Doll Show - Strongsville, Ohio - February 27th, 2022

I wouldn't have even known about this doll show, if Tam hadn't emailed me and asked me if I was going. It took place in the same location as the show from last year's post. (I did some posts after that one, showing everything* that I bought at that show.) I wasn't aware that there are doll shows held here twice a year, and not just once. Tam has already put up her post about the show. I was going to work on mine yesterday, but that morning Mr. BTEG got a text from his sister, saying that she and her husband were at the community college only about 15 minutes from our house, to watch their daughter playing volleyball with her travel team. So Mr. BTEG, the Dancer, and I spent the day with my in-laws, ending up down at the lake. There's only a little bit of ice left from the winter.

I didn't take as many pictures at the show as Tam did, but at least mine are all of different things than hers. :)

This is a knock-off Sunshine Family set of three dolls. I didn't know Sunshine Family knock-offs existed until I saw these three.

I felt sorry for the boxed doll on the left. Buy some canned air and get some of that dust off of her! That doll on the right is throwing her some serious side eye.

 

I liked the way the seller had these Japanese dolls arranged on the red steps. It reminded me of the way dolls are displayed for the Japanese doll festival Hinamatsuri, although none of these dolls looked right for the actual festival set-up.

A blast from the past with Pinkie Cooper dolls, plus a Disney Descendants, Monster High, Skipper with tan lines, and what looks like a Miss Revlon doll.

A beautiful Kitty Collier doll in the vinyl. This was probably my favorite Kitty ever produced.

Somebody didn't like Ken's man bun, but then didn't know what to do with him. There were lots and lots of 90s-to-modern Barbie dolls in boxes.

Some My Twinn dolls. I think that's a Tiffany Taylor from the 70s standing behind them.

I loved this felt Lenci doll's felt dress, even though it looks super heavy and thick. I'm not sure if Gene Simmons is showing his approval of the dress, or making a rude gesture. To the right, you can see the Blythe doll Tam showed in her post.

I was interested in the Rub-a-Dub dolly in box, because I had one of my own as a child. Actually, I still do have mine somewhere.

Mine is not in the box, and I don't know if she comes with all of her accessories. She has her hooded towel, and I think her diaper on underneath. My mom made her a flannel bathrobe. I never had the floating vanity and shower.

These dolls are genuine Mattel dolls that use the Sunshine Family Steffie face mold and body for a series of "patriotic" dolls from around 1976.

I loved this group of antique dollhouses, horse stable, and toy fort that I saw all at one table. The first house in this group is marked Gottschalk, which I guessed. I follow someone's blog who collects these older dollhouses, but she hasn't posted in a very long time, and I have forgotten the blog title. Anyway, my thought is that these are all Gottschalk, because they all look similar, except maybe the fort. A couple of the houses also look similar to Gottschalk houses I saw when I was trying to find the blog I'm thinking of.

Lastly are these two pretty Schoenhut girls.

Of course Tam and I had to get a selfie. I could barely see my phone screen because the sun was so blinding.

Tam was kind enough to gift me these three Ever After High dolls, of which I couldn't get a non-blurry picture. There is an Apple White in her original dress and bracelet, an Epic Winter Rosabella Beauty wearing what I think is a Disney Descendants dress, and a nude Cerise Hood. These three are going with the other EAH dolls that I want to customize or re-dress.

I got this Liv Sophie doll for only $2. I have two other Liv dolls, but I'm not sure that I'm going to keep my Liv dolls intact. That's a topic for another blog post, I think. In any case, $2 is a super price just for the clothes, shoes and jewelry.

 

I got this When I Read, I Dream Heidi doll for only $5. She has the same body as the original Barbie's little sister Stacie.

And saving the best for last, is this beautiful reproduction Jumeau doll, with a compo 10.5" body, made by Sylvia Butler. Her slip was made by me. She will be the feature of my next post.

*So I still have a few things from the last doll show that I haven't shown you yet. The main reason is because the vintage Skipper dress that I bought had a slight stain, that I was aware of when I bought the dress. I tried to get the stain out with a couple of things, and then I got busy and distracted by other stuff and moved on from the dress, and you know how it goes. I would like to show the last few things from last doll show soon, even if I can't get the stain out.

You've probably noticed that I've added ads to my blog. I think I have too many, and I'd appreciate some advice on how to place them, so there are fewer, because most blogs I see don't have ads in all the places I'm getting them. If they are taking away too much from your enjoyment of the blog, I'd like to know that, too.

#SNAPSTAR vs Liv

When the #SNAPSTAR dolls first launched, so many people compared them to Liv dolls, myself included. And since I wasn't interested in the #SNAPSTAR dolls themselves, I really just cared about seeing them with Liv dolls. I was interested in their similarities and differences more than the dolls themselves. When I found a #SNAPSTAR doll for a good price, this was my chance, and if you were interested in comparing these two dolls in more detail, I hope you'll enjoy this.

