Doll-A-Day, Day 6: Pepper

  Here we are, almost a week into this thing, and I haven't given up yet, nor has my head exploded.Today's doll is Pepper, made by Ideal.

 Pepper was produced in the 60's as the little sister to Ideal's Tammy doll. (Tammy was produced to compete with Barbie, but was much less voluptuous and much more 'wholesome'.)

 Pepper took several forms during her run. This is standard Pepper, but she was also produced in a long hair version, and a 'Posin' Pepper' had bendble legs. The legs were more like Penny Bright, with bendy rubber legs, as opposed to Barbie and Skipper's 'click' type bend legs.

There was also an orangy red head, but she tends to be more expensive. One of these days I hope to get one.

  This Pepper has great full, fluffy hair.

  The outfit is called Miss Gadabout. It's supposed to have white gloves, a straw hat, and shoes, plus other non clothing accessories. I still need those, but I have the blouse,skirt, and jacket.

 

  That's the doll for today.

Doll-A-Day, Day 5:Cloth Lady

  It's Day 5 of Doll-A-Day. Today's doll is this lady.

Her little arms are pink and her legs are white. She's either very like me, or she's wearing tights.

  All I know about her is that she's old, stands just under 6" tall, and is in very nice condition.I found her at the flea market and was struck by her beauty enough to talk the dealer down to half his price. I can't remember now if she was $8 and I talked him down to $4, or she was $4 and I talked him down to $2.
  She has cloth arms and legs, and a painted cloth face.

Eww! Is that a cobweb on my neck? It's ruining the effect of my pretty necklace! By the way,"Ouch!" That is a straight pin in the chest holding the shawl shut!

  I haven't ever tried bending her limbs to see if she's poseable. I didn't want to ruin her. She's nice just the way she is, so I didn't want her legs going all wonky on me. Or worse, snapping off! They seem more stuffed than wired.
  She has a very pretty outfit. I love the colours.

Her skirt is a pale blue with pale pink trim.

And her little boots are cute.

  I'm not sure what nationality you would say she is.Greek? Russian? Anybody have any ideas?

 

I'm not sure what her hair is made of.

There's beading on her hat.

There's just something about her. I just love her.She's definitely a keeper.

  She is so clean.(Apart from that unfortunate cob web. I have GOT to start wearing my glasses!)It's a good thing I rescued her. If she had stayed at the flea market,filled with weaponry and livestock, she would have undoubtedly become covered in dust and filth, like everything else there does.When I come home my black shoes have turned gray.
  That's the doll of the day. Until tomorrow...

Doll-A-Day, Day 4: Dollhouse Fella

  Day 4, and I'm finally getting an earlier start. (That's partially because Ken's not on the computer, and Fuzz isn't in here watching tv on the computer.)
  Today's doll is this little dollhouse guy.

I'm gonna call him Hans.

  I don't know much about him, other than he's old (1930's?), and from the look of him, I would say he's German.

  I spotted him and a little girl at the BIG doll show about a year ago. They were really cheap for this sort of doll, but I had bought a lot of stuff that day and we had sold barely enough to make back our table cost,so I just suggested to Ken they would make  nice gifts for a future event. By the time he got around to sneaking  over and buying them for me, the girl was gone. He got this guy though, and then hid him in the van and promptly forgot about him.(I have mentioned that he's bad for that sort of thing.) I found him in the van this past summer, so I finally got him. Either it happened in the van, where he might have gotten stomped on, or when he (repeatedly) fell off the shelf in my glass case, but one of his arms is broken.It's up in his sleeve though, so it doesn't show.
  He's about 3 1/2" tall. I think he's painted bisque. (I don't know much about these things, but I know what I like...)
  He has a bit of a problem with his feet. They really turn out.

No wonder he kept falling off his shelf.

I'm outta here.

  No, Hans. Come back! I didn't mean anything!

I'm going to my room! Call me when the spiessbraten is ready.

  Oh Hans, I think you're cute!

Ok. But I still want the spiessbraten.

  Now that Hans is back we will say auf wiedersehen.

Doll-A-Day, Day 3: Tiny Town Doll Pat

  Here we are on day 3 and I'm still going strong! How long can this last? (I'm guessing until I am out of town for a day and forget and/or don't have time.) I photographed three dolls today though, so I'm getting a store of photos to fall back on. Is that cheating? I'm not going to do detailed write ups of all the dolls, so that will make some of the posts quicker to do.Plus I'll still have time to do regular posts that way.
  Today's dolls is a vintage Leena Lee Tiny Town doll.

 These are from the 40's and 50's. The characters all have names I think, but I don't know mine's name. ** UPDATE: Her name is Pat, She had a clover flower on her chest and green flowers on her hat. She is doll #3 from series 1.**  I've seen other dolls like her though, so I know she came with flowers on her hat. Hers are sort of...gone.

She's about 4" tall,and has lead feet so she can stand up on her own.Her legs and arms are thread wrapped,
 and she has a painted felt face.

I love the colour of her hair and her little painted face.

Her wire armature allows her to be posed.
  Her hair is mohair.
 

The dolls originally came in a box, with a booklet like this.

