Carly's TLC

The exposed glue at the hairline annoyed me.

Carly arrived in June 2025. She needed a bit of TLC to make her presentable. The exposed glue at her hairline was the first thing I tackled (after washing her face and limbs with a damp cloth and removing her dress and matching panties to wash).

A coily textured wig closely matches Carly's human hair color and texture.

In my wig storage bag, I found a coily-textured wig that closely matches Carly's dark-brown hair color. 

Curls were cut from the wig.

I trimmed several strands and cut them into smaller pieces. With a toothpick, I applied Aleene's Tacky Glue, which dries clear, to each small piece before gently pressing each piece along the old glue area of Carly's hairline.

The wig curls were glued to Carly's hairline to cover the old dried glue.

After covering the hairline with the cut strands, I loosely tied a styling strip around the curly strands to hold them in place until the glue dried. I removed the styling strip after a couple of hours to allow the new hairline hair to air dry completely.  

I left the styling strip on for about 30 minutes to hold the glued-on curls in place before gently removing it.

Next, I soaked Carly's dress and panties in warm soapy water with Oxy-Clean added to the soak. The water was so murky that I poured it out, made another bowl of soapy water and Oxy-Clean, and let the clothes soak overnight. I always use a vintage Tupperware bowl to soak small doll clothes in, and it is only used for that purpose. 

The clothes were hung outside to air dry.

I rinsed the clothes the next day and hung them outside to dry. In shaded 90-degree weather, the clothes were dry within a couple of hours. 

The next step was to find shoes and socks to cover Carley's feet. I did not have socks to fit her, so I made a pair using a white scrunchy by cutting it across, removing the elastic, and cutting two equal-sized tubes long enough to cover Carly's ankles and feet. Next, I stitched the bottom end of the tube socks closed and hemmed the tops. I found a white pair of Mary Jane shoes in my shoe storage bag for large dolls that fit Carly perfectly. 

Carly now has socks and shoes.

The original brown eyelashes remained on the right eye; the left eyelashes were missing. After a failed attempt to replace the left eyelashes, I removed the right eyelashes, which were barely visible anyway. 

Carly wears a bracelet on each wrist.

I used two child-size stretch beaded necklaces to make bracelets for Carly.

After placing her on a suitable doll stand, Carly posed for a full-view photo.

Here, she shows off her new hairline.

With her new hairline, clean clothes, socks, shoes, and the original eyelashes removed, Carly looks much better as illustrated in the full-length and close-up photos above and the before-and-after headshot below.

She appears to be happier now, too.

Carly is now a permanent installation in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum.

See the first blog post about Carly here.

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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, 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.

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Betty Teen-Type Fashion Doll

Betty Teen (type)

The eBay seller identified this doll as an unbranded Betty. A Google search led me to several photos of white Betty Teen dolls by Tong and/or M&C (circa 1980s-1990s). These dolls are said to have been popular in Russia as a Barbie alternative during the 1980s. Their popularity rose in the US during the 1990s. Black versions are more difficult to find. 

I saw a similar doll on Pinterest several years ago and pinned the photo to my Vintage Black Barbie Clones and Competitors Pinterest board in hopes of identifying her and owning one like it. Well, this one looks very similar to the one I pinned, but she's not the same doll. So, the hunt is still on for the pinned doll. 

Full view of Betty Teen-type as she was upon arrival

This 11-1/2 inch fashion doll has the usual five points of articulation with an articulated waist and click-bend knees. The eyes are painted brown with painted upper and lower eyelashes—not rooted. The mouth has dark red lip coloring and the lips are closed. (The pinned doll's lips are slightly fuller.)

My doll arrived wearing white panties. Her severely tangled hair was appropriately described by the seller, but I knew I could make it manageable. 

Betty Teen-type with hair washed, conditioned, and detangled.

After she arrived, I washed the hair with a shampoo conditioner three times. I don't know if the brown water that resulted was from dirt or the dye in the doll's hair. Afterward, I applied a leave-in conditioner, finger-combed it to separate as many of the tangles as possible, and then used a fine-tooth comb to detangle small sections from the ends upward. 

Next, I trimmed about one-fourth inch of rough edges and gave her a temporarily banded ponytail.

Finally, a light gel was added to the bangs and an elasticized ponytail holder was wrapped around the head to hold the flyaway bangs down while the hair dried. 

So in Style Grace was willing to part with this ensemble to allow Betty to wear it.

I already knew what I planned to dress the doll in before she arrived—a purple floral-print handmade dress, a straw hat, and purple high-heel shoes. The dress was a gift from a doll friend who attended a Barbie convention years ago. So in Style Grace, shown above, was the first and only doll until now to wear it.

Grace wears her new light blue, pink, and white sleeveless dress and jacket with gray high-heel shoes.

