Discovering New Blogs

MonsterCrafts has been missing some of the now-defunct doll blogs that she liked to read, so she came up with a creative way to find new blogs, and to help everyone else find new ones too. She posted the URLs of some of her favorite blogs, and anyone else who wants to join in can do the same. That way, hopefully we can find new places to read and learn about dolls, and check out everyone else's collections!

Amanda: Miniature craft tutorials, doll reviews, doll living spaces, and lots of other doll adventures, often with the help (and snark) of Tinkerbell the fairy. In addition to Disney fairies, Frozen dolls and Marvel dolls and figures feature often on her blog. She also has a lot of links on how to improve your blog, and ideas to help represent yourself and your blog on Instagram. She's the only doll blogger I can think of at the moment who is currently on WordPress, so she may be interested in answering questions about it.
https://www.pixiedustdolls.com/

Chris: Mainly the latest clothes she has sewn for her 11 1/2" dolls, thus the name of her blog. She has also started a series of posts chronicling every doll in her collection, which, along with Rachael's posts, inspired me to do the same. Her dolls range from vintage Barbie, to 80s and 90s, to modern.
http://mybarbiescloset127.blogspot.com/

Coffee and Dolls: A Polish blogger who maintains two separate doll blogs written in English or Polish. I'm linking to the English version, but if you speak Polish, you can find the link to that one there. Both blogs cover the same dolls, mostly 80s era Barbies and Skippers. She's still active in adding those dolls to her collection. She also researches the differences between the same dolls who were produced in different countries, when she purchases a new one, which is not something you come across often.
https://coffeeanddollsen.blogspot.com/

Rachael: An Australian blogger whose varied collection includes Kish, Maru and Friends, Tonner Patience, Journey Girls, Shirley Temple, and many others. She likes to sew, and is interested in historical fashions, some of which she has planned to make for her dolls. She has already made several beautiful items of doll clothes, and has also created some paper dolls and outfits. We also get to see pics of her favorite distractions: the Giant Baby and Tiny, her children.
http://poppyandthegiant.blogspot.com/

RagingMoon1987: Much of her collection is vintage, and includes baby dolls, soda-themed dolls, and Japanese, or Japanese-dressed dolls. Her American Girl dolls often get pretty new outfits, and we get to see some of her collection displayed at the library where she works. She does a lot of research for her posts, so you can definitely learn from them. A Missouri girl, she lives close to Tornado Alley in the US, and is interested in tornadoes and all sorts of weather phenomena.
http://ragingmoon1987.blogspot.com/

Tam: A fellow Ohioan, who has a very extensive collection, and is knowledgeable about all kinds of dolls. Some years she will do a Doll-a-Day post, where all types of dolls are featured. This year, she's doing a Doll-Book-of-the-Month in between posts on dolls, play sets, and some photo shoots with her doll alter ego, a former Fern from Charlotte's Web doll that has been rechristened Tammy World. She also shares pics of her garden during the seasons.
http://planetofthedolls.blogspot.com/

I couldn't post all of the blogs that I enjoy reading, so I hope no one takes it personally if you don't see yours here. Also, MonsterCrafts listed several blogs that I already enjoy, so I didn't list those again. If you want to join in, I'm sure we'd love to know which doll blogs you enjoy visiting!

MonsterCrafts created an icon for your post on discovering new doll blogs. I couldn't get it to show up where I wanted it (new Blogspot software can apparently be a pain.) But here it is for you to grab if you decide to create your own post.

2016 Tonner Convention -- What I Brought Home!

I meant to get this post up several days ago, but it turned out to be more work than I thought it would, getting everything unpacked, sorted out and photographed. It didn't help that my sewing/doll area was in a shambles from deciding what I should take with me to the convention. Also, it didn't seem like I brought a lot home, but it seemed like an awful lot when I went to take pictures of all of it!

Let's start with the dessert event on the first night. In addition to a chance to buy the centerpiece, the doll I've already shown, everyone received a 17" DeDe Denton doll. Half of the dolls were fair with blond hair, and half of the dolls had browner skin, and dark hair. It was pure chance which doll you received, as they were wrapped in paper, and laid out on the tables. I got the blond one. She's already moved on to a new home, as I'm not fond of the DeDe Denton line. A lot of it, I think, is because I don't like her heavy black eyeliner. I'm also not in to rooted eyelashes.

That night the sales rooms were open after dessert. I was a bit disappointed, as they were rather small. Not only were there not a lot of tables, but there was not a lot of room to move around. Marcia was there, and I bought two hair barrettes for my dolls from her, as well as a working umbrella, 6" tall. I was also interested in buying a tiara, but she didn't have the space to have everything on show, and I decided to wait until the doll show on Sunday to look at more.

Something told me that this star barrette would look nice on Meg. She loves it.

This circle barrette doesn't look as good as I thought it would, using Basic Daphne as a model.

It suits this Sydney better, with her thicker, curly locks.

It will be difficult to get the strap around the umbrella, back through the buckle.

Pretty much like a real umbrella!

The more articulated dolls can even look like they're holding it!

At another table, there was a basket of random Tonner clothes, which two women were already rummaging through. I waited for a few minutes, then got impatient and moved in a little to start my own search. I practically grabbed this dress out of a woman's hands when I recognized it! She was in the process of putting it back in the basket, though, so it didn't turn all Black Friday-ish. :) I got the dress, originally made for a Patsy doll, for $3. It was a fantastic deal!

There was another Patsy two piece outfit in the basket, but it was made of a rather thin feeling material, and I didn't love it, so I passed on it.

You already know about the Ann Estelle doll that I bought. Here's some decent pictures of her, and a picture of her next to her "older" sister, an unarticulated Ann from the first time the Mary Engelbreit line was produced.

Poor Ann-on-the-left's wig is just not as nice as Ann-on-the-right's.

The lace-trimmed petticoat beneath Ann's dress was made with too much material, so that the fabric folds up on itself. I suspect that the petticoat was designed before the velveteen was picked to be the dress fabric. The petticoat just can't hold up the weight of that heavy material.

Oh, also, everyone had table napkins at the Ann Estelle luncheon that matched the print of 18" Ann's plaid skirt. I forgot to take pictures of those, but they're just pieces of fabric. I collected a couple from other people who didn't want theirs, and no, they hadn't used them. :) There were regular napkins at the table as well. I'll use the fabric to make something for my 10" dolls at some point. Here's the picture of 18" Ann on our table.

At the formal dinner event on the last evening, there was a small jewelry box at every place setting. This contained a necklace and a pair of earrings sized for the 16" dolls, or possibly the 17" ones too.

In the human sized silver tote bag that everyone received at registration, there was one doll accessory, along with a few other items like our name tag. I don't know if everyone got the same thing that I received. In mine was a red purse with white bows, made for the Ellowyne Wilde line.

And at last came the Mid-Ohio Doll Show! Tam has explained how much bigger the show used to be, on her blog. Here, I think there were only four aisles, with tables on either side. It took place in what had been the room where we had our meals at the convention, so if you've seen anybody's pictures of that entire place, you can tell how relatively small the room was. Not only that, but the aisles were pretty crowded. Plus, chairs for the vendors to sit on were not behind or next to the tables, but in front of them, which blocked some of the merchandise. Honestly, knowing that Marcia (see above) has an online store, I passed on buying anymore of her items. It wasn't her fault, but she was standing right in front of the tiara display, digging through a box for a customer, while a man was on one knee, stretched out to look at something, right behind her. And her chair was on the other side of her. I waited for a couple of minutes, but I didn't want to wait too long for something I can get at my leisure later on (and also when I've saved more money up!)

One of my biggest priorities was shoes for Ann Estelle and the gang. Having bought so many nude dolls, several of the poor girls had bare feet! Clothes I can make, but shoes are more difficult. I ended up picking up a pair of white Mary Janes, a pair of black T-straps, and two pairs of sneakers. The shoes were not specifically made for the 10" Tonners, and are a little roomy. On the other hand, the shoes with buckles slip on easily that way, and I don't want to mess with tiny buckles anymore than I have to.

