Would I go to a Doll Show During a Pandemic?

   I have a confession to make. I have gone to a toy show and a doll show in the last few weeks. Don't worry. It was very safe. The toy show was held in three fairground buildings, where the big doors were open on both ends of the building, and the aisles were one way. The doll show, which was this past Sunday, was not very big, (in spite of advertising itself as "The best in the Midwest'".), and was held in a large fairground building, and was not crowded at all. And everybody at both events were wearing masks. I was in more danger going to the grocery store afterward, where it was more crowded, and some idiots weren't even wearing masks. I thought and thought about going to either. In the end, I went to the toy show, (which I will detail in an upcoming post.), partially because it was being held at a fairground, which usually means big, open buildings,and partially because my sister wanted to go with me! It was her idea! She has never done that before. Nobody has wanted to go to a toy show with me for years, so I thought I'd better take advantage of it. As for the doll show, I balked at first because I was hearing how the virus numbers were getting worse in many states. Then Ken said Ohio is actually one of the states where the numbers are not going back up. I thought that if they do, this might be the last doll show for a while. It was also one of the last of this year, and one of the few that wasn't cancelled, I told Ken I would go, see how crowded the place was, and if everybody was wearing a mask, and base my decision on whether or not to attend on that. 

  I was really happy to see that it was a big open room with not an excessive amount of dealers, (Most of the building was empty.), and not a big crowd. And as I said, everybody was wearing a mask. 

  I thought I'd take lots of pictures so those of you who have not been able to attend a doll show this year could live vicariously. I know we've all been missing the chance to get out, and especially the chance to go to things like doll shows. I took quite a few pictures, and then my camera battery died! But here are the ones I was able to take. I managed to photograph most of the best stuff.

  This baby looked a little sickly. Still cute though. I'm finding I am developing a love of shiny compo babies! (Although this guy might have been hard plastic.)

Then there were these beauties.

I thought this baby was cute, even if there is a slight resemblance to the one adult criminal pretending to be a baby in that one Our Gang/Little Rascals comedy. (You can see most of that short HERE.)

  I really love the kid in blue on the back row. What a sweet face! I kind of like the girl to the right of that one too, although she could use some colour in her face. She looks a little bilious. The Ginnys are nice too,and I've always loved the Campbell's Kids.

These are interesting.

I was tempted to ask about these two military dolls, but I had already spent a little by then, and was trying to not spend very much. They didn't have prices, and I let it go at that.

One of the first displays I looked at was this gaggle of Shirleys. I love me some Shirley.

  

  Unfortunately my camera battery ran out before I got to the HUGE compo Shirley from the thirties, in her original outfit and original BOX! She was gorgeous and absolutely mint. I think she must have been at least 30 inches tall. She was wearing the plaid "Good Ship Lollipop" dress.

  These Patsys were so nice! And look at the dolls below them. Madam Alexander Little Women? And I love the doll in green on the right hand edge of the picture.

There she is!

Sorry about the blurriness.

These are a bit older. I like them all, but look at the one in green.

More quirky babies.

Aw! Look at the little girl with the pink wreath. She's got some personality.

This was a cute pair.

  Can you guess which one of these was my favourite? If you said the girl with the red bow on her hat: DING DING DING! Good answer!

  I have always loved big eyed dolls, and goofy looking dolls. Check out these Googlies.

  A  lot of these pictures,like the one above, were taken at one dealer's table. She had some wonderful dolls. They were all out of my price range, but I can enjoy looking.

  Here's a bunch of beautiful girls. My favourite? The one in the red apron.

  One dealer was selling these  handmade pumpkins. I was tempted, but,as usual, I hate to spend money on something that I makes me tell myself, "I could make that."

  Now tell me something. Ivy threw a big fit about me saying,"I could make that." She says it demeans the talent of the person who did make it. I don't see it that way. I just mean, that's something that might be within my means to replicate, even if I might not do as good a job as they did. (But that takes a lot longer to say than,"I could make that.") I also can't see spending money on something I could make myself. My sister, who has also always 'made stuff', does the same thing. I have been at art fairs and things with her, and we have come across things we liked, and said to each other,"Yeah, but we could make something like that." Do you think it demeans the talent of the person who did make it to say something like that? Have any of you ever done that?

