New Hand Painted Dianna Effner Maru and Friends Dolls! And a Sneak Peak at an Upcoming One!

   There's something new from Maru and Friends, and it's pretty great! Two new hand painted dolls, sculpted by the late Dianna Effner are on the website now, and today you're seeing the new doll that isn't on the website yet!

  All three are 13 inch Mini Pal sized dolls, with hand painted faces by Ashley Rose, a certified artist from Dianna Effner's Dreamer's Guild. A certificate of  authenticity is provided, and the dolls are signed by the artist. All three dolls are limited editions of 100 pieces world wide.

  The dolls are all vinyl, and the first two have jointed elbows, as well as the usual articulation at the neck, shoulders, and hips. They have removable wigs, and can wear the other Mini Pal wigs available from Maru and Friends. 

   The dresses are fully lined, and close with snaps. You may have read in my reviews of Maru and Friends dolls how much I love the quality of their regular doll clothes. The fabrics are always so nice, and the clothes look and feel like human clothes, with real buttons and snaps. 

  As I said, there are two of the new hand painted dolls on the website, and I will be previewing a third in this post. First look! 

  Of the two on the  website now, let's start with  Charlize.  

 Charlize has dark auburn hair with red highlights, and a wonderful hand painted Dianna Effner face. She's available with blue or green eyes. Her skin tone is light, and she has rosy cheeks.

   Her dress is made from zibeline silk, (a less cruel silk made of wool or other animal hair which can be sheared. Silk from worms is obtained by boiling the worms alive. This may not matter to you, but it matters to me.), with forget-me-nots with faux jewel centers, on the shoulders.

  Her outfit is completed by underwear, white tights, and black Mary Jane shoes with tiny side bows.

 The second hand painted doll on the website is Isabella.

  Isabella is a blonde with blue eyes. (Unlike Charlize, Isabella is available with blue eyes only.)

  Her dress is a mix of silk and chamois fabric, with a pink bodice and pastel rainbow skirt. The bodice features pleating, faux pearl beads and daisy appliques. Her outfit is completed by underwear, white tights, and the same black Mary Janes with side bows, worn by Charlize.

  Now for the new doll, which hasn't been seen yet! Her name is Willow, and she's my favourite so far.

Willow has great red hair, and blue eyes, a fair complexion, and freckles! 

Her blue dress has an interesting collar style. She also comes with underwear, white stockings, and black Mary Jane shoes.

     These dolls are beauties. They are one of a kind works of art, so they are pricey. Charlize and Isabella, who have jointed elbows, retail for $800, held by a $200 deposit. Willow doesn't have jointed elbows, but  is priced at $545. As I said, Willow isn't on the website yet, but the other two are available for preorder on the Maru and Friends website. 

  That's it! See you soon!

A Plethora of Interesting Dolls

  Hold onto your hats! This is a picture loaded post! But first, Tammy World has recently done some traveling around. She visited A Taste of Belgium in Beaver Creek, Ohio.

  We were curious about the place, since we've been to Belgium. I had to send pictures  and the menu to my friend Helga, who lives in Belgium, to see what she thought. It was good stuff, but I'm not sure that most of what we ate, (I had a crepe with cheese, mushrooms, and greens.) was very Belgian. Helga didn't think so either. The plain waffle was darn good though, and qualified as Belgian.

  And the other week it was supposed to rain ALL day. But I thought I should still get some walking in and not just sit. So we went to an antique mall, a place where the idea of what might be just around the corner can keep me moving, even when my back and leg are hurting terribly. There were LOADS of dolls there. I am seeing way more dolls at antique malls than I used to. So I thought I would take you all with me, virtually at least.

  The first thing I spotted was this Beany doll. You might have seen a Beany I posted before. He was the larger, talking Beany, like my childhood Beany. This one looks exactly the same, only he's smaller, and not a talking doll. I had never seen one in person before. 

Fun size Beany!

