An ode to Miss Marie (and a doll review!)

"October is an enchanting time in the Midwest.  The humid, baking summer dwindles and nights are cooler.  The leaves turn and the air smells sweetly acrid as they are burned.  Planting season is over and the petunias and geraniums grow straggly and wilted, while the sunflowers bend their heads and go to seed for next year."
-Ann Rule, passage from Bitter Harvest 

I'm not sure if Ann Rule was as fond of October as I am, but she accurately captured the way things look and smell in Missouri as the year grows old.  Well...almost accurately.  Planting season is indeed long over (unless the crop being planted is winter wheat), but the harvest is in full swing, and thus when out driving it's not uncommon to be slowed down by a combine or a tractor being eased from one field to another.  Working with a machine that big can be dangerous at times, so be respectful of your local farmers!  Anyway, having celebrated my big three-two a week ago, I'll now be celebrating the sixtieth birthday of a favorite celeb.  When I was a young teenager, when someone asked me what I wanted to be I'd reply "I wish I could be like Marie Osmond!"  In my rosy teenage view of life Marie had everything, and I would've given my right arm to be like her.  Of course I've since learned that Marie's life has not been the bed of roses that I thought it was, but back then I thought she was all that.  I even wanted to try my hand at designing my own dolls like she does.  C'mon, y'all knew that's where I was going with this!  I once had a friend who had a lovely collection of dolls, and I'd estimate that about a third of them were Marie Osmond dolls.  I wish now that I'd gotten pictures of them, because said friend is now deceased and her collection was/is to die for.  The one I specifically remember is Friendship, one of the fabulous Coming Up Roses series, and I remember her for a very odd reason:  one of Friendship's little fingers was broken off during shipping!  My friend's daughter (also a dolly lover, the one who gave me the sack of dolls) offered to give me one of the dolls and I specifically requested Friendship, but I never heard any more of it.  To this day I wonder whatever became of all those dolls.  I suspect/hope that my friend's daughter kept them, but I'm not certain.  They weren't all Marie Osmond dolls, of course; some were other porcelain dolls (the kind that I like), and one, if I remember correctly, was a composition Sweet Sue-type, similar to this doll.  Or maybe it was Anne Shirley...one or the other.  Either way it was a nice collection.

Chattering over, on to my own Marie Osmond collection.  Up until about a year ago I owned two of Marie's dolls, both Tiny Tots.

I've always been fond of the Tiny Tots, as they're usually small versions of a larger doll and thus provide a good way to own a doll one loves without paying through the nose.  Not all of Marie's Tiny Tots are duplicates of larger dolls (the Rag-a-Muffins weren't/aren't), but a lot of them are.  My two dolls, named Lilly and Hershey Kisses (I nicknamed her "Kitty" after Milton Hershey's wife), both have larger counterparts that appear in the links.  They are both secondhand and were obtained at separate junk shops for what I deemed a steal.  Indeed, I still remember the conversation I had with Mama when I saw Kitty.

ME (trying not to yell):   That's a Marie Osmond doll!
MAMA:  How much?
ME:  Price tag says fifteen bucks.
MAMA:  Get her!

Lilly's purchase had no dialogue between my mother and me at all.  Mama saw the pink box with the big "M" on it and merely nodded with a smile.  Lilly has a torn shoe that doesn't want to stay on...

...but otherwise both of my dolls are perfect.  Lilly even came with her certificate of authenticity tucked inside that box, and if I position the two just right Lilly and Kitty can sit side by side in the box, with their arms linked, no less!

I often wonder if that torn shoe was what relegated Lilly to the discount store.  I'll admit that it's a bit annoying always having to push that shoe back into place, but it's just an annoyance to me, and a mild one at that.  To rectify that I just take both her shoes off and leave Lilly in her socks.  Hey, real little kids do that all the time during nice weather!

