My Collection Part Eight: Charlotte, Cinderella and Fairytale Basic by Tonner

Charlotte's mold was used for the 16" Miss America dolls, not to be confused with the 18" Miss America dolls. She was also produced many times in her own right, going by the name Charlotte. The two Charlotte dolls that are own are the Vintage Basic Miss America, whom I bought nude, and the Basic Black Charlotte. I have since taken Vintage's hair down.

Charlotte also makes a good model for my Madame Alexander Meet Me in St. Louis fashion, originally made for the Alexandra Fairchild Ford 16" doll. The outfit came on a Judy Garland doll with the Alexandra face mold, which MA managed to make a pretty good likeness. I have since sold off the doll, but I love the outfit, even if the white satin has yellowed. The dress doesn't zip up all the way on Charlotte, though. Yes, this dress has a working zipper!

 

Basic Black Charlotte is wearing her original swimsuit and hairband. I was vacillating on keeping her, because her coloring and face paint is so similar to Vintage Charlotte. Also, the top of her head almost looks flat, because of her hairstyle, I think. I decided to keep her for now.

The Cinderella face mold was a runaway favorite. In addition to all of the Cinderella doll variations made, her face was used for dolls like Phantom of the Opera Christine Daae, Juliet from Romeo and Juliet, and Tonner's Re-Imagination line's Vasilisa. Vasilisa is a Russian fairy tale character, and the Re-Imagination line featured fairy tale dolls in new styles. The doll store Cherished Friends even had a store exclusive Cinderella with the coloring of the owner's daughter, called Amy's Cinderella. The mold was also shrunk down slightly and used for Tonner's Cami doll.

I own Cinderella Basic - Strawberry, and Dreams Come True Cinderella, whom I bought nude. Dreams Come True was wearing a blue ball gown and tiara, representing Cinderella going to the ball, which is why she has a very intricate updo. Also pictured here is my last adult Tonner doll, the Re-Imagination Fairytale Basic doll, in her original clothes.

We have reached the end of my adult Tonner collection, but I still have two more girl dolls and a young teen Tonner doll in my collection, who are coming up next time.

Total dolls: 37

Stickley Rocker in 1/4 Scale

A common theme this year among many collectors seems to be cutting back on buying dolls and getting more enjoyment out of the dolls they already have. One of the ways I plan on getting more out of my doll collection is by improving my displays, so they are nicer to look at. Personally, I like to have my dolls displayed in somewhat real dioramas, and I need more furniture for that. I'm not against plastic furniture for my 1/6 scale dolls, but furniture for the 1/4 scale dolls is relatively hard to find, plastic or otherwise. My latest purchase in that scale is a Stickley rocking chair from this shop, made to scale using an original Stickley plan.

For those of you who don't know the related history, Gustav Stickley was an American who was in the forefront of the American Craftsman movement, similar to the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain. These movements were an attempt to go back to quality, handcrafted items in a world where more and more items were factory mass-produced. It started in the late decades of the Victorian era, and kept going into the first few decades of the 1900s, although it obviously still has popularity today. Another name for this style was Mission. In the US, think of Craftsman bungalows, with beautiful built-in wood furniture. Frank Lloyd Wright was an important architect in this style. Here is a picture of a real-life rocker that looks similar to mine, right at the Stickley furniture website.

Now that explanations are out of the way, let's look at this beautiful piece of doll furniture, made of oak.

The seat feels like leather. I'm not sure if it is. Leather was used in the Craftsman movement.

Now matter how I tried, I couldn't get the camera to focus on the back of the rocker, instead of lower down.

And here a couple of pictures for scale. Our model is Tonner's Fairytale Basic 16" vinyl doll, with the Kay head sculpt. She wears an outfit made by me, inspired by 1907 fashion.

I think this rocker suits the 16" doll quite well, don't you? Do you have plans this year to get more out of your current doll collection?