This post is going to be a smidge different from the others. I'm not going to do a ton of reviewing this time, but I will be doing a lot of chattering so grab some popcorn and buckle up. I am not the only dolly enthusiast in the family; a couple of second cousins are fans as well, as are/were two of my great-aunts. Aunt Barbara simply collects like I do, but Aunt Kathryn took her love a step further and made her dolls. Yes, made them. She molded them, painted them, placed their eyes and wigs, and sewed their clothes. She WOULD have turned 100 today, but she died suddenly on the evening of August seventh. The way I hear it they had her at the hospital and were transferring her from a wheelchair to a bed when she just flatlined and died. The doctors tried for WAYYYY too long to get her back, but...it was just her time. She didn't want to celebrate her 100th birthday anyway, at least not the way my crazy family was doing it; Mama's cousins were planning a big family wahoo to commemorate, but Aunt Kathryn just wanted peace and quiet, and "maybe a piece of cake," as she herself put it. I'm sorry she didn't get that piece of cake, but at least she doesn't have to endure a tiring party with a ton of relatives in the thick of this coronavirus crap. Who wants to live to be 100 in this idiotic day and age, anyway??? I certainly don't! Anyway, this post will be a tribute of sorts to my fellow dolly lover. As I developed my own doll collection Aunt Kathryn promised to give me hers someday, and now someday has come. Indeed, someday came around this time LAST summer, but it was too blooming hot in my house to even think about doll photography. I haven't counted all of Aunt Kathryn's dolls yet, but there's at least thirty of them, all made completely or partially out of porcelain and skillfully dressed. The paint is a little hit and miss on some of them, but that's to be expected with handmade dolls. My favorites have always been these.
Blue, green, yellow, peach, and pink. Madame Alexander's dolls wear dresses in colors that roughly match my dolls' clothes, so I turned to them for help. Each MA doll had
her own little name tag, and I thought that would make assigning names easy. WRONG ANSWER!!! Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, go directly to jail. In the linked picture above one can faintly read Cecile's tag, and she's wearing blue. That would make this doll Cecile.
But in
this picture Cecile is wearing a darker blue and Marie is wearing light blue. That would make the doll in blue Marie. And in
THIS picