Straight and Narrow Neema

Straight and Narrow Neema by Robert Tonner is a 2022 Virtual Doll Convention Better Together Pop-up event exclusive.

Straight and Narrow (S&N) Neema is just as lovely as the counter images shared by Robert Tonner in a YouTube Video in February of this year. In a collaboration with Rachel Hoffman, the doll was sold at the 2022 Virtual Doll Convention (VDC). I had my mind set on ordering this version after viewing Tonner's video of the four Neemas that would be introduced at the convention. I thought to myself, limited edition or not, I'm going to get that doll! So I named her and claimed her as mine the moment I saw her.

Her beauty rivals Life's a Beach Neema's, but it was the braids that won me over.

Her packaged red boots and doll stand were attached to the box liner.

The poem card has an illustration of S&N Neema.

After Neema arrived, I took several pictures and recorded her details in my Excel doll inventory workbook. Some of the workbook information is copied below:

Description: Straight and Narrow Neema is 1 of 4 Neemas offered exclusively at the 2022 Virtual Doll Convention Better Together Pop-up Event. This 16-inch all-vinyl articulated fashion doll has six squared-off rooted dark-brown braids (the front two are wired), dark brown painted eyes with applied upper eyelashes, and a closed pouty mouth with coral lip color on full lips. S&N Neema wears a coral cotton-knit jumper, and a light pink long-sleeved turtleneck bodysuit. Accessories include fire-engine red high-heel, lace-up boots, and big gold-tone hoop earrings for her pre-pierced ears. In addition to the five usual areas of articulation, S&N Neema is articulated underneath the breast area, at the elbows, wrists, and knees. A poem card, an Ellowyne Wilde wrist tag, and a doll stand are included.

Other: Made in a limited edition of 150 dolls and sold exclusively at the 2022 Virtual Doll Convention on August 27, 2022, at 6 p.m. Mountain Time, Straight and Narrow Neema sold out within 24 hours! My order was placed at 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time!

Neema's Photos continued (she posed for several!)

I used a thumbtack to finish piercing Neema's ears before putting in the gold-tone hoop earrings, which would not go in before I did this.

The gold-tone hoops inserted easily after I enlarged the earlobe holes.

She struck her first "free-from-the-box" pose.

Another pose

I removed the jumper to examine the pink bodysuit and Neema continued posing.

Neema's two front-wired braids were fashioned into a bow. As illustrated here, the jumper can be worn with or without the bodysuit.

One strap of the jumper fell as I was photographing her, so I left it off her shoulder.

The other four braids are not wired.

Upon arrival, the buckles of Neema's jumper straps were in the back instead of the front. I left them in the back until the last pictures were taken.

With the bodysuit back on and the buckles of the jumper straps moved to the front, posing resumed.

Next, I created flat knots with the two wired braids.

I could tell that she preferred the knotted braids.

We went outside and took additional pictures in the sunlight.

Isn't she gorgeous?

She's a deep thinker.

Back inside, Straight and Narrow Neema was placed on display with Life's a Beach Neema and the six Lizette dolls that preceded them.

S&N Neema is with her BFF LaB Neema and six different Lizettes (along with a few others).

A  closer view of the crew reveals the fearless and fashionable leader.

******

As I was editing these pictures, I noticed how similar the shape of S&N Neema's lips are to Diana Ross's. Neema's lips are fuller, but the shape is very similar as illustrated in the last photo with a vintage photo of Diana Ross inserted. 

Diana Ross and S&N Neema

Related Post

Life's a Beach Neema

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

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Life's a Beach Neema by Robert Tonner a 2022 VDC Exclusive

The shipping box of Life's a Beach Neema includes the doll's style number.

As announced in a previous blog post, four new 16-inch fashion dolls by Robert Tonner named Neema would be offered at the 2022 Virtual Doll Convention (VDC) Better Together Pop-up Event. Neema is a new edition to the Ellowyne Wilde line. Four versions were, in fact, offered in ultra-limited editions.

Because I felt the dolls would sell out quickly (and they did, within 24 hours with Life's a Beach Neema achieving a record sellout time of under 10 minutes!), I sat at my computer with my browser open on the URL of the VDC page so I could order my desired doll. I kept refreshing the page until the sale commenced at 6 p.m. Mountain Time on August 27th. I was swift! My first order was confirmed at 6:00 p.m. MDT.

Life's a Beach Neema offers a sneak peek.

There was only one Neema that I had my eyes on initially, but I ended up purchasing two. This blog post and the attached video feature Life's a Beach Neema. (I had no plans of ordering this doll, but in the spur of the heated moment after completing the order for the one I really desired, I went back and snatched up this girl at 6:01 p.m MDT!) She arrived a day before the Neema that I ordered first because all single orders for this doll were processed first.

She is absolutely gorgeous!

View Life's a Beach Neema's presentation in the following video. A separate post about my other Neema will follow.

 

©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, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

How Dusting Led to Doll Repairs

Sunday Best Benji and Bonnie Lou by Terri Lee are 2003 reproductions of the original 1940s-1950s dolls.

After removing dolls to dust and to dust their display area, I discovered unsightly head seam separations of Sunday Best Benji and Bonnie Lou. Their clothing removal led to another shocking discovery. The seams on the sides of their bodies were separated, too. Their clothing had been holding the dolls together.

Their clothing had been holding their bodies together.

After removing their clothes and purchasing E6000, an epoxy glue, I removed their wigs and took the dolls to my husband to repair.

E6000 repair attempt

The E6000 was not strong enough to hold the head seams together.

The E6000 was not strong enough to hold their hard plastic heads and bodies together. "It peeled off like rubber," according to my husband. We both conducted separate online research, and interestingly, we found several different glues by JB Weld designed for gluing auto parts. 

A glue designed for cars worked well to hold together the separated seams.

From AutoZone, I purchased JB Weld Plastic Bonder high strength structural adhesive designed to glue emblems to automobiles. It is a two-part tan solution that comes in two connected syringes. It includes a mixing tray and a wooden stick for mixing. 

JB Weld was applied to all separated seams and allowed to dry...

...for more than a day to make sure the seams would not separate.

After applying the glue to the separated seams, my husband used rubber bands and masking tape to hold the parts together while the glue dried. 

Glue-filled and painted seam gaps below the ears are illustrated here.

This is another view of the gap-filled and painted seams.

After the JB Weld hardened, there were gaps in some areas of the head seams. I added more glue to fill in the gaps and after the additional glue dried, I painted over the glue to match the doll's complexion (not realizing that their wigs would cover these areas, but still... I knew the gaps were there and I wanted to fill them in.)

Rewigging

After the JB Weld glue dried, I applied Aleene's Tacky Glue on the dolls' heads for wig replacement. 

Aleene's Tacky Glue covers Benji's head.

Over the glue, the slightly inverted wig was placed on Benji's head, matching the widow's peak of the wig with the widow's peak area left by the original glue that stained Benji's head.

The same process was followed to replace Bonnie Lou's wig, but the glue was only placed on the crown of Bonnie Lou's head as it had been done originally.

Bonnie Lou's wig replacement

Both wigs are in place.

A scarf was tied over their heads and faces to keep the wigs snugly in place until the glue dried overnight.

Next, the masking tape and rubber bands were removed before redressing and placing the dolls back on display. 

Benji and Bonnie Lou are redressed but Benji is without his hat in this photo.

Sunday Best Benji and Bonnie Lou are once again whole.

Several other collectors have experienced the same seam separation issue with the reproduction hard plastic Terri Lee dolls. I believe the issue stems from the imprecise construction of the dolls' parts. The head sits poorly (too low) on the neck. The neck stringing causes pressure on the parts (pulling the head down onto the neck) and the seams eventually separate. The strength of the original glue also weakened with time and caused the front and back of the body to separate. No one knew this would happen until it did... to several of our dolls, unfortunately. 

 

©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, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!