Friday, January 30, 2015

Once Upon A Time...

... when I had more patience, I'd do things like braid a doll's hair like I did for Joy.

Joy by Sylvia Natterer for Gotz, 1990s, originally had bone straight hair that hung loose.


Joy is an 18-inch, all-vinyl, string-jointed doll with painted eyes by Sylvia Natterer for Gotz from the 1990sMade in Germany, Joy arrived with bone straight, rooted hair with a side wisp of curls for bangs.  I visualized her with multiple microbraids and made that visualization a reality shortly after she arrived during the late 1990s, having been purchased from an out-of-state doll dealer, Lane's Collectibles, I believe.   I did not take before pictures of Joy's hair prior to braiding it several years ago.  In the following photos of a photo from page 390 of Myla Perkins' doll reference (Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide Book II), the black and white image might offer an idea of how Joy's hair was styled originally.





Several years after Joy's arrival, I found another Natterer/for Gotz doll deeply discounted at Tuesday Morning. 

Cathy is another string-jointed, all-vinyl doll with painted eyes by Sylvia Natterer.  She is from 2003 and stands 17-1/2-inches tall.

Cathy and Joy have been display buddies since Cathy's arrival.  I recently reconnected with the two after adding another similar size doll to their display shelf.  It was then that I decided to free them from the shelf temporarily for photographing and sharing here.

Cathy and Joy pose for a photo together.

Both dolls wear their original fashions and shoes.  Prior to returning them to the shelf, I replaced a couple of Joy's beads, which fell to the floor when I retrieved her.   Both girls are now back on display. 



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22 comments:

  1. They are both very cute! The braids are very pretty, it must have taken quite some time to make this hair-do :-).

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    1. Thank you, Night Owl. I'm sure it did take quite a while to braid and I probably did it in more than one session. It's all a blur to me now.
      :-)

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  2. I love the braids! Very cute. I recently micro-braided the hair of one of my re-rooted dolls. Even though she's only a Barbie doll, it still took forever. I can't imagine how much time a larger doll would take!

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    1. I'm sure your doll's hair is lovely, Saturday Sequins. The things we do for our dolls. :-)

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  3. You did an amazing job. She looks so cute with those braids.

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  4. The braids look great! i love braiding my dolls hair. It gives them a different look from the normal straight hair.

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    1. I agree, GG. Braids do give them their own unique look. I need one of your OOAK creations.

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  5. She looks so cute with her braids.

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  6. Sitting in front of one another and scratching each others heads was something we enjoyed doing on Saturday evenings as kids (because on Sunday morning we'd get our hair hot combed). If someone tried to touch my head now, I'd be like, "Yuck!" But I do love to braid my own hair and I too find it quite relaxing.

    They both look adorbs!

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    1. I used to have Saturday sessions at the beauty salon, every 2 weeks until I was 18 with my mother and sister until I began doing my hair myself.

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  7. Cute dolls! I love Joy's braided hair! I still twist and braid my dolls' hair sometimes.

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  8. Lovely dolls! And the braids are gorgeous! I've bought a few micro-braided wigs for dolls, but I've never tried doing it myself on a doll with rooted hair, this might be inspiring me to give it a go.

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    1. You'll probably enjoy it, jSarie. It was a form of doll therapy for me back in the day when I'd change a doll's hair style (not necessarily by braiding) more often than I do now.

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  9. I love the braids. It does take patience to add the beads too. She's a cutie

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  10. Hello, just dropping by to let you know that Sylvia Natterer has been working with PetitCollin in order to release some new dolls. Some are 13" tall other are 18". The smaller doll are Minouche and the bigger are Finouche.
    Samira is the black doll of the collection and she is 13" tall.

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to share the good news, Thammie. If and when there are photos of the new line, please share the link. Thanks again!

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