Talking Tamu and Kelly

Recent doll gifts: Talking Tamu, Eatin' Fun Kelly, and a cloth craft doll

I received the above shown dolls from their previous owner (the same person who sent her Baby Nancy to me recently). In this package were Talking Tamu, Eatin' Fun Kelly, a white cloth doll to customize, and a heart-print fabric swatch, which is not shown. 

Eatin' Fun Kelly

Eatin' Fun Kelly is from 1997.

Barbie's little sister, Eatin' Kelly, a 4-1/2-inch vinyl doll, has dark-brown rooted hair styled in two side pigtails with bangs. Her bangs were not lying flat when she arrived, so I placed an elastic band around her head to "train" the bangs.

Kelly wears a white bib, a red top with ruffled sleeves and a cherry-print fabric bodice with light blue food-print pants and red shoes. She has a white high chair, a sippy cup, and a spoon. Her divided bowl is missing.

  

This is a close-up of Kelly's sippy cup and spoon.

Extra Goodies

These three doll dresses were also in the gift package. 

Talking Tamu

Talking Tamu, upon arrival, wore a red floral-print dress.

Talking Tamu arrived wearing the floral-print dress illustrated above, but at some point, she wore the packaged turquoise dress, so I redressed her in it because her original dress was also turquoise.

Tamu's body, arms, and legs were originally a bright yellow, which has faded over the years. I covered these with white cuffs to freshen her appearance.

Before redressing Tamu in the turquoise dress, I created arm and leg cuffs using a white knit scrunchie. I cut the scrunchie into four pieces to fit the length of Tamu's arms and legs, and I removed the elastic from the inside. After the cuffs were in place, I folded under the raw edges of each to prevent raveling—no sewing required.

Talking Tamu wears the turquoise dress from the doll clothes package I received.

Feeling at home, Talking Tamu is surrounded by two Baby Nancy dolls, Shindana Little Friends dolls, and others.

My new-to-me Talking Tamu was first seen here in 2019, along with a video of the 17 phrases she still says when her string is pulled. Although I have an NRFB Talking Tamu, that one is mute, so this one that still talks is very special to me. 

Thank you again, AIS, for your generosity.

Related Links

Saving Baby Nancy

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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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Zuru 5 Surprise My Mini Baby

My Zuru 5 Surprise Mini Baby from Series 2 is like the 4th one shaded in on the bottom row.

My day was brightened after opening a package that contained a Zuru 5 Surprise My Mini Baby Series 2. It was a gift from a faithful blog reader. I was unaware of these 3-inch silicone babies until MB asked if I'd like to have a duplicate of one she owned. Of course, I said, "Yes!" 

A Zuru 5 Surprise Mini Baby is a blind-capsule collectible toy where you peel, unwrap, and reveal five surprises inside the capsule. My capsule contained three sealed packages. 

Two packages contained the baby's rattle, bottle, blanket, and the accessories to assemble its crib, which has an attachable netting holder, netting, and cushion. Assembly instructions were also included (trust me, I needed those, but it was easy to do.)

My 5 surprises were the baby (seen in the next photo), the crib (and accessories), the blanket, a rattle, and a baby bottle. The crib has working wheels!

MB also sent me two diapers because diapers were not included in the capsule.

The baby wears a diaper and rests in its crib on top of the crib cushion.

The blanket covers the crib cushion, and the baby continues to rest peacefully.

This is a close-up of my adorable sleeping baby, his extra diaper, rattle, and bottle.

The baby is wrapped snugly in its blanket.

My Mini Baby is so adorable, as illustrated in the above photos. These dolls are gender neutral. This one looks more like a boy, so it's a Boy!

Thank you again, MB! I love the baby and the concept. 

5 Surprise My Mini Baby (website)

__________

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, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

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Check out my eBay listings here.
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Christmas 2021 Dolls Part 4 of 5

Melissa Minikane by Paola Reina

I was enabled to ask for this doll for Christmas after receiving a link to the website that sold Melissa Minikane. The link was to another doll, Nora Minikane, with Melissa being a suggested purchase. I already have a different Nora than the one the website offered, but I had been wanting a redheaded Paola Reina doll and had seen this one, dressed differently, over a year ago on Amazon. I was hesitant to buy at that time. Later, when I reconsidered purchasing the Amazon Melissa, the doll was no longer available. As they say, "you snooze, you lose."

But after I was "enabled" by the other collector who was interested in Minikane Nora, I sent my husband Melissa's link and asked him to buy the doll for me for Christmas, and he did.

Melissa wears a pink orchid (mauve) double-gauze cotton dress, white panties, and white slip-on faux leather shoes. I wanted the doll dressed in this yellow dress, but that one was sold out.

Because the dress color is so drab, I looked for something else on hand for Melissa to wear, and I ordered a dress from Etsy on Christmas day. Melissa tried on the following knit fashion that was made to fit Tonner's Lizette. The knit fashion better complements her skin tone, auburn hair color, and gray stationary eyes.

Melissa looks adorable in this knit ensemble of a hat, faux-fur-trimmed top, and pencil skirt.

Melissa strikes a cute pose.

She has such an adorable face with features similar to Kaavia James Union Wade's (Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade's daughter).

Lizette's dress looks nice on Melissa, but I decided to enhance her original dress with buttons on the bodice and a pink ribbon waist sash. 

Three mauve buttons were sewn to the bodice of the dress as shown.

A pink ribbon waist sash and headband add more enhancements.

In the next photo, Melissa posed with another 13-1/2-inch all-vinyl Paola Reina doll, Maylin, a 2020 Christmas gift.

Maylin and Melissa Minikane

While this post was in draft mode, the dress I ordered from Etsy arrived. It was made for Minikane dolls and uses the same double-gauze cotton fabric. 

The light blue color looks better than the pink orchid on Melissa.

I enhanced the blue dress with blue buttons and a pale blue ribbon waist sash and matching headband. 

Melissa chose to wear this dress for now.

The last Christmas 2021 dolls or doll items will be featured in part 5.

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, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Doll Gifts

Aaron wants to know what's inside this birthday gift shipment from my best doll-friend, Debra R.

The box Aaron is wondering about arrived more than a week before my birthday last month. I waited until the day of my birthday to open it to share with Aaron what was inside. Several non-doll-related items were also in the box. In this blog post, I am only sharing the doll that was inside.

I love everything that was in these beautifully-wrapped gifts from Debra R. Only one contained a doll.

Best to a Tea Barbie is the doll that Debra R. sent me. (She knows I collect African American Silkstone Barbies.)

An illustration of Best to a Tea Barbie is on the cover of the doll's box.

Based on Mattel's description, modified slightly: Designed by Robert Best for Mattel, the second of four dolls in this final Barbie Fashion Model series, Best To a Tea Barbie, is ready for high tea. She wears a cream-colored bouclé suit ensemble, a ruffled blouse, and a chic fascinator. Delicate black gloves, black tights, and stylish black booties complete her sleek look.

I took several additional pictures of this lovely doll.

She is presented in a dark pink-lined box.

This is a close-up of her lovely face and fascinator.

In addition to her cream bouclé two-piece suit, she wears a white ruffled lace blouse.

Black gloves and black opaque tights accent her fashion.

A doll stand and certificate of authenticity are included with Best to a Tea Barbie.

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The week of my birthday, I received notification from the post office that a package was scheduled to arrive the day after my birthday. Based on the shipped-from city and state, I correctly guessed that package was from doll-friend, sister-in-Christ, Betty A.  Aaron didn't have to wait to find out what was inside Betty's package, which actually arrived on my birthday.

Color Me Childhood Friends book of paper dolls to color with separate pre-colored sheets of the paper dolls and a hand-crafted magnet by Diana E. Vining were in the package from Betty A.

The paper dolls inside the spiral paper doll book are blank for the user to color.  The clothes for each doll are also blank for coloring. This is paper doll A.

This is paper doll B.

This is paper doll C.

This adorable hand-crafted magnet by Diana E. Vining is captioned, "I Love Dolls!" The girl in the illustration hugs three of the doll she loves.

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A surprise gift arrived shortly after my birthday. It was a just-because gift from another doll friend.

5-inch Mickey Mouse Boy Doll and Wendy Doll as Minnie Mouse

This pair of boxed 5-inch hard plastic dolls by Madame Alexander represent Mickey and Minnie Mouse. They both wear mouse ears hats and painted-on yellow clogs. Mickey has a painted-on leotard and red fabric pants that have two yellow painted on buttons at the waist. Minnie's fabric dress is red with white polka dots on the skirt.  The dress has a yellow ribbon at the neck. Minnie wears black undies and painted-on tights. Mickey's hair is sculpted. Minnie's is synthetic fibers. They both have wrist tags that indicate they were McDonald's exclusives. I am not sure where the boxed versions were originally sold.

I already had these, but mine were in baggies, purchased from McDonald's in 2004 or 2005 (the copyright year is 2004, so they were probably at McDonald's the following year).

This is the package my original Mickey Mouse Boy Doll came in. 

Given as Happy Meal premiums, the bagged dolls could also be purchased separately at some McDonald's franchises. (The original girl that I purchased is missing in action, but she is shown in this vintage picture with the original boy on the far left as evidence that she is here somewhere. I have no idea where she is hiding. I hope to find Minnie soon.)

The above photo was taken a few years ago after the same friend who sent Mickey and Minnie Mouse gave me the Madame Alexander display stand on which the 5-inch Madame Alexander McDonald's-exclusive dolls stand.

My original Mickey Mouse Boy doll is shown in this final photo with the boxed dolls. (As soon as I find the original Minnie, she will join these three.)

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Thank you again, Debra R., Betty A, and the friend who gave me Mickey, Minnie, and the display stand.🥰 (Doll collectors give the best gifts!)

Of course, since my birthday, I have gifted myself with several dolls, too. Posts about those purchases will follow later.

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
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Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Doll Gifts Part 2

17-inch handcrafted Caribbean souvenir doll and 14-inch handmade cloth doll circa 1940s

This is part 2 of a 3-part doll-gifts series to acknowledge dolls that I have received recently from doll friends and people who do not know me personally.

On June 5, 2019, I received an email from Ms. Grace K. Anderson asking if I knew of anyone or if I would be interested in accepting the above two dolls as a donation.  Ms. Anderson indicated this pair had been owned by her mother-in-law who passed away recently.  The dolls were discovered during the process of cleaning her mother-in-law's house and the family wanted to find a place to donate the dolls, either with a collector or an institution.  Very little was known about the dolls other than the fact that they belonged to Ms. Anderson's mother-in-law.

After extending my condolences to her and her family, I thanked her for writing to me and indicated I would be happy to accept the dolls.  I asked if she knew if her mother-in-law made the dolls since one of the two appeared to be handmade based on the photos she shared.  I also asked if she could tell me something about her mother-in-law.  Specifically, I wanted to know if she owned other dolls and how old she was when she passed.

Part of her reply is copied below:

Dear Debbie,

Thank you for such a quick reply and for your condolences. Both my husband and sister-in-law don't have any recollection about these dolls. My mother-in-law was an artist and also a collector in many ways, but she did not own any other dolls. My sister-in-law thinks these dolls may have been acquired at an estate sale. I wish I had more provenance for you.

As for my mother-in-law, her name was Carola Penn and there is a nice obituary and link to her website here:
https://www.orartswatch.org/carola-penn-longtime-portland-artist-dies/ She was quite a disciplined artist and remarkable as she raised two kids on her own while getting by as an artist. She was really a beautiful person and had many close friends who were truly amazing during the last year of Carola's life... She was only 74 when she passed.

I am happy these dolls will have an important home to go to. Thank you so much! If you learn anything further about these dolls, I'd be curious to learn more about them...perhaps on your blog? :)

Thank you again and please let me know if I can assist with this in other ways.

Warm regards,
Grace

I made an entry for each doll in my Excel doll inventory workbook under the 2019 tab.  What I wrote under the Year of Manufacture, Name, and Description columns for each doll is copied below.

Circa 1940s / Handmade Cloth Souvenir Islander Doll

16-inch Caribbean souvenir doll, circa 1940s

16-inch handmade cloth doll from the Caribbean Islands uses black twill fabric for the face onto which simple features are painted.   Black cotton was used for the body, arms, and legs.  Arms and legs are jointed.  The doll has a mature bosom.  Her headscarf and dress are made from a variety of floral-print cotton fabrics.  The back of the blouse uses madras fabric which has deep West African and Caribbean roots. [https://face2faceafrica.com/article/how-the-colonial-madras-fabric-played-a-role-in-transatlantic-slave-trade] She holds a basket of fruit or food that a woman she represents would plan to sell in the tourist sections of her town.  The fruit or food is represented by red and yellow cloth-covered balls.  She wears an apron over her skirt and madras undies.  Her body appears to be stuffed with paper.  Dolls remain a huge tourist commodity in the Caribbean.  Some are sold in tourist shops while others are sold by street vendors in tourist areas.  

Additional pictures of this doll are included next:

This close-up of her face illustrates her hand-painted facial features.  Two red dots represent her nose.

She holds a basket of fruit.  Black cotton fabric was used for her arms.

Black twill fabric was used for her face, body, and legs, which are machine stitched.  Madras fabric was used for her undies.  The same fabric was used for the back of her blouse, which is illustrated next.

The back of the blouse is made from madras plaid fabric.

Circa 1940s / Handmade Cloth Doll

14-inch circa 1940s handmade cloth doll

14-inch circa 1940s handmade black cloth doll was made from black cloth and cotton stuffing. Simple facial features of eyes and mouth are stitched with embroidery thread. 17 knots of black yarn frame the top and sides of her head. She has no hair in the back. She wears a sewn-on tan and beige floral-print dress, a blue and white plaid apron, and white cotton pantaloons. Her right arm was detached from her body upon arrival but hanging inside her sleeve. I restitched it to the body to make her whole. 

Additional photos of this doll follow:

Her tiny eyes and mouth are stitched on.  She does not have a nose.

This profile photo illustrates her Nubian- or Bantu-knots hairstyle created with knots of black yarn.

She wears full-length pantaloons, no shoes.

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The Caribbean souvenir doll displays well with similar dolls that I own.

As illustrated in the souvenir doll's last picture above, she displays well with similar dolls.  The two smaller dolls that accompany her were gifts from a Candian woman, who sent them to me in 2015.  They belonged to her grandfather, who she indicated was born in the late 1800s.  He is believed to have purchased them during a 1940s trip to Jamaica.

The other cloth doll has found a display companion.

The smaller cloth doll is made on a very similar style as a larger cloth doll that I have owned for several years.  She now sits with her larger doll companion.  

Thank you again, Grace, for contacting me and for allowing me to provide a new home for this pair.

Related Link:
Doll Gifts Part 1 

dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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Thank you for following, commenting, and sharing using the share button below.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!