Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
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©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 Spam comments will not be published.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, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

Taking a Break

I am taking a break from this blog. I'll be back in December. 

DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum is still active at the website, on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. Please follow those sites. Thank you. ✌🏾☮️
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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.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

Saving Baby Nancy

This is how Baby Nancy arrived.

Baby Nancy's shattered condition upon arrival prompted me to devise a plan to make her whole. Initially, I was going to use a form of papier-maché to repair the vinyl body, but I had to piece it together like a puzzle first.

The video below describes the repair process using micropore tape, Mod Podge, plastic, felt, and paint.*

 

*After placement of the felt mentioned in the video, it was covered with layers of micropore tape and Mod Podge and allowed to harden sufficiently before the body was painted. 

 A Before-and-After Collage

Once shattered, Baby Nancy is now whole

Thank you again to the doll friend who allowed me to rehome Baby Nancy.

Related Post
A Thoughtful Gift
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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.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

A Thoughtful Gift

A lovely gift of dolls

The best thing someone can give me is a nice thought, whether I know about it or not. Couple the nice thought with a doll or two, and I'll think I've hit the lottery. 

I was asked by a Facebook doll friend if I wanted the above-pictured dolls, specifically Baby Nancy. I did! Five dolls plus a bonus doll arrived a few days after I accepted them. Unfortunately, the star doll, Baby Nancy, didn't tolerate the trip very well.

I removed each carefully-wrapped doll from the shipping box. When I reached for Baby Nancy, I could feel her lower body crumble into pieces!* Her head, arms, and legs were okay. The upper torso, while still intact, had several long cracks in it. I removed all pieces of the bottom torso from the shipping box and placed them in a plastic bag. "I need to save her," I thought. The other five dolls were in great condition. I made some minor changes to three. The dolls and any changes made are described next.

Teeny Tiny Tumbles Surprise 

Teeny Tiny Tumbles Surprise really tumbles!

With a copyright year of  1996 by Toy Biz, Teeny Tiny Tumbles Surprise is a 4-inch doll that actually tumbles. When placed in the seated position on a flat surface, she makes a forward flip and lands on her back. If something obstructs the full tumble, however, she does a headstand. Too cute!

Bratz Big Babyz Felicia

Bratz Big Babyz Felicia

From 2006, Bratz Big Babyz Felicia by MGA Entertainment is my first Bratz Big Babyz doll. This 12-inch-tall, all-vinyl doll wears her original clothes and socks and still has her baby bottle necklace and stud earrings. (I washed her socks.) Her original hairbrush is missing. A former "little mommy" added three braids to the right front of the rooted brown hair (because that's what little girls do... style their dolls' hair). 

Felicia has a healthy head of hair.

Cloth Mammy Doll

Upon arrival, this cloth mammy doll had googly eyes.

Made by an elderly woman in New Orleans, who sold these handmade dolls at a tourist shop, is an 18-inch handmade cloth mammy with hand-painted facial features (except for its original googly eyes). It is very well made and was given to the former owner during the 1990s. She wears a beige and pink floral-print dress and a matching headscarf. A white shawl is pinned in place, and she wears a white apron.

Close-up of Mammy's face

My changes included hand-washing the apron and removing and replacing the googly eyes with a pair of brown buttons. 

She now has brown button eyes.

To avoid the tediousness of sewing the buttons onto the face, I placed several diagonal stitches using white thread into the four holes in each button to give the illusion of crisscross stitches. Next, I added a glue dot to the back of each button and pressed each over the glue residue where the googly eyes had been. The brown button eyes give her a more serious look rather than a surprised or startled appearance. 

Hand-Painted Artist Doll

This is Little E. by Shirley E. Banks of Kaity Dolls Collectible, circa 1990s.

Made by Shirley E. Banks of Kaity Dolls Collectible, this 14-inch cloth artist doll's hang tag identifies her as Little E. The former owner purchased her from the artist at a doll show several years ago. With time, Little E.'s facial paint faded. So, I painted over the original paint with every effort to preserve the doll's original appearance.

Little E.'s face is now freshly painted.

She holds a furry bunny.

Trixie

Trixie, a Flatsy doll by Ideal

The bonus doll in the package was Trixie, a Flatsy doll introduced in 1969 by Ideal. Trixie arrived with her cap stickpinned to her head. I removed the pins and added a glue dot to the inside front of the cap. I placed the cap on her head and pressed the front against her head to force the glue dot to stick. This is my second Trixie. My first Trixie, seen below, arrived in 2011 without her dress and shoes. I made a top for her using orange ponytail holders. 

This is my 1st Trixie. I am happy to now have a fully dressed version.

Baby Nancy

Baby Nancy in parts

I took this picture of Baby Nancy (Shindana's first doll, ©1968)  after gingerly removing her from the box, removing her clothes, and placing the broken torso pieces in a plastic bag. I've already begun repairing her. After the repair, another blog post will follow. 

*What happened to Baby Nancy is not the first time this has happened to a doll in my collection. I purchased three Baby Nancy dolls several years ago from someone who informed me beforehand that one of the dolls' bodies was broken inside its one-piece romper. The vinyl/plastic used by Shindana for some of their dolls' bodies can become brittle with age. Exposure to extreme temperature changes can also cause this breakdown. 

`*`*`*`*`*`*`

I truly appreciate my Facebook doll friend's thoughtfulness and desire for me to have these dolls, and I wish her well.

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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.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

P.S. I Ordered Two More

Ponytail Barbie clones are seen in an online picture. One has auburn hair; the other has black hair.

In my post about my second #1 Barbie clone, I wrote, "If it weren't a shame, I'd purchase several of these clones and redress them in vintage or reproduced vintage Barbie fashions." Well, before that post was published, I ordered two more, but these are ponytail Barbie clones. The first two are bubble cuts.

35th Anniversary Barbie Keepsake fashions and 1960s Wendy by Uneeda, a gift received in 2018

After I placed the order, I planned to dress the newest clones in the reproduction Barbie fashions included in the gift set shown above. (The Wendy doll replaces the repro Barbie that was originally sold with the gift set.)

The Easter Parade fashion was originally released in 1959. The reproduced version has a box date of 1993, but was probably released to the market in 1994.

Also, originally released in 1959, Roman Holiday is a reproduction of Barbie's original travel ensemble.

Most of the accessories for each fashion were attached to the box liner, while some were in a plastic bag. 

The extra accessories included two pairs of white gloves, which are too small for the clones' larger hands; a comb, a handkerchief, an eyeglass case that held a pair of white cat eyeglasses, a third pair of black high-heels, a gold compact, and a 35th Anniversary Barbie Special Edition Booklet.*

Each ponytail clone arrived in a bubble-wrapped doll box that was inside a thin plastic mailer. One box panel reads LOOKS. The other side reads MODEL. A complimentary pair of sunglasses and doll care instructions were included with the clones.

This close-up photo illustrates their lovely faces.

Easter Parade

I redressed the black-haired doll in the Easter Parade fashion as illustrated below:

She wears the multicolored apple-print dress, pearl earrings, a graduated pearl necklace, black high-heeled shoes, and holds a black patent-leather clutch.

White sunglasses and a navy blue half hat are added in this photo.

The navy-blue swing coat completes the Easter Parade fashion.

The half hat is seen better in this close-up photo.

She strikes one final full-length pose.

Roman Holiday

I thought Roman Holiday would be a better fit for the auburn-haired doll as illustrated next.

Except for the full-length coat, this doll models all pieces of the Roman Holiday fashion: a red straw half hat, black-rimmed cat eyeglasses, a gold-tone chain necklace with a single pearl, the dress, a white patent-leather belt, a white patent-leather clutch, and black high-heeled shoes. I added pearl stud earrings.

I wrapped her hands with plastic wrap to prevent the stiletto fingernails from snagging the inside lining of the coat sleeves.

This full-length red and white striped coat with tiny gold bead buttons completes the Roman Holiday ensemble.

The Roman Holiday and Easter Parade Barbie fashions are modeled by ponytail Barbie clones in a full-length photo.

This is a close-up of this stunning pair.

 

The back of the 35th Anniversary Barbie Keepsake box illustrates two vintage Barbies wearing Roman Holiday (1959 #968) and Easter Parade (1959 #971).

~*~*~*~*~*

After redressing concluded, I placed the ponytail clones in the 35th Anniversary Barbie Keepsake box along with the (now dressed) 1960s Wendy by Uneeda.

In this photo, the ponytail dolls are not in the box on the sides that match the fashion names printed on the box cellophane (Easter Parade and Roman Holiday).

I removed the dolls from the box and repositioned them so that the fashions they wear match the fashion names printed on the box.

*The 35th Anniversary Barbie Special Edition Booklet includes a note from Ruth Handler, information about the redesigned 35th Anniversary Barbie (which my friend replaced with the 1960s Wendy), and photos of three Barbies that were available when this set was released: Evening Extravaganza (the white doll's photo and stock number and the black doll's stock number only), Bob Mackie Barbie, and 1850s Southern Belle Barbie. Barbie Trivia Q&A, and Barbie's 35th Anniversary Family Tree of Barbie and friends are also in the booklet.

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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.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com

Dolls Are No Longer Afraid of the Dark

Book cover, Dolls are No Longer Afraid of the Dark by Rosine Mondor

Guadeloupean-born Rosine Mondor, who lives in mainland France, is an audiovisual media professional, a black doll advocate and collector, and recently announced the publication of her book, "Dolls Are No Longer Afraid of the Doll."

After more than forty years of work in the audiovisual industry and a long commitment to the representation of Black people in the media, in society in general, and particularly in toys, I am pleased to announce the publication of my book, Dolls Are No Longer Afraid of the Dark.

This story combines personal memories, reflections on French society, and a clear-eyed look at the evolving visibility of Black people in our culture.

I also discuss my fight—through Black dolls—so that every child can recognize themselves, love themselves, and dream without limits.

📖 Available now to order online using the link below.

For more information about the book and to purchase, please visit this link. 

Congratulations, Rosine!
 

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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.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum for detailed installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind black dolls. http://virtualblackdollmuseum.com