I learned about Marie's dolls when I was young and thus could not afford to buy any straight from QVC, and these dolls don't often turn up at discount stores.  So plenty of my favorites are still running around out there somewhere.  Holly Lolli, Baby Ping, and Starry, Starry Night are my all-time favorites; Holly Lolli combines my favorite hair color (red) with my favorite fabric (velvet) in my favorite color (green), Baby Ping is Oriental (I love Oriental dolls), and Starry...well, I just like Starry!  I've had a few other favorites along the way too, but today we'll meet someone who is a little different from the other dolls I mentioned.  This is Blossom, the debut doll from the Babies-A-Bloom series.  She is NOT to be confused with my Lalaloopsy doll, Blossom Flowerpot.

The Babies-A-Bloom were aimed at children, if y'all can believe that.  Most of them are made of this new type of vinyl called "Cuddle Me" vinyl, and I've always wanted one!  I thought I'd NEVER get Blossom though, not because she's hard to find like some Marie Osmond dolls are, but because she got lost in the mail and ended up leaving Chicago...only to end up back in Chicago two weeks after I freaking ordered her!  Blossom did eventually arrive though, and I find it a smidge hard to believe that she was intended as a play doll.  She's smaller than a 23-inch My Twinn like Rael, bigger than an American Girl like Molly, and she's much heavier than either one.  Please ignore my unmade bed and the fact that I took this picture before I redressed Rael, LOL.

Here's how a Tiny Tot like Lilly compares to Blossom in size.  If I balance Lilly just right she can sit on Blossom's head.

A handful of the Babies-A-Bloom were recreated as Tiny Tots, including Blossom herself, but I shot for one of the bigger ones for reasons I don't remember.  Blossom is wigged like the majority of Marie's dolls are, and she's got red hair.

I solemnly swear that this red hair was NOT the reason why I pursued Blossom over the other Babies-A-Bloom, even though I love red hair.  Being the opportunist that I am, I got what I could afford that still appealed to me.  Anywho, Blossom's hair is red, and it falls to her ears in short curls.  The fibers are a little dry, probably due to age, but they're also shiny and hold a curl well.

She has a full set of bangs up front...which were cut a little unevenly.  I trimmed the long bits and they look fine now.

The rest of her hair is held back by a cute headband, which I'll discuss further when I segue into the clothes.  For now, here's the face.

Uh-oh...anyone notice anything???  First of all, Blossom's jaw is lopsided, with the left side being more prominent than the right.  A lot of the stock images I've found of Blossom show her head tilted to one side, so maybe her head was deliberately molded to look uneven.  At least I HOPE that's the case; I don't think anyone knows yet how well this "Cuddle Me" vinyl is going to age!  But a worse problem lies in her eyes.  See?

Dang it, her right eye is misplaced.  It's drifting off to the side, not unlike my left eye does in real life.  Normally I'd just say "bummer" and go on, but in this case I'm just a smidge miffed.  A doll that cost what Blossom originally did ought to have straight eyes, especially in a head big enough to maneuver in.  But...they're awfully pretty eyes, deep blue with dainty little eyelashes and soft brows.

Here's a better look at the lower half of Blossom's face.  It's easier to see here that her jaw is uneven.  Again, I don't know if that was deliberate or not.  I hope it is.

Let's try to forget that asymmetry now and look a little closer at the coloration.  The insides of Blossom's nostrils are highlighted, something I don't usually see unless it's on a bisque doll like Katsumi.  Her cheeks are blushed, and to my great surprise so is her chin!  I don't see chin blushing too often either, but I think it's normal on real babies.  I especially like the coloration of this mouth.

The edges are a little abrupt in places, but for the most part they're blended in enough to look realistic.  The little creases are molded in rather than painted like they are on my ball-jointed dolls (and the occasional play doll like Pepper Parson), and I love that shade of pink!  That glossy, slightly translucent pink is the kind that I wish Mattel would use on their dolls of color, instead of that matte crap that they're so obsessed with.  But then again Blossom cost way more than the Fashionistas do.  Not a bad little face at all overall, though that wonky eye is disappointing.  If I knew of a way to get into Blossom's head without ruining her I could fix that, but I don't know of a way to open her head without annihilating her, so I guess I'll just have to suck it up.