I also bought a couple of pieces of doll jewelry, only I made a mistake there. For some reason, I thought the numbers written on the front of the package were the size doll they were for. Turns out, it was the chains that were 6" and 11" long. Oops. I can put them on new chains, or something. I also need to do something about the earrings I bought. Both the hooks are way too long, and oddly shaped.

Lastly, I got to meet a real life fellow doll blogger! I met up with Tam, of Planet of the Dolls, at the doll show, and then we had lunch before I had to head back north. It was so nice to talk to someone who likes dolls, as I do, and is a nice person besides! Here's the "selfie" that I took.

I've enjoyed sharing my experiences with you fellow collectors out there! Thank you for reading through my posts!

2016 Tonner Convention Day Three Workshop, Formal Dinner Event, and PJ Party

There were seminars and workshops in the afternoons for both Friday and Saturday. The seminars were free, although reservations needed to be made as seating was limited. Friday's seminar was on the Wilde Imagination Company. Saturday's was a talk by Andrew Yang, about his great-grandmother, Mary Astor. Apparently there are going to be some dolls of her produced, and from what I've heard, they'll be wearing some sharp outfits from the 1930s. I didn't attend either seminar.

I chose to take a workshop on Friday which involved making a Tyler sized bag. The story behind the bag is that Marley Wentworth is now a fashion blogger, and she designed a laptop/tablet bag for some sort of competition. My workshop cost $15, which I though was very fair, especially since we got a pattern that we can use to make further bags. Here is a picture of our workshop materials.

Underneath the bag pattern pieces, there was a bag filled with four different kinds of non-fraying fabrics. We could use them however we liked, using one color for everything or two offsetting colors. The large gray rectangle in the bag is supposed to be a tablet. It wasn't until we were into the project that we were told that our instructor, Jay Barrett, had designed his own mold and cast our "tablets" out of resin. The colored pictures are supposed to be computer screens, which will fit inside the tablet. There were also metal pieces to use to attach the straps to the bag, some pins to stick into the bottom of the bag to give the bag feet, and some bits and pieces to decorate the bag if you wished. I'm sorry, but I'm too tired too remember the correct names for some of these pieces, or look them up! I enjoyed the workshop, even though my bag turned out far from perfect! But it was a good starting point for me to try to make a better bag, which is a doll craft that I've never tried. By the way, Jay came all the way from Australia for the convention, which I though was neat.

Apparently, there were serious problems with the shoe making workshop on the previous day. The glue wasn't holding together at all; I believe participants are getting mailed supplies to make another set of shoes. Jay mentioned on Saturday that the glue had been affected by the air pressure changes in the plane when the person who ran the workshop traveled there (I got the impression that wasn't his workshop, but I'm not sure.) I suppose it would be a lot of hassle to run around and buy workshop supplies once you get to an event like this, but it certainly caused problems on Friday. Word got all around the convention about how badly the workshop had gone.

There were two other workshops, a ribbon dress workshop, and a Betsy McCall workshop. I didn't hear anything about those, or see any of the results.

Saturday night was the Big Event, the formal dinner event. Some people were decked out to the nines, some were in between, some were mostly casual. I noticed that while a lot of people like dressing for every event, there were lots of people who didn't, and neither did I. The centerpiece was a Tyler doll preparing one of her designs on a model. Each model was completely different, different mold, different hairstyle, different costume. I actually won the first chance to buy the centerpiece, but I passed, as $400 was too much for me to spend. :( Multiple numbers were drawn for the centerpiece, because there were tables which hadn't had anyone pick the first number that was drawn. So, our table hostess was the second number picked, and she bought it.

In the middle of the room was a catwalk. After dinner, there was a fashion show, featuring about twenty of Tonner's doll fashions created in human size. I only recognized a few of the outfits, and couldn't get good pictures. Some of them are on the Tonner Doll Company's Facebook page. We were also told pictures of each centerpiece would be online, but not where. I don't know. I heard before the convention that there was a Tonner convention Yahoo group, but could never find it.