  Beany was from a cartoon called Beany and Cecil. Cecil was a sea serpent. I used to watch Beany and Cecil when I was a kid. Mattel made the Beanys, and also a talking Cecil and a hand puppet. I just found out that they also made a 9 inch tall Beany doll! Even more fun. You can watch a commercial for various Beanys and Cecils  HERE. 

  I also spotted 'my' mom in the same stall. That is, Tammy's mom!

  She seemed expensive for only wearing a homemade dress and having disheveled hair. 

  Tammy's mom, (I think that was the only name Ideal ever gave her.), was posed in the spot originally occupied by this pretty lady in the yellow dress.  

  I'm not sure who she was made by, and I forgot to photograph her tag. She looks a bit Madame Alexanderish, but I don't think she is. There were so many dolls that looked like this, with almost the exact same face.

  You might notice a doll in a striped shirt next to her. 

  His tag said he was My Friend Mikey, but he isn't. He kind of looks like he was meant to imitate Mikey, but he's obviously a cheaper doll, and is quite a bit smaller than the real Mikey. He's also similar to Lapsitter Joey. Both Mikey and Joey were made by Fisher Price. This guy wasn't.

Who is this kid? I can't read her tag, but she looks familiar.

She looks like maybe an Ideal or Mattel doll.

  This kid looks familiar too, but is another I can't place.

  Now this kid I know. It's Crissy's cousin Cinnamon. I always thought she was Crissy's sister, which would make sense, with them both having red hair, but apparently she's Velvet's sister. I have a couple of Cinnamons, but neither have their original outfit. Next to her is Grampa. He's the small version. There is a larger one, and Gramma dolls in both sizes too. You might have seen the Gramma I have HERE. 

    As I said, there were two versions of Grampa. One was an 18 inch version that talked. This one is the smaller, 16 inch, non talking version. Grandpa and Gramma were Sear exclusives.

There was also a Gramma doll, in both versions. They were Sears exclusive dolls. You can see a post on Gramma HERE.

  Nearby was this cute baby. He was made by Shindana. 

Shindana made all sorts of African American dolls and figures, and board games. They operated from 1968 to 1983. This little baby is from 1976, because I found this picture:

There he is.

  This girl has a very early 70's look about her.

She was made by Eugene.

There was this cute Effanbee girl.

Behind her you'll see a doll that appealed to me. She's a doll representing Spain.

She's a Suzanne Gibson doll.

As it turned out, there were a lot of Suzanne Gibson dolls, not just in this booth, but in others in the antique mall. This one is Little Miss Muffet. She even has the spider.

  

  Those two were about 9 inches tall. But there were also larger Suzanne Gibson dolls, like this 18 inch Mary Mary Quite Contrary doll.

Apparently this Suzanne Gibson doll is meant to be Hansel, of Hansel and Gretel.

There was this large celluloid doll.

  This American Character Puggy doll wasn't in the best condition.

There were vintage dolls mixed with not so vintage dolls, including some Precious Moments dolls, (on the left.)

And here's another Suzanne Gibson doll, and another Precious Moments doll. 

This hard plastic doll in a sparkly blue skating or majorette suit had a nice face. Anybody recognize her?

This porcelain doll was made by Lenox.

  I really liked some of the Suzanne Gibson dolls, but my favourite doll in the booth was probably this one.

She was all cloth, with yarn hair and a printed face and clothes.

I love her face!! She's so cute!

  If she hadn't had so much missing hair, I might have bought her.  

Another booth had these handmade cloth girls... and a duck.

  There were more ducks in various other spots. Maybe dealers hadn't pulled all the Easter themed things yet.

  More ducks, and a carved jointed, wooden man.

  You might remember a while back that I finally got an Ella Cinders doll.  Mine is a reproduction of the original compo doll, made by Horsman in the 90's. I'm not sure when this one was made, but it's also a later Horsman reproduction. This one, in pink and white gingham,  is much taller than mine.

 

I LOVE that blue polka dot pitcher!!

  I'm not sure if these babies are part of the Dionne Quintuplets.

The doll in white seems to be wax.

  There was a Heidi Ott doll, or, as Ken refers to them, with his Yorkshire accent an 'Idey Hot doll'.

