Rael redux

I received some nice feedback about Rael last week, with the consensus being that her eyes are fine and that I should take a "wait and see" approach.  Once again the feedback has been greatly appreciated, and while I do have some eyes on the way (just in case), I'm going to follow y'all's lead and just see what happens.  The following picture was taken with better lighting, and her eyes look as good as they did when I first got Rael.

Dang, I wish these Twinns could bend their arms more convincingly!  Rael would look adorable in some sort of ballet pose, with those slippers and tulle.  Anyway, Rael saw Miss Emily's Unicorn Twinns and wanted an outfit like that for herself.  Fairy Tale Blessings happened to have a couple, so I grabbed the first one I saw.  It's a little inappropriate for this time of year due to those long sleeves, but Rael isn't bothered by that like I would be if it were my blouse.

Word of note:  these unicorn outfits don't come with footwear.  Miss Emily got her dolls' tights from another Etsy shop called Doll Secrets, and I don't know where her dolls' cute boots came from so I dove into eBay for that.  Even though these shoes were tagged "My Twinn" they're a little big across the ankle.  The fit in the foot is perfect, though.

I like these tights because they're thick and soft (though not too thick), and because they come in plenty of different colors.  I also love the skirt because it's soft and has lovely drape.  It even has an underskirt so that no one can see Rael's rear through the tulle.

Hopefully if Miss Emily sees this post she won't take umbrage at me stealing her idea.  Her unicorn girls sold very quickly, and for me it was just easier to redress Rael and be done with it.  If I'd been thinking I would've grabbed the other outfit instead, since it has a bright skirt like the one Rani is/was/probably still is wearing, but Rael looks good in purple so I won't complain.

With the saga of Rael's eyes complete I turn my attention to Xenia, who genuinely does have bad eyes.  Indeed, they've only gotten worse since I last shared her here.  But she did finally get some eyelashes.

Yeah, that's a definite improvement.

Before the summer is over I need to get Xenia a unicorn outfit too.  I like it when she and Rael coordinate, and at the moment, they don't.

They still make a cute pair, though!

Cheers and much love,

RagingMoon1987

Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing???

Time to talk about Rael, my old My Twinn doll.  Rael is a Denver-era doll and thus should not have the eye problems so prevalent in My Twinns of Xenia's size, but eye shifting does happen in Denver dolls too, as this poor pet reveals.  Recently I was photographing Rael in her new dress (specifically, this dress, and pardon the overexposure)...

...when I noticed something funny about her eyes.  I think her right eye is turning pink, but Mama can't tell the difference.  What do y'all think???

Dang it, Rael has always had such pretty eyes...I think they're D37 eyes from the 1999 chart (Rael's tag says "1999" on it).  Here's an idea of what they looked like three years ago.

So...I'm very hesitant to switch out Xenia's eyes, and I'm not too confident about having to switch out Rael's either.  Miss Emily had no trouble swapping eyes once she'd had some practice, but I DON'T WANNA DO IT!!!  Her eyelashes are so pretty and...well, her eyes are still pretty too.  I desperately hope I'm just seeing things, but what say y'all???  Will Rael need an eye swap in the near future?

Kisses, hugs, and ladybugs,

RagingMoon1987

Crowning the queen

Before I begin this post, I'd like to mention that some dumb bimbo keeps posting links to sex sites on my posts.  She is not a follower that I know of, but if she happens to read this, she can just knock her nonsense off.  I am a straight-leaning asexual female and thus have no use for nasty online pictures, and I doubt any men see my blog so they won't come hunting either.  Furthermore, spam posts die in limbo, because I moderate every comment that comes through.  So my dear, if you're reading this, give your silly behavior up.  I know I'm not the only one to fall victim to this, by the way.  Debbie Behan Garrett had to disable commenting on her blog due to too much spam, which I hate because I love Miss Debbie's blog.  Oh sure, I can still read her posts, but it's nice to tell her every now and then that I appreciate her blog and its historical and cultural value.

