Doll-A-Day 2023#110: Native American couple

   Today's dolls are a Native American couple. I think they are most likely meant to be Navaho.

  They never had faces, if that's what you're thinking about. They were made this way. They also have weird little stumpy arms, especially him.  They're about 9 inches tall. 

They were rescued in the nick of time. They were in the Room of Water, in the box with the dolls I showed you HERE and HERE. They went through the washing machine and dryer because they were wet and starting to mildew. They are all cloth, and stuffed with some pretty heavy stuffing, tightly packed, so when they got wet, they held it very well. They were saved, even if they do have a bit of staining from the mildew, and she has some yellow stains on her dress. At least it won't ever get any worse now. 

   I suppose I should have treated them with Stain Devils for mildew stains before I dried them. Since they've been through the dryer it's probably too late now. But I hate to throw dolls away, especially if there is somebody who would want them. If anybody wants these guys, you're welcome to them for free, just paying the shipping cost.  I can stick them in an envelope, so it shouldn't cost very much. If you want them, leave a comment with your contact information so I can get in touch with you.

  

Doll-A-Day 2019 #213: Native American Girl and Baby

  I am still working on the post I have planned to do for days.It may end up being a bit picture heavy,because it's two dolls in one post. Sorry about that. So today our doll is this little girl.

She  is only about 3 inches tall. She's about the size of a small troll doll.

She has the feathers form another doll's outfit on her hand.

She's made of rubber.

Her dress and headband are made of purple leather.

She has molded on underwear.

This baby was in with all the travel dolls,which included several native American dolls.

 I don't know if it goes with her or one of the others. At least it matches. It's also wearing purple suede.

That baby is almost as big as she is.

The baby is all one piece of hard plastic.

Those are the dolls for today. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get that other post finished!

Doll-A-Day 2019 #211:Seminole Dress Me Doll

  Well, all the kittens have been rehomed except little George.
 

His last sibling,Fred, (Ivy named them after the Weasley twins because they are both gingers.),left for his new home on Sunday. George has had to resort to annoying his Uncles. Jimmy is very good about it and even plays with George,after originally fleeing from him after a brief smell. Joey is still fleeing. And step-uncle Mow is hissing less at him all the time. (Still doing it though.)
  I had something else planned for today, but pouring rain changed my plans.I was also away most of the day and all evening because Emma treated Ken and I to a concert tonight.We went with Emma and her friend Erin to see ELO and Dhani Harrison. Dhani is the son of former Beatle George Harrison that I mentioned in my post on the Jim Henson exhibit a couple of days ago. It was a good show. Dhani and ELO were both very good. Dhani came on with ELO at one point to sing George's part in the Traveling Wilbury's song, "Handle Me With Care".
  So, since I was so busy,we're looking at a doll I already had photographed. She's this lady.

She's a Dress Me type doll,which has been customized in the style of the traditional costume of the Native American Seminole women of Florida.

You may have seen my post on another Seminole doll I have. If not, you can see her HERE.

This doll is about 8 inches tall.

She has sleep eyes. Her arms move, but not her legs, which is pretty common for Dress Me dolls like this one.

Her outfit is two parts. There is a skirt,and a poncho-like top.

She also has little real leather moccasins.

She['s wearing a bead necklace and hoop earrings.
 

Her hair is long and tied back.
 

That's the doll for today. See you again tomorrow,when, hopefully, it will not rain and I can photograph the other dolls I wanted to do!

Doll-A-Day 2019 #193: Native American Girl

  Today's doll is a cute girl.

She's this Native American doll.

She was made by Unimax in 1995,as part of their Dolls of All Nations series..

There were a lot of other dolls in the series, including,Spain, Korea,Japan,Mexico,Italy,Kenya, Uganda,China, England,Scotland,Sweden,Ireland,Germany, Switzerland, Holland,Poland,Austria, and Russia. They were pretty dolls, but they all had the same face sculpt.

