A New Resident -- Who Is Not a Doll

Chris at My Barbie's Closet recently put up a post about losing a beloved dog to illness, and welcoming a new one into the family. At the very time I read the post, Mr. BTEG and the Dancer were on their way to pick up a new rabbit to add to our family, which I mentioned to Chris. She said that she wanted to see a picture of our bunnies, so here they are.

The bunny that has been with us since 2018 is named Kip. The Dancer has been thinking for a while that perhaps Kip should have another bunny to play and socialize with. We finally started seriously looking a couple of months ago, and a week ago, less a day, Mr. BTEG and the Dancer drove to a rescue a couple of hours away, and came home with Tallahassee (yes, her siblings were Little Rock and Wichita.)

Here is a so-so photo of Kip from 2018.

Here is a picture of Tallahassee. Hers is a much larger breed than Kip's. Pretty sure Kip is a Dutch rabbit, and Tallahassee is a brown/black Rex.

And a picture of Kip and Tallahassee investigating each other. Until they get their dominance issues sorted out and bond, their pen is split in half, and they get separate time to run around in the Dancer's bedroom.

Having a bigger bunny has been extra work for the Dancer. Talia (her nickname) drinks about twice as much, and pees twice as much, as Kip does. But it seems to be good for Kip to have a fellow rabbit resident, and of course Talia now has a good home. :)

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.

Depression

Barbie up above is providing a good picture of how I felt yesterday. I didn't have any interest in doing things that I normally enjoy doing; I didn't really have interest in anything. But I got this image in my head, and I wanted to photograph it. I hope that it is a good expression of my inner self.

Here's wishing that everyone who celebrates Mother's Day today had a happy one. Mr. BTEG and I went to Youngstown to celebrate the day with his sisters, their spouses, and our niece. The Dancer has been staying with one of her aunts since Wednesday. Her aunt and uncle found out on Tuesday that his mother had passed away, so the Dancer and I drove down on Wednesday, and I came back home that night. The Dancer also got to spend some nice time with her cousin that way.

Second Doll and More Light Stand Photos

The previous spa doll was all about pampering. This Barbie is a fitness doll. She has bendable elbows, wrists and knees. I think she has the Bambi face mold, and different looks from the spa girl.

She comes with her outfit, two pink weights, two purple weights, a water bottle, a gym bag, a hoop, and the exercise mat. I'm not quite sure why the hoop was included. I know they're used for gymnastics, but gymnastics doesn't seem to be the theme here. The blue mat is just a thin piece of foam. It scratches easily and attracts little pieces of hair and dust like crazy. It came rolled up in a plastic clip, so it will take some time for it to lie flat. Fortunately, foam sheets are fairly inexpensive at the craft store, so the mat is super replaceable, or you can acquire more mats if you want to start a Barbie exercise class. :)

It's cute that the puppy is joining Barbie in her workout routine.

The gym bag is made of thin plastic. If you push the two sides together at the top, the bag opens up enough that you can put the weights and water bottle in.

The shoes have nice detail.

I think this doll is very pretty for a playline doll. She has at least two color tones in her red hair, and eyes of a nice shade of gray.

And now some more shots of the new light stand that I bought. It stands on a fairly sturdy tripod, and it has two places where the post can be extended or reduced to make the light taller or shorter. I haven't checked how high the light will go, but well over six feet, so I think it will be fine for all of my photography needs.

The actual light source consists of a curly lightbulb inside of a rectangular umbrella type frame. Then there is a white piece of diffuser fabric that attaches to the frame with Velcro. The frame measures 20"x27" (50.8cm x 68.58cm.) Neither Mr. BTEG nor I could find a way to turn the rectangle so the long side was at the bottom. I have to take care when I rotate the frame up or down, to make sure the frame's weight stays balanced.

This light stand wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, so I'm glad I invested in something a little bit better to help my photography.

A New Light

I mentioned that I had ordered a standing photography light with a diffuser, and it finally arrived. I decided to take pictures of the new Barbies I bought. They're home spa-themed, which is pretty serendipitous for Mattel right now, especially since a lot of the other dolls that were in line to be released this year are movie dolls. I haven't seen anything official as to what Mattel plans to do with those dolls, since the movies they're based on have been postponed. I presume stores that are still open are going to want some sort of merchandise for their shelves, and then Mattel also has fulfillment contracts, so who knows?

Anyway, on to better subjects. I only had time to get a shot of one of the new doll sets, and I'm also including a picture of my new light. I need to do some more tidying in my area of the craft room, but I really, really, really wanted to try out my new lighting capabilities. This new doll does not count towards my collection count, since I honestly only bought this doll as a body donor. :) I thought you might like to see her and her accessories, though.