Robert left the stage and the room with one of the models, who is apparently a good friend of his from his Bill Blass designer days. One of the Tonner people, who'd done most of the announcements for the meal events, told us that it was now time to clear the room so it could be set up for the evening's pajama party. At that point, many of us wondered if there was going to be an event doll, as we all expected. One woman in another part of the room eventually yelled out "Where's our doll?" It honestly seemed like they accidentally passed over that part, although it could have been for show, to get us excited about the doll. Someone ran to get Robert back, and he came back up to the stage, while the table hosts/hostesses got out the dolls, which had been under the tables. We had to wait to open the box until everybody got their dolls out of the shipper, which was a time consuming process. In the dim light, the doll looked gorgeous, although not my style. It wasn't until I took some pictures of her that I noticed an issue.

Someone had rather sloppily put on her eyeshadow on her left eye; not only was it crooked, but it ran up into her eyebrow.

Fortunately, they had some extra dolls, and I was able to swap her out at the doll show today. However, it left me a little disappointed in what had happened. For one thing, when I showed the doll to a woman behind the table, who was Tonner's executive assistant, she said, "That's eyeshadow." I said, "It runs over her eyebrow." The light was not great in the room, although better than last night, but it made me a bit uncomfortable that I had to explain why the doll was defective. This was a limited edition doll, the climactic doll of a 25th anniversary celebration convention. She has a face mold that was made especially for this convention. I feel a flaw like this should have been checked before the dolls were handed out. Also, one of my tablemates got a doll where the inside box, not the shipper, was already pretty banged up. She got a fresh doll that night, but again, it just felt disappointing.

I would also like to point out, that although I said in a previous comment that the two dolls were "free," they were of course included in the price of our convention package.

The pajama party started pretty quickly after the dinner was cleared out. I missed quite a bit, because I wasn't staying in the hotel the convention was held in, and I had to go back and change into pajamas. Also, I forgot to bring back the little piece of paper that got people into the pajama party (there was nobody at the doors by the time I got back.) Because of those things, I missed out on getting this doll case in a silver stripe pattern. Yeah, I could have tried to get one afterwards, and yeah, it retailed for a lot of money, but I don't have room for it and don't know how often I'd use it, and I was super tired by that time. At previous conventions, the PJ party has apparently been pretty fun, involving dancing. Last night, there were snacks, but the only things that happened were the drawings for the raffles. I totally missed the raffle room, so I wasn't involved in that at all. Several people won more than one item, so according to my table hostess, they must have put in a lot of money for raffle tickets. The last drawing was for a OOAK resin Ellowyne in a hand beaded and hand sewn dress. Robert did some of the work, but I think I heard he had help? This drawing was a reverse raffle. Twenty five people were called up onto the catwalk which was still there from dinner. As each number was called, that person had to leave; the last person standing won. On the giant screen during the party was a slide show of the contest winners. Robert didn't seem like he was feeling it last night. He was probably as tired of the rest of us; he might also have a really dry personality, which how he came off in general, from what *I personally* saw of him at the public events.

Some people had great nightwear for the party. One man was wearing a striped nightshirt and cap. My Hello Kitty loving tablemate was dressed in pajamas that made her look like a giant Hello Kitty.

And that's it for the convention! Wow, was I exhausted by last night, and so were a lot of others. Overall, I'm glad I went. I think I'd always regret missing this opportunity of going when it happened so close to where I live. It was also good for introverted me to get out, and meet some doll people. But there were some letdowns, although that's probably normal. This was the first convention of any sort that I've ever been to! I'll put up at least one more post about the other things I either bought or was given, and my experience at the doll show today, which included meeting Tam of Planet of the Dolls!

Thoughts on 2016 Toy Fair

First, let me say that this Toy Fair brought home to me how bad the economy is now. I think that's a big reason why some of my favorite doll manufacturers had very weak offerings. It may also explain why toy lines are focusing on old, proven stuff like Marvel, DC, Disney and Star Wars.

I'm also wondering why I got the best, and fastest, coverage of Jakks Pacific, Mattel, Hasbro and Tonner, from sites that generally focus on comic books and action figures the rest of the year. I definitely appreciated their coverage.

