Making a Splash

Apparently bathtubs were the hot home-decor item at Michael's this spring. Of course, the doll collector can't help but wonder if any of the tubs will work with her dolls. I ended up buying three. 

The white tub with the black feet is just about right for 16" dolls. Sam's legs can't extend all the way out inside the tub, but she found it a nice place to soak and day dream.

There were two other sizes of this tub at Michael's. At least, I think that one next to the biggest tub, is smaller than the medium tub. I forget now, and it's hard to tell!

Teresa liked playing with a rubber ducky. This tub is just a bit on the big size for a 12" doll, maybe, but I think it looks fine when pictured from the side.

There were three colors of that bathtub at Michael's: the one above and the two below.

Marie thinks this bathtub just the right size for her and her school friends. The Eden line of Madeline dolls included a set of bathroom furniture long ago, but as with just about everything from this line, it's super expensive on the secondary market now. The soap/dish and bath brush came from a Madeline set, and I also have a Madeline freestanding towel rack which came with the towel that Marie is using.

I happened to go down a different aisle at Michael's and saw that there were also bathtubs like this one in red and green, in the "strawberry theme" section of home decor.

I tried the trick of putting clear Contact paper on the floor tiles, which is supposed to make the paper look more like shiny vinyl tile. Maybe it's just my lighting, or angles, or something, but I don't see a big difference.

Also at Micheal's was a bathtub/candle holder, in two different colors.

Someone else on Instagram bought it for dolls. I was debating getting one, but I didn't want to bother digging out the candle. These tubs were pretty small, too.

Also, there was this galvanized tub with a shower head. This would be about right for American Girl or a large doll like that.

Don't mind the prices on Michael's things. The newest stuff goes on sale practically from the minute it comes in the door. This conveniently means you can't use their coupons for the newest stuff, as most Michael's coupons are not usable with sales items. Occasionally you do get a coupon which gives you a percentage off of your entire purchase including sales. On the other hand, last month I walked out with a plastic scrapbook paper storage case, two rolls of materials for my Cricut, and a several foot long garland made up of foam-type pastel Easter eggs for less than $8. I felt like I was stealing something. The trick at Michael's is to keep your eye on sales and to be signed up in their membership program, which gets you coupons.

Also at Michael's of doll interest was this piece of artificial green grass. It was labeled as a placemat, but can you imagine crumbs and spills on this? Maybe it would be nice for a centerpiece, with an Easter tree on top. It's smaller than the other piece of fake grass that I have; I used this one for my Easter shoot.

Then there were these chairs. I thought really hard about getting the red one, but decided against it. Someone on Instagram showed one of those chairs with a Tonner doll, and it looked okay, but didn't make me regret not buying one. I feel like the yellow and white chairs had too deep of a seat. They're probably made to display something-not-a-doll on, so that makes sense.

That reminds me that Michael's did have a small group of little plants of the kind that rarely need water, like a bromeliad. They might make good plants for a doll house or display. If Michael's doesn't have any more, because it took me forever to get this post up, or if you don't have a Michael's, I'm sure they can be found other places. At least in the US, these plants are another one of the things currently in style for home-decor.

Michael's happened to have these trash and recycle cans. I've seen those for a long time in other people's pictures. I think they're supposed to be for use on an office desk.

 

Lastly were these wall-hanging shelves. Or at least, they're supposed to be shelves. I thought they would make good side tables for dolls. Jaye of Jaye's Doll Space put up a picture on Instagram where she used the shorter one as a raised cocktail table. It's fun to see other people find the same things to re-purpose for dolls that you did. The small and large are two different size options, not the same piece.

I happened to be at Hobby Lobby around the same time, but the only thing doll-adaptable that I saw, besides the dollhouse things that they sell, were these mugs and teapots. And of course the mugs and teapots aren't the same scale, unless maybe the teapot is a one cuppa size. Both items were also too big for 12" dolls, but could work with a larger crew.

How often do you find regular decor that you can use for dolls?

Doll Show Buys - Furniture

I picked up three pieces of furniture at the doll show, all at good prices. Let's start with the least interesting. It's an miniature old-fashioned icebox, a predecessor to the refrigerator. I got it for $5, but it's in worse shape than I thought when I first looked at it at the show. I might just use it as a sort of model for making my own icebox. I'd like one that could work with other scales, like 1/6, or mini Samantha's scale. She is in the photo because the icebox is from her era, but I think it's a little on the small size even for Madeline, judging by a real icebox that I saw at an antique store back in June.

Next is a chair. It's a bit large for most of the dolls in my collection, but I bought it because it was only $3! Samantha can sit on it, or it looks okay for posing one of my Pullip dolls.

