violin in the case. It is a very nice-looking set.

Here is where the rosin rests in the case. In the picture that TBP took at the store, the rosin is definitely missing.

And here's the rosin out of the case. A very nice little detail to make the set more special.

Here's the book of sheet music that came with the set. As you can see, this is nicely realistic, although the Dancer has never tried to play any of this. Of course, when she first got the set, she was a very beginning violinist and reading sheet music like this for herself was probably beyond her abilities at the time.

Another example of the difference between AG merchandise and others, for some reason, is the tap shoes. When I looked for tap shoes for her doll, all the other tap shoes on the market had pointed toes. In real life, all the tap shoes with pointed toes that I have seen, in several years of buying tap shoes, are generally lower quality than the ones with rounded toes. So I ended up with the AG ones again, just because I thought they looked nicer to my eye, and more like what the Dancer wears herself. These originally came with a dance costume for AG Girl of the Year Marisol; I was able to buy just the shoes on eBay. The pink bows on the shoes were not a big deal, especially since the Dancer had pink bows sewn onto her own shoes for a recital costume almost four years ago now.

There were lots of excited squeals the first time those sparkly canes came out for practice.

AG Molly's Miss Victory costume also includes tap shoes, with metal taps as opposed to plastic. Molly's line is being "moved to the archives" for now, but I'm sure her merchandise will live on at eBay.

My Child Doll by Mattel

This sweetheart is one of the oldest dolls that I have in my collection, and shows my enduring love for dolls past childhood, because I must have been around a senior in high school when I acquired her. Since she is made in Taiwan and has a green heart on her rear, she dates from 1985, according to this site. I don't have her original box, but I do have a lot of her paperwork.

This paper seems to be for the shelf stocker at the store. Her box was open in front, unlikely to happen today.

This gives the proud parent the opportunity to order a locket and also shows the different features available for the dolls at this time. The idea was that the doll was supposed to look like you, being your child, but of course you could buy any doll that caught your eye. I am a brunette with hazelish eyes, so my doll looks mostly like me.

This is a brag book, where you could fill out your doll's favorite things, draw pictures of your doll and record special events with your doll. If I was a child when I got my doll, I probably would have filled out some of the pages. As it is, I can't even remember what I named her at the time.

Here she is! Since her feet are so big, she can stand on her own, despite the fact that her head is pretty large also.

Here is a closeup of her face, showing that some of soft, peach fuzz skin is loose. That seems to be something common to certain dolls. Also, I added the blue star on her sailor dress. The original star was some kind of label and either I didn't like it, or it started coming off. I bought this star at JoAnn's and sewed it on by hand. This is her original dress. Her original diaper cover needs a good soaking in Biz and new elastic.

She also came with Pampers diapers. The glue on the tab on the other side dried up, and the tab fell off. I recall seeing replacement diaper packs occasionally on eBay. Maybe someday I'll spring for one.

This are her original shoes and socks. The socks have yellowed.

The My Child dolls seem to still be rather popular in the collector's market. Dolls in the best condition are going for over a hundred dollars on eBay. The dolls have very endearing faces, the fabric skin is pleasant to touch, and at about 12 1/2 inches tall, are a nice size for a child to hug and carry around. The hair on dolls that were actively played with generally looks disheveled, but can be washed, brushed and combed into decent order, from what I have seen. I bought dolls for my daughters on eBay about nine years ago, when they expressed an interest in mine, and the hair looks acceptable, if not factory new. My poor darling seems to have been made with the lowest overall quality from this line, but even with the skin sag, she is still a wonderful doll.

Introduction

Hi! I've decided I need a little spot where I can show pictures of my dolls, and talk about the dolls I have, and the dolls that interest me. I'm very likely to dish on dolls that I don't like, too. :) I don't have a lot of discretionary money for dolls, so you won't see a big stream of new acquisitions, but I definitely have enough dolls to keep me blogging for a while without buying anything new.