So, Ever After High was apparently not represented at Toy Fair at all. I've seen some pictures elsewhere of new dolls that are supposed to come out in 2016, including some with a new, "friendlier" face mold like Monster High is getting. But if the dolls weren't in the Mattel booth at Toy Fair, there's no guarantees. I can be happy with the Ever After High dolls I have, although there are a few more dolls I want to get, that have already been produced. I'm just sad that the line is not doing well. I don't really like monsters.

Tonner is driving me crazy. I'm interested in a new doll named Miette. There is even an exclusive Miette doll for sale on the Tonner/Wilde Imagination website. But I can't find out any information about her, like how tall she is, or what body type she has. What little I've found out came from eBay auctions selling off the exclusive doll after the Wilde Imagination event in January where she debuted. And I don't trust an eBay auction to be accurate. I feel like her size and body type should at least be included on the page where the one Miette doll is for sale. And it's not. See for yourself. Also, since Miette is in the Wilde Imagination line, I'm thinking the doll won't be at the Tonner convention. Maybe I'll be wrong.

I guess the Madame Alexander Travel Friend doll line is officially dead. I wish MA could have tried to deal with some of the issues, like the strange elbow joint, but that might not have been worth it in the long run.

Lastly, and this is not directly related to Toy Fair, I'm wondering when I'm going to get my Petite Barbie from Mattel. The ordering website still says the doll is slated to be released on 02/01/16. Obviously that hasn't happened, so could I have a more accurate date, Mattel?

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Linda at Darkroom Dolls nominated me for a Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. She's given me 10 questions to answer, and I need to nominate 5 people for the award.

1. Do you collect anything other than dolls?
As a seamstress and knitter, I kind of collect fabric and yarn. I'm not one of those people who buys what I need for a project, finishes it, then starts another. I'm a person who buys things with an eye for future projects. Or I buy for a project and start something else instead. :)

2. Why did you start a doll blog?
Sometimes a blog is referred to as the blogger's virtual house. Since I enjoy visiting other people's "houses" and looking at their dolls, I decided to invite people to see my dolls too. I wanted to meet people with whom I share some doll interests, and have all kinds of conversations about doll collecting. I've met some great fellow doll collectors in the two years that I've been dolly blogging.

3. Do you have one particular doll that is the favorite in your collection?
I think my favorite would be Calendar Girl Sydney, by Tonner. Her face paint and hair color just seem to all come together for me perfectly. Also, I like that she isn't very made up. She's more versatile that way.

4. Your favorite doll accessory (American Girl or other)?
A croquet set made by Ashton Drake for 16" Gene Marshall. It fitted into one of her stories. I like having it because croquet was all the rage especially during the 1860s, but played in later Victorian and into Edwardian times. Someday I would love to get enough dolls dressed appropriately to photograph them playing a Victorian game of croquet. The set is both great and kind of a pain, because all the pieces are usable and therefore come loose. Thus, I tend to have the stakes and balls and wickets drop on the floor very often.

5. Do you know exactly how many dolls you have in your collection (you don't have to tell the number of course :-) )?
Not off the top of my head, no. Especially since I have some Barbie size dolls put away until I can get more display space. Hopefully less than one hundred, but they do tend to multiply.

6. Do you play any instruments and if so, what?
I took piano lessons in college and for a short while afterwards, to make up for the fact that my parents would never let me take piano when I was a kid. I haven't practiced at all since then, but I could still play one line of notes with one hand.

7. Where is your most favorite place you've ever been?
Cedar Point Amusement Park, Sandusky, Ohio. Known as the roller coaster capital of the world because it has so many of them. A few of them are also among the tallest and fastest in the world as well. I love roller coasters, and amusement park rides in general, plus Cedar Point is on a peninsula jutting into my beloved Lake Erie.

There are five roller coasters alone in this photo.

8. What is your most favorite thing about yourself?
Physically, that I have curly hair. :) Character wise, that I'm a good listener, and people tend to tell me things that they don't tell just everyone.

9. Favorite book or movie?
I don't really have one favorite. When I need some light, fun reading, I tend to go back to one of Agatha Christie's numerous mysteries.

