PLANET OF THE DOLLS: felt dolls

Showing posts with label felt dolls. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Doll-A-Day 2023 355: Old Cottage Doll

I love Old Cottage dolls. They are usually quite expensive, and they have a tendency to have melted necks. This girl wasn't expensive, because she does have a melted neck.

The body and limbs are felt with stuffing. The heads and neck is made of hard plastic I think. It has a bad habit of melting, so that the head lays over. (That makes me think that it might be celluloid, but I think I read that they are hard plastic.) It makes this girl look a bit sad.

Old Cottage dolls were made by the Old Cottage Toy company, based in Sussex, England.

The company was started by Margaret Fleischmann. Margaret emigrated to England from Czechoslovakia in 1939. Not long afterwards, her husband died. Widowed Margaret had the idea to make a living making dolls. She had made dolls for her daughter, Suzi. So Margaret began by making all cloth dolls. Later Suzi helped make the dolls, and they began to make dolls with composition heads, then, hard plastic, like this girl. The company officially started in 1948.

Her dress has hook and eye closures in the back, and can be removed.

Her arms and legs are felt covered wire. She is actually jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. Her arms and legs still move, but her head can't move very far, because of the way it's melted. There is a way they can be repaired. The book about Old Cottage dolls, by Terry and Christine Summers has information on that, but I don't have the book.

Her shoes are also felt, and are removable.

Her hair is mohair, and she has a cute straw hat.

Her dress is made of a textured fabric.

And it has a pocket on the front.

Her hat has a gathered silk ribbon.

This doll is about 8 or 9 inches tall. (I think, officially they are 8, but I measured my other one at 9. You can see her HERE .)

Check out the other posts today. We're going to make 365 this year, guaranteed!

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Doll-A-Day 2023 #351: Lady With Wheat

I'm not sure where today's doll is supposed to be from, but here she is. Maybe some of you can tell me.

She's about 5 or 6 inches tall.

She's obviously a doll representing a country, but which one?

She's carrying a shock of wheat, and a scythe to cut it with.

Her clothes are felt, but her face is a smooth, shiny fabric, like silk.

She has embroidered detail and blanket stitching trim on her skirt.

Her feet are flat, and are basically the way my dad described my feet: 'You don't even have feet, just a piece of your shin bone turned down.' (Because my feet were so small, before I got fat and they spread.)

Her hands are pretty much just the ends of her arms curled up too.

Her body is very strangely shaped.

Her legs make my legs look long! And that would take some doing.

Make sure to check out today's other posts. We're racing to catch up before the end of the year!

Monday, December 25, 2023

Doll-A-Day 2023 #347: Tiny Town Doll

Today's doll is one I got at a doll show a couple of years ago. She's a Tiny Town doll.

Tiny Town dolls, which are from the 1940's, were hand painted by Alma LeBlanc, the same lady who painted some of the early Nancy Ann Storybook dolls.

Tiny Town dolls are mostly about 4 1/2 inches tall.

She has a pressed cloth face, thread wrapped hands and legs, and lead feet, so she can stand. She's also wired for posability.

I've seen this same doll online with a pink hat. That makes more sense, as the red doesn't really match. Maybe they got switched in play.

I got this doll for an amazing price. I picked her out of a basket on a table at the doll show, and asked the dealer how much she was. The dealer said, "$2." Now, these dolls are not cheap. In good condition they can be worth quite a bit. So I said, "This one." and gave her a better look. She just said, "Yes, any doll in that basket is $2." I couldn't believe my luck! I got another doll from that basket too. I think it was the Lotte Sievers Hahn doll I posted yesterday!

You can see my other Tiny Town doll HERE.

That's it for today. Have a merry Christmas! See you tomorrow night.

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Two Doll Shows in One Week! Am I Lucky or Crazy?

I have been to two doll shows in the space of a week! I went to the first one on my own last Sunday, and would have skipped the second one entirely except that my sister wanted to go again. We went last year, and my sister, who has no interest in dolls really, enjoyed it so much that she wanted to go again! So we went Saturday, and I probably did better at the second one as far as finding good stuff. This post is going to focus on the first show, where I took pictures. I didn't take any at the second show, just because I didn't think that show lends itself as well to interesting photographs. So the post on that show will focus on what I bought there. (I did buy something I've been wanting at the first show, but I'm saving that for a special post involving some other dolls. The few other things I bought will be dribbled out as I get them photographed.)

