WordPress sent me a summary of the year’s statistics for A Doll’s Day, so for curiousity’s sake I thought I’d share:
A Dolls Day Year in Blogging 2015
Not much in the way of posts from my end due to family issues, but great to see the comments and hits mounting up, thankyou to everyone who has visited, shared links, left a message or just generally been involved with the blog over the year!
Time to meet a new doll! Here’s a guest post by my good friend Rick, with some help from his friend Jason:
Jason: Hi. I’m a Kidz’n’Cats “Alister”, but I answer to Jason. Sometimes I also answer to “Trouble”. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that?
Rick: It’s just over two years since Jason arrived. Alex and Jamie had no small part to play in setting off the train of events. Like Alex, Jason is a Kidz’n’Cats “Alister”. He came to me from KR Bears and Dolls. I’d been warned about the pink box. The intense scent released when I opened the box was a bit of a surprise. It clung to Jason for quite a while.
Jason: Coming out of my box was quite an experience. I’d been well tied in, but eventually I was free. Then, it seemed, I needed a check-up, so my clothes had to come off, too. I was a bit shy about that, but I got dressed again as soon as I’d been given a full bill of health. It was too warm for my full outfit, so I left my coat and cap behind when I went off to explore my new home.
Here I am in looking at some flowers in the rock garden, and by a fireplace on a chilly day.
One set of clothes, even when it’s as good a set as I came in, only goes so far. I needed some other clothes.
Rick: I spent a while searching the Net, and saw a pair of overalls on Wren*Feathers that looked good. I bought the pattern, and some sewing spread over a few days turned an old shirt into a pair of overalls. They’re not quite as well-made as the ones shown on Wren*Feathers site, but that’s down to my sewing ability. Jason looks good in them. I also visited Nellie Rose’s site.
Jason: A few days later a nicely wrapped present arrived.
Rick: Here he is, sitting in a favourite spot modelling some of them.
Jason: When the weather turned colder I got another present. The hoodie was just what I needed for some more outdoors exploring. Take a look at this huge toadstool!
Rick: Then, for a while, he seemed to have enough clothing to cover most occasions, and things settled down.
Jason: Some days I spend in the bedroom where I sleep, and other days I spend sitting in my favourite place. Sometimes I go out and about a bit. I’ve even been away at conventions on a couple of occasions. There I met others a bit like myself, but I didn’t manage to get any pictures of me with them, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
Rick: Recently, I’ve been back to Nellie Rose again, and he now has a couple more outfits. He tends to mix and match things, and in this photo he was wearing one item from each of the three packages.
Jason: As you can see, I like my new clothes. I wonder whether I’ll have to wait another two years for some more.
Rick: I still have some un-finished sewing projects that may expand his wardrobe if I ever manage to complete them, but he seems happy enough with the clothes he has, for now…
Big thanks to Rick & Jason for that!
All images © Rick Hewett
Earlier in the year I mentioned that the Kidz n Cats range for 2015 now includes mini dolls for your dolls to play with, perfectly sized as you can see in the photo. Well, they’ve been available for a while in the UK now, along with some outfits.
There are four dolls in the range, Lenchen in pink, Lottchen in blue, Finchen in yellow and Gretchen in green, each two piece outfit also includes ballet slippers and a hair ribbon. They are made entirely of vinyl and have five ball joints for full poseability. They can sit and stand on their own. Like the bigger Kidz they have acrylic-glass eyes, eyelashes and hair that can be combed. But they are only 21 cm (8¼”) tall. The dolls are available individually and also in a few special edition sets with a full size Kids n Cats doll together with a mini.
I was pleased to discover that doll clothes maker Nellie Rose is making oufits for these wee cuties, so there’s plenty of play potential there.
Kidz n Cats minidolls are available from your usual sources (see sidebar for online shop links).
Images © Sonja Hartmann
In 1890 when sound recording was in its infancy, the days of wax cylinders, Thomas Edison produced a very short lived range of dolls containing hand-cranked mechanisms. Each had a recording of a child reciting a nursery rhyme.
Wax is a fragile substance and its only recently that a way has been found to get the audio recordings safely off the cylinders without damaging them, reports The New York Times.
Three recordings are up online in the article, and I can see why the dolls weren’t popular, they look really creepy and the voices aren’t exactly the most comforting either, which has a lot to do with the limits of the recording process. Still, its fascinating to see attempts for “interactive” dolls that far back – I think I still prefer the kind that just allow your imagination to run wild, and hopefully don’t cause nightmares!
Read the full article at the link: Ghostly Voices From Thomas Edison’s Dolls Can Now Be Heard
Image ©Collection of Robin and Joan Rolfs
Our Generation Doll Ayla
Great news, the Our Generation range of dolls and accessories are available nationwide at Smyths toy shops, as well as via the Smyths online site. The shop seems to be selling a good number of the 18″ posable dolls I first mentioned here along with several horses, the scooter and various items of furniture and other cool items. They also have the mini dolls – with the weekend coming up it could be an ideal time for a quick trip to your local shop to view the delights on offer.
Thanks to reader Beth Gould for telling me about this!
First of all, I’m sharing this cute video of doll-sized pancake making because I can just imagine the dolls coming in and settling down for a treat, I do *not* recommend any younger readers of the blog try any of this – playing with naked flame is a bad idea. I’m an adult and I reckon I’d have burnt my paws if it were me using such tiny things….
Still and all, its very cute, many thanks to a good friend for finding this for me to share.
And now I really want proper sized pancakes made on a proper stove, yum..
2015 looks to be shaping up as a great year for us doll lovers, with the new ranges by Kidz n Cats, Gotz and the rest being unveiled in catalogues and also at the Nuremburg Toy Fair this past weekend. Now I’m not lucky enough to attend the fair, but Maxine of My Doll Best Friend was there and has a great report in the blog with images of some of the lovely new faces and ideas we can look forward to: I’m really excited about the new Kidz n Cats face mould, their new boy doll Robert, and also the new Finouche range of dolls from Sylvia Natterer.
Here’s a couple of images to whet your appetite, then do go and enjoy Maxines post!
Nuremberg Toy Fair 2015 at My Doll Best Friend’s Blog
New for 2015, Robert 18″ doll from Kidz n Cats
New for 2015, Julika 18″ doll from Kidz n Cats
A few people, including someone named Mouse, have showed interest in the Design a Friend morning suit I posted about a few months ago, wanting to know if it would fit a Kidz n Cats doll. So I had fun playing dress-up and the answer is, yes, it certainly does. I got the camera out to show just how well!
The trousers are the perfect length, the waist is correct and allows for the shirt tails to be tucked in without bunching, and as you can see the long tailed morning coat also fits nicely, all in all a very good look for Alex. I think the suit actually fits this doll much better.
The shoes fit, though they are a little loose and would probable work better with some socks underneath – they’re secure enough and he stands in them which is the main thing however.
The coat is perfectly fitted and the length is about right even though Alex has shorter legs then the Design a Friend dolls, or my Gotz Harry Potter doll that originally modelled the outfit.
Its quite a posh suit for a little boy though, and I think I prefer the outfit without the coat, now Alex is a pageboy at the wedding rather than the groom, and doesn’t he look darling?
As I said in the original post, this is an excellent outfit, well designed and constructed with good quality fabrics, one of the best outfits from the Design a Friend range, and ideal for Kidz n Cats to wear. Alex is feeling very handsome indeed and looking round for the bridesmaid now..
Great news, there’s another family member due to join the historical dolls from A Girl for All Time. Following on from the success of Mathilda (Tudor), Amelia (Victorian) and Clementine (1940s), Lydia’s look, outfit and story are clever time capsules of history for young girls to learn and play along with.
According to the press release:
Lydia, Your Georgian Girl, wears a gorgeous yellow dress in the robe a l’angaise style, popular of that era. Her life is turned upside down in an accompanying book telling the story of how she must leave England and her beloved home, seat of the Marchmont family for over 200 years, to start a new life with her family in the American colonies. Additional historically-inspired costumes are now also available for Lydia, including a stunning blue party dress and meticulously detailed riding outfit.
The new doll will join her sisters later this year.
Find out more about the A Girl for All Time range (with historical outfits, novels and accessories) at the website.
Ari? Who is Ari? She’s my soon-to-be new doll custom made by the wonderful folks at Makie.me, the unique 3d doll printing company I reported on last year. I was very tempted at the time to design a doll but the software on the website didn’t work too well on my aging computer, plus I was a little hesitant because at the time they sent the dolls out with no face-ups. A face-up is the paintjob you do on dolls to personalise them, and the Makie dolls were being shipped with no colouring at all, so the lips and brows were the same colour as the base plastic, a little too plain for my tastes.
Fast forward to, well, now and whilst browsing the site I discovered the company now do a very light face-up on all the dolls. If you’re the creative type you can wash that off and apply your own, of course, or even ask for your doll to come plain-faced.
So I had great fun the other night making the perfect wee doll face, getting her ears right, picking eye colour and wig and then went away to think about it for a bit. On my return to the site where I’d saved my creation I still loved her so clicked the “make real” button! I’ll now be avidly checking the order status page for updates, though it’ll be 2 weeks most likely before she arrives.
As well as the dolls, Makie.me also sells outfits, shoes, accessories and because of the modular nature of the doll, wigs, and even different feet, as well as hands in various poses. I picked out a few things, more about those when Ari finally arrives. Each doll costs £69 which includes the outfit you pick from a limited choice, though not, I think, any shoes shown, and I think shipping to the UK is included. She apparently can wear Barbie clothes which is handy.
So excited, I finally get a Makie, whee!
Fancy making your own doll, or just having fun with the virtual doll maker? Head to Makie.me
A Doll's Day 