A BJD Artist's Profile: Alexzandria

Meet BJD artist Alexzandria

BJD artist Alexzandria (@alexzandriathegood) shared her artist profile in the Virtual Black Doll Museum's series, When Did You Fall in Love With Black Dolls? Read her interesting profile here.

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Call for Submissions: If you are a doll collector or doll artist who chiefly collects or makes Black dolls and would like your profile included in this monthly series, please contact the VBDM curator at virtualblackdollmuseum@gmail.com for submission details.



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All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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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 Spam comments will not be published.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 over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls. 

Contact the curator from the contact page of the VBDM to have your profile as a Black-doll collector or artist featured on the museum website.

Barbie Extra 14

Barbie Extra #14 uses the Daisy sculpt.

As doll collectors, most of us can be easily enabled or influenced to add additional dolls to our collections, and self-enabling is often at play. This was the case with my purchase of Barbie Extra #14. 

I recently realized, after photographing Barbies that use the ©2015 Daisy head sculpt, that the Daisy sculpt has been rarely used for Black Barbies. This fact led to the purchase of Barbie Extra #14.

Barbie Fashionista 105 and Barbie Extra #1 use the Daisy head sculpt.

Before buying Barbie Extra 14, I owned only two other Daisies: Barbie Fashionista 105 and Barbie Extra #1 from 2018 and 2020, respectively. 

Barbie Fashionista 105 (©2018) was the first doll with the Daisy sculpt to enter my collection in 2019.

She's the one that made me fall in love with this sculpt, and is my second Fashionista 105 (the first one was redressed for a special project).

Of the two original Daisies in my collection, Fashionista 105 is the prettiest (I own two), in my opinion, but I still wanted Barbie Extra #14 and managed to find her for a reasonable price. 

The full-length view illustrates my newest doll and accessories.

The back of the box graphically illustrates Barbie Fashionista #14 and the accessories.

Spreadsheet Description: 11-1/2 inch doll on a Curvy Barbie body uses the Daisy head sculpt, which is not often used on Black Barbies. The doll has dark-brown rooted hair styled in four double-strand twisted ponytails with painted-on baby hair; brown-painted eyes; and a closed mouth with pink lip color. Dressed in a two-piece pink-and-white Barbie-logo'd top and skirt,  a fuzzy pink jacket, white sneakers, white hoop "Barbie" earrings, a beaded necklace, and a plastic silver "Barbie 1980" necklace. Accessories include pink heart-shaped sunglasses, a retro ring, a rectangular clutch designed like an old-school doll box, and a pup inside a convertible pink car.

L-R: Barbie Fashionista 105, Barbie Extra #1, and Barbie Extra #14

Now I own three Daisies.

Other Barbies that use the Daisy sculpt are included in the Fashion Dollz ©2015 Daisy / Curvy Face DMF24 gallery.

Related Link

A Christmas Tree Dress for Barbie

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©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 over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls. 

Barbie Style 248 and the Clothing

Barbie Style 248 uses a new, currently unnamed head sculpt.

I included Barbie Style #248 with my Angel Reese order in July. As usual, I photographed the doll both in and out of the package. 

The doll was photographed inside the package.

Next, I recorded the doll's full description on my Excel Doll Inventory 2026 spreadsheet. The description column reads as follows:

11-1/2 inch Barbie, new head sculpt, has a long black ponytail with crimped ends, painted-on baby hair, a smiling mouth with painted teeth, dark lip color; wears a two-piece blue-and-white floral-print shorts outfit with gray high-top sneakers, and a white choker. Now Redressed.

Before discarding the package, I took a photo of the back, where 248 appears on the 2nd row, the 2nd doll from the left.

The Unboxed Photos

This pretty doll posed for a close-up and three full-length photos.

The original two-piece blue-and-white print shorts set suits her petite figure and youthful look, but because of the stiffened fabric, I opted to redress her in more stylish clothing made of better material, as illustrated next. 

A white tie-front blouse with 3/4 length sleeves is paired with a pair of plaid slacks. She wears her original necklace and gray sneakers. I pierced her ears and added white stud earrings.

I took another close-up after redressing her. (She reminds me of the actress Lovie Simone).

She wears a pair of aviator shades with her new clothes.

I asked ChatGPT about the materials used for most play-line Barbie clothes and why these stiffened synthetic materials are used. 

Question/Prompt: Why do recently released play-line Barbie clothes feel like stiffened paper or plastic?

Answer: The clothes for new play-line Barbies feel that way because Mattel heavily uses printed polyester with heat-sealed edges and plastic laminates to maximize production speed and lower costs.

Why New Play-Line Clothes Feel Like Plastic

• No Real Hems: Modern play-line clothes rarely have sewn hems. Instead, the edges are melted with heat (heat-sealed) to prevent fraying, which turns the fabric edge into hard plastic.
• Printed Plastic Graphics: Instead of sewing different fabrics together, patterns like pockets, buttons, and glitter are printed directly onto a stiff, paper-thin polyester sheet using vinyl ink.
• No Woven Threads: Many budget items use non-woven synthetics. These materials are bonded by heat or chemicals rather than woven from thread, giving them a stiff, paper-like texture. [1]
• Velcro Compatibility: Stiff, densely packed synthetic fibers make it easier to attach aggressive Velcro fasteners without snagging the rest of the outfit.

How to Soften Them up

• Warm Water Wash: Soaking the clothes in warm water with a drop of liquid fabric softener can break down the factory stiffening agents.
• Conditioner Soak: Rubbing a tiny bit of cheap hair conditioner into the fabric and rinsing it can relax the stiff synthetic fibers.
• Air Dry Only: Always air dry Barbie clothes, as heat from a dryer or iron will permanently melt and warp the plastic materials. [2]

[1] https://www.reddit.com

[2] https://www.ubuy.mq

This is good information, but I'll probably continue to redress dolls that wear stiffened, super-synthetic fashions instead of softening the clothes. With the help of AI, I placed Barbie Style 248 (maybe I'll name her Lovie) outside an upscale shopping boutique. I added a bracelet to match her necklace, a shoulder bag, and a shopping bag as illustrated in the last image.

Lovie looks very chic in this photograph.

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©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 over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls.