Happy World Doll Day! I Got One of My Grail Dolls!

   It's World Doll Day again. World Doll Day was the idea of Mildred Seeley. Here's the original letter, from the WorldDollDay.com website:

"To make it happen I need cooperation of every doll collector, every magazine editor, doll newsletter, doll shop, library, doll maker, mother, grand­mother, father, grandfather, and all the stray aunts and uncles. The first World Doll Day is the Second Saturday of June 1986. Give a doll to a grownup, child in the family or just a friend.  If you don't have a child to give a doll to - find one. There are many children with no dolls.

Think of it this way and ship a doll to another country.  I have always felt that the common doll could be an instrument of world understanding. From the first time I started writing books on doll making, I had the hope that dolls would help make friends all over the world and develop a little love among all.

World Doll Day will also be a day for doll exhibits. It is my hope that all libraries will have a special doll exhibit. Museums will publicize their doll exhibits and have special doll exhibits at this time.  Magazines will put out special editions.  Doll stores will put on campaigns weeks ahead.  Doll Makers will make special dolls for World Doll Day.  There will be doll competitions with World Doll Day awards, plaques and trophies.

The logo is made from artist Boots Tyner's doll representing a child. The child carries a German bisque doll to represent this doll collectors gift.  Feel free to copy the logo or have one made.

Everyone can enjoy the fun as there are no fees, no permission needed, no obligations, nobody owns the day, no club, no company.  It's a free- for- all, take up the day, its ideas and fly with it.  Lets do it now.  World Doll Day.

If you think World Doll Day is a good idea, then appoint yourself a committee of one to do something about it--only then can it become a reality.  Would you tell five people,  ask them to tell five people, and each of them tell five people and so on.  World Doll Day's birthday is June 14, 1986.

Sincerely,
Mil and Vernon Seeley

P.S. This letter may be copied and copied again and again until the world knows about World Doll Day."

  That makes this the 40th anniversary of World Doll Day. I have posted about it before, but I usually forget, so it's probably been 10 years since I posted about it.  But this year I'm getting my post ready beforehand! Even though it's already WDD, that doesn't mean that you can't still donate a doll to a child's charity, buy a doll to donate to an upcoming Christmas toy drive, plan on buying a doll or other toy for one of those Christmas toy drives where you choose a particular child from a list or tag tree and purchase something from their wish list, etc.  For years I have donated toys to the battered women and children's shelter, and the toy drive at the fire station. You can donate to the shelters any time of year. The shelters are always taking donations of new items, including clothing and shoes, because, as I was told, many come to the shelter with only the clothes on their backs, having fled dangerous situations. So don't forget to do whatever you can.

  Ken treated me on my birthday this year, and bought me a doll that has been on my list for AGES. I finally got my Klumpe suitcase girl!

  You might have seen her on one of my wish lists. She's been my favourite of the Klumpe dolls I've seen, for years. 

  She carries a lot of stuff! She has a coat, a bouquet, and a book in her arms, and a suitcase with an umbrella strapped to it in her other hand. She's holding the coat, etc. away from her body, so it looks a little weird. how is she keeping that book there?! But from the fact that most of her coat is sun faded, and the part next to her body is still a darker pink, I'd say that arm was originally more against her body. Supposedly Klumpe's are somewhat posable, but she's too stiff to pose. I'm afraid I'll break her if I force it.

She was made in Spain, and sold by Klumpe, probably in the 1950's or 60's. To learn more about Klumpe, you can see my post on my Klumpe Flamenco dancer HERE.

  Klumpe dolls always have the same very distinctive , if awkward looking feet.

 

   Her clothes, with the exception of her skirt, hat, suitcase, umbrella, book, coat and even her bouquet, are all made of wool felt.

   I think her hair is mohair or something similar. Her face is stockingette, over a molded head. The details are painted.

  

   She has such character to her. I love that she's wearing glasses.

  And of course, she's a red head.

  I'm very glad to finally have her. Thanks Ken!

  Thanks to Fuzz for being my photographer!

  Happy World Doll Day!

New Super Heroines and Super Villains in Three Sizes!

   Ken gets his other stents tomorrow. Any good vibes, prayers, good wishes, whatever you believe in, would be appreciated. But now, what you're here for: dolls. I saw some really great brand new dolls last night. Walmart had a huge display, filled with beautiful dolls based on DC characters.

Around the side the featured dolls were Walmart's own My Life As dolls as Supergirl.

But the front of the display was filled with beautiful 1/6 scale DC heroines. There were four characters. Let's look at them one by one. 

First up: Supergirl.

  She looks a bit cross eyed, but she's very pretty.

  I'm not sure when Supergirl started wearing a sweater, but she has a sweater, a cheerleader skirt, and knee socks under her boots. She also has a double belt, and her dog, Krypto. (Why would you name your dog after your biggest fear and danger?)

  She has some articulation beyond the standard shoulders and hips too. I don't know about her ankles, but she also has jointed elbows, wrists, and knees. It looks like her waist might possibly have a joint too. Her hands have long, pointy fingernails.

  Next we have Harley Quinn, not a heroine. Harley Quinn is a villain, being The Joker's babe. She's popular though, even though she's been played as pretty crazy.

  She has the same pretty face as Supergirl, but she has HQ's smeary scary make up, and coloured streaks in her hair.