10. If you could design your own doll, what would it look like?
She'd have brown hair and probably blue eyes. She'd wear her hair in a pompadour with a knot on top, and she'd be dressed in an outfit from about 1904. The dress would have lots of tucks, ruching and lace. The main color of the outfit would be blue, and she'd wear high-button shoes. She'd have wrist, elbow and knee articulation, with a twisting waist and moveable head, arms and legs.


I now am supposed to nominate five people. I've picked:

Marta at All4Barbie
Hannah at Never Grow Up 
barbielea at barbiebeauties
Vanessa at Van's Doll Treasures
RagingMoon1987 at Confessions of a Dolly Lover

My 10 questions are:

1. Do you collect anything other than dolls?
2. Why did you start a doll blog?
3. Do you have one particular doll that is the favorite in your collection?
4. Your favorite doll accessory?
5. Do you know exactly how many dolls you have in your collection (you don't have to tell the number of course :-) )?
6. Do you play any instruments and if so, what?
7. Where is your most favorite place you've ever been?
8. Where would you most like to visit, that you have never visited?
9. Is there a retired doll or doll line that you'd like to bring back?
10. If you could design your own doll, what would it look like?

Daisy Chain Award

jSarie of Revenge of the Toy Box gave me a Daisy Chain Award!

She asked me to answer the 8 questions that I wish someone would ask about my doll collection and my doll blog. I hadn't really considered the question much before, but here are the questions that I came up with.

1. Do you have a "grail" doll?
Basically, a grail doll is a doll that is difficult/expensive to obtain. Very often these are limited edition dolls from conventions/comic-cons, which then explode in price when they're offered on the secondary market. You would really love it for your collection, but you have to spend a long time waiting for it and searching for the best price.
Having said that? I'm not sure that I have a grail doll right now. I've longed on and off for a High Seas Daphne Dimples by Tonner, but she comes up on eBay several times a year, and I don't know what I'd do with her dated hairstyle if I did get her. I'd also like some version of Tonner's Cinderella face sculpt, but there are many of those to choose from.

2. Do you have a favorite doll line?  
I'll always have a soft spot for Barbie. I played with her all through my childhood, and still have several prized versions of her in my collection. But I'd have to say that my favorite line is Tonner's 16" dolls. Possibly not a big surprise after reading question number one, hmm?

3. What kind of articulation level do you like in your dolls?
As I said above, I played with straight-arm, three-click leg, Barbies all through my childhood, and my child's imagination rapidly filled in the gaps between what the doll could actually do and what I wanted her to look like she was doing. But as an adult I have really come to appreciate dolls that can actually bend their elbows, much less move their wrists, and bend their knees more than three clicks. Much beyond that (and the general arm/leg/neck rotation), and the joints stand out too much for me. I do have some not-Barbie dolls in my collection that can't bend their arms or knees at all.

4. Any doll lines that you've moved on from?
When I first got into 16" vinyl dolls, I did pick up some dolls from Mel Odom's Gene line, and Madame Alexander's Alex line. All of those eventually went on to new homes, except for one coat and hat.
  
5. Is there anything you would do differently with your collection, if you could go back in time?
I don't regret any of the dolls that I've bought. I've always enjoyed them while I've had them, and I've been able to send them on to new homes at a price that was acceptable to me. I probably would have tried harder to pick up more of 18" Samantha's collection when it was offered by AG. But I discovered Samantha when Mr. BTEG and I were first starting our family, and a lot of other things took priority over the years. I never dreamed that Samantha would be retired, and since she was the first one to go, it was a total surprise. I can tell that the new BeForever line won't be anywhere near the same, but there's always eBay. :)

6. Where do you see your collection going in the next few years?
I think I'm going to be focusing more on furniture and clothes than on dolls. There are some dolls I would like to pick up, but the list is getting shorter and shorter. After thinking I wanted a certain doll, only to lose interest in getting her after several years, I've learned that I can usually live without specific dolls. A good bit of the time what draws me to a doll is her clothes, anyway.

7. Do you have anything that you want to learn do that will enhance your collection?
I used to think about repainting faces and re-rooting hair, but I don't think I have steady enough hands for the first, nor enough patience for the second. I absolutely have to learn how to construct/wallpaper/paint a dollhouse. I've been wanting to do it for years and have been too afraid to tackle it. Mr. BTEG and I are very settled where we are right now, so there is no time like the present. On a similar note, I need more practice repainting plastic furniture.
I also want to keep improving my sewing skills. Again, I've had lots of dreams and have not acted on nearly enough of them.  

8. What did you hope to accomplish when you started this blog?
Sometimes a blog is referred to as the blogger's virtual house. Since I enjoyed visiting other people's "houses" and looking at their dolls, I decided to invite people to my "house" and let them see my dolls. I wanted to meet people with whom I share some doll interests, and to have all kinds of conversations about collecting. I like talking to all of my readers, and visiting the blogs of those who have their own!

I'd like to pass this award on to Ghoulia13 and Ghouliette at Dollsville, USA, sister collectors. Here are the 8 questions I'd like them to answer.

1. Do you currently have a grail doll?

2. What doll in your collection gave you the most satisfaction in acquiring (hard to find/you found a good price/wanted for a long time/just really wanted)?

3. Which doll manufacturer produces the best quality clothes and shoes, in your opinion?

4. How much life (or death, if you prefer) do you think the Monster High line has left?

5. If you could bring one retired doll line back, which one would it be?

6. Pick a doll line and describe what your dream doll from that line would look like/wear.

7. Is there something you'd like to see offered by a doll line, that isn't available now?

8. What first attracts you to a particular doll? Hair, face, clothes?

I hope you two ghouls will participate!

J-Dolls Wearing High School Musical Shoes

Black Kitty asked me if I was going to keep any of the Barbie stuff that my daughters are getting rid of, for myself. Well, heck yeah! Way back when I was talking about finding more shoes for my J-Dolls, D7ana suggested Teen Skipper shoes. I got confused at the time and thought she was talking about the version of Skipper that came out in 1995. Remember that one, when Skipper suddenly aged to about 16? The first version of that doll was called Teen Skipper, and that's what she's always been in my mind. However, J-Dolls really can share shoes with the younger version of Skipper. It seems that body first came out in 1978. So yeah, found a doll that J-Doll can share shoes with! The only problem is that Skipper's shoes are generally... boring.

Cue Fluttershy saying "Yay"

But then I remembered that D7ana suggested Mattel's High School Musical dolls' shoes would work for J-Doll. And hey, my daughters are giving away some High School Musical dolls. And, they're wearing shoes! Those shoes got yanked off of poor Gabriella and Sharpay faster than you can say "We're all in this together," and I took them upstairs to check them out on my J-Dolls. They fit too! Following are pictures of my J-Dolls wearing the shoes, one girl with tights and one without. There are three pairs of shoes (I must have found another pair in one of the boxes.) There's several angles, for those who own J-Dolls and want a good idea how these look.

First, a pair of white flats. I like these the least. I'm not fond of slingbacks, and slingback flats even less. These might be perked up with a little paint on the bows and the soles.

Next, a pair of silver wedges. These could use a little paint as well, I think. Paint the buckles gold? Paint the soles something?

I discovered a hole in the left foot of these tights. But they're the only ones I have.

And lastly, the pair I absolutely love: gold gladiator sandals with a slight heel. You can even tell the way I posed them, how much I love these shoes. Plus, they do stay on the best. There are even slits in the back of these shoes to get them on and off easily.

I tried to be careful to have the buckles placed on the outside of the foot, and yet I failed for the barefoot doll.

Lastly, while I was trying the shoes on, I wondered if there were any difference between the Type 3 and Type 4 foot. The bare feet up above are Type 4, the ones with tights Type 3. I took the tights off and took some pictures of the feet together for the J-Doll enthusiast. 3 is always on the left and 4 on the right.

The Skipper information, I acquired from the fantastic page Faces in the World of Pink. It's a invaluable resource for the collector of Barbie and her family and friends. The tights look saggy in some of these photos, because they were. They don't have enough fabric to really pull all the way to a doll's waist, plus the fabric doesn't have much "memory." They are getting pretty loose.

Oh, and D7ana? This post is the one where I originally deleted the pictures that I took. I managed to get them taken again this afternoon.