Kuki's Redresses, Wig, and Dr. King

Kuki by Annette Himstedt is shown in a prototype headshot in the above photo.  My doll entered my collection the year of release, 2003.

Kuki wears her original clothing, headscarf, and leather sandals.

Not long after taking the above photo, which is included in my second black-doll reference book, Black Dolls a Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion, I removed Kuki's raggamuffin-looking clothing, headscarf, and shoes to redress her.

Kuki wears a Lloyd Middleton romper with white sandals.  Her other doll friends are Georgia by Heidi Ott, Carolyn by Helen Kish, and Hollie by Katja Schneider and Ruth Kunz.

As illustrated immediately above, Kuki's redresses have included Lloyd Middleton doll fashions made to fit baby dolls and other 22- to 25-inch dolls.  She has also enjoyed wearing dresses that were made for her by my friend, Debra R.

In this photo, Kuki was dressed in a stars-and-stripes-themed dress sewn by Debra R.  "America" is spelled out on the bodice.

Kuki wore this Lloyd Middleton doll fashion until her most recent redress.

The blue calico-print Lloyd Middleton fashion above was not a very flattering look on Kuki because it was made for a chubby baby doll, which she is not.  Nonetheless, she wore it until I decided to dress her in another dress that was made by my friend several years ago that Kuki had worn prior to wearing the calico-print dress.

After redressing Kuki in this yellow floral-print dress again and attempting to straighten out her bangs, her wig, which she holds in her hand, shifted!  The original glue had weakened!

Poor Kuki was only temporarily bald.

 Aleene's Tacky Glue Fix

I used Aleene's Tacky Glue to reglue the wig onto Kuki's head.

Originally, the glue had been placed by the doll maker only around Kuki's head, none elsewhere.  I decided to apply glue all over the head as shown above. (In hindsight, this was not a good idea because the mohair of the wig is sparsely applied to the netting and some of the glue almost seeped through!)

After the wig was in place, I tied a headscarf around Kuki's wig to hold the edges down while the glue dried overnight.

  

End result:  The glue is set and Kuki holds a doll that wears a matching dress.

Kuki holds 1998 Easter Sunday Wendy #21513, whose original tagged Madame Alexander dress is made from identical fabric as the fabric my friend used for Kuki's dress.   I still find the fact that Debra was able to find matching fabric 10 years after the Madame Alexander doll was made to be amazing.  Kuki's dress and  Easter Sunday Wendy were a gift from my friend in 2008.

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Today, the third Monday in January, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.  Happy heavenly birthday, Dr. King!  A previously published tribute to Dr. King can be read here.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Dress I Chose and the Doll Chosen to Wear It

Amber by Annette Himstedt, 1999

Amber by Annette Himstedt has been neglected for so long that I need to hang my head in shame. The doll was purchased new from a Himstedt doll dealer in approximately the year 2000, having been placed on layaway due to her cost.   Standing 30 inches from head-to-toe in bare feet, she represents a 7-year-old Jamaican girl of the 1970s.  Amber has auburn natural-textured human hair, portions of which are braided.  Her inset eyes are hazel.

Amber's hair was initially worn down as shown in the above photo where she is dressed in her original orange dress and holding a garland of brightly colored, enamel-painted flowers.  I had to remove the garland from her hands and store it some years ago after noticing small stains it caused to her wrists.

Along with other dolls representing doll genres in the various chapters of my first black-doll reference book, Amber appears on the front cover. (Additional dolls that represent the types of dolls in other chapters of the book appear on the back cover.)

Never fully bonding with her, I have contemplated selling Amber on several occasions but never made an actual attempt because I know in today's market I would probably suffer a great monetary loss.

Recently after two collectors added an Amber to their collections for a fraction of the dolls' original cost and shared images of the dolls dressed in children's clothing, I thought the affection for my doll might intensify if I too redressed her. In 16 years of ownership, redressing is something I had never done or considered doing for Amber.

After it arrived, I decided Amber would be the doll to wear the dress from Betty.   With seven (7) being the number of completion, the following seven photographs illustrate Amber's first redress in the dress I chose in answer to Betty's question, Which print do you like best?  

Amber has stripped down to her original underpants, which she will continue to wear under her new dress.  Her orange string necklace with floral pendant and orange headband remain.  Before this photo was taken, we removed the Annette Himstedt signature-bearing red ribbon that was tied around her left wrist, as seen partially in the first photo and better seen here.  We also removed her sandals and noticed red stains on the bottoms of her feet from the red innersoles of the sandals.

Here Amber wears the yellow blouse Betty made.  It has a snap closure in back.

The green and yellow African print dress I chose from the four styles Betty offered is a perfect fit.  To accommodate the matching hat (next photo), her original headband had to be removed.

Completely redressed, Amber continues to wear her necklace and her original sandals with the blouse, dress, and open crown-style hat that Betty made.

Her hair, which has been in a ponytail for years, was pulled through the top of the hat with some of her braids draped over the front.

This profile photo illustrates how she wears her crown.

Amber took one final photo.

Betty, Amber and I truly thank you.  As a result of her new dress, she no longer has to be worried by future considerations of being adopted out.  In this richly colored dress, she is definitely a keeper.


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