  Okay. Moving on. These ladies were one of a kind! The dealer told me that these hand carved wooden dolls were hand made years ago by an older lady from Kentucky, obviously long gone, named Helen Claxton. She wasn't a famous doll maker, or an artist. She was just a lady who 'made stuff'. Well she made some great stuff!

The first three dolls in that row were made by Helen, as well as some men I forgot to take a picture of, which were on another shelf to the left. My favoutite of all of them was the lady in the green blouse.

  I really couldn't send $45 on her though. I'll reveal why soon. But I also couldn't spend $30 on this girl, although I was sorely tempted! 

If Ken had been with me I would have asked for her for Christmas or SOMETHING! She's by Roldan, and would have been something of a replacement for the Klumpe girl with a suitcase Ken didn't get me from my Ebay watching a few years ago. (She was in there for about 2 years!) Here she is hanging out with her friend the shepherd, with his AMAZING sheep.

Zoom in on that sheep. It's awesome!

  I REALLY liked this standing girl with a teddy bear too. These two were made by Kathie Clarke.

  You're going to think I loved the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, and I do. But look at the golfer in the striped socks!

I don't know why, but this little girl really appealed to me. She, along with the Roldan gardening girl, was this show's 'one that got away'.

The dealer had her at $20 I think, and kept coming down. She was going to let me have the doll for $10, but I was trying not to spend very much, considering I had gotten three dolls in the mail just the day before. If Ken had been there, once again, I would have asked for her for Christmas or something.

I spotted one of my neighbours, Cindy Maguire, at the show! Her youngest son went to school with Emma. I've seen her at other shows because she has a business making bears and other animals. I always forget the name of her business though! This time I made sure to get one of her flyers so I could remember. It's China Cupboard Bears. You can go to the website HERE.

Some of Cindy's creations:

They're all cute, but I love the pig!

These are sweet. Cindy uses all natural fibers now. I know this because she told me when I bought a big bag of her synthetic fur at her yard sale this summer. Ivy's still growling at me because I missed buying Cindy's surger for $60. Apparently that's really cheap and Ivy has been wanting one.  I didn't know what it was, and thought of asking, but didn't. I had to go home and get my money to pay for the fur, and when I got back a lady was buying it. I asked what it was then. When Cindy said it was a surger I thought,"Ut oh. I'm in trouble." I said, "Out of curiosity, and so Ivy can kill me, how much was it?" When Cindy said $60 I knew I was in trouble!

Look at the face on that...sheep?!

Another cute pig!

I told Cindy I would post some pictures of her creations. She said she has a new website, so I said maybe some of you will see her work and order something. She had doubts because she said, "When you tell people in town the price they just say,"How much?!" I assured her that you guys come from all over the world, and are more aware of how much beautiful hand made dolls cost than our locals! So check out Cindy's website, and if you order something from her, tell her you read about her here on the blog!

  Moving along, remember I said I'm getting to be a little obsessed with beautiful shiny compo babies?

How cute are those two?! And this gorgeous Dimples, below, is wonderful too.

I want to get my Dimples to look like that!

  This pretty girl was unmarked. She had a wonderful mouth with teeth. Anybody know who she might be?

I found this strange faced little lady interesting.

  One dealer had a stunning display of Schoenhut dolls. This is only half of them!

Here are the rest. Schoenhuts are more dolls I would be very interested in owning, if only they weren't so expensive.

More pretty girls and a carved wooden guy. Pinnochio maybe?

This girl, Toddles, has some personality.

   These are all nice, but I particularly liked the girl on the right.

This dog is in the picture above too. Isn't he cute?

This small girl appealed to me.

  I LOVED this girl. Little Red Riding Hood?

  This doll was so cute! She looks like a real child.

  So I said I bought a few things. What were they? Well for that you're going to have to wait for the next post. It won't be long. I'll see you then.

Dianna Effner and Family Singing

 I thought some of you might enjoy this video of Dianna Effner and family singing, (and beautifully too!), the Dolly Parton song "Wildflowers". can see it HERE.

The passing of Dianna Effner

   I just found out today that Dianna Effner died yesterday. You may have read here many times how Dianna Effner is my favourite doll artist. I have posted about many Effner dolls. I love their sweet, cute, realistic faces.