Remember that kid in green.

There was a scary pair of twins, and, I think the chubby pair of roly polys at the bottom, (You can see the one in green above.), are German characters Max and Moritz.

 

  The dark haired doll in white looks like another Max.

The same case had the 9 inch Horsman Ella Cinders too. Mine is the size in between the two in this case.

 

The little boy in the newsboy cap was cute.

The cute compo baby was nearly hidden. 

Way up on a high shelf was this ballerina. She has a very common 50's look, and I'm not sure who she was made by.

Her companion was an interesting looking guy.

  In one case I spotted one of my favourites, a doll I wanted all my life, (and luckily finally got, several times over.), Mrs. Beasley.

  My best Beasley my dream Beasley, got covered in smoke soot in the fire. I'm hoping she comes clean. I still see the lady who owned her as a child, every once in a while. I'd like to be able to tell her that she's still okay. Her glasses weren't on her at the time. They were on my vanity, and they did melt a bit. One of the legs shrunk.

If she doesn't come clean, I have a back up Beasley, who has perfect glasses and everything. She has a nice rosy face. But I have a soft spot for my perfect Beasley. I know her history. I feel like I'm her caretaker, for her original owner, who still asks me if I still have her. I will get around to cleaning her. I hope she comes out okay.

  I liked this big, homemade doll, mostly for her pretty vintage clothes.

  Remember Tippee Toes? The original came with a tricycle and a horse ride on toy. She 'pedaled' her tricycle and pushed her horse with her feet. A later version came with a stroller she could walk behind and push.

These two ladies look a bit suspicious.

They're made by Duchess dolls.

 

  I think I have fallen in love with this little boy, with the hand painted face. (Apologies to his more boring companion.)

I think he's the official 'one that got away' from this trip.

He was only $15. I think I should have gotten him.

I'm guessing this is a Klumpe doll. It could be a Roldan though. They're very similar.

This bearded guy looks like he might be a marionette.

This fella was dollhouse size. I think he's supposed to be a chimney sweep.

What a sweet little girl! She's so cute, and jointed too. I'm not sure if she's a reproduction, because that hair is definitely new. She's beautiful though.

Where have I seen that lady in green before?

There were some Shirley Temples. They've been there a while. The little girl with them is sweet. I don't know who she is though.

This little guy was very intense looking.

I liked this little bisque dollhouse sized guy.

Anybody know this kid?

Another Shirley.

The old lady had a great face.

This poor little guy is tagged as plastic, but he was super light, and I would have said he was celluloid. His stringing was very loose. He was tinier than he looks here, being about 4 inches tall. 

This lady was taking a nap.

This little girl reminded me of  Moody Cutie dolls, as she was about the same size, and made of soft rubber.

This doll was a large version of those dolls like the Dress Me type dolls that came dressed, like the Duchess dolls above. Those dolls are about 8 or 9 inches tall. This one was very pretty, with a blushy face and pretty clothes.

You might have seen Brat dolls on this blog before. Not Bratz,.Brat. I have one from when I was a kid, and the look is one I was always drawn to. I actually have this exact same doll, but not in as nice condition as this one. This doll was made to have a balloon in her mouth, which inflated when her belly was squeezed. When they're found these days, the balloons have popped or rotted, and are missing.

The Lollipop Girls dolls were designed by Jan McLean. They are 12 inches tall, and have great huge eyes and very long legs. I always wanted one, but these days they are a bit expensive. I remember them also coming out in a large size, and the first ones were porcelain, I think.

Flatsies! I have my childhood Flatsy, but you may also have seen the more recent Flatsies, made by Schylling in 2008, that I've posted. These are originals though.

We saw loads of these cute little wooden figures when we were in Belgium and Germany They are actually German made I think. They were expensive there, and they were expensive here too. 

This little baseball player is a Mattel Patter Pal names Pep Talk. He was made in 1969. There was a series of Patter Pals, which were pull string talkers. You might have seen this guy before, when he was part of Doll-A-Day.  

