My Mini-me Doll

Little Debbie was ready to come home.

During the latter part of 2021, I commissioned doll artist, Karen Oyekanmi of Kissing Kousins Dolls to make a felt doll using a picture taken of me at age 3-1/2. 

At favorite cousin's birthday party in February 1959

The photo she used is my favorite remaining childhood photo taken at my favorite cousin's 1st birthday party in February 1959. I've always wanted a doll fashioned from this photo, and I chose Karen O. to make it.

Karen sent several photos of the doll before shipping it to me, some of which are shown in the collage photo above. 

After the doll arrived, I took the following photos, the captions of which describe my mini-me that Karen appropriately named, Little Debbie.

This is Little Debbie's first picture after I opened the shipping box.

Little Debbie is 20 inches, made of felt, with painted facial features.

My mini-me wears a pastel blue/pink/white plaid dress that has a drawstring neckline and white ribbons at the shoulder closure. The undies match the fabric of the dress. A light blue crinoline half slip, white sandals, and a birthday hat made of the dress fabric accented with pink felt circles and a ribbon tassel complete her costume.

Made from black mohair, the hair is pulled back into a tiny curly pigtail. She holds a wired pink heart in one hand and a blue felt gift box in the other. She also has a K&K hangtag. Little Debbie is able to stand with support or sit as illustrated in this picture.

She has a sweet face that captures the innocence of a 3-1/2-year-old child.

With the picture Little Debbie is fashioned after visible on my monitor, I sat her on my laptop and took this "side-by-side" picture.

This photo was taken from a different angle.

She found a dolly to hold.

Close-up of dolly

These are Little Debbie's toys.

A chipmunk and four miniature brown babies were inside the blue felt gift box. Too cute, right?

Certificate of authenticity

Little Debbie's certificate of authenticity states she is a Kissing Kousins Dolls one-of-a-kind creation handcrafted by artist Karen Oyekanmi. The certificate is signed by the artist and dated January 15, 2022. She shares the same month and day of birth as Dr. Martin Luther King.

I love my mini-me!

About the Artist: Karen Oyekanmi is a professional doll artist and designer with over thirty years experience in the art industry. In 1983, she founded Kissing Kousins Dolls, a nationally recognized company, specializing in handcrafted limited edition dolls. In 1984, Karen founded the American Black Beauty Doll Club, now known as the American Black Beauty Doll Association. It is the oldest Black doll-making organization in America.

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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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Amanda 3

Amanda 3 is a one-of-a-kind doll by Rachel McCullough Sherrod of Starkey's Daughter Cloth Dolls.

Inspired by poet and author Amanda Gorman, Amanda 3 is an 18-inch felt doll designed and handcrafted by Rachel McCullough Sherrod of Starkey's Daughter Cloth Dolls.

A close-up of Amanda 3's beautiful face illustrates the close resemblance to Amanda Gorman.

Amanda 3 has beautiful hand-painted facial features on a pressed felt face with applied ears. Felt was used for the arms and legs and brown cloth for the body. 

The red satin headband and beautiful wig of dark brown locs are illustrated in this profile close-up.

The details of the hairstyle are amazing!

Amanda 3's dark brown locs, styled in an upswept wrapped bun and accented with a wide red satin headband, add 4 inches to her height!

With the coat open in this photo and in the next, Amanda 3's white blouse is fully visible.

She is such a unique doll.

Amanda 3 wears gold sewn-on hoop earrings, a white sleeveless blouse, black pants, a double-breasted yellow knee-length coat, white panties, black socks, and black shoes. Except for the earrings, shoes, and socks, Rachel, the artist, made everything.

This doll’s clothing and hairstyle were fashioned after the clothes and hairstyle worn by the poet at the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, which was held on January 20, 2021. The final verse of Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem, "The Hill We Climb," is embroidered in yellow thread on the back of Amanda 3's coat as illustrated next:

For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it.

Amanda 3's shoes and the base of her doll stand are illustrated here.

Certificate of authenticity

With the doll, the artist included a black and white checkered doll stand and a certificate of authenticity that reads.

Certificate of Authenticity

This is to certify that this Pressed Felt Doll

an OOAK Doll

Named Amanda 3 was designed and handcrafted 

by Rachel McCullough Sherrod

of

Starkey's Daughter Cloth Dolls

in the year 2021.

The doll is crafted of fine wool blend felt and cotton fabric.

The hair is kaneklon.

The doll was made in the Sweet State of North Carolina.

Also included with this one-of-a-kind doll is a bifold hangtag that contains the artist's signature and contact information. Several photos of the hangtag are shown in the next four images.

Care instructions and age recommendations are on the inside flap.

The artist's business card is attached to the center of the hangtag. It includes her contact information and her website: www.starkeysdaughterclothdolls.com

On the inside of the back flap, Amanda 3's name is handwritten.

Additional contact information for the artist is on the back of the hangtag, which is attached to Amanda 3's wrist with a red ribbon.

Amanda 3 is posed in a full-length partial profile photograph.

No detail was spared in the creation of this lovely doll. While other Amanda dolls by this artist exist, all dolls are handcrafted and one-of-a-kind. The original Amanda was installed in DeeBeeGee's s Virtual Black Doll Museum in June 2021 under the OOAK doll category.

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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!