Okay, now that I've said what I feel needs to be said, let's readdress one of my old bisque friends.  Despite the title of my post Elfriede is not the queen of my dollies, but with her jaunty black ribbon she maintains an edge of class not often seen by a doll so old.  Today I'll be able to give her back a bit more of her dignity, in the form of a jerry-rigged pate and a wig.  For a refresher, here's Elfriede, whom I semi-assembled earlier in the month...

...here are her wig...

...and her pate, formerly known as a Styrofoam ball.  It has been cut a lot and squashed a little to fit Elfriede's head, and it's held on with a very light skim of tacky glue.

Again, I promise that the glue is water-soluable.  Getting the pate to fit onto her head was the hardest part, as I didn't want to use too much glue, the way I did when I attached her body to her head.  I also was afraid that I'd trim too much and make the pate too small, or not trim enough and make it too big.  Indeed, the pate is a little bit big around the front, but it should do for now.  The back doesn't fit very well, but that's actually a good thing as I can pry the Styrofoam off if need be.

Mama jokingly called her "Pope Elfriede" because the pate looks a little like the skullcap that members of the Catholic clergy wear (popes wear white ones).  To me "Pope Elfriede" sounds like a Warholian reference, as one of Andy Warhol's nutty friends went by the nickname "Pope Ondine."  Now the wig.  The wig is not really what I had in mind for Elfriede, but I love the simple style and the lack of bows and frippery.  Usually I'd want a bow on the wig, but since Elfriede already has a scarf I thought another bow would be superfluous.  According to the eBay listing the color is dark brown, and there's a single braid running across the right forehead.

The rest of it hangs in loose curls, like so.

The wig came from China, which filled me with trepidation due to the coronavirus being such a problem, and due to customs regulations being tight because of the aforementioned virus.  Indeed, the wait was a bit lengthier than I'm used to when I order from China, but to misquote my childhood pediatrician, "Wig here.  Everything be okey-dokey."  Replace "wig" with "baby" and you have the exact quote that he said to my dad on the day my sister was born (and come to think of it, he said that to Daddy when I was born too, LOL).  Okay, the moment of truth:  did I get the right size (it's a size 7)?

Well, I  had to tug on the front edge a little to get the hairline low enough, but thank God, this time I measured the doll's head correctly.  Mabel's new wig is a bit too big and likes to slide down over her eyes, even though I measured her head and glued her wig in place.  Thus getting the size correct this time is kind of a big deal for me.  In Elfriede's case I did it right, and the color choice turned out to be a wise one as well.  See how well her wig matches her eyebrows?

I admit that I did that on purpose, LOL.  Dark eyebrows mean dark hair.

I have a dress coming for Elfriede, but it's not here yet and I'm not even sure if it'll fit.  It won't be a huge travesty if it doesn't fit since some other doll can probably wear it...but I want it to fit Elfriede!!!  The measurements all match up, so surely the dress will work out!  I won't know for at least another week, but I'm at least glad that Elfriede is wigged.  Now I...need to find her some arms, actually!  Jeez, no one ever said piecemealing an old doll together was easy, but Elfriede is at least in better shape than Eva is.  Nope, no body for Eva yet, but I'm not giving up!

See y'all soon,

RagingMoon1987 

Regarding Eva's new friends

This is Eva, whom some of y'all may know.

This is Elvira.

This is...well, her breastplate says "Nightingale," meaning that she is probably the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind.

And this is Elfriede, complete with her black scarf.  

The saga of my china dolls continues.  I'm STILL trying to get Eva put back together again, but my attempts aren't going well.  I have two bodies, one a kid body and the other a reproduction parian body...

...and they're BOTH too big for poor Eva.

That's where Elvira comes in.  I bought Elvira under the guise that she was the real deal, but no antique china doll has eyebrows this crummy.

She's also got crazing all over, meaning that she's most likely not the real deal.