The vinyl used for Blossom's head is the same as her body and it's pleasing to the touch (very smooth), but since it IS Blossom's head it's not super-soft.  No, the body is where the Cuddle-Me vinyl's cuddling factor really shines.  I absolutely love holding this doll.  But first things first.  I hate undressing Blossom since her outfit is so cute, but unlike a great many porcelain doll dresses this one is very kid-friendly.  We'll look at that in a bit, but first I want to talk about Blossom's body and construction.

Blossom may not be porcelain, but she is constructed very similarly to a porcelain doll.  There WAS a porcelain version of Blossom made and she's darn cute, but mine isn't that one.  My doll has a soft, stuffed body covered with peach-colored...muslin???  I don't know what that fabric is, but it feels soft and smooth to the touch, and it doesn't want to snag on my unkempt fingernails (always a plus).  When I disrobed Blossom I was pleasantly surprised to find this.

Blossom literally has a belly button, complete with a little felt flower to match!  I wasn't expecting that and I think it's adorable.  Above this belly button on Blossom's chest is something else one doesn't often see on a doll body:  a pouch.

No, Blossom is not a kangaroo baby.  The pouch conceals her heartbeat mechanism.  Specifically, this thing.

Press on the smiley face in the center and there's supposed to be a heartbeat sound.  I've tried this and I get no sound at all, but I suspect that that's because the batteries inside are blooey.  See the battery cover?

I reckon I'd better get those old batteries out of there since corroded batteries can do a number on gadgets like this.  Anyway, I think all of these Babies-A-Bloom dolls had some sort of sound; Blossom has a heartbeat, and two of my other favorites, Spider Girl and Witch Hazel, giggle.  And why are these sound mechanisms located in a pouch on the doll's chest, you ask?  Because they're supposed to be hug-activated!  It only takes a light touch to activate the mechanism, and a gentle hug is just enough to do the trick.  How cool is that?

Blossom's limbs are where her Cuddle-Me qualities really shine.  They are three-quarter limbs...

...and to my great surprise they are attached with zip ties.  I'm more accustomed to seeing limbs that are sewn on, like the larger My Twinn's limbs are.

Probably here is where y'all can see the main pitfall with this soft vinyl:  it's a dust magnet.  Small amounts of stuffing are leaking out and clinging to the vinyl, but that's more of a nuisance than a problem.  Since the limbs ARE vinyl I can easily wipe that crud off with a damp washrag, but in a house full of animals that shed dust and pet hair accumulates pretty quickly.  Luckily that's a minor problem and a pretty common one, as I've got a lot of dolls who accumulate crud.  The great thing about these limbs is that the Cuddle-Me gimmick works very well.  These limbs are very, VERY soft, soft enough that I can compress them with my fingers like so.

These have a little bit of stuffing inside to keep them from being too squishy, and probably to keep them from deflating as they age.  Deflation is sometimes a problem with old hollow dolls, and thus the addition of stuffing is greatly appreciated.  Blossom's fingers and toes are NOT hollow (nor would I have expected them to be), but they are still very flexible, like so.

Indeed, it was a demo like this that got me to wanting a Babies-a-Bloom doll.  Marie was displaying one on QVC, and she manipulated the doll's finger the way I did above, demonstrating how soft and pliable the vinyl is.  Regarding molding, the hands and feet have a little blushing here and there, just like the face does, and the knuckles have little dimples and creases molded in.

Since I like doll feet, here's a better look at Blossom's feet.  Her little soles have creases, something that not all dolls have.  The nails are also lightly manicured with subtle little touches of gloss.

