Doll-A-Day 2019 #33: Miniature Skating Girl

  Well, my shoulders are better. I don't think I even thought about them today. However,it was still quite a day. In the afternoon,as the snow was starting to melt, (even though we were still one degree below freezing),I heard a strange noise coming from the basement. Ken went down to investigate, after I insisted that what we were hearing was not the furnace. It seems the hot water pipe had burst and water was pouring out into the basement. Ken shut the water off on the hot water line, and later went to work. In the evening I was sitting in the living room when I heard a similar strange noise,and a couple of bangs. Investigation found that the hot water pipe had burst too. Once again, water was pouring into the basement. I shut off the hot water line. Luckily I had drawn a couple of big pans of water just before Ken shut off the cold water,because I thought he was shutting off all the water,and I hadn't gone back upstairs to pour them out. At least I could wash my hands. I did discover that you can actually microwave Cream of Wheat. That was good, because I was in a Cream of Wheat mood and Ken had used the pan I use for that when he made his lunch today. Of course, I couldn't wash it, because,well,you know. No water. *Sigh*

  Moving along to the reason you are here. Today's doll is one I made myself.

Please excuse my fingers. I've had a bad habit of ripping them up since I was a kid. I tried to camouflage them. It was hard not to get them in the photo though, because the doll is so small,and can't stand up on her own.

She's this tiny girl. I usually call her Sonia Henie.

Sonia Henie was a ten time world champion, and three time Olympic gold medal winning figure skating star of the early 20th century,from Norway.

Sonia Henie is credited with popularizing white skates and short skirts for female figure skaters.

She was so popular that, for a time, she became a movie star, and for three years in a row,(1937,'38,and '39), she was one of the 10 top box office draws in the country.

Life magazine tracked the rise and fall of the stars' box office popularity in the 1940's. Sonia Henie came in at number 8 in 1937,number 3 in 1938,and number 10 in 1939. After that she disappeared from the top ten list.

I didn't actually model this doll on Sonia Henie,but they're both blonde skaters with a 1930's look.  So I nicknamed her Sonia Henie.

(For an informative article about Sonia Henie you can go HERE.)

Sonia Henie and Tyrone Power in "Thin Ice",1937. I have never seen this movie,or, come to think of it, any Sonia Henie movie. Somehow I channeled that hat tassel though.

She's only a little over 2 1/2 inches tall.

She has a felt covered wire armature,so she's posable. This is her skating pose.

It was cold out when I took the pictures, so I was hurrying and forgot to change her pose.

Her head is wooden,and painted with acrylics and sealed with a non-yellowing glaze.

Her clothes are felt.

She even has a little felt muff.

 

As I said, she has a felt covered wire armature. That means she has felt hands and legs. It looks ok, but it does mean her legs are 'hairy'!

And so are her clothes.

Her 'skates' are painted on. I really should give her laces on her skates.

The blades are staples!

See how hairy her legs are?

I really like this doll. Emma said that this doll is her favourite of the miniature dolls I've made. For both those reasons,'Sonia' is still here with me,instead of being sold on Etsy or at a doll show,like most of the other ones I made.

 

 

  I hope I am running out of bad news to tell you! This is getting to be a pain. (The pain was in my shoulders, but now it's elsewhere, if you know what I mean!) We won't be able to get the pipe situation taken care of until Monday. But I'll see you again tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 2017 #342: Princess on Ice Cinderella

  Today's doll is nice and wintery.

She's Princess on Ice Cinderella.

She was produced in 2004

She's such a pretty doll.

 

With beautiful ringlets.

Her dress is very pretty too. I think they did a good job of translating the classic Disney Cinderella dress into a skating outfit.

 

It's a shame that such a pretty doll has to be hampered with a cloddy feature like the waist-situated skating handle.
 

I hate these things. You can't get regular doll clothes on dolls with this thing,and it just looks weird.Plus it moves around all over the place when you're trying to handle the doll.

Or take her picture.

There was a beautiful Olympic skater with the Kira head sculpt that had the same crappy skating handle. Love her. Hate the handle.

I guess kids like it, because they keep making these things,but...ug.

 

You'll notice that this girl is missing the blades from her skates.
 

If you've had any of these skates you'll know that they open up for putting on and taking off. You'll also know that every time you open them, the blades fall out! It was actually handier to not have them on though, because otherwise she would have had an even harder time standing up on our glass patio table, which is doing a pretty good job passing as ice.

 

Ok,except there is a tree growing out of the middle of the pond. Ok. But how else was she going to stand up on that glass table in a skating pose? That tree is there for a reason!

She also came with an extra dress and a  pair of pink fur boots with blue fur trim. The boots didn't have soles.They were all furry. They didn't really look like boots,more like the kind of big hairy cozy slippers you wear around the house. I got her second hand,so I don't have the dress,which was kind of ugly anyway. But I do have the boots,although I'm not sure I got them when I got her.

 

That's it for today

Tomorrow is Shrunken Saturday. We'll see you then for a mini doll.