Doll-A-Day 2023 #305: Barbie Loves the Ocean

   This is another doll I found at the bin store for $1. She's also bound for donation. But we can look at her, because he packaging has seen better days anyway. She's a Barbie Loves the Ocean doll.

  She came in an all cardboard box, with no plastic window. The whole idea of the doll was to bring awareness to ocean bound plastics, and stopping plastic waste. Here's the doll herself.

The back of her box explains that she is made from recycled ocean bound plastics, the fabric is made from recycled plastic, and she is presented in recyclable packaging. It also states that apart from the doll's head and shoes, plastic parts are 'made from 90% recycled plastic sourced within 50km of waterways in areas lacking formal waste collection systems'.

There's a QR code that can be scanned 'for more information on how Barbie loves the ocean and is working toward a better future'. Great, but apparently she only loved the ocean for this one series of dolls, because I see plastic packaging on Barbie dolls all the time. Stuff like this is great, and it helps, but you have to do it ALL the time to make a real difference. Why not do it all the time?!

She's a pretty doll. She has a bright colourful dress.

She has a big smile, with teeth.

And great hair, with painted hair around her hair line.

Although I don't think it's as well painted as some others I've seen.

  Online I saw her described as a curvy body, but she isn't. She's pretty skinny.

  

  Here's how Amazon describes her:

• The Barbie Loves the Ocean collection features diverse dolls, fabrics and accessories made from recycled materials and ocean-bound plastics.
• ​Barbie doll has a curvy body shape and naturally curly black hair. She is summer-ready in a striped sundress with a fun pineapple print and asymmetric ruffle neckline.
• ​From strolling down the boardwalk at the beach to attending a backyard BBQ, her breezy and versatile look can inspire kids to dream up all sorts of summery stories.
• ​Barbie doll wears white sunglasses and platform sandals made from ocean-bound plastics.
• ​This sustainably minded doll comes in FSC-certified recyclable packaging that is fully closed to help reduce plastic waste.
• ​Barbie Loves the Ocean not only provides kids with a sun-sational opportunity for play, but it can also encourage a love for protecting the planet and its oceans from an early age.

When I got her, her accessories were missing. That's not a big surprise, considering how things get thrown around in those bins. She was barely hanging in her box herself. I think she will still make a good gift for a kid. I managed to put her back in her restraints in her packaging, (all cardboard loops), and put her box back together pretty well. I don't think any kid is going to read the box to see what she was supposed to come with. I might throw in some new accessories I have anyway, because I bought something for one or two things, and ended up with some stuff I don't need.

She has limited articulation, and solid plastic legs, but she can move her arms and legs out to the sides, as well as back and forth.

  Some good news! Our new windows come in in about 6 days, and then they will be installed shortly after. Yay!!

  That's the doll for today. See you again tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #295: A Very Toothy Troll!

  I missed yesterday. Sorry. I was feeling very achy yesterday, and we had a full day. I must have looked like a little old lady, having to have Ken give me his arm so I could get around! I started the day off like that today too. It took me half the day to loosen up and stop having such bad back ache when I was on my feet. I think it's a combination of sleeping on this air mattress that doesn't inflate properly any more, and the cold weather. It has gotten really cold here. We had snow on Halloween! I have noticed in the last few years that when the weather gets cold again, I stiffen up and get terrible back ache. 

  So, since I'm Another day behind, let me show something I've only seen once, and it gave me a good laugh. 

  I have never seen a troll with teeth before! This one looks like a Russ troll, from the 90's. He's a plush, with a vinyl head, and about 10 inches tall. But those teeth!

  I can find a Russ troll as a wizard in a blue outfit like this, but none have teeth. I found a baseball player with teeth, made by Sof' Trolls. His clothes are part of his body, and the sleeves on this one look like his are too. So I'm going to guess he was made by Sof' Trolls.

  I saw him in an antique mall, and I had to send a picture to Emma, who loved trolls as a kid.

  I'll see what I can round up for another post today. Gotta get back on track!

  And I'll see you tomorrow for a pretty girl.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #273: Horsman Doll

  I got this doll at the toy show the other day. I have no idea who she is, as I looked her up on the Horsman doll identification page, and I couldn't find any doll exactly like her. But here she is.

She's about 14 inches tall.

She does say Horsman on the back of her neck.

  Her face has some damage There's a nick in the colour on her nose, and her eyebrows have apparently been drawn on with black marker.

Those eyebrows look like they'll be easy to remove.

  She ha sleep eyes with brush lashes.

And she has teeth. They are a bit off center though. 

She's strung, and jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. Her little knees are blushed.

Her undies have a built in short slip.

 Her hair is mostly in it's original set. It's a bit surprising her hair is in such good condition, considering how dirty and worn her face is. It's a nice colour too, sort of a dark auburn.

It's full of hairpins.

What a beautiful colour! That's the red I would have loved my hair to have been.

  I think her dress is homemade. It's a pretty good job, but I can tell from the stitches that hold the rhinestone straps on in the inside. (They are rhinestones, but they have darkened.)

Her dress does have a built in underskirt. She's also wearing undies.

  She seems worth saving. Think how cute she'd be with her face washed, new eyebrows, and her nose nick fixed, her hair tidied, and a cute little dress.

  She was in a box under the dealer's table, along with some more boring dolls and light fixtures and stuff. The dealers kept coming over and saying, "$8. The dolls in those boxes are $8." That's not bad, but you can't fault someone for trying! So I said, "Would you take 5?" He immediately came back with "Six." Done and done.   

  If anybody knows who she is, please leave a comment. See you tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #249: Antique Doll with Jointed Legs

   Today's doll is another from the recent doll shows. She was a really cheap price, and I thought she was so interesting and cute, so I couldn't resist.

She's only about 10 inches tall.

She has a bisque head and shoulder plate, tiny teeth, and brown glass eyes.

  The only markings she has are the numbers on her back, and a blob sort of thing, which I think is just a flaw in the bisque, on the back of her head.

 She has somewhat large painted eye brows. Her brown glass eyes are so dark you can hardly find the pupils in them, but they are there.

The teeth are a little weird looking, and I suspect it's because they weren't put in properly. But they have some personality.

She's in pretty nice shape, but her face and eyes could do with some cleaning. Even a little paint touch up couldn't hurt.

I'm not sure about her hair, but I think it's mohair.

She's only wearing a slip and boots. I would love t have a dress from the right period for her. Her body doesn't seem to be oilcloth. It just seems to be heavy polished cotton.

She has some really interesting knee joints.

I wouldn't try to take those boots off if you paid me. They'd never go back on.

Her leg and her boot look machine surged. That had me questioning the age of her body. But I looked it up, and the machine surger was invented in the 1830's. 

I'm not sure what to say her arms are made of. Ceramic?

The crown of her head is just a hole. You can see the dark area that is the hole through her hair.

That slip is sewn on.

  I know there are a lot of antique dolls like that. I really don't think she's reproduction. 

I'm not very educated on this era of dolls. I do much better with dolls that are within the span of my lifetime. It's kind of like the old TV series "Quantum Leap". (I don't know much about the new version.) I can only travel back and forth within my own lifetime.

But I would say her hair is what's left of a much thicker wig, her eyes and teeth are original, her slip is original, but those hair ribbons definitely aren't.

She can sit down, and though her knees have that weird jointing, they don't bend and stay bent very well. Her arms are sewn into her cloth body, and can lift up on their cloth connection, but they don't move much.

  If anybody knows anything about this sort of doll, leave a comment. 

  That's it for today. Tomorrow we'll have a look at another doll show doll. (Hey, I was really good the first day, and most of the stuff I got the second day was small.)