Since I'm unimpressed with Elvira's paint I will likely get some sandpaper and paint and do her over.  Hey, she's a reproduction, so what've I got to lose?  Elvira is modeled after the Mary Todd Lincoln china head, hence the hairnet.

My heart's on fire for Elvira!  LOL, I don't know why I chose to name this doll "Elvira" instead of "Mary," but it seems to fit her.  Unfortunately the bodies I have do NOT fit her, as they're...too small.

I've really had rotten luck with these china dolls, kids!  I started the year off with one head, and now I've got two heads and two bodies that won't work out!  This mess started clean back in...March, I think it was.  Yeah, it was one of the last things I did before the coronavirus mess got really bad, and when Elvira's head didn't fit on either body I just shoved everything into storage, I was so done with it all.  I didn't mess with these doll parts again until June 29th, which was when Jenny Lind came into the picture.  This doll doesn't look exactly like the china Jenny Lind dolls, but the resemblance is there.

Nightingale, hov'ring high, harmonize the wind...yeah, I think I know now why my college friends called me a walking MP3 player.  I strongly doubt that Jenny Lind is the nightingale that "Voices in the Sky" refers to, but again it fits well enough.  Obscure song references aside, I chose a reproduction parian doll's head to try on this body because the arms and legs are matte like the head.

I don't know why unglazed china dolls are called "parian" dolls, though Google's definition suggests that the porcelain looks like parian marble.  Parian dolls are not made of marble, of course, but I can see the resemblance...or I can with the real dolls (Jenny's head and body are both obviously flesh-toned).  Either way, parian dolls are arguably some of the prettiest antique dolls I've seen.  LOL, okay, it's my opinion that parian dolls are some of the prettiest, though I'm not the only one who thinks so.  LOL, I'll admit that I'm biased towards them because I like the fashions and hairstyles of the day.  Just for the heckuvit, here's Jenny's "made in" sticker.  Made in Japan.

Jenny doesn't fit the parian body perfectly, but she fits good enough that I'm going to lash her to the body anyway (I think this putting the pieces together is called a "marriage").  The only problem here is that this dress is too tight to come off the body.  This is as far as I can get it.

No worries, I'll just sew her to the body one side at a time.

The end result:  one complete Jenny.

I ended up lashing her head to her body with satin ribbons and cotton thread, both of which I obtained at Wal-Mart.  The joining is not very pretty to look at, and the job would've been easier if I'd been able to take off the dress, but I got the parts married.  Jenny's head does not flop around at all, so I'm calling this a successful marriage (LOL).  I s'pose one could say this was my first foray into dollmaking, even though I didn't cast the parts or make anything.  Either way it's nice to have a full doll come together after having nothing but floating parts for months.  Oh, and as an aside, I need to show y'all Jenny's boots.  She's wearing high-button shoes, which one doesn't see too often on dolls nowadays.

I guess I'm going to have to overcome my laziness with both Eva and Elvira and make them bodies.  I have legs for each of them, but not arms.  As for the remaining kid body...well, it's pretty chubby, so I thought a bisque head would do the trick.  And so it did, as Elfriede shows.

The fit is not perfect, but it's good enough for me.  I ran into a problem when I discovered that Elfriede has no sew holes, but my friends on Facebook suggested tacky glue so that's what I did.  I think I used a bit too much, LOL. 

I'll have to be careful with this doll, as I don't really trust glue like I do sewing the head in place.  And before anyone asks...no, Elfriede is not a Simon and Halbig doll.  LOL, some of y'all may remember that I'd love to own a nice Simon and Halbig doll.  Elfriede is my third Armand Marseille, and her mold is one I didn't own, 370.

The 370 is one of AM's most common molds, a pretty dolly face mold with chubby cheeks, big eyes, and...usually dolls with this head have inset teeth, but Elfriede does not.  That surprised me, since Hattie, Mabel, and Katsumi all have teeth.  Elfriede's mouth is open, but as y'all can see, there are no choppers.

