2020 Annual Club Doll

Sculpted head of our 2020 annual doll

The members of my private Facebook group commissioned doll artist, Karen Oyekanmi to make our 2020 club doll, which will be the group's last annual doll.  As usual, we voted on the face sculpt, hair, clothing, and the doll's other details.

During the doll-making process, Karen shared photos of the different stages of completion.  Some of the beginning stages of the dolls are illustrated below.

The bodies have been added to the sculpted head.

Fully sewn with arms and legs attached, the faces have been partially painted.

Hair has been added, faces fully painted, and the dolls have been dressed.

The club doll comes with two dolls to hold, a boy and a girl.  The mini dolls are shown here before they were dressed.

The minis are made of felt, too.

The result of our choices and Karen’s doll-making magic resulted in twenty-five, 16-inch felt dolls inspired by the 2018 most beautiful girl in the world, Jare Ijalana from Lagos, Nigeria.  While the dolls look like sisters, because each one was hand-sculpted and hand-painted, they each have different personalities. They are each one-of-a-kind.

After I received the dolls from Karen, each doll was removed from the cellophane Karen had shipped them in. I individually inspected them, fluffed their hair in place, wrapped each in bubble wrap, and placed each one back into the cellophane in preparation for boxing and mailing individually to each club member.

After the dolls were completed, Karen shipped them to me for me to ship out separately to each club member.  I inspected each doll prior to boxing each doll for mailing. 

Some of the club members who shared photos of their dolls gave me permission to share the photos here.

Jackie Harpp included her doll's certificate in the photo.

Cheryl Bruce's doll took a cute seated photo with the Ava Duvernay doll by Funko.

Bonnie Lewis posed her doll with the 2019 club doll by Goldie Wilson and the 2017 club doll by Sue Sizemore.

Cathy Runnels added hair to her doll before sharing this close-up photograph.

Debbie VonHendricks' doll posed with a variety of other dolls in Debbie's collection.

Deborah Johnson also included her doll's certificate of authenticity (COA) in the photograph she shared.

Looking quite confident, Dorothy Singleton's doll took this laid-back photo after the doll's arrival to her new home.

My next-door neighbor, Florence Evans (next city over, that is), took this group photo that features her 2020 club doll.

Anita "Nini" Ornsby's doll holds her two mini dolls securely.

Shawatha Kendrick's doll is surrounded by other dolls in her collection.

Vicky Williams shared this pretty photo of her pretty girl and minis.

Wanda Richardson, whose doll's delivery was delayed by the USPS for unknown reasons, shared this photo of her doll and the doll's COA.

Phyllis Burns gave her doll a coordinating ribbon headband and bracelets.

Sheila Young said her doll loves the color orange.

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It took me a while to take photos of my doll, but I finally took some a few days prior to sitting down to write this post.  My girl's photos are incorporated in the following description.

Description

My doll and her mini dolls

The 16-inch all-felt dolls have sculpted mask faces with dark-brown 4C natural-textured hair, painted black eyes that have blue irises, and painted lips that are highlighted with gold paint.

This close-up of my doll's face illustrates her eye color.

They are dressed identically in an orange floral-print dress, orange panties, and silver pumps with a silver bow at the vamp.

The 4-inch minis are made of felt. The boy's complexion is light brown; the girl's complexion is medium brown. The larger doll's fingers are wired for posing.  The fingers can be clasped, as shown, or unclasped. The fingernails are painted.

As illustrated in the members' photographs and my photograph immediately above, our dolls hold a boy and girl doll.  The minis and their clothing are made of felt.  The boy wears a blue nautical romper; the girl wears a red dress with iridescent stars applied.  They both have black yarn hair. The girl's hair is adorned with a blue bow.  Both minis have painted facial features and painted-on socks and shoes. 

Also noted, each doll has a signed and dated certificate of authenticity which certifies each as an "original art felt doll limited edition of 25 hand crafted by artist Karen Oyekanmi."

My doll is displayed with other felt dolls in my collection.  Another Karen Oyekanmi creation, named Toddler Baby that holds a doll stands next to the 2020 club doll.  A needle-felted doll made by Sue Sizemore; and Destiny, a tribute doll to Ruby Bridges, made by Rachel McCullough of Starkey's Daughter Cloth Dolls are the other two dolls.

Based in Oakland, CA, Karen Oyekanmi is the 1984 founder of American Black Beauty Doll Artists.  She did a fabulous job of completing this commissioned work and keeping us abreast of the doll-making process throughout. 

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