These truly are a treat for anyone who still likes to snuggle with their dolls, but I do have some concerns about how this vinyl will age.  Will it grow stiff like vintage Tickletoes and Softina dolls have done?  Will it discolor like Anita's limbs have done?  Will it OOZE OILS like Sara Lee sometimes does???  Oh Lordy, I hope not.  Seeing as Blossom is fifteen years old now, I think I'd know if she were going to leach oil everywhere; she'd probably be showing signs of it by now.  Dolls younger than Blossom show signs of it, if y'all can believe that.  Exhibit A:  Ana Ming.

The oil doesn't show too terribly, but I can feel it when I touch that part of her neck.  I've had Ana Ming just shy of six years, and her neck joint is the only oily part of her body, but it still shocked me that she'd be leaching oil already...or at all!  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my dear little Carpatina doll!  Anywho, aging is my prime concern for Blossom, and so far she's standing the test of time well.  Cuddle-Me vinyl is very cuddly indeed, AND it's very pretty to look at.

Right then.  Having a stuffed body generally means that Blossom doesn't have much jointing, but her legs are loosely connected so they can dangle when I hold her.  Her arms are similarly connected, meaning that they can't hold a pose either.  There ARE vinyl disks inside the shoulders and hips, which I assume strengthens these areas.  Blossom's neck IS jointed, and it can turn and tip.  The soft vinyl creates a fair amount of friction here, and thus turning her head is a little difficult.  It can be done, though.

I suspected that these dangling limbs are what makes Blossom feel so heavy, as ANYTHING that dangles feels heavier than it really is.  But to my surprise she also has a weighted rear, though the weight feels like it's nothing more than plastic pellets.  It's sometimes possible to see these pellets through the fabric on Blossom's rear. 

One would think PVC pellets wouldn't be too hefty, but according to Blossom's body tag the pellets are made of glass, which is quite a bit heavier than plastic.  In short, these dolls were meant as high-end playthings for kids, but I can imagine a doll like Blossom being a bit of a handful for a child!  Heck, she's a handful for me, and I'm thirty-two!

That's quite a bit to mull over, and I haven't even done clothes yet!  Most but not all of these Babies-A-Bloom are elaborately dressed, and most but not all are decked out in fleece.  The outfits are not ALL fleece, by and large, but fleece usually plays a big role in Babies-A-Bloom ensembles.  So it is with Blossom.

Lordy, the color balance on that picture is terrible!  Y'all get the idea, though.  Blossom has a complete little outfit consisting of multiple pieces, and unlike other Babies-A-Bloom she is not intended to represent one specific type of flower.  Her main color is a dark shade of periwinkle with pink, green, and yellow accents.  Here's the main part of her outfit, her jumper.

The jumper is made dominantly of nice, thick fleece with pink piping on the ruffled hem.  The hem is further decorated with these felt flowers, which are sewn on with a button that matches Blossom's belly button.

Marie's design team didn't skimp here!  Instead of that stiff craft felt crap that I knew as a child, these felt flowers are soft and strong.  There are seven flowers on the hem, plus one larger one decorating Blossom's chest and another on the back.

The blue layer hikes up in the back to reveal Blossom's underskirt.  This is made of some kind of woven pink fabric and is scalloped to look like flower petals.

The hems of this layer are decorated with thick bands of yellow and pink embroidery.

The pink underlayer extends all the way up into the bodice, meaning that this dress is fully lined.  For some reason I wasn't expecting that.

The back of this dress closes underneath the largest flower with two small metal snaps.  I vastly prefer this connection to Velcro (especially when fleece is involved), but these snaps don't always want to stay snapped!  They come undone a little too easy.

Underneath her fancy dress Blossom wears a simple white eyelet blouse with puffed lace-trimmed sleeves and a lace-trimmed Peter Pan collar.

In addition to the lace, each sleeve is embellished with a felt flower.