The counterweight on Elfriede's eye mechanism is sometimes visible through her open mouth, and at least two folks on Facebook thought she was missing a tooth because of that.  Speaking of the eye mech, Elfriede's eyes are sleep eyes.  She's only my second bisque doll to have this function (Katsumi was the first).

Here's a look at the inside of her head, since I haven't yet seen what this mechanism looks like.

Of course Elfriede will need a pate before she can have a wig, but until then I'm content to peer into her head and see how this mechanism works.  As an interesting aside, Elfriede's eyes are brown.  My other bisque dolls all have blue eyes.

Although she is without teeth, without pate, without arms, without clothes, and without wig, Elfriede maintains a touch of class.  She wears a black silk ribbon around her neck, which I think makes a very good scarf.

This reminds me of something I read about Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who inspired another popular Armand Marseille mold.  At some point during her brief life Queen Louise developed a swelling on her neck and used a scarf to conceal it, creating a fashion trend.  Sometimes the dolls done in her likeness also sported a scarf, as did other little dolls of her time.  Elfriede is NOT a Queen Louise doll, but no one said she couldn't follow the same trend, even if Queen Louise does predate Elfriede by half a century (LOL).

Well!  I'd say I'm in a better position than I was, as I've got one complete doll and one that's on her way to being complete.  Elfriede will need her arms and a dress in addition to a wig and a pate, but her head and body are joined and that's good enough for now.  Notice the counterweight, and how it does indeed look like Elfriede is missing a tooth.

I like that better than headless bodies.  But unfortunately my success with Jenny and Elfriede does not help Eva any, and now I have to fix Elvira as well.  Sewing Jenny together has given me a bit of confidence, so I'm just going to be patient and see what pops up on eBay...or on Etsy.  Etsy has what appears to be the perfect body for Eva, but I'm having to watch the ol' pesos right now.  That does prove though, that if I'm patient enough I'll be able to find what I need.

Stay cool,

RagingMoon1987 

A surprise pick-me-up!

Today was an ordinary day, not high and not low...take that back, some of my favorite patrons came into the library, and thus it was a good day.  I still miss Eddard, of course, but the sadness is quickly easing up.  If y'all look back on the post where I adopted Eddie and Arya, you'll see that I had two friends who did the dirty work.  Well, one of those friends had a rough day, and yet she left this on my mother's doorstep.

A green box.  I knew right away that there was a doll inside the box, but I've never seen this label before.

Nope, never heard of them!  That label reads "D'anton Jos," and the rest of the writing is in Spanish.  Hmmm...interesting!  Are y'all ready to see this poppet???  Here she is!

Meet Belka, the doll who...picks her nose!  No lie, one of her nostrils is enlarged to fit a fingertip.

LOL, never in my life have I seen anything like this!  Mama and I laughed ourselves silly over this doll, and after I was done laughing I started taking pictures.  Belka has a tag attached to her wrist, but it doesn't have a name inside.  Thus the name "Belka" is one I gave her.

Despite her goofy face Belka is a pretty nice doll.  One of her eyes is a little skewed, but her hair and her clothes are nice.  She'll look hilarious with my Gerber baby and my grumpy baby Anita.  Apparently D'anton Jos dolls all look more or less like my doll, and even though they are not the prettiest dolls in the world they still make me smile. Hopefully they will you too.

Quick word now about my friend:  she is a live-strong, die-hard animal lover.  She's the lady who dropped by a few summers ago with this kitten (who found a nice home, I'm told).  Today that came back to bite her...or scratch her, rather.  My friend isn't sure if the dog had been poisoned or if he was rabid (yeah, RABID), but she's going to have to have herself AND the dog tested.  It's gonna cost some money, and more importantly my friend is scared.  So if y'all will kindly send her good vibes or prayers or whatever you choose.  She's a funny, caring, hard-working person and she could use a break.

Love and laughter to all,

RagingMoon1987