This monkey reminded me of my melted Barnaby Withersticks. He's plush, and Barnaby is (melted) plastic , but they have similar faces and hands and feet.

This doll is a mask face doll, with a brittle plastic face.

There was a Patsy reproduction.

This Virgin Islands doll has a strange face.

A pair of Effanbee dolls.

I had to photograph this pair of Ernie the Keebler elf dolls, just because the larger one was GIGANTIC. He was at least 3 feet tall.

And remember the Grampa doll above? Well here's another one, with Gramma.

This Santa has an accordion paper body. 

I think he was homemade, using a rubber Santa face that was sold as a craft accessory, and cotton balls. But the Santa below is a vintage spun cotton faced figure.

At the recent doll show I found the whole set of Mego Little Rascals dolls. But on this trip, Buckwheat was hanging out on his own. 

This girl was pretty, and I don't know how I ended up with only half a picture.

This Little Hostess kitchen by Marx is that 70's avocado colour. and the perfect size for a 1/12 scale dollhouse.

This was a very serious girl.

These aren't dolls, but I love Humpty Dumpty things. (You might have seen the Humpty I made.) These guys were great. 

This plush lady was selling her wares. 

What's this kid made about? Maybe she's tired of having to put up with that baby sibling.

I loved this tiny Cabbage Patch girl. I have tons of these though.

Does anybody remember the character Little Lulu, from the comics and cartoons? This doll was about 14 inches tall, but I saw a much smaller version of Lulu's friend, Sluggo, at the entrance to the mall.

I think this doll was homemade, but she is very well done.

Yes, Velvet was inside the box, as evidenced by the hank of hair hanging out of the top.

The dolls are cute, but the little washing machine drew me.

Not a doll, but this toy is cute, and Winston Churchill was...interesting.

I thought for a second that this guy was a mutant Napoleon Dynamite, but he was a Gross Out Gang toy. They were a bit like Garbage Pail Kids, I think.

Also not a doll, but I love this thing!

Great face on this one. 

I remember this miniature table/chair thing from ages ago. It's still there. I'd LOVE to have it, but it's a bit much for my cat head. (I carry my money in a change purse made to look like a cat head. It's known as 'the cat head'.) 

I was tempted on this Russian Grampa. He was cheap. He would have matched his 'granddaughters' I showed you too. But I had only just gone in, and wasn't very far into the mall. I had a long way to go.

This doll is a Miss Colgate doll, a promotional doll that was a mail order premium in 1952. She's described as a walker. I'm not sure how that worked.

Yet another Shirley.

This doll and her cute little charge were definitely handmade.

Her tag reads 'doll by Bonecas Tipcos 1950's'.

Hey Ken! I found you!

Ken has an obsession with yellow corn. Almost all we get around here is white or bicolour.

This was the scariest Little Orphan Annie I've ever seen. They used the white eyeballs from the comic strip. Why did they ever do that?!

Ag! That's the creepiest looking carnival doll in the world!

Oh. It's the carved wooden guy from the duck section of this post.

'Cupid'. I think they meant Kewpie.

Mr. Peanut! And he's a wind up. He must walk!

Aw. The monkey!

  A vintage hedgehog postcard. Steiff?

The bag piper is a chalkware figure. They were carnival prizes too, like the Kewpie with feathers above.

  Another of my childhood wants: Larry the Lion. He is an Animal Yakkers doll. He's a pullstring talker, and his mouth moves when he talks. I always wanted one. Now I have a crappy one, that works, except his string broke and sucked inside him, and two beautiful Larrys that work.

A couple of homemade rag dolls.

This lady was having a problem with her head.

Looks like somebody lost face! This mask was a bit creepy.

I've never seen a paper weight like this. It has a little scene inside, with tiny people. 

Surprisingly, this abomination of a Daffy Duck was licensed.

I have this exact same vase on my piano, only it's bigger than this one. 

This girl was a lurker.

Also not dolls. Also love them.

I got a bit excited at the sight of this pile of Erna Meyer dolls, but they were too costly for me! And not in very great condition either. I'll hold out for the kind of finds on Erna Meyer dolls I've made recently! 