The back LOOKS like it fastens with these little buttons, but the buttons are actually concealing two more snaps.  These snaps hold together a little better than the ones on the dress do.

As promised, here's Blossom's headband.  It's made of two ruffled layers of blue fleece, with pink trim and three felt flowers that are meant to be worn off to one side.  This is elasticized, and while I should have no problems putting it back on Blossom's head, I'm not looking forward to it because it might muss her curls.

Under her dress Blossom wears not a diaper like I might have expected, but these cute little bloomers that are made of the same materials as the outer layer of the jumper.

Lordy, can y'all imagine how groady those would get if a real little girl wore them???  Y'all know how little kids love to play in the dirt!  Anyway, the legs of these bloomers are gathered and ruffled just like the hem of the jumper is, and each leg is trimmed with another flower.

As an extra little surprise, the backside of these bloomers is decorated with three layers of pink-trimmed ruffles, plus three more very big flowers that are a little wrinkled.  Can't sit on something like that without a few wrinkles occurring, I suppose.  I love this touch, though!

Now, footwear.  Blossom's socks are so thick and soft that I thought they were real baby socks for a bit.  Blossom's feet are big enough to wear baby socks, but these are definitely the ones she came with.

How do I know???  Because they're trimmed with pink and have flowers on the cuffs that match everything else Blossom is wearing.

The socks do unfortunately have some yellowing, and I'm not sure what to do about that since I don't know how washable they are.

Lastly, shoes.  Blossom wears little fleece slippers that can go on either foot.  The toes are decorated with (surprise, surprise) one flower apiece, and the interior is lined with the same pink stuff that lines the dress.  The fleece on these shoes is starting to pill a little bit, probably because they get handled a lot (for some reason I hold Blossom's feet together when I'm carrying her).

Not a bad little outfit!  There is a single stitching foible on the outer hem of Blossom's jumper and a few loose ends in the toes of the shoes, but overall this is a nice outfit, if a bit impractical for a baby!  The quality on this getup is so good that it makes Blossom's roving eye that much more disappointing.  I guess I shouldn't fuss too much since eyes are tricky to position, but I'd have thought Marie's workers would've taken extra care with that!  Maybe setting the eyes straight in this squishy vinyl was extra-tricky.  Anywho, Blossom's clothes are very nice, but believe it or not, I'm curious to see if she can share clothes with any other dolls.  I have exactly ONE doll that I think might be a good candidate.

This is Lyric, a random porcelain doll that yet another friend gave to me.  She's got quite a head of curls, don't she?  Anyway, Lyric is a large doll with a soft body, and she's arranged in a seated position just like Blossom is.

I was hoping that these two could share clothes, but Lyric's outfit was attached with Velcro and kept catching in her curls.  Her shoulders are also very wide, almost too wide to get her dress off, so I said "phooey on it" and left them alone.  It's not like these two need to share clothes anyway.  I guess my curiosity will just have to stay unsatisfied...unless I get another Babies-A-Bloom doll! 

I have another of Marie's dolls to talk about, but before I get into her I want to take a closer look at Lyric's face.

She has beautiful blue-violet eyes and a lopsided mouth, the very attribute that draws me to My Twinn dolls with the Ariel head.  I'm not sure what company made Lyric, but she's a nice doll.  I have a special affection for these mass-produced porcelain dolls; they may never be worth a dime but they often have sweet faces and pretty clothes and I like them anyway.  That's the point of doll collecting, after all.  Collect what pleases you and don't listen to naysayers.

Before moving on to the next doll I want to do a good stuff/bad stuff section for Blossom.

BAD
*EYES ARE WONKY, DAMMIT!!!  A Marie Osmond doll shouldn't have wonky eyes!!!
*Heavy.  This doll is supposed to be a high-quality plaything for kids (and adults too), but she's hard to hold and hard to carry.
*There's a lot of buttons.  They're sewn on well, but if this doll was used as a plaything the buttons could be choked on.
*The vinyl gets dusty easily.  It's also easy to clean, but keep this in mind nevertheless.
*I worry about how well this vinyl will age.  Blossom is in good shape fifteen years on, but how about twenty years?  Fifty years?  A HUNDRED YEARS???