That is one big zipper pull.

  On one hand she has a molded fingerless glove, and both hands have the same long, pointy nails as Supergirl.

  Next we have another villain, Catwoman. She's my second favourite of the bunch.



  She has the same face as the others, but she has a mask, (I'm not sure if it's part of her face mold or not. Looks like it might be.), and her eyes are two different colours. 

  She has a cool black pleather top, a black tulle skirt, net stockings, and, like the others, boots. On each wrist she has a pearl bracelet. She also has the same long nails as the others.

  And now on to my favourite. I'm sure you guessed which was probably going to be my favourite from the beginning. If you guessed Poison Ivy, you're right.

    Daughter Ivy always hates being called Poison Ivy. I still do it occasionally....  

  As I've said, I wasn't particularly crazy about my own red hair, but I like red haired dolls. She has the same pretty face as the others, and some twisty hair horns, and big, plant based eyebrows.  

  I love her collar of leaves, and the leaves on her outfit. There are leaves printed all over it, plus there are some three dimensional leaves sewn to the top of the neckline. 

  She's wearing sheer, green tights, which also have a leave print. Unlike the other three, she isn't wearing boots. She's wearing her little leafy booties. 

  I guess we can tell now that there is no ankle joint.

  She has a cool purse too. 

  There's a hinge on the bottom, so I guess it even really opens too! And, you can see that she has the same long pointy nails as the others. She's my favourite! Want!

  The right side had the 18 inch My Life As dolls as Supergirl, but what was on the left side? The exact opposite of 18 inch dolls: Tiny Kelly/Chelsea sized dolls!



  They're actually bag charms, and called 'Charming Bag Charms', so they have a hook thing coming out of their heads. I hope it's removeable, because they are so pretty it would be a shame to have a giant hook on their head ruining their looks. They also come with a bunch of other smaller charms and a bow.

  They have '10+ pieces'.

  I have the same two favourites in this bunch.  Look how cute little Catwoman, (Catgirl?), is.

Her mask definitely looks like a separate piece.

  And my favourite is, again, Poison Ivy.

She even has the little leave booties! Want!

  Something else I saw was the Ryan Gosling head sculpt Ken. I'm not sure if I remember seeing this one before.

Mattel is still riding high on the Barbie movie.

  It really does look like Ryan Gosling.

  If somebody with more talent than I have repainted him, he would really look like Ryan Gosling.

  And that's it for this post. I keep forgetting to post these on the blog's Facebook page. I'm thinking of it now though, so I better do it before I forget. See you soon.

A Few Random Dolls and Another Car

   I don't get on the computer very often these days, so I get ideas for posts, and then they get outdated before I ever get around to them. I still haven't posted the Christmas gifts that reader Treesa sent me year before last! I also have a gift Ken got me for Valentine's Day, and a birthday gift to show you. But here's a quick post in the meantime.

  For those of you who are following the continuing story of our vehicle problems, here's the latest. For those of you only interested in the dolls, and bored with my life, (And who can blame you?), skip ahead to the dolls.

  So our recently purchased van died, and we were left without a vehicle again. My sister had a brainstorm. Her friend had been complaining of having too many cars for years. (Oh, to have those sorts of problems!) She wanted to give my sister one of her cars that she didn't drive very often. My sister had been refusing, saying "You can't give me a car!" But it occurred to her that if her friend gave her that car, then she could give us her car. So she proposed the idea. I, having not much choice, agreed. So she took her car in to have the oil changed. After that some of the warning lights on the dashboard came on. She took it in to have that checked. It was found that the car needed a new battery. Then they discovered some other problems. The free car ended up costing about $1000. But we got $400 for the van we paid $800 for, from the salvage guy, and the person we bought the van from is giving us back $300. That means the free car was only really $300...sort of. That's not bad. We basically paid $100 to drive the van for 3 weeks. So we finally got everything fixed on my sister's car, and we brought it home. So far so good.

  Ken goes to have his other stents put in soon. Don't forget to send him all your good vibes and prayers, or whatever you have. We'll take all the good stuff. Now, on to the dolls. 

  I spotted some dolls I hadn't seen before at a few places lately. Some were interesting, so I thought I'd share them with you. First of all, there are these Harry Potter dolls.

  I hadn't seen the ones with accessories before. There were also these Diagonally Collectible Shops sets. I hadn't seen these either. They're pretty nice, with some cool minis in them. My favourite is the one with the chess game.

  I spotted those at Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati. You might remember my post on Smiskis, and all the Smiskis they had at Jungle Jim's.. Well they got rid of all those displays, but they have new ones, and loads more Smiski options, including lamps, zipper pulls, plush dolls and plush purses.

  I think this house is a Robotime mini room collection, but they used it to display the Smiskis.

  A lot of you might not be old enough to remember the Alligator King cartoon on Sesame Street. Emma didn't, so they must have stopped using it by the time she came along. But I remember it very well. Not too long ago I spotted this figure.

    As a kid it took me a while to figure out what that mustache was supposed to be.

  The line of retro toys has been expanded.

  These little Tote-ily dolls are cute. They each comes with a mini backpack that can be used for storing the doll, as a purse, or as a mini backpack for a larger doll.

 

    So that's it for right now. As I said, I still have some ideas for posts that I need to get around to. If  I do: see you soon.