Grace's original purple stud earrings were exchanged for pink stud earrings.

Betty Models

Betty models the clothes and shoes that Grace wore previously.

The purple pumps are too long for Betty's smaller feet.

She looks quite elegant in her new clothes.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the doll therapy involved in rehabbing Betty which only cost me about $13 (6.99 for the doll and the rest was for tax and shipping). 

Betty wears a better fitting pair of lavender high-heels in this photo taken with Grace.

Other dolls by different names such as Gloria, Tanya, and Steffi use the "Betty" head sculpt. Because my doll is unbranded and the original maker is unknown, I'll continue to refer to her as Betty. 

Read more here about Betty Teen dolls in an interesting article by Ekaterina Ziborova published on February 6, 2013.

©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 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!

Thrift Store Tianas

Thrift-store-found Princess Tiana dolls

I found two different versions of Princess Tiana dolls at a local thrift store. Both were in very preloved condition. 

I freed them from the plastic baggies, thoroughly examined them, and made note of their manufacturer's marks.

The shorter, 11-inch doll by Hasbro and Disney ©2018 was missing the bottom of her gown and her shoes. The taller, 12-inch doll by Mattel and Disney ©2012 appears to have been redressed. (I've never seen a Princess Tiana doll in a pink gown. Have you?)   

I undressed the 12-inch doll and found clothing items, shoes, and accessories for them to wear.

First, I needed to tackle their hair.

I removed the rubber bands that held their updo styles in place before adding conditioner to their hair and giving it a thorough rinse.

I refashioned their hair into updos using rubber bands. The taller doll's hair fell into a perfect bun while the shorter doll's hair had to be tucked in place.

This view from the back illustrates their bun styles.

Next, their ears were pierced using quilting pins. For the 11-inch doll, I painted yellow quilting pins gold. Light blue quilting pins were used for the 12-inch doll to match a pair of Barbie mules I found for her.

The 12-inch Tiana was the easiest to restore. After piercing the ears, I dressed her in a yellow sweater dress and added light blue shoes that match the earrings.

Next, to add color and accessorize the dress, I attached a child's teddy-bear earring (now a brooch) to the collar.

More time was required to make the 11-inch Hasbro/Disney Tiana presentable.

Because of her huge feet, it took me a minute to find shoes that fit. All of my Barbie shoes were too small. Then, I remembered the few pairs of black shoes that fit Monster High and Stardolls that were purchased a few years ago. 

The Hasbro Tiana now wears the green Sparkle Girlz skirt seen on the left.

Initially, I was going to make a long wraparound skirt using green felt. While looking through my Barbie and similar-size fashion doll clothing, I found a green Sparkle Girlz skirt (seen on the left in the photo immediately above). The skirt had a pink elasticized waistband that I painted gold with metallic paint. I used the same paint for the black shoes. 

The handle of a gold faux leather Barbie purse that was part of a Barbie Basics accessory pack was beginning to flake, so I used the gold metallic paint to seal the entire purse. While looking through the clothing stash, I found an ornate gold Barbie choker, which along with her original crown, helps maintain Tiana's look of royalty.

 

In this profile picture, the newly painted metallic gold purse and the sides of her gold shoes are visible. She looks as though she is marching off to find her Prince.

Here she is again in a frontal view. (Tap to enlarge or stretch the photo to see the choker better.)

Both Tianas pose for this final photo.

Because they are Princess Tiana dolls (Disney's first African American princess doll), I couldn't leave them behind at the thrift store and, for only $1.99 each, I'm glad I didn't. 

©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 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.
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A Compo Baby to Love More

10-inch composition baby has a straw-stuffed cloth body and cloth legs with teddy-bear-joints.

After helping a collector authenticate a couple of dolls, she sent me this 10-inch circa 1920s-1930s straw-stuffed composition baby doll as a gift. 

The back of the head and arms needed repainting as illustrated below.

Before Pictures

The original paint had lifted from the back of the head, arm joints, back of the arms, chin, and ears.

What Was Done

Several layers of Mod Podge were applied to the areas that needed painting. Heavier applications to level the surface were necessary in some areas.

After the Mod Podge dried, painting and blending took place.

The baby now has a full head of painted hair and all other areas have been repainted as illustrated here and in the next two photos.

A final layer of Mod Podge sealed the painted areas.

Ready to be Dressed

This baby arrived wearing a homemade blue dress that I discarded because it did not fit properly and because it was heavily soiled.

I dressed her (or him) in a yellow knit romper that has a matching bonnet as illustrated in the next three photos.

He looks so fresh and so clean. I have assigned male gender to this baby.

I just love his Campbell Kids' smile.

He is adorable with or without the bonnet.

Except for whited-out areas, his spreadsheet entry, which includes his picture, is illustrated next.

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!