GOOD
*I worry about how well this vinyl will age, but I also love handling it.  It's so soft!
*Eyes are wonky, but they're a lovely color.
*Outfit is well-made with few sewing gaffes and is completely removable.
*Red hair!  It's shiny and pretty, though the style is a little hinky.  Curly hair is ALWAYS hinky!
*Cute face!  I love Blossom's cheerful expresion.
*Paint job is well done, as is the molding on the fingers and toes.

Now here's my next Marie doll.  On the same night that I bought Blossom, Mama bought me this.  She only took a week to get here, much shorter of a wait than it took for Blossom.

That's Baby Ping, y'all!  Beautiful Baby Ping, whom I've wanted ever since her release back in 2006.  I admit that I teared up a bit when I opened the box that this doll was in, something that I rarely do nowadays.  Grandma's death was still a little raw when I got Ping, and I know Grandma would've loved her, and after hugging the doll I had to reach for the tissues.  Emotions aside, Baby Ping is part of the Artist Portraits line and represents Singaporean-American artist Ping Lau, who makes her own dolls in addition to sculpting for Marie and other companies.  Since the real Ping was born and raised in Singapore it should be no surprise that the doll is dressed in traditional Singaporean clothes.  I love that, since Singapore is underrepresented in the doll world.  Seriously, Barbie didn't even go there!  Her Dolls of the World series has dolls representing nearby Malaysia and Sumatra, but none from Singapore.  The best I could find were these lovely young ladies, whom Singapore Airlines offered as a souvenir of sorts.  Their boxes merely reads "Singapore Girl," but they're fairly obvious Asian Barbie dolls with a haircut and a new outfit.

Now that that's out of the way, let's look briefly at Baby Ping.  She's quite different from Blossom, having a porcelain head and hands on a soft stuffed body with wired arms.  She's noteworthy among baby dolls in that the back of her head is a little flat.

During one of her many QVC interviews Marie described how she was initially shocked that the back of the doll's head was flat.  When she asked Ping about this, Ping reportedly laughed and said that the back of her own head had been flat when she was a baby.  That made me giggle at the time, because my mother often worried about the shape of my head when I was a baby.  The conversation my parents had, if I'm telling it correctly, went something like this.

MAMA:  I'm worried about <insert my name>.  I think she's spending too much time on her back.
DADDY (calmly):  Why do you think that?
MAMA:  Well, look at the back of her little head!  It's so flat!
DADDY (amused):  Honey, look at the back of MY head.

Indeed, I had inherited my father's Germanic skull, which is somewhat flatter in the back than the skulls of other Europeans, hence the term "squarehead."  Babies' heads CAN become flat from too much time spent lying on their sides or their backs, but during babyhood I was out of my crib a lot AND I learned to roll over at a young age, so lying in one position probably wasn't my issue.  Since we're up here looking at Ping's noggin, check out how well her hair is painted.  It doesn't look as good up close, but from a normal distance it looks great.

Fine and wispy, just like real baby hair.  Ping's neck is also marked on her head, towards the back of her neck with her namesake's first name inside a raised square.  Blossom didn't have this mark, at least not that I could see.  Marie's signature and the date are present as well, along with my particular doll's number of production.  I think it reads #272 out of 1,200.

Look at Ping's lovely little face!  Her eyes are very well set, and I almost expect her to blink at me, they're so realistic.  Even my coworkers thought she was adorable, and neither of them are/were particularly big on dolls.

Ping's eyes are just as dark as Hailey's and Crissy's, but because they're glass they sparkle and look more lively.  See the colors?

Also dig these nails.  They're manicured, much more so than mine are (LOL).

