Black Doll Collecting: February 2025

Thursday, February 27, 2025

A New Dress for 28-inch Barbie

A colorful dress for 28-inch Barbie by Patdoodles

I purchased a stylish dress and matching headband for my 28-inch Barbie during a live doll sale hosted by Patdoodles on Youtube. Pat Green (a.k.a. Patdoodles) hosts live doll shows on YouTube and Whatnot. During the YouTube live, the dress was modeled by a 28-inch Barbie like the one I own. It was made for the event. It arrived with gift items described later in this post.

Before my doll modeled her new dress, she took a before photo. I love the fashion she was wearing, but it's always nice to have a change or two.

This outfit shows off Barbie's shapely figure. It was purchased on Etsy from another seller a few weeks ago.

Barbie models her new dress.

Here is a close-up of the headband which has an attached bow.

During the YouTube live, which was a Black History doll sale, Pat asked a series of Black History trivia questions and gave Black History information cards and stickers to the first person who answered correctly. Along with the dress, I received the following gifts from Pat.

Gifts from Pat

Ida B. Wells Black Heritage postage stamp postcard

The text on the Ida B. Wells postcard reads:

A courageous fighter against injustice and social wrongs, Ida B. Wells won an international reputation for her fiery denunciation of discrimination, exploitation and brutality. She began her career as a teacher, but soon became a journalist who had to flee Memphis for New York when her newspaper, The Memphis weekly Free Speech, was demolished in 1892 by an angry mob.

In New York, she published Southern Horrors, and The Red Record, the first statistical study of lynching. Settling in Chicago in 1895, she continued to contribute to newspapers and periodicals; founded a settlement house to assist migrant African Americans in finding jobs and homes; helped organize the NAACP, and devoted much of her later years to promoting voting rights for women through marches and other lobbying activities.

A sticker with an image of a vintage couple was included in the gift package from Pat.

A Dear Black Girl affirmation sticker is the 3rd of three items in the gift package from Pat.

Black ABC Cards

Black ABC Cards

The Black ABC Cards were not part of Patdoodles' sale. I purchased these from an Etsy shop. They arrived the same day as the Barbie fashion. The cards are a reproduced mini version of the original 1970 Black ABC Cards. These cards measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches and feature African American children and adults for each alphabet, e.g. A is for afro; Z is for zip. These high-quality cards are a nice substitute for the original version I had long desired. The Etsy seller sent a full-size "D is for dream" card as a thank you gift.

Related Links

28-inch Barbie's arrival

28 inch Barbie gets redressed

Soul Primer (an article about the original Black ABC cards)

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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.

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Black Doll Enthusiast

I am a Black-doll enthusiast, doll historian, freelance writer, author of The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls; Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion; and The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak, I Listen.

Founder and curator of DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum at virtualblackdollmuseum.com Please visit and become a contributing patron. Black dolls are my passion, my drug of choice. They renew my spirit!

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Nines d'Onil Little Mia

After purchasing a 12-inch Mia by Nines d'Onil in December 2024, I wanted a 9-inch Little Mia mate for the larger doll. Little Mia arrived recently wearing only her undergarment to which the Nines d'Onil brochure was attached.

Little Mia has a short brown Afro, brown inset eyes, and is vanilla-scented. Unfortunately, her vinyl body and limbs have a powdery or ashy cast.

Yellow scarf and felt

I used a vintage-style yellow scarf and a yellow sock to make Little Mia a dress as photo-illustrated next.

A cut yellow infant sock created a tube dress for Little Mia.

I folded the scarf diagonally and made a top fold to shorten the length.

The corners of the scarf were wrapped around Mia's body and met in the back.

Both loose corners of the scarf were brought from the back to the front of Little Mia's shoulders, wrapped around and under the upper arms (to create sleeves), and brought to the back to meet the opposite loose corner where both corner ends were tied. This photo illustrates wrapping one corner around Little Mia's left shoulder and arm.

This photo illustrates a side view of the scarf-wrapped shoulder and arm from the back to the front.

The other loose corner is wrapped over Mia's right shoulder before taking the loose end to the back.

Both corners have been wrapped from the front to the back of Little Mia's body.

The loose ends of both corners were tied in the back.

Little Mia posed to illustrate the tied corners. The sock dress covers the parts of Little Mia's body that the scarf does not cover.

Little Mia's ears were pierced with yellow map pins which serve as stud earrings and a headband was created with a gold ribbon.

Little Mia posed once again to show off her new dress.

She smiles for the camera to indicate her pleasure.

I was going to make shoes for Little Mia with yellow felt and other materials, but I left her feet bare instead.

Twelve-inch Mia and 9-inch Little Mia display well together.

This is a closeup of the two cuties.

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Aaliyah Barbie, Finally

The Aaliyah Barbie is from the Black Label Barbie Signature Collection

In recent years, Mattel/Mattel Creations has doled out highly-sought-after dolls which creates 1) quick sellouts of available quantities, 2) collectors' frustration and frenzy to acquire the dolls, and 3) skyrocketed prices from secondary market scalpers who scoop up many of the doled-out quantities to resell for profit.