They were created by a lady named Alma Leblanc, who also painted the Nancy Ann Storybook dolls.I believe they were originally sold at a department store in San Francisco called The White House.
  They are usually a bit too pricey for me.I got mine in an Ebay lot I just happened across.It was a lot of furniture that wasn't nearly as old as she is, and she wasn't mentioned by brand or maker in any way, so she didn't get all the bids she would have otherwise, so I got her cheaper than she would normally have been. After I sold the furniture she only cost me about $10. Whoo hoo! These dolls can sell for over $100, depending on the character and condition. I wanted one, but didn't figure I could ever get one.But here she is, the Day Three Girl.Until tomorrow, people.

Doll-A-Day, Day 2: Living Skipper

Here we are with Doll-a-Day, day 2. Well, at least it's still January 2nd somewhere in the world!
  Today's doll is Barbie's little sister,Dramatic New Living Skipper.She was produced from 1970 through 1971.They're very similar to the Pose and Play Skipper that followed them. The bodies are nearly the same, but the hair and face paint are very different.

  These dolls have a very jointed body and are fun to pose.You can get so much personality out of them.

   They are jointed at the shoulders, neck, and hips, but also have jointed elbows,(covered in rubber skin, so the joint is invisible, like the knee joint.),and at the wrists. (This joint does show.)The hip joint is also somewhat swively, so the legs can spread out a bit, and not just move back and forth.

  Unfortunately, often the elbow joint has stopped holding a pose, or won't hold a pose when the doll is wearing long sleeves.The hard plastic torso also reacts with the rubber limbs and melts,freezing the arms or legs in place.The torso also has a tendency to crack.

You can see  a bit of their posability.

 I think this particular Living Skipper is the pale blonde version found only in the special Sears Very Best Velvet gift set in 1971.(I have dressed her in the Very Best Velvet fashion,minus the tights,but she wasn't wearing it when I got her.) It's hard to say though.The Very Best Velvet doll always seems to have especially short, tightly curled hair. This one seems to be a bit longer.


  She does seem to be a pale blonde though, at least, when compared to my other Living Skippers.

  You can see how much lighter her hair is, but it's so big and puffy. Her hair bands need replaced, but I kind of like her this way! There is quite a variety of blonde shades in Living Skippers anyway.You can't quite tell in the pictures, but all of these dolls have slightly different blonde colours.The face paint can be REALLY different as well.The doll second from the left is my favourite.

  When I got her she was just a head, and had part of one eye missing, so I had to repaint it. But she has a lovely pale skin tone. I need to get her a nicer body, but for now she has this grungy one.
  Living Skipper is probably the most unpopular of all vintage Skippers. I can see that in a way. Some of them have shiny faces with complexions that are a bit orangy, and the eyelashes are often WAY too long, giving their eyes a strange look. But some of them are beautiful.

  The one on the far right is my second favourite of all my Living Skippers.She has very soft looking 'skin', and dark strawberry blonde hair.
  That's the doll for today. See you tomorrow...maybe.

Happy New Year! Doll-A-Day 1: Compo Baby

                                                              Happy New Year!

   I have been considering doing a "Doll-a-Day", and posting a picture of a different doll in my collection every day in 2014. Today it suddenly occurred to me that if I'm starting that with the new year, today is the day! (Miss today and wait another whole year.) I figured it wouldn't actually be as time consuming as it might sound, considering I can do a bunch of posts as far as drafts when I have time, and just post them each day. It'll be interesting to look at them all at the end of the year. Also, it'll be a nice (start) to a cataloging of my collection.
  So here to start is our own Baby New Year.

  This sweet baby is quite old. I got her from a garage sale. She belonged to an elderly lady who was having the sale with her middle aged daughter. I bought several of the lady's dolls, but not this baby. I thought about her over the next year, thinking how I should have bought her. She's so cute.

The next summer her daughter had another sale and I happened  across it. There were more dolls, but not this baby. I told the daughter, (Mom wasn't there that day), how I wished I had bought this doll, and did her mother still have it? She called her mom, who instantly knew which doll I meant from my description. Yes, she still had the baby, sitting in her bedroom. Her daughter said she would bring her over to her sale the next day for me.So I came back the next day and picked her up.
  She has tin sleep eyes,what's left of her original real hair lashes, and four tiny teeth.

  She has a cloth body and compo arms, legs, and head, and in need of repair. Her toes are flaking, and the back of her head is coming up in HUGE flakes. She wears a bonnet all the time,and booties, so it doesn't show right now, but of course, it's advancing. I'd love to have her repaired while she can still be saved, but I can't afford to. I know you can do it yourself, but I'd be afraid of ruining her.So for now, she is managing.

Maybe some day I can get her fixed.
  Fuzzy comments that, with her yellow eyes, this Baby New Year must have had too much to drink last night. But that bottle in her hand is the popper she has just popped. Not booze!

Happy New Year!

  A happy new year to all! Not much going on around here. As I don't drink, my new year's celebration involves waiting for the moment and toasting with the kids (and Ken if he's not working), and maybe popping a few confetti thingies.
  We had a bit of a surprise last night, when I found an EGG in Irving's cage. (Yes, Irving is a girl, parakeet,but we thought she was a boy when we got her.) Poor girl has no mate, so it won't hatch. All it does is mean I now have to worry that she might get egg bound!