The website says that Ping is thirteen inches seated, and before I got her I thought that meant "thirteen inches from head to toe and in a seated position."  Wrong answer.  Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, go directly to jail.  Ping is in a seated position alright, but the thirteen inches part meant thirteen inches from her butt to her head.  In other words, Ping is a BIG doll!  I bring this size business up now instead of during Blossom's segment of the post, because Ping arrived on February 1st, a week and a day before Blossom did, and her size was thus a big shock (keep in mind that both Blossom and Ping shipped on January 23rd, three days after they were both ordered).  Due to the huge lag in Blossom's shipping I'd grown accustomed to Ping's size and knew what to expect when Blossom arrived.  But Ping is a big doll, and heavy enough that I very rarely pick her up, so afraid am I that'll drop her.  Since Ping has a porcelain head atop a cloth body she's very top-heavy, and that is a problem that I did not encounter with Blossom.  On the rare occasions that I pick Ping up I have to support her head, just like a real baby.  I also have to be very careful about where I seat Ping and how I do it, as if I put her in a precarious spot or in an off-balance position she'll go tumbling into the floor and possibly to her destruction.  So I'm VERY careful with Ping, more so than I usually am with my dolls.  I was able to carry her in my arms when I took her to see my grouchy old great aunt (she likes Marie Osmond dolls), but if I ever have to do that again I'll get a cheap stroller.  Time to take my eccentricities to the next level, I suppose.

For the heck of it, here's how Baby Ping and Blossom compare visually.   They are very dissimilar in both appearance and composition, and yet they're both Ping Lau-sculpted Marie Osmond dolls!  Just shows how versatile Ping can be, and how Marie has something for everyone.

For that matter, Ping (the person, not the doll) has something for everyone too.  She's even got these little critters called "Ping Pets" on her website, small newborn-sized critters that are unique and cute.  I like this platypus, as he's very, VERY original!  I also like the pygmy hog, who happens to be very, VERY endangered.

Here's how the full-sized dolls compare to the Tiny Tots.

A bit of further research revealed that the larger Hershey Kiss doll is another of Ping Lau's sculpts (as are all of the Hershey dolls).  Lilly looks like she too would be a piece of Ping's work, with her expressive face bearing a resemblance to the Ping-sculpted Baby Ginji, but her page reveals no artist at all so I can't verify who did her.  I did not deliberately order three Ping Lau-designed dolls, by the way; I could have very easily since she's a prolific artist, but I solemnly swear that this was a coincidence.  Here's a comparison of the three Ping-sculpted dolls.

Now that I look a little closer I do see a few similarities.  All three of these dolls have wide, snub noses, wide-set eyes, and open mouths with pleasant little expressions.  Not ALL of Ping's dolls have these characteristics, but I've noticed that a lot of them do.

With it being close to Halloween, I can't resist throwing in this little latecomer.  This is Bru-Hilda, who is NOT a Ping Lau sculpt.

Latecomer...HA!!!  I've actually had this doll since April 11th, but she was the last Marie Osmond doll I got so I jokingly call her a latecomer anyway.  Anyway, Bru-Hilda is from the Petite Amour series and is a small reproduction Bru.  Brus are bisque dolls like Hattie and Mabel and Katsumi are, but they're French and...well, George Harrison and Ray Thomas will collaborate on a new album before I'll be able to afford ANY French bisque doll.  So I'll stick with my little repro here.  And Bru-Hilda IS a little one, measuring in at six inches, close in height to the Tiny Tots.  I know that Jumeau and Armand Marseille made dolls this small (take another look at Hattie for an example of a small AM doll), so I doubt it would be out of line to assume Bru made dolls in this size too.  As I noted above, Bru-Hilda breaks from my tradition a little in that she is not a Ping Lau sculpt, instead being the work of Marie and another doll artist named Breta Finlinson.  Oh yeah, and the designers at Bru, LOL.  Since Bru-Hilda is a witch she will be joining Abigail and Mirari at the library this year to serve as Halloween decorations.  See what a cute group they make?