She came with the wrap around towel, the headband, a "rubber" duck, a faux candle, the puppy, neck pillow, a bath brush, slippers, faux cucumber eye masks for her and puppy, a faux magazine which is merely a piece of cardboard, only printed on one side, the mat, and that box with six colored spheres. I'm guessing those are supposed to represent colored bath bombs. There's another doll set that includes a bathtub, which I don't plan on buying.

And then here is the light. I have a lot to learn about what angles will work best to eliminate shadows, but I really needed a better light source, so here it is.

Once I get my craft area in better shape, I'm planning on photographing the other spa doll I bought, and maybe some skin tone comparisons, if anyone else thinks these dolls would make good body donors for a doll in their collection.

My Collection Part Two: American Girls

I plan to intersperse collection photos with other blog posts, but these photos were easy to take, so I decided they would come next. I have a human-sized photography light on order, but it's being held up due to current virus issues.

Samantha is an original Pleasant Company doll, but she wasn't made in Germany, like the very earliest AG dolls were. Caroline is a Mattel doll. I have taken some detailed comparison pictures for people like Farrah, who were interested in the little differences between the Pleasant Company and Mattel dolls, but I'll put those at the end. If you're not interested in the minutiae, you don't need to read that far.

Quick historical note, Pleasant Company was started to help girls learn American history. I remember reading that the books were actually supposed to be the focus of the collection, and the dolls and accessories were additions, to help girls "act out" the scenes from the books. There were even girl-sized outfits that matched Pleasant Company doll clothes, for further immersion.

Samantha was released in the 80s, but I think I received Samantha for Christmas from Mr. BTEG in 1997. Eldest got her Bitty Baby (by Pleasant Company) for Christmas that year, though, so it's possible that I might have gotten mine the year before and started getting Pleasant Company catalogs then. I bought Caroline in 2015 when it was announced that she and her collection were going to be retired. Something about her had appealed to me ever since she was released, but her being retired made me finally buy her. Most of you are probably pretty familiar with this type of 18" doll, since there are so many other similar dolls that have been produced. American Girls have stuffed, cloth bodies, as you can see by looking at Caroline's neckline. In general, Pleasant Company dolls have more stuffing than more current releases.

A closeup of Samantha. I wish that if she had to have bangs, they wouldn't have been so long and thick. I've included a shot of her with her bangs somewhat pushed aside, so you can see part of her eyebrows.

And Caroline. She has slightly less of the whites of her eyes visible, which I think makes the biggest difference in their expressions?

I had to take a few pictures of the girls with their mini-versions, especially since I just featured the minis in my last post. Originally, Samantha did have a matching hair ribbon in her hair, but it was sewn in, and at one time I dressed Samantha in a different dress, so I had to remove the original ribbon. If I sewed the ribbon onto a bobby pin or narrow hair clip, Samantha could wear it again. Just one more thing on a long list. :)

As you can see, the two doll sizes are *very* similar in their outfits. My 18" Samantha came wearing drawers like I show on mini Samantha, but the elastic is shot in those, so 18" Samantha just wears her tights. Of course, the real Samantha wouldn't have been wearing tights, but I forgive Pleasant Company this, as knee stockings might have gotten loose at the top pretty quickly. Period garters would have added a lot of expense, and difficulty dressing the doll. Not to mention, the garters would have been attached to a stiffened sort of sleeveless undershirt with shoulder straps, like a corset, but unboned. That would make for more expense, plus American Girl dolls did not give completely accurate attention to undergarments, which is acceptable for me. The American Girl doll Felicity doll did have ribbon garters to tie her stockings around her knees, but those are far more simple.

I love having both of these dolls in my collection. I have some of Samantha's accessories and furniture, but nothing of Caroline's. Someday I would like to find Caroline's accessories second-hand. Her straw bonnet is the only thing I think that I would have a hard time making myself.

Now let's get to where these two dolls are the most different: their eyes and eyelashes. Honestly, they aren't even that different here, at least on my pair. People enjoy comparing dolls from different eras, though, so here are some pics.

Samantha's eyelashes are obviously sparser and rougher looking. Neither doll has ever been played with by a child, so I think that makes for a pretty even comparison. I'm not aware of my Samantha ever losing any eyelashes. The iris decal looks about the same for both girls, which was probably a wise choice by Mattel. No point in differentiating these dolls from earlier ones in more ways than necessary.

As you can see, Caroline's eyelashes curve up more at the ends. Samantha's look more realistic to me, though. As far as touch, however, neither doll's eyelashes feel softer than the others. Caroline's *eyebrows* are brush strokes, whereas Samantha's are a straight line. Caroline's are more realistic, but I don't think Samantha's are bad.

One last very small difference, and that is in their teeth.

