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

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Giving Them Life

Paris Williams, the center doll in tan jacket, was part of Onlyalisa's recent thrift store haul (Photo courtesy of Onlyalisa)*

A couple of weeks ago after a fellow collector shared her thrift store haul from an East Cost store that included a Madame Alexander Paris doll (what?) in near mint condition for $9.99, I trotted off to my local thrift store to see if I would be as lucky. Nope. No such luck here, but I did find two So In Style dolls and a Fashion Madness Denise. All were in preloved condition at $1.99 each, with one of the SIS girls qualifying for a 50% discount due to her tag color being the "color of the week." So for a little over $5 (including tax) I received an inexpensive doll fix.

So In Style (SIS) Grace, Trichelle, and Fashion Madness Denise are as they were when found in this and the next two photos.

Grace's hair required the least work to tame.  Denise's took lots of elbow grease to restyle.

I soaked the trio in Pine Sol and gave them a good rinse before washing and conditioning their hair.  I used a dab of Elasta QP Liquid Styling Gel to comb through Denise's matted tresses.

After washing, the hair was allowed to air dry.

What a difference!

After returning the SIS girls to their original hairstyles and giving Denise a faux fishtail braid, the girls were dressed in a combination of Sparkle Girlz and Barbie fashions and shoes  Before Denise posed for the above photo, her pale white lips with painted illusion of teeth were enhanced to enlarge the lips and cover the fake teeth.  See before and after photos next.

Denise's thin lips before the enhancement

I used white dimensional paint to both enlarge the size of the upper and lower lips and to add dimension to the painted teeth.  See profile photos next (before final color was added).

I mixed a couple of colors of brown, tan, a touch of red, and white acrylic paint to achieve a neutral lip color, shown below in Denise's final photo.

This is the second lip enhancement I have performed on a Fashion Madness Denise.  The result of the first one, seen here, is not as appealing as this one.

*The other dolls in the first photo found by Onlyalisa are an International Fulani Tribal Doll, Naber Kid, Bratz Dylan, Effanbee doll possibly from the Grandes Dames collection, and an 18-inch Our Generation Girl.

I wasn't as lucky as Onlyalisa but I enjoyed giving these three life and Denise more lips.

dbg

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