Okay, I don't know how cute that group is when Mirari is thrown in, but Abigail and Bru-Hilda make a good pair.  Mama says that she thinks Mirari is cute, so I guess the old saying about the eye of the beholder is true.  Unfortunately Bru-Hilda does have a problem, one that I frequently encounter with vintage hard plastic dolls (and less often the all-bisques like this one).  She's strung with elastic, and the elastic is getting loose.  This is how Bru-Hilda looked after I got her in place between Abigail and Mirari, and before I took the above picture.

Yikes.  It's not uncommon for Bru-Hilda's head to wobble around like a bobblehead, or like Gigi the headbanger, and I sometimes have a hard time getting her to stand up straight again.  However, Bru-Hilda's loose strings also allowed me to get a look at something I don't normally see on all-bisque dolls:  sueding.

Once upon a time I remembered Marie saying that her all-porcelain dolls had sueded joints to prevent the pieces from rubbing and damaging each other.  But as I often do, I forgot about that.  Now I remember again, LOL.  Anyway, Bru-Hilda's joints are sueded, not with actual suede, but with some type of fabric that keeps the porcelain parts from rubbing together.  Probably if she were strung tighter she also could hold a position better, just as sueded ball-jointed dolls do.  That loose string will unfortunately have to be dealt with further on down the road, but no huge biggie.  I've already got plenty of other dolls that need restringing, so what's one more?

Get a load of Bru-Hilda's eyes!

Once again I've run into a doll with eyes that defy description.  These look like freshly cleaned gun metal, but they've also got a copper tinge to them so that they shift colors with the light.  The effect is tricky to photograph, but it's quite beautiful in real life and very fitting for a witch.  These are different eyes from the ones seen in Bru-Hilda's stock photos, by the way; the stock photos show green eyes rather than these unique metallic ones.  As fond as I am of green eyes, I like what my doll has better.

As a last little lark, ages.  If this quintet were real little people they'd probably range in age from six months to three years, but I'm going on the years of their debut.
Bru-Hilda:  1996; I wasn't expecting that one, as she looks younger than that.  Her sagging elastic did provide a clue of her age, though.
Lilly:  1999; her larger self is a couple of years older than that.
Blossom:  2004
Ping:  2006, spring
Kitty:  2006, summer; again, her larger self is a little older.  Tiny Tots usually trail their larger counterparts by a couple'a years.

So that's my happy little group of Marie Osmond dolls...for now, anyway.  I highly doubt that Bru-Hilda will be my last one, especially as cute as these fairies are.  I do think that Ping and Blossom will be my only large dolls since they are quite large indeed, but I'm still pleased as punch to have them along for the ride.  If I do shoot for another large doll it will likely be Baby Bru, as Baby Bru has the aesthetic of the old bisque dolls without the creepy factor that some of y'all have mentioned.  Regarding the Tiny Tots, my eyes have been dazzled by yet another of Ping Lau's sculpts, a delightful little baby boy named Shao Pang.  I'll get him when I'm in the mood, maybe as a Christmas present to myself.  Shao Pang is unique among Marie's dolls as he's made out of resin rather than porcelain.  Having owned ball-jointed dolls for several years, I can dig that.  I'd also like to get Tiny Tot Daisy to see if the Babies-A-Bloom Tiny Tots are just as much fun as the full-size dolls (I'll bet they are).  Holly Lolli comes in a Tiny Tot size as well, so I may be able to get her without finding a way to squeeze another large porcelain doll into my bedroom.  In the meantime, happy birthday to Miss Marie, from one October baby to another!  I hope I look as good as you do if I live to be sixty!  And to Miss Ping...well, I don't know when your birthday is, but keep up the good work! Your artistry is excellent.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987