Samantha's teeth are painted further up underneath her lip. Her eyes and teeth are not as white as Caroline's, but that could be partially due to aging. Samantha is over twenty years old!

Total dolls: 11

My Collection Part One: Mini American Girls

Since Chris and Rachael are both sharing pictorial records of their collections, I decided to jump in too. It's something that I ought to do anyway, and it will be an easy photography option when I am otherwise uninspired.

I decided to start with the mini American Girl dolls. They are 6 inches tall, and are tiny versions of the regular 18" American Girl dolls, and their friends, who also had dolls for a short period of time. I think I'm in the minority, but I prefer the soft bodies that my mini dolls have, like the 18" dolls. At some point, Mattel changed the minis so that bodies are all vinyl. Most of the American Girls' stories start with them being nine years old, and later on show them celebrating when they turn ten. There are several more mini dolls out there; these are the ones that I own.

This is Felicity, and her friend Elizabeth. Their story starts in 1774. Although they are friends, Felicity's parents are Patriots, while Elizabeth's are Loyalists, which leads to some tension in their friendship.

Felicity's dress changed when Mattel re-introduced Felicity to the doll line. I think the original dress was much more period accurate in its print choice. Elizabeth is wearing a dress from Felicity's Christmas story. She and Felicity are invited to the governor's mansion for a dance lesson along with other well-born girls. Mini Felicity in her Christmas dress was also released, along with several of the other mini AG dolls. You'll see an example two dolls down.  

This is Caroline. She lives in New York state, on the coast of Lake Ontario. Her father runs a shipyard, until he is kidnapped by the British, during the lead up to the War of 1812.

Caroline's dress is pretty accurate to her time, with the high waist and simple trims. The dress on my mini Caroline is a little strained in the bodice, though.

Meet Josefina. Her story starts in 1824, where she lives in New Mexico. She has recently lost her mother, and her aunt comes to live with them, bringing new ideas.

This is the dress from Josefina's Christmas story. Josefina's meet outfit is Hispanic style, with a loose blouse, gathered print skirt and woven belt. Her Christmas dress is more in line with European fashion of the time, although she also wears her black headscarf, or mantilla, to Mass. The 18" doll also came with a hair comb, and Josefina wears one in the pictures in the book. If you look at this extant 1820s girl's dress, you can see how accurate Josefina's dress is.

At one time, this dress could be seen at Vintage Textile. The image survives on Pinterest, and although all the images link back to Vintage Textile, I couldn't find the dress anymore on the website.

Here are Cecile and Marie-Grace, from 1853. They were unusual in that both were main characters in their stories, and also friends interacting in the other's life. Each girl had her own Meet book, and then two other books of her own, making for six books total. Both girls have to help their family and others around them when a yellow fever epidemic hits their home city of New Orleans. Cecile also faces challenges as a member of a well off, "free people of color" family, when most black people in the United States at that time are slaves. Marie-Grace has lost her mother and recently moved to New Orleans with her father, feeling overwhelmed in the big city.

Many collectors agreed that mini Marie-Grace's face is... unfortunate. The solid pink straps on Marie-Grace's dress are called bretelles, and they come off much better on the 18" doll than here. Cecile's dress is also pretty accurate, although in real life, the white center of her dress could have been tightly pleated in "fan front" style, and she probably would have had at least one more velvet bar across the bodice.

This is Kirsten. We meet her in 1854, when she is moving to Minnesota as a pioneer from her home in Sweden.

Kirsten's uncle, aunt and cousins have settled in Minnesota before Kirsten's family. Kirsten receives this "American dress" from her cousins pretty early on, to replace the traditional dress Kirsten wore from Sweden. Since Kirsten's family is not well off, her dress is simpler than those of Cecile and Marie-Grace. The 18" doll's dress is more accurate, having a slight gather in the bodice at the waist. Kirsten's looped braids don't translate to the mini doll very well.

Here is Samantha. She lives in New York state in 1904, with her grandmother, who is wealthy. Through Samantha's eyes, we see all the new things that are changing the way people live, such as automobiles and the telephone, and new ideas about things such as votes for women and child labor.

This outfit is Samantha's meet dress from her original story. Bangs weren't in fashion for girls in 1904, but the rest of her outfit is perfect. Don't get me started on the clothes the re-released Samantha doll wears.

This is Ruthie. She is the friend of Kit, who is the main character of the stories. They are facing the Great Depression together in 1934. Kit's dad has lost his job, while Ruthie's father is still employed.

The cut and print of Ruthie's dress is just right for the 1930s. My Ruthie's hair is unruly.

So here's an introduction to my collection. I hope you don't mind that it also turned into a mini-lesson on historical fashion, but that's right in my wheelhouse. My interest in historical fashion is what attracted me to American Girl dolls in the first place.

Total dolls: 9