The morning after the initial quantities sold out at Mattel Creations, I pre-ordered my doll on January 16, 2025, from a store that later dropped its DEI initiatives (so I won't promote their site here). The expected date of delivery was February 3, 2025. On February 8th, still waiting on the doll's arrival, I spoke to a customer service associate who, after researching my order, informed me that additional quantities would be released on February 10, 2025.

On February 12th, my doll finally arrived. It is a lovely tribute to R&B singer/actress Aaliyah Dana Haughton and was well worth the wait. The wait, in my opinion, was unnecessarily generated since Black Label Barbie distribution is in unlimited quantities. (Except for being a marketing strategy to create a demand for the dolls by offering a few at a time, I cannot make this tactic make sense. Reportedly, some physical stores received only three dolls at a time!)

The back of the box is illustrated here.

The back of the box features several headshots of lovely Aaliyah with the following descriptive text.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Aaliyah's debut album, Barbie™ pays homage to the "Princess of R&B," affectionately known as "Baby Girl." Aaliyah was born in Brooklyn and raised in Detroit. She gained recognition at the age of 10 when she performed on a popular TV talent search show. Four years later, at the age of 14, her debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number," was released and with three million copies sold in the US alone, it was certified double platinum.

As a tribute to the influential superstar, Aaliyah Barbie™ doll wears an outfit inspired by Aaliyah's eponymous look from her "One in a Million" music video.

Aaliyah Barbie wears a black faux leather costume.

From the soft, lyrical sound she dubbed "street to sweet" to her stand-out style, Aaliyah displayed an unmatched talent as a rising artist and actress. She pioneered a sound in a typically male-dominated genre that resonated with industry professionals and fans alike. Her legacy transcends music, fashion, and culture and lives on today.

My Aaliyah Barbie™ is installed in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum. Read more about the doll where there are additional pictures in the installation.

Note to Mattel: Do better by meeting the immediate demand for dolls without creating buying frenzies as you have done repeatedly in the past. This tactic is overplayed and quite exasperating for loyal Barbie enthusiasts.

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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.

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Black Doll Enthusiast

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Celebrating Black Dolls

For Black History Month, the YouTube channel; Muñecas, Pouppees, and Dolls, features black-doll content. My books, this blog, and DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum are featured in the Black Doll Educational Resources video below. Use this link if the video does not load on your device.

Thank you, Muñecas, Pouppees, and Dolls for including my work in the celebration of black dolls video series.

Subscribe to this channel for a variety of doll content and throughout February 2025 for black-doll content.

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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.

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Black Doll Enthusiast

Thursday, February 13, 2025

The Evolution of Black Dolls

Please join the Motor City Doll Club and others for my narrated video presentation, The Evolution of Black Dolls in America, via registered Zoom attendance on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. CST / 3 p.m. PT.

Attendees will experience a narrated video presentation that explores antique-to-modern black dolls made in America and their evolution from stereotypical caricatures to appropriate representations of the people they portray. Register to attend at the following link.

The Evolution of Black Dolls in America registration

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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.

__________

Black Doll Enthusiast

Monday, February 10, 2025

Bell Bottoms

1/6 male action figure jeans

I had nothing doll-related to write about for today's post except the bell-bottom or flare-leg jeans Kendrick Lamar wore during his Super Bowl LIX half-time performance. There was a message in every aspect of his performance, but let's focus on the jeans.

Bell-bottoms, as we affectionately referred to them back in the day, became popular during the 1960s of my youth. During my 1970s high school experience I wore them often. I had a pair in every color of the rainbow during my senior year in high school that I begged my daddy to buy from the Army-Navy store. I wore a different pair to school almost every day that year before going home at noon to change into business attire for my medical transcriptionist job training, a skill I occasionally use even though I am long retired.

At 17, I was one of eight senior high school students from area schools and the only African American in Baylor University Medical Center's medical transcription on-the-job training course.

In the above picture, I had worn jeans to school for my half-day school classes before changing into the clothes I wear in this picture taken by the MT course instructor.

Denim jeans remain a staple in my wardrobe. My most recent pair, a Christmas gift from Old Navy from my daughter, have flared legs like the ones Kendrick Lamar wore last Sunday night. I wear mine for comfort.

Kendrick Lamar performs at Super Bowl LIX.

Lamar's jeans choice harkens back to the 1960s attire of young Black males, such as members of the Black Panther Party, whose ideology included Black nationalism, self-defense against policy brutality, and attaining equal rights -- everpresent issues in the Black community. "Among the organization initiatives, [the Panthers] campaigned for prison reform, held voter registration drives, organized free food programs which included food giveaways and a school breakfast program in several cities, opened free health clinics in a dozen cities serving thousands who could not afford it, and created Freedom Schools in nine cities" (The Black Panther Party).

Lamar's rap performance was filled with messages and symbolisms. Yet the messages and symbols were not clear to some people who do not appreciate or understand rap. Someone on Facebook explained the performance as follows (I've reworded insensitive language and parenthetically expounded be on a couple of points):

"1. Samuel L. Jackson playing Uncle Sam aka the house [N-word] like he played in Django. (Uncle Sam gave constant reminders for Lamar to behave as "" would desire, which Lamar unapologetically ignored because doing so would have weakened the messages.)