                        My latest Effner doll is this wonderful gift from Dorothy in PA, a Little Darling.

I am sad,but I can't tell you anything about her. I can't find any information, not even how old she was. Oddly, I can't even find her death on the internet. I only found out because some of the doll groups I belong to on Facebook mentioned that she passed away.

                                                  Effner's Mary Had a Little Lamb by Maru and Friends. 

  Taking a look at Dianna Effner's creations is a nice way to pay tribute to her. She was a very talented artist. She created dolls that were so sweet looking,sometimes even sad. But she could also sculpt a silly faced doll that looked like a real child who could be quite a handful.

                                                     Her cute and quirky Goldielocks is by Ashton Drake.

                                                 Jamie by Maru and Friends looks like a beautiful real child.

                                            Willow has bags under her eyes,but I love her face.

                                                    Noah, by Maru and Friends,  is a freckle faced boy.

                                    Effner's Coy an adorable brown eyed redhead,is the first 20" boy in the Maru and                                      Friends line. 

                            Ashton Drake made Effner's porcelain Little Red Riding Hood...

...as well as her porcelain Goldilocks, in the bottom left corner, and her porcelain Willow, in the upper right corner.

                                        Beautiful Maru herself is also an Effner sculpt. 

Little Chad, the first Maru and Friends boy is an Effner sculpt too.

Ashton Drake's Alice was sculpted by Dianna Effner, combining two of my favourite things: Alice in Wonderland, and Dianna Effner dolls.

  I actually have two long awaited Effner dolls coming in the mail in the next few days, as well as the new Effner sculpted dolls from Maru and Friends. I wonder what Maru and Friends dolls will look like in the future. All but one have been sculpted by Dianna Effner. How sad that such a talented person, who gave the world such beautiful creations, has left us.

  

Doll Book of the Month Club: William's Doll

  Okay. I lied. I did not catch up on my posts the other day. My sister called and talked me senseless, and I was too sleepy to work on my posts. Actually, I have the playset post written, but Ivy  won't let me dig her set back out of her closet so I can photograph it. I am having a hard time with playsets because most of mine are second hand and missing pieces. I don't want to give you guys a crappy half post. As for the book of the month, I did have one, but my sister and I ended up going to a toy show yesterday. She has never expressed an interest in going to a toy show before, and nobody ever offers to go to a toy show with me, so I thought I should take her up on it. I found some great doll deals, which I will show you all at some point here.Now...
   This month's Doll Book of the Month Club selection is "WIlliam's Doll", by Charlotte Zolotow.

The covers are out of order. Blame the computer.

It's the story of  little boy named William who longs for a doll. William's brother and the boy next door laugh at him and call him a sissy.

  William's father tries to make him forget the idea of a doll by buying him traditional 'boy' toys, a basketball and hoop and a train set. William plays with and masters the 'boy' toys, but he still wants a doll.

 William's grandmother visits, and buys him the doll he's been dreaming of. She explains to William's father that the reason William needs a doll is so he can learn to take care of a child and grow up to be a good father.

   The book was written in 1972, so the reasoning behind why it's ok for William to have a doll is still based on gender stereotypes. William can have a doll, but it has to be so he can be a good dad when he grows up.

  It's made clear that William is a 'real boy', because he can play basketball well, and likes his train. That makes it 'okay' that he wants a doll too. How about if William wants a doll just because he likes dolls? What if he wants a doll and isn't good at basketball, or interested in trains? How about just letting William enjoy what he enjoys, and not forcing him to do things he doesn't necessarily want to do just because it makes his dad more comfortable? And how about telling the other kids that it's wrong to make fun of others, and that everybody is different and should be accepted just the way they are? So while the book might have been ground breaking at the time, it's outdated and not exactly what it needs to be.
 Charlotte Zolotow is also the author of a book I love called, "Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present".  The book is very simple, and somewhat repetitive, but it has the most gentle story and gorgeous illustrations by Maurice Sendak.
  You can hear "William's Doll" read aloud by going HERE.

I Manage to Totally Miss the End of the Month...

  Can you believe it? I completely lost track of the date, and have thus missed the Playset of the Month post for the end of last month, and the Doll Book of the Month Club post that was supposed to happen today! That will be rectified tomorrow, so hang in there. Sorry!