 

She is wearing a faux buckskin dress.

There is fringe across the chest and down the sleeves,and across the bottom.

 
She originally also had a head band,double elsatics on her ponytails,a blue belt,and boots.

 

She's 12 inches tall.

 

She has a strung head,that can turn and tilt.

 

Her arms and legs have simple articulation and can't move out to the sides at all,and do not bend.

 I have another doll from the series. Maybe we'll see her someday.
  That's the doll for today. See you again for another doll tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2019 #183: Seminole Doll

   Not to keep harping on this point,but good grief,it's hot! It's too hot to breath, too hot to sleep. We were supposed to get some relief yesterday by going to the COSI Muppets exhibit and to see the movie "Yesterday",with Emma. Her meeting ran long though, so that's been delayed until tomorrow. I can hardly wait! I want to see both of those, but also: COOLNESS!!
  Today's doll is sort of a return to travel dolls. She a tiny lady.

She's a doll made by the women of the Seminole or Miccosukee tribes of Florida.

She's a simple doll. When I was photographing her I thought she looked like she was made of coconut fibers. As it turns out, these dolls are made of rolled palmetto fibers. The fibers are stripped from the outside of the palmetto plant.

The women of the two tribes began making the dolls for tourists in the early 20th century. Apparently this is a later doll,because it has rickrack trim.

She stands only about 4 inches tall. The face is typical of these dolls,with eyes made of a single white horizontal stitch and a single black vertical stitch. It looks like a hat, but that black fabric is apparently supposed to represent hair.

 
There's a nice article on these dolls HERE. The State Library and Archives of Florida has an album of pictures and information on the making of the traditional Seminole dolls on .Flickr. It covers the whole process,from the tools needed to strip the fibers, to the actual sewing of the dolls.
  That's the doll for today. See you tomorrow for another one.

Doll-A-Day 2017 #109: Sun Colors Kocoum

Today's doll is Sun Colors Kocoum.

He was made by Mattel in 1995.

Kocoum was the character who wanted to marry Pocahontas in the first Disney Pocahontas movie.

He was part of the 'Sun Colors' line of Pocahontas doll, which also included Pocahontas,her friend Nakoma, and John Smith.

He came with a bow and arrows in a quiver,a necklace, and his wrap style 'skirt' thingy.

The bear paws on his chest are permanent.

But when he's placed in the sun, symbols appear on his clothes.

It was a pretty overcast day, but they're trying!

Pocahontas and Nakoma both had clothes that changes in the sun too. All John Smith had was a compass that flickered.

He has those annoying bent arms. His hair should stick up more in the front, but this guy's having a bad hair day.

I'm pretty sure this is the only doll made with this head sculpt.

You can see his sticky-up hair better here.

He has quite a set of abs.

Apparently there was another Kocoum intended for release.'Color Splash Kocoum' is pictured on the back of the boxes for the other dolls in the line, but he's only called a 'Powhatan warrior doll' and his picture is accompanied by an announcement that he is 'not available'. The Color Splash dolls all have a color change feature. When put in water the girls get colour streaks in their hair,and John Smith's chest tattoo changes colour.

  I liked the Pocahontas movie, but the inaccuracies annoyed me. For one thing,Pocahontas was about 11 or 12 years old when she saved John Smith from being executed by her father, and she was never in love with him. I also saw at the time that Disney animators used a Hawaiian lady as the model for Pocahontas. They couldn't find a Native American for that job?! They think Hawaiians and Native Americans are identical? On the positive side, there was a great environmental message,and Pocahontas was seen as a strong character,even if a lot of the things in the film weren't historically accurate. 
  There is some historical debate about whether or not Pocahontas was actually married to Kocoum. The current tribal belief is that they were married and had a daughter. The marriage ended,as was tribal tradition, when Pocahontas was captured by the English in 1613. Some historians don't believe Kocoum existed at all.

See you tomorrow for another doll.