Felt Doll by Mary Vasquez

Brown felt doll by Mary Vazquez

This circa 1980s doll by Mary Vazquez manufactured by Lloyderson Dolls of Spain was recently offered on eBay during a time that I obviously needed low-cost retail therapy.

She is 20 inches tall, made of brown felt with a brown felt shoulder plate. Her hard molded, Tweety bird-shaped head is covered with brown felt.

Yarn was used for the baby's short black hair.  She has black side-glancing eyes and a cute pouty mouth.

The body and limbs are stuffed cloth. The limbs are brown felt; the body is white cloth.

She wears a brass-tone bracelet.

This baby wears her original pink and white striped romper, matching bonnet, and a brass-tone bracelet with a charm that reads Mary Vazquez. I'll add white booties to complete her look later.

I think she is adorable.

I have not found much information about the artist or the company for whom she made dolls (Lloyderson Dolls of Spain) but my research will continue and I will update this post accordingly.

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. 
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2020 Annual Club Doll

Sculpted head of our 2020 annual doll

The members of my private Facebook group commissioned doll artist, Karen Oyekanmi to make our 2020 club doll, which will be the group's last annual doll.  As usual, we voted on the face sculpt, hair, clothing, and the doll's other details.

During the doll-making process, Karen shared photos of the different stages of completion.  Some of the beginning stages of the dolls are illustrated below.

The bodies have been added to the sculpted head.

Fully sewn with arms and legs attached, the faces have been partially painted.

Hair has been added, faces fully painted, and the dolls have been dressed.

The club doll comes with two dolls to hold, a boy and a girl.  The mini dolls are shown here before they were dressed.

The minis are made of felt, too.

The result of our choices and Karen’s doll-making magic resulted in twenty-five, 16-inch felt dolls inspired by the 2018 most beautiful girl in the world, Jare Ijalana from Lagos, Nigeria.  While the dolls look like sisters, because each one was hand-sculpted and hand-painted, they each have different personalities. They are each one-of-a-kind.

After I received the dolls from Karen, each doll was removed from the cellophane Karen had shipped them in. I individually inspected them, fluffed their hair in place, wrapped each in bubble wrap, and placed each one back into the cellophane in preparation for boxing and mailing individually to each club member.

After the dolls were completed, Karen shipped them to me for me to ship out separately to each club member.  I inspected each doll prior to boxing each doll for mailing. 

Some of the club members who shared photos of their dolls gave me permission to share the photos here.

Jackie Harpp included her doll's certificate in the photo.

Cheryl Bruce's doll took a cute seated photo with the Ava Duvernay doll by Funko.

Bonnie Lewis posed her doll with the 2019 club doll by Goldie Wilson and the 2017 club doll by Sue Sizemore.

Cathy Runnels added hair to her doll before sharing this close-up photograph.

Debbie VonHendricks' doll posed with a variety of other dolls in Debbie's collection.

Deborah Johnson also included her doll's certificate of authenticity (COA) in the photograph she shared.

Looking quite confident, Dorothy Singleton's doll took this laid-back photo after the doll's arrival to her new home.

My next-door neighbor, Florence Evans (next city over, that is), took this group photo that features her 2020 club doll.

Anita "Nini" Ornsby's doll holds her two mini dolls securely.

Shawatha Kendrick's doll is surrounded by other dolls in her collection.

Vicky Williams shared this pretty photo of her pretty girl and minis.

Wanda Richardson, whose doll's delivery was delayed by the USPS for unknown reasons, shared this photo of her doll and the doll's COA.

Phyllis Burns gave her doll a coordinating ribbon headband and bracelets.

Sheila Young said her doll loves the color orange.

******

It took me a while to take photos of my doll, but I finally took some a few days prior to sitting down to write this post.  My girl's photos are incorporated in the following description.

Description

My doll and her mini dolls

The 16-inch all-felt dolls have sculpted mask faces with dark-brown 4C natural-textured hair, painted black eyes that have blue irises, and painted lips that are highlighted with gold paint.

This close-up of my doll's face illustrates her eye color.

They are dressed identically in an orange floral-print dress, orange panties, and silver pumps with a silver bow at the vamp.

The 4-inch minis are made of felt. The boy's complexion is light brown; the girl's complexion is medium brown. The larger doll's fingers are wired for posing.  The fingers can be clasped, as shown, or unclasped. The fingernails are painted.

As illustrated in the members' photographs and my photograph immediately above, our dolls hold a boy and girl doll.  The minis and their clothing are made of felt.  The boy wears a blue nautical romper; the girl wears a red dress with iridescent stars applied.  They both have black yarn hair. The girl's hair is adorned with a blue bow.  Both minis have painted facial features and painted-on socks and shoes. 

Also noted, each doll has a signed and dated certificate of authenticity which certifies each as an "original art felt doll limited edition of 25 hand crafted by artist Karen Oyekanmi."

My doll is displayed with other felt dolls in my collection.  Another Karen Oyekanmi creation, named Toddler Baby that holds a doll stands next to the 2020 club doll.  A needle-felted doll made by Sue Sizemore; and Destiny, a tribute doll to Ruby Bridges, made by Rachel McCullough of Starkey's Daughter Cloth Dolls are the other two dolls.

Based in Oakland, CA, Karen Oyekanmi is the 1984 founder of American Black Beauty Doll Artists.  She did a fabulous job of completing this commissioned work and keeping us abreast of the doll-making process throughout. 

dbg


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