Lastly, the best find of all, Samantha's Pleasant Company washstand, which I bought for only $25. I discovered that it is missing the drawer pulls for the drawer, but otherwise it is in fine condition. In my Pleasant Company catalogs from the 90s, the washstand would have cost you $38. There was also a "nighttime necessities" set for sale, which included a towel, a mini version of the book The Wizard of Oz, and a washbowl and pitcher. I bought the washbowl and pitcher secondhand years ago. The towel and book would be very easy to make myself. The drawer and doors of the washstand open.

Now I want to get another dust-free storage cabinet, so I can display Samantha with her furniture. I also have her bed new in box, although not original Pleasant Company, and a knock-off version of her school desk. It would be nice to have her out with her bed and washstand.

My Collection Part Seven: Daphne Dimples by Tonner

As with the Sydney Chase sculpt, the Daphne sculpt turned out to be a very popular one. Daphne was introduced in the Effanbee Brenda Starr line. Brenda Starr was the name of a long-running comic book series that started in the 1940s. Brenda Starr was a newspaper reporter, and Daphne was a rival reporter. The Daphne sculpt was popular enough that a modern Daphne doll was introduced as Daphne's granddaughter. I'm pretty sure that was in the Tonner line.

My black-haired Cannes Opening Daphne wears a Franklin Mint dress, made for the Jacqueline Kennedy doll. The blond doll is Vintage Basic Daphne.

Red-haired Arrival at Port Daphne is wearing a swimsuit from another Basic Tonner doll. The brunette is Ultra Basic Daphne. She came in a basic white swimsuit, which I can't for the life of me find. She's wearing a Tonner top, sold as a separate, and the black skirt from the Signature Style Tyler doll. I got the Adirondack chairs a few months ago at a local store. Miniature Adirondack chairs are currently very stylish for home decor. Even human size chairs are used outside as decoration, and not to sit on (although of course you still can.) Anyway, those chairs are fairly easy to find in different colors and sizes.

Arrival at Cannes

Vintage Basic

Arrival at Port

Ultra Basic

Ultra Basic's face has yellowed, which is disappointing, but I love all four of these dolls. I reviewed Vintage Basic way back in 2014 here.

Total dolls: 32

Vacation!

Yep, it's early in the year to have a vacation, but Mr. BTEG's employer paid for him to attend CodeMash again this year. CodeMash gives a yearly tech conference, based out of the Kalahari indoor waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio. There are a handful of hotels that offer overflow rooms, and one of those is Great Wolf Lodge, also an indoor waterpark, and just down the street. Mr. BTEG has attended CodeMash before; you can read a review about the waterpark and general facilities here. You can see a doll-sized 3D printed tea set that I had printed at CodeMash here.

We as a family have very fond memories of Great Wolf Lodge. The first time we attended was in 2004, and we've been back several times since. Since Mr. BTEG knows how much I love GWL, he booked his room there this year, and I hung out and used the waterpark, while he was attending classes and functions at Kalahari. So I had a lovely vacation from Monday night to Friday morning.

Great Wolf Lodge is really targeted more for younger kids. There are no large water slides or more adult-friendly only water activities at GWL. There are several storytimes, including one at night when kids get to come down in their pajamas. There is a "dance party" where they play kid-friendly dance music, and the kids bop around in their jammies.

There is an "interactive, live-action, roleplaying game" called MagiQuest, that is really slanted towards tweens and younger, although I have seen some enthusiastic roleplaying adults running around the hotel. There are various treasure chests, and interactive screens and so on, situated throughout the hotel lobby area's four floors, and there is a scenario that you go through, after you buy a "magic" wand to activate the items. There are also accessories like capes and swords available for purchase. My niece had a great time playing this back in September. She was ten.

There's also a small craft area, where coloring pages and other simple activities are offered throughout the day. It was fun to see that the chairs are the same as the one as I have in the doll-sized Ikea furniture set that I bought. For some reason, I forget to get a picture of the doll-sized chair back then, so here it is, and then the (small) human sized chairs.

Here's a picture of the waterpark, and of the giant water bucket that fills up and tips every so often.

There is a doll (figure) involved here! The gift shop at Great Wolf Lodge offers some of the World's Smallest brand items. This trip, I picked up a Totally Hair Barbie mini. Despite the name, this Barbie is definitely not the world's smallest Barbie doll. The mini original Barbie, that I got with the 40th Anniversary Barbie doll, is much smaller. The stand is a nice touch with Totally Hair, though.