Before I start, to update you briefly on my leg, it still hurts. I'm still limping a bit and if I'm on my feet too much the leg and my back really start to get out of control pain-wise. So I'm trying to not overdo, and I think the leg is continuing to improve little by little.

Now, on to the show...

It was held in Strongsville Ohio, up near Cleveland. It's about an hour and a half drive for me.

My pictures loaded totally backward from the order I took them. The first dolls I'm showing you were some of the last I looked at. This dealer had some very interesting and very expensive dolls. A lot of them were cloth or cloth faced, and they had great personality. I loved the 'modern major general' looking guy with the red feathers, and the wonderful girl in the red skirt.

I've left this for a week, and now I forget where the girl was made. Czechoslovakia maybe?

The two googly eyed dolls are great.

This guy was the dealer's favourite and not for sale. She called him Good Time Charlie, and likes to imagine he's 'been out on a bender'. For those not familiar with the term, it means he's been out on a drinking spree.

The two gentlemen in the back were former museum pieces, created by an artist named Helmut Krauhs. Their prices were over $2000.

Sorry I photographed her paper badly! In too much of a hurry.

These were more of the dealer's gems. I love the cat and the girl in the chair.

These dolls are more Jammi Originals, like the girl in the chair, and the kids below.

I thought it was clever that the dealer had made use of a bakery stand to display all these small dolls.

These two French characters seem to be under the scrutiny of the gendarme.

These people look a little like potatoes.

These guys had such great faces. Their tag says they are Japanese dolls.

Moving on to other dealers, I saw this Tearie Dearie, just like the one I got for Christmas in 1965. You can see her in my post on Christmas HERE.

One dealer was promoting her own handmade resin ball jointed dolls.

She designs them all and makes them using a 3D resin printer, (not the type that uses filament.) She sells them as finished dolls, and as kits for making your own.

The dolls are available in several sizes, and you can mix and match the body parts to create your own customized doll.

There were also anthropomorphic dolls.

The dolls range in size from larger, 12" or so dolls...

...to 8 or 9 inch dolls...

...to this little 4 or 5 inch doll that fit in the palm of my hand...

She had made a lot of Legend of Zelda characters, at her son's request!

...to the very tiny doll about 3 inches tall that you saw above in the picture with the unfinished dolls.

She has a brand new website, so new that there isn't anything for sale on it yet. But she said you can order from her if you see anything here you are interested in, or want to buy a kit.

Her website, mysfitdolls.com

Or you can contact her by email at mymysfits@gmail.com

And on to the rest of the show.

Such pretty girls.

A couple of nurses.

Must be a children's hospital. I think that's Deanna Durbin on the far right. Does anybody recognize the girl next to her?

I think that's Deanna, next to Deanna.

Two fellows that look to be Skippy, next to their girlfriend Patsy, or at least someone who looks like her. You can see my repro Skippy HERE.

This kid is Judy Splinters. I walked up just as the dealer was telling her story.

She was based on a ventriloquist dummy from a kid's show called "Judy Splinters". The show started in Los Angeles in 1947 as a regional show, moved to Chicago in 1949, and finally to New York, where it aired until 1950. It was even a summer replacement show, (Remember those?), for "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie". During it's run the show was nominated for a prime time Emmy award for Most Popular Television Program. Judy's performer was only 19 when the show started.

According to IMDB the show was only nominated for one Emmy, the one I mentioned above. This paper the dealer had says Shirley Dinsdale, the ventriloquist won the very first Emmy for "Outstanding Television Personality" in 1949. This is verified by other information on the web. It also says the award went to Shirley and Judy.

Shirley Dinsdale poses with her dummy, and one of the dolls based on it. The doll the dealer was selling was about 20 inches tall. Apparently the doll came in 18, 20, and 36 inch sizes, and had a string in her back that could be used to move her head, (but not her mouth, as she didn't have a hinged chin like a ventriloquist dummy).

Here's Judy in the 1950 Sears catalog.

The lady buying Judy was telling about an interesting doll she owned. It was a Pepsodent toothpaste premium called Miss Pepsodent. She was made in 1953. Her teeth are printed on a ball that rolls when she is laid down. When she is upright her teeth are white, and when she's 'sleeping' her teeth appear yellow, as the ball rolls to reveal the yellow painted teeth. (You can see some good pictures of a Miss Pepsodent doll HERE.)I had never heard of Judy Splinters or Miss Pepsodent, but they were both fun to learn about!