An especially cute small hard plastic doll.

I had to laugh at this kid peeking through the glass of her case, with her sign hanging out the side.

I saw the Purple Pie Man from Strawberry Shortcake.

There was a Little Debbie doll with her Pony Pal 'Oatmeal Creme'. They were a 2005 special edition from Breyer.

I liked these cute wooden Russian girls.

This was an interesting pair. They are Flagg Flexible dolls. The Flagg Flexible dolls were made in the 50's and 60's, and were rubber dolls with a wire armature, a bit like the  Go Gos by Topper.

Oui Oui!

Not a doll, and I really want it!!!

There were a few pin cushion dolls.

This one has the same top as my mom's childhood pin cushion doll, although it's painted differently. I have tried to lave you a link to my post on Mom's pin cushion doll, but this post won't take the link. I have also tried looking that post up by title, and by subject, but it doesn't come up. But if you want to see Mom's doll, you can click 'pin cushion doll' in the list of tags in the side bar. That still works. (Of course, by the time you're reading this there will be two 'pin cushion doll' posts, because this one will be there too. It will probably come up first because it's the most recent. Just scroll down to the bottom of the post and Mom's doll will either show up next, or you can click on 'older posts' at the bottom of this one. Shew!

There was this pretty travel doll.

These dolls, representing Sorrento, have pressed felt faces.

Some bisque head dolls.

This doll might be a reproduction, but she is very cute.

Another Suzanne Gibson doll, (Two actually, but the one on the right is hard to see.), maybe my favourite of the ones that were there.

This 1964 Swingy doll thinks she's too old to be stuck in a crib.

Lots of bisque and China dolls.

This was a very cute little bisque guy.

This tiny pair were actually bobble head dolls.

Here's another China head doll, and a bisque head doll with a very long crepe paper dress.

More antique dolls. The jointed one is interesting. I haven't seen a doll with thighs like that. People yes, dolls no...

This shelf was a mixture of types and ages of dolls.

Lots of cute tiny dolls.

This doll was on the shelf next to the variety dolls. I thought $15 was a really good price for a doll of this age in her original box. But then I looked at the box. It was for a bride doll. If this girl is a bride doll, she changed her clothes.

  You might have seen the post I did on my brush dolls. I inadvertently started a collection. So far I have kept it at three. If they'd been cheap, some of these would have tempted me though! Those two guys on the right are my favourites.

This doll is a Dianna Effner Little Girl with a Curl  doll by Ashton Drake.

I really loved this doll, but she was very expensive. She was about 9 inches tall, and made of felt.

This little girl and boy were Hummels.

I  swear I took a full body picture of this Gotz doll, but I don't appear to have one.

I do have a picture of her tag. I swear I took both sides of the tag too!

This lady was very pretty. She might be a repro though, because her clothes are newer.

What a cute hedge hog!

  This very pretty doll was in her original box, with her tag and curler. She's a Honey Walker doll, by Effanbee. Honey Walker was reproduced in 1997, but this one looks like the original to me. Having said that, I'm wondering if I'm seeing that price correctly: $49? $99? Either one seems a bit cheap for this doll, in her original dress, with all her instructions and accessories, and with her original box.

This girl is by Ideal. I'd say 1980's. Anybody?

  This Julia was so nice, I thought she might be repro, but her hat looked old. Her legs looked like the newer dolls though.

  There were quite a few guys, especially in one booth. The big guy is a 1992 Toy Island figure from a line called Video Commander. His face changes and he talks.

This guy is a 1977 doll by Ideal, called Electroman. He was an interesting failure. To read about him, go to this page: https://flashbak.com/remembering-electroman-ideals-revolutionary-electronic-toy-sensation-of-1977-63014/

  I've heard of Lammily, but I didn't know they made a male doll too. He looks like he has the same face as the female Lammily doll. This one is signed by the founder of Lammily, Nickolay Lamm.

  This was an interesting group of friends. The sailor is a Nora Wellings doll.