There was also another figure involved in the trip, a 3D printed one. Thursday night, CodeMash paid Kalahari to keep some of their water attractions open late, and there was food and free beverages, as well as alcohol to buy. There were also a bunch of board games available in one of the conference rooms. Some of the CodeMash coordinators hid mini, 3D printed Baby Yoda figures around the conference area, and if you found one and turned it in, you got entered into a drawing to win a larger Baby Yoda, about a foot and a half high, or 31.75cm.  Mr. BTEG found one, but he didn't win the big Baby Yoda.

He did win an Artistic Achievement award in the Badge My InternetofThings Life competition. Badges were given out (run by an ESP32, if you're a geek) and people customized them. Mr. BTEG designed the 3D printed case, but he also created a program on the screen that Rickrolled other convention goers.

Lastly, I wanted to share this picture with my Australian readers, especially. It's a ride at Kalahari, that gives you the chance to surf, if you can get up on the board. Most of the people that tried it couldn't stand up. A few did a 360 in the wave; most just held on. It's the closest thing that we have to surfing here in Ohio, although I did have a Surf Ohio shirt when I was in my twenties. :)

I hope you don't mind this mostly off topic post! It's what has taken up most of my time so far this year!

Mattel Barbie Sewing Machine Desk

This set is one of those Mattel head-scratchers, or at least the distribution is. I saw it on someone's blog of new Mattel releases last year, and supposedly it was scheduled to be released for Christmas 2018. Mr. BTEG and the Dancer tried to buy it for me for Christmas, but couldn't find it. Early in 2019, I found it on Amazon, going for about $40. Then a few months ago, I saw it at Target for $9.99, and grabbed it. Mattel can be so weird at times.

So, this desk set includes the desk, with the sewing machine attached, the pink chair, a dress form, a measuring tape, two "thread" cones, three pieces of fabric, a tomato pincushion worn on the wrist, two hangers, a pair of scissors, a "fashion design" sheet, and a plant.

It's nice to finally have a realistic-looking machine in 1/6 scale, and the accessories are not bad, for Mattel. :) The machine will need some paint to bring out the details and make it look better, but at least it's not pink. The scissors don't open and close, and they're clunky. Wouldn't want to make the scissors much smaller for a kid's toy, though. The plant is cute, but kind of a "meh" accessory. I would constantly be knocking it off of my work space. :) This plant fits into a recessed circle on the desk.

The pincushion could also use some paint. The green leaves on top of the typical tomato pincushion are molded on, but not painted.

The desk would look nice with clothes hanging off of the hangers, but the desk can't be pushed all the way against a wall, because of the hangers sticking out. That's not awful, but I do keep wanting to push the desk up against the wall, and being stymied by the hangers. The dress form looks good from the front, but is only partially done in the back. It's also rather wobbly standing up. I haven't measured it to see if it is the right size for the Fashionista or Made to Move bodies.

The fabric has the feel of a spandex knit, but barely stretches. Each piece measures 3.5" x 2.5", or 8.89 cm by 6.35 cm. I really only like the polka-dotted fabric, but there is not enough there to do something meaningful with anyway.

The fashion sheet is weird. There's a hole in the top center, so you can hang it up on one of the two pegs on the "peg board" at the back of the desk. That makes the model in the middle odd proportionally to the other two, even if she is supposed to be petite. Also, the hole on the sheet is round, whereas the peg is slightly rectangular, with a rounded end. You can see by the slight wear around the hole, that I tried to get it on a peg, but didn't want to force it, as I was afraid that I would tear the cardboard.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to share a Re-Ment sewing machine set that I bought quite a while ago. This set is number 6 of the March Comes in Like a Lion - Kawamoto Family Living Room series. In addition to the Living Room series, there seems to be at least a couple of other March Comes in Like a Lion group packs. These all seem to be somewhat related to a manga, which was made into a movie.

The main item in this set is a sewing machine, but on a slightly smaller scale than the Barbie one. Like several of the March Comes in Like a Lion sets, this one has a cat theme. There is a cat on the decorations along the bottom of the machine, and the brand of the machine is Nyanome. This is probably a take on the real Japanese sewing machine brand Janome, which means "snake's eye," based on the round bobbin that the founder of the company pioneered. Nyan is the Japanese version of the English "meow," but I don't know what, if anything, Nyanome means.

The Re-Ment set also came with a spool of "thread," a small basket holding a pincushion with molded pins, and a bag decorated with a cat face.

There is a sewing pattern, of sorts, included with this set. It's actually part of the small card that typically comes with Re-Ment sets, and since it's stiff paper, it won't bend very well, the way it is shown in official photos. I have no plans to use it, but since it does come with the other things, I wanted to show it.

What do you think of these two sets? Do your dolls do any of their own crafting, or design projects?