My Mother-in-Law's Doll

Rebecca was made from an Apple Valley kit.

During the last couple of decades of her life, I would buy dolls for my mother-in-law on special occasions because she loved dolls, too. After she transitioned in 2009, my sister-in-law (SIL) kept most of her dolls. She allowed me to choose one to keep, and a select few other close family members were given a doll. An Apple Valley Kit doll that I put together and named Rebecca, my mother-in-law's middle name, was my choice.

Rebecca's sculpt is called "Raspberry," because she's blowing one.

Rebecca uses the Apple Valley Raspberry mold because she is blowing a raspberry. She is a very happy baby.

In the late 1990s, I purchased a 24-inch toddler doll from another collector, made by Jessie International of Quebec, Canada. The company's mailing address was included on the cloth certificate of authenticity sewn to the doll's back. I contacted them by mail to inquire how to purchase additional dolls. They sent me one of their catalogues, from which I purchased at least a dozen dolls wholesale with the intent to sell the dolls, and I did. I gave one to my mother-in-law (MIL). She fell in love with it, and so did her neighbors and other associates. These women, who lived in a rural town, had never seen such "beautiful Black dolls." For a short time, my MIL and I had a small business selling the Jessie Collection dolls. I kept one for myself, and she kept the one I had given her. The others were sold.

The Jessie Collection dolls are indicated by a yellow star.

Initially, I couldn't find a recent photo of my Jessie Collection dolls (the one purchased from another collector and the one I kept from my wholesale order from Jessie International), but I did have the above group photo, taken on June 14, 2003.

This is a close-up screenshot of the June 14, 2003, photo that includes my original two Jessie Collection dolls. The one on the right is the one I purchased from another collector.

As I was creating tags for this post, "Jessie International" was noted as a previously used tag. It was used for the following photo taken of my two dolls for a 2010 post about dolls from Canada. Find the link to that post at the end of this post.

This is a better photo of my original two Jessie Collection Dolls. They are from 1990 and 1995, respectively.

In June 2026, I attended a "mother's appreciation dinner" hosted by my niece. Towards the end of dinner, my niece presented me with the Jessie Collection doll I had given my mother-in-law. Obviously, at some point, my SIL had given it to her, and now my niece wanted me to have it.

This photo was taken before my MIL's Jessie Collection doll's ponytail had been restyled.

At some point, my mother-in-law gave her doll new socks (I could tell by the pink ribbons attached to the sides, which did not match the dress color), but the dress, pantalettes, and shoes were unchanged. The doll was still in great condition, except her ponytail needed restyling, her socks and shoes needed washing, and I chose to swap out the pink sock ribbons with red ribbons. 

The video below captures the ponytail restyling technique and includes an image of the final result.

Related Link

Dolls from Around the World - Canada

 

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode, find, and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

Artificial Intelligence is Not 100% Reliable

This unknown 21-inch clay and cloth doll entered my collection in July 2020.

The pictured doll has been part of my collection since July 2020, and I've never been able to identify her maker. Recently, I asked Google's Gemini AI  assistant to help me trace the doll back to its original maker using the same headshot photo and a description of the doll's head markings. It is marked: "ETG © VT" within a circle with an "M" to the right of the encircled letters.

Gemini provided a lengthy, detailed answer and identified the mold maker as Vesta Turner, based on the VT head mark. I then searched for online information about a doll artist or mold maker named Vesta Turner, but found nothing. So, I commented that I couldn't find information about her online. Gemini gave a vague answer stating that very little online information is known about Vesta Turner and that some doll sites (including my Black Doll Collecting Blog) might have additional information. 

So, I asked it where it found the information it provided, and it wrote: 

To be completely transparent with you, I need to make a major correction: I completely hallucinated the name "Vesta Turner" and the details surrounding her studio in my previous responses. I made a completely ungrounded logical leap trying to decipher the initials "VT" on the back of the doll's head in image_8c3a03.jpg, and I apologize for providing you with fictional information. 

Because "Vesta Turner" was a mistake on my part, you won't be able to find any legitimate links or historical records connecting that name to doll molds, Leo Moss reproductions, or the 1970s and 1980s time frame. 

In the above response, it referenced my blog again, so I informed Gemini that I am the author of Black Doll Collecting. It apologized profusely and stated it would not insult my intelligence any further. So, in other words, if AI doesn't know the answer, specifically the Gemini platform, it will make something up (fabricate an answer) and call it hallucinating when confronted. 

On 06/27/2026, I updated my original post about this unknown doll with the complete Gemini conversation. So, AI users, beware and know that AI not only makes mistakes, but it also intentionally fabricates.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode, find, and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

The Sacrificial Barbie Deluxe Style 12

After the price of Barbie Deluxe Style 12 Barbie was reduced to $14.99, I purchased three because this doll is a complexion match for my Barbie You Create Neutral Kit 1, one of the kits Mattel sold with one body and three heads. I wanted all three heads to have their own body. So...

After removing two of the three dolls from the box, I had to first tackle their dry and brittle-looking hair (why, you ask, since I'm only using their bodies). I had an articulated $2 body to use for one of the heads.

This is how two of my Barbie Deluxe Style 12 dolls' hair looked right out of the box—dry and brittle-looking!

I gave them a rod roller set.

I saturated the hair with Lotta Body setting lotion and rolled small sections under with tiny red rod rollers as illustrated above. I left the rollers in for 48 hours to allow the hair to fully air dry.

I removed the rollers and later (after this photo was taken) gently finger-combed the curls to slightly loosen them.

Here they are from the front before sacrificing their bodies to two heads in my Barbie You Create Neutral Kit 1.

This is one of the Barbie Deluxe Style 12 dolls after resetting the hair, removing the original body, rebodying onto a cheaper articulated body, and redressing.

I stored the extra Barbie head and the two sets of original clothes in a plastic baggie. The third doll remains NRFB.

Bodying the Barbie You Create Neutral Kit 1 Heads

I was ready to pop the kit heads onto the donor bodies, only to discover that the neck peg on the Deluxe Style dolls was too large and would require modification. After almost giving up, I consulted the resident doll doctor, who used a wire cutter from my dollologist kit to modify the pegs for me. 

The peg on the left is modified (excess plastic snipped off). I had wrapped it with micropore tape after my modifications to cover any rough edges before my husband performed the required extra snipping. The one on the right is the original, unmodified neck peg on the 2nd Barbie Deluxe Style body.

One of the kit heads (Lara) is added to the modified peg and body and fits perfectly.

This photo illustrates that the kit heads will not fit the original Barbie Deluxe Style neck peg without modifying the peg.

The second neck peg was modified by shortening the stem and the side prongs, and the circular area at the base was narrowed with wire cutters.

Both Barbie Neutral Kit 1 heads are attached to the Barbie Deluxe Style 12 donated bodies.

Dressing the Three Kit Dolls

The third doll or first doll in the kit continues to use the Petite Made to Move body provided by Mattel. With all three dolls bodied and dressed, they posed for the final two pictures. 

Nichelle, Lara, and Mermaid (their head sculpt names) are dressed in a mixture of kit clothing and other fashion doll clothes, shoes, and accessories. 

The ladies pose for a final full-length picture.

It took several days, off and on, to complete the hair setting and rebodying process, but it was time well spent.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode, find, and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com