Meet Daniela Liv and Dawn #SNAPSTAR. In this picture, they don't seem to have much in common, other than inset eyes, and oversized heads.

However, there is one thing that makes them stand out from most other doll lines, and resemble each other. This:

Yep, both of these lines have removable wigs, and both lines also have/had separate wigs available for purchase to change your doll's look. (I say have/had because the Liv line is long gone, although of course you can still purchase Liv items second hand, including those spare wigs.)

Not only do the dolls wear wigs, they both have holes in their noggins for a wig post.

So of course, I had to know if the dolls could swap wigs. One thing I noticed during the wig sharing was that Dawn's wig cap is much harder, kind of like a hat. Liv wigs, at least in my experience, need to be almost peeled on or off. This is not easy either, as the wig cap, while not as hard as a plastic hat, is fairly stiff.

Here's Daniela wearing Dawn's wig. It really does change her look quite a bit, and although you can see some of her painted on hair in the front, it's not a bad look for her.

I could see her wearing one of the #SNAPSTAR wigs that had bangs or something, very easily.

While Daniela's wig did not fit Dawn quite as well, it doesn't appear completely out of place, and it changes her look too.

This wig is loose on Dawn, and the wig cap doesn't touch all of her head. It wouldn't be good for play, as it would fall off all of the time. But it doesn't look bad here, and I like being able to see more of Dawn's face than her wig shows.

Wigs aside, one look at Dawn and Daniela will tell you they can't share clothes or shoes. Liv can wear some Barbie clothes; I do know that. For this post, I wanted to look at the newer doll on the block. Naked doll with clothing and shoe images under the fold.

Easter Finds and Monster High Metal Pail Giveaway!

I was hoping to find more cute mini Easter things than I did this year, but I didn't have much luck. I might hit the sales at a couple of stores tomorrow to see if I can find anything. I only found one truly Easter item before today, but this is a good time to show two other things I bought recently that at least feel like spring.

Target often has little mini purses that I believe are supposed to be used as change purses for human size people. But what fun is that when you can use it for a doll instead? The one I bought recently is a bright spring yellow, and can be used as a tote bag for spring trips, taking advantage of better weather.

With 16" Daphne, it works like an extra large purse.

 With a Barbie doll, it looks like a big tote bag. That huge zipper handle has to go.

I also decided to try it with a Liv doll, wondering how her large head would balance out the bag. I think it looks just slightly better, but still comes across like a giant tote bag.

And since it's meant to be a coin purse, it has real storage inside, unlike a lot of bags made for dolls.

The next purse I found by accident. I was perusing the eBay auctions of a Re-Ment seller, when I came upon this purse. It came to me in a sealed plastic store bag, but neither the plastic bag nor this doll purse have any markings. But I'm very happy with it, and I think the pastel colors are just right for spring.

Lastly, I found these two adorable mini bunnies yesterday while shopping for some human sized Easter items. Their fuzzy texture almost makes them look "real" in photos, which I did not expect, but it's a nice surprise.

And now it's time for the giveaway info! While doing the Easter shopping yesterday, I saw some small metal pails to use for holding Easter goodies. The ones for girls had the usual princesses and whatnot, but I spotted a lone Monster High pail. I know some of my readers like to collect the dolls, and I thought this pail might make a nice little Easter giveaway! I'll ship it anywhere in the world, but won't be responsible if it happens to get lost in the post. If you want it, all you have to do is leave a comment on my blog from now until Saturday the 22nd. If you're not currently following this blog, I'd appreciate a follow too. The pail is all metal, and is about 4.75 inches high, or 12 cm. It has the Monster High skull logo on one side, and Clawdeen, Draculaura,. and Frankie on the other.

I hope all my readers who celebrated had a great Easter!

Plans for 2017

I looked over my New Year's dollie resolutions from 2016, to see how I did, and what I wanted to change or continue this year. Last year, I managed to post four times a month for the first half of the year. The second half of the year got really crazy, and there is still some chaos and stress at Casa BTEG, so I don't feel too awfully about meeting my posting goal for the whole year. I'm going to shoot for four posts a month again anyway. I like to keep this blog active.

I was planning to photograph my 10" Georgia doll, but she needed a wig, which I never bought. I also have a Patsy that I need to re-wig. I've never bought a doll wig before, and I keep second guessing which wigs would look best. There are also a *lot* of choices out there! I ought to make the wig thing a higher priority this year, so these dolls can be complete.

Of course, I wasn't sure last January that I would be buying much, and then I went crazy about Ever After High, as you'll see when I blog about one of my Christmas presents. It didn't hurt that most of the EAH dolls I bought were marked down, being older releases. I was thinking seriously about getting another Makie, but that didn't happen, after the company suddenly disappeared.

At least Meg has a lot of doll friends to play with.

Other than Ever After High dolls, I bought one curvy Barbie, one petite Barbie, two Star Darling dolls, and a discontinued LIV set that I bought mostly for the display window. Unless I fall in love with another doll line this year, my doll purchases will probably be down. However, I've also purchased some furniture, and a LOT of accessories like Re-Ment. That will probably continue in 2017.

I've found making time to sew doll clothes difficult. This is probably partially because of my depression issues, and partially because of a schedule which changes every day. I keep trying for big blocks of time to get sewing (or knitting) done; what I need is to do a little at time when I have the opportunity. For some reason, I don't feel motivated to go to my sewing table unless I can get a huge amount done at once. That's just holding me back.

I have a couple of construction projects that I want to begin, but we don't have space for me to take on a big project right now. Likewise, I've been trying to paint doll accessories in my sewing area, which involves a lot of moving things around. I'd like to set up a dedicated space for painting (which I will probably share with my husband and daughter, who paint gaming miniatures.) That crafting space won't be free until later in the year.

Lastly, I've been thinking about starting a running storyline here featuring my dolls! I have an idea that I'm trying to develop into a working plot; hopefully I'll get it started within the next month.

Photography!

Today I finally got the motivation to set up my new photography tent and lights, and get some pictures taken! The kit I bought starts with:
A large flat portfolio. This has two narrow pockets in the front, which each hold one of the lights. There is a larger middle pocket, which I suppose can hold the stand made to hold a cell phone, which was included. I won't be using a cell phone to take pictures, I don't think. My camera isn't professional quality, but is probably better than my cell phone.
Anyway, here's what one of the lights looks like from behind.

The metal stand at the bottom slides up into the cylinder, which makes the light very compact to store.

The white sides of the tent fold out of the portfolio and connect with hook and loop fastenings to make two sides and a top. The back of the tent is made up of the main portfolio case, which is black. I was too interested in getting pictures of dolls to take pictures of the case itself. The back of tent has a strip of hook and loop tape, to which you can attach a roll of nylon fabric for a backdrop. This set came with four rolls in different colors: white, black, navy blue, and red. Each roll has its own hook and loop strip, so it can attach to the back. I only took some pictures with the white backdrop today. I wanted to get some pictures up since it's been so long since I blogged, and I think it might take lots of time and experimentation to see what backdrops other than white look good with certain dolls or props. I think this pictures of Tonner Daphne gives you an idea of what the case looks like unfolded and set up.

I'm sorry that this photo came out blurry! But you can see the finished edges of the backdrop, and a little bit of the black case behind the white backdrop roll. My 16" Daphne sits nicely in here, but her head hit the top of the tent when I stood her up. However, I'm hoping I can use the lights to create nice effects without the backdrop, eliminating the shadows I get when I only use my window as a light source. I also won't have to depend on sunny days to get good lighting, which is good since winter and more cloudy days are coming here.

I decided to use my sole Liv doll as my main model. I happened to see the set on eBay which had this doll, plus a shop window, a mannequin, and some other props, for a good price. This is a good way to introduce her to you.

In the photo below, I experimenting with angling the lights downward, to see what that would look like. I haven't ever studied photography, so I'm probably going to do a lot more experiments to test effects.

And here's a close-up of Daphne's face, to show how well-lit and crisp of an image I can get.

I think it's a step up from the photo below, which only used the sunlight coming in from the window, and therefore created a shadow on her face. The photo above is far from what someone with real experience in photography could get, but it's a start for me. I can already see a few things I'd like to improve next time.

I'm also going to throw in a few pictures from my latest trip to Target, especially since one is time-sensitive. There's a 5% off sale on all Ever After High toys this week. This isn't a lot, although if you have a Red Card from Target, that gives you an extra 5% off, for a total of 10% off EAH stuff. I think Amazon prices are mostly better at this point, to be honest, but if you don't have Amazon Prime, you have to add shipping in there.

I should have put something in this picture for some sort of proportion. I'd say the box is not much taller than my hand, though. For only $3, you might want to take the opportunity to pick up some ornaments for your doll's tree.

Lastly, if you're a Disney Descendants fan, there are some Christmas ornaments of some of the characters. They seem like an odd choice to make, to me. The Barbie ornaments licensed by Mattel seemed to be focused more towards the adult collector. Are young girls so in love with the Disney Descendants characters that they will want them as Christmas ornaments as well as dolls? Maybe enough people watched the Disney Descendants movie that Disney thinks they will sell.

On the other hand, EAH ornaments from the Epic Winter movie might have been cute, with the winter theme.

One last thing, flickr member goche moche found some mini purse keyrings in the bags section of Target which are apparently a good fit for the 1:6 crowd. Check out her picture here!