   Somebody wrote 'Put in Bay' on his hat. Put-in-Bay is a village on Lake Erie, here in Ohio, and a popular vacation area. Being Ohio, we'll make anything with water a popular vacation site, because we don't get many water spots. Ken, raised in a seaside town, always complained that there was no 'real' body of water we could take the kids to, to swim. Hey, I can't help it we live hours and hours from the ocean. He always wanted to take the kids to the ocean. One year we went to Cape May New Jersey on vacation, and they got to go in the Atlantic. Ken still longed to take them to beaches he knew as a kid. When we went over to England with Emma and Ivy in 2015, we stopped briefly at Scarborough, and Ken finally got to take a couple of his kids in 'his' sea. Mind you, the water was arctic cold! I tried going in up to my ankles, and it was so cold it hurt. (And this was in July or August.)  I lasted seconds. But Ken and the girls splashed each other for quite a while. I don't know how they stood it. But it made him so happy.   

    This group of innocent babes first attracted me for one reason...

AHHHH!!! Scary baby!!!

How'd you like to see that crawling toward you?!

  This pressed cloth faced lady was much more appealing!

  Hey! We had this lady when we were kids! I think she's in my attic in a box. She was a nurse doll.

  This doll is familiar. She has the same face and body as the English riding doll, and the  Native American doll I posted. They are made by Unimax.

  Remember my Hungarian Matyo dolls? Remember that in my last Antique Mall post I showed a male and female pair? I had never seen a male one before. At this antique mall I found another pair! 

But I was good and left them behind.

  And now for a bunch of interesting handmade dolls.

  I thought at first that this lady had a dried apple head. She's carved from wood though.

  This Seminole doll has a head made of palmetto fibers. You can see another Seminole doll and read about how they're made in my post HERE.

Is that guy chugging to kill the pain of his bad tooth?

  These guys were cloth.

  This pool playing pair were definitely not factory made because THEY'RE REAL FROGS!

Gross! Why does anybody think it's cute to kill a living thing and disrespect it's body like this?! It's not okay.

  There was a whole wall of paper dolls.

  Somebody tell me who this is. The initials are G.S.. Ivy said Gene Simmons, (the actress, not the guy from Kiss!), but it doesn't look anything like her. It's not Gloria Stuart either, because she retired from acting in the 40's, and these paper dolls are definitely 1950's.

  There were other paper dolls scattered around the mall, and I had to smile when I saw these. We had these! At least, we must have, because I still have the little brown haired girl... 

But ours is wearing a black leotard. Confusing.

...the dress with the polka dot pinafore...

....and the red dress or whatever, with the black and white shapes.

  I would have thought it was another set that just used the same artist, but we have those two dresses.

  Dr Evil, enjoying a beer...

  This Nabor Kid looks like he ate something really sour.

  I think I've seen one of these before. It's a Bunnybee by Xavier Roberts, of Cabbage Patch fame.

  There was one of the most unattractive Real Baby dolls I've ever seen.

I even had to make sure that's what it really was.

  This was a nice little handmade doll about 6 inches tall. Probably a tourist souvenir.

  What a wonderful face on this girl.

  Did you notice the two little dolls at the bottom? They're in a stove!

Must be the kids that got there before Hansel and Gretel!

  The dealer was calling this an 'onward Baby 3 face'. It's a Thum Things, like the blond one I posted last year.

  This bunch of kids were all different, but wearing coordinating outfits.

  Those were the best dolls from that trip to the antique mall. Some of them didn't appeal to me, but I thought they might interest some of you. 

  I got almost all the way around the huge antique mall before my phone died. I only had two more stalls I wanted to photograph things in. I had to borrow Ken's phone. I was very good that day, and all I bought were two chunks of fabric. Ken got out for under $10, which is something that almost never happens. Of course, I usually go to the antique malls around my birthday or something, so I have less reason to behave myself, shopping-wise. 

  That's it for this post. I know it was a long one. (Believe me, I know! It took me forever to finish this thing!) I'll see you again soon.