2. Samuel L. Jackson warning Kendrick to play the game white America wants us to play and not be “ghetto.”

3. The Squid games stage which symbolizes the rich killing the poor.

4. The dancers in red, white, & Blue representing the American flag. (Their bent posture symbolizes that enslaved and other Black people built this country. Kendrick in the center of the split human flag signifies a divided America.)

5. The stage also being a prison yard where his Black performers harmonized while he rapped. (The prison yard represents the over and often unjust incarceration of Black people, particularly Black males).

6. Protecting Black women like Serena Williams after the disrespect from Drake. (Serena Williams's crip walk was stellar! She and Drake once dated and supposedly he disrespected her in some way. I'm not privy to how, but it can always be googled if you'd like to know.)

7. And once again reminding Drake and America

'They Not Like Us'*

Y’all please this is bigger than rap!"

*The pronoun, they, can be used to refer to an individual person or a group of people. Lamar's four-Grammy award-winning song, "Not Like Us" is a diss track to Drake where (in his words) Lamar tells Drake he's fake, that his rap-game is weak, and he'll never be as masterful at rapping as Lamar. However, in the context of the divided-America Super Bowl XIV theme of the performance, "Not Like Us" could be viewed as a reminder of racial differences in America, but I believe in this performance it continued to be a direct diss to Drake in the ongoing feud between both rappers.

Super Bowl XIV logo

In other Super Bowl LIX news, a "Black woman from New Orleans makes history as the first artist to create Super Bowl logo and theme art for the NFL." Her name is Tahj Williams. Read more here. View a video here.

I do not own any bell-bottom denim-jeans-wearing male dolls. The jeans Kendrick Lamar wore have influenced me to purchase a pair for at least one.

I am willing to bet we will all see more real people wearing bell-bottoms now.

References

The Black Panther Party

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

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

__________

Black Doll Enthusiast

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Eve's Shoes

Eve needed shoes.

After reading a past blog post about my Colonial Williamsburg 6-inch cloth doll Eve, a very kind woman named Molly offered the 12-inch version to me. Molly received her Eve as a child after learning Eve's story. Molly wanted a good home for Eve. She contacted me and I accepted the doll. Molly shared that Eve was missing her socks and shoes.

12-inch Eve did arrive in need of replacement shoes.

A full-length picture and this close-up were taken before shoemaking for Eve commenced.

Six-inch Eve's sewn-on cloth shoes were used as a guide to make the 12-inch doll's removable shoes.

Before shoe-making began, Eve's feet and ankles were Saran-wrapped.

After wrapping both feet with Saran wrap, I created shoes using masking tape. The area of the foot to represent a slip-on shoe was wrapped with strips of masking tape. In the photo above, one layer of masking tape for the left shoe had been applied.

This is one formed shoe created with masking tape.

With one shoe formed, I began placing masking tape on the other Saran-wrapped foot.

Both formed shoes

Approximately three layers of masking tape were applied to each Saran-wrapped foot to create slip-on shoes.

The shoes were Mod Podged and hung on doll stands to dry.

After removing the shoes from the doll's feet and cutting off most of the excess Saran wrap, I painted each shoe with several layers of Mod Podge and allowed each layer to dry by hanging the shoes on doll stands. This process was repeated at least three times to stiffen the masking tape.

I fashioned square buckles on each shoe using masking tape.

I created square masking tape buckles over horizontal straps and added these to each shoe. The straps and buckles were next Mod Podged in place.

Eve's partially painted shoes.

A mixture of pueblo and nutmeg brown acrylic paints achieved the desired shoe color that closely matches 6-inch Eve's shoes.

The buckles were painted nutmeg brown.

The remaining Saran wrap was removed from the shoe edges and the edges were trimmed with scissors. A final layer of paint and Mod Podge was applied around the edges to cover missing painted areas.

The shoe soles were painted, too.

Eve wears the shoes well.

The two Eves model their shoes.

12-inch Eve and her mini 6-inch version posed together.

While awaiting the arrival of a third Colonial Williamsburg doll that I recently gained knowledge of, the Eves posed for the above photo together.

6-inch and 12-inch Eve are now joined by another 6-inch cloth Colonial Williamsburg doll, Bristol.

Bristol is another 6-inch Colonial Williamsburg doll that I found in an online auction after learning about his existence. The two Eves were released in 1998. Bristol was added to the Colonial Williamsburg line of cloth dolls in 2003. The two Eves awaited his arrival for a week before all three dolls were placed in a curio cabinet.

Related Link

BHDT: Eve an Enslaved American

Colonial Williamsburg Eve and Bristol

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

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

__________

Black Doll Enthusiast

Pages

Thursday, February 27, 2025

A New Dress for 28-inch Barbie

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Nines d'Onil Little Mia

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Aaliyah Barbie, Finally

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Celebrating Black Dolls

Thursday, February 13, 2025

The Evolution of Black Dolls

Monday, February 10, 2025

Bell Bottoms

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Eve's Shoes

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