Clones Cut From the Same Mold

Designer's Choice Kari Michell dolls

The doll in the middle was purchased from Big Lots a couple of months ago after I signed up for a repainting project with plans to use this doll as my subject.  The redhead wears a full-length pink "silk" gown with faux fur pink shrug.  A casual fashion of pink sweater and pink skirt with ruffled hem is included.  Accessories are two different styles of pink high heels and two different pink purses.  The doll wears simulated pearl cross-shaped earrings and necklace.  Big Lots' $10 price is decent for the clothing and accessories alone, which I will probably use for other dolls.

African American Designer's Choice Kari Michell dolls

After reading an informative Limbe Dolls post, The Spice of Life: Part 1, I discovered the Kari Michell dolls are made by the manufacturer of World Peacekeepers and Power Team Elite action figures  Familiar with the quality of M and C Toy Centre Ltd's action figures, I wanted and found the two African American Kari Michell dolls on eBay.  They were offered in the same auction for $24.99 with free shipping. 

Head shots of the three dolls

Unlike the white version, the African American dolls do not have an extra fashion.  Like the white version, they all share the same generic, nondescript face sculpt.  Even though the dolls are not articulated, I wanted to add them to my Black Barbie clone/competitor collection. These are not actually Barbie clones because they do not look like any current or past head sculpt used for Barbie and/or Barbie's friends. The Kari Michel dolls fall into the competitor category. 

Both AA versions have black-rooted hair, and brown-painted eyes. They wear pearl heart-shaped earrings.  One doll wears a burgundy faux suede jacket, burgundy pleather pants, a fuchsia knit top, a burgundy handbag, and burgundy high heels.  The other wears a black sparkly pullover sweater, a black faux leather pencil skirt, black high heels, and a black handbag.

All three dolls have a box date of 2005, but I do not know if the company is still producing African American versions.  At the time I purchased the redhead, Big Lots had a large supply of white Kari Michell dolls.  I have never seen an African American Kari Michell there or anywhere locally.    

  
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Braxton-Hicks Angel

Third trimester (8 months)

Thirty-five years ago today, the day of the week was Sunday.  Husband and I had gone to eat Mexican food the evening before after which we walked the mall to expedite the delivery of our first-born child whose proposed due date was November 7, 2012.  I am not sure if it was the Mexican cuisine or the walking that caused the "bloody show."  After informing my doctor of this symptom, he instructed me to go to the hospital where I had already been preadmitted.  His plan was to induce labor, which was not really necessary but the bloody show was a reason that he could attempt to control the date of delivery.

By 9 p.m., November 5, 1977, my husband and I were in the labor and delivery unit of the hospital with my mother and sister waiting nervously outside.  Owing to her nervous stomach, I would later learn that my sister actually became ill during the waiting period.  Poor thing.

My mother and sister in waiting room

Things went smoothly that Saturday evening.  After the IV of Pitocin was started, I began experiencing mild labor pains, Braxton-Hicks type, a little more painful than menstrual cramps.  Nonchalantly, I asked the first set of nurses who attended me, "Is this all there is to it?"  I didn't read the meaning of their silence and glances at one another and then back at me.  I continued to assume that I was experiencing true labor pains and that my planned natural birth delivery would be a breeze.

Shortly before their shift ended, the nurses wished me good luck and introduced me to the women who would take over in their absence.  Finally, reality set in along with true labor pains.  I had never experienced such severe pain in my life!  It was as though my insides were being torn into microscopic pieces to inflict extreme, unrelenting torture.  I wanted to die, but first, as I informed my husband, "Let's-go-home! I-don't-want-to-do-this!"  His reply was, "Debbie, we can't go home.  You can do this.  You have to." 

Everything from that point until 3:58 a.m., Sunday, November 6, 1977, when I gave birth to my beautiful, 8-pound 9-ounce daughter is a blur.  I was glad it was over and after seeing my little angel, I knew I would do it all over again if she would be the reward.

First photo

Six weeks postpartum

At age 4

Happy birthday to my first born angel, Angela, who will always be my baby girl. 

This one final (fuzzy) picture adds a doll relevance to this post:

Daughter, age 8 with Berjusa doll, two Cabbage Patch dolls (holding), and a handmade CPK look alike.

My first born with her first born (this photo, taken in 2015, was added in 2016, four years after this post was originally published).

  
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Big Jim and Big Jack and Other Paper Doll Additionss

Big Jim and Big Jack Play Figures with Sports Outfits paper doll book, 1988

The paper dolls included here were purchased in September from the same eBay paper doll seller, (Dovey) who often sells paper dolls of color.  I wanted the Big Jim and Big Jack paper doll book because I collect black paper dolls and because I own Mattel's Big Jack doll.  

The Big Jim and Big Jack paper doll book includes the two 9-inch paper dolls with stands and four fashion pages, each containing two fashions for Big Jim and two for Big Jack.  This Whitman book was published in 1988 by Western Publishing Company Inc. and originally sold for 79 cents.  Big Jim and Big Jack are registered trademarks of Mattel, 1976.  I paid roughly $7 and some change while other eBay sellers were offering the same uncut version for as much as 40-something dollars -- proof that you really have to be selective with eBay purchases and compare prices. 

Dovey had the following two diverse paper doll books on eBay at the same time Big Jim and Big Jack's book was offered.

Dollies go 'round the World paper doll book, 1971

Dollies go 'round the World includes three, nameless, 7-inch push-out dolls with stands (a dark-skinned girl, a blonde, and a redhead). The dolls can share the several pages of colorful costumes and wigs representing Greece, Japan, West Africa, Algeria, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Belgium, Netherlands, Thailand, Scotland, Spain, Egypt, Canada, Philippines, Norway, France, Italy, Hawaii, and Peru.  Published by James and Jonathan, Inc. 1971, this paper doll book had an original price of 29 cents and probably served as an excellent social studies tool for 1970s little ones who owned it.

The Trend-Setters paper doll book by Alina M. Kolluri, 2006

The Trend-Setters is an autographed paper doll cut-out book by Alina M. Kolluri (I believe she is Dovey, the eBay seller from whom the book was purchased).  The book includes four, 6-inch female paper dolls of diverse ethnicities and eight sheets of colorful, trendy fashions representing their different cultures.  Raven is African American.  Daisy is a redhead.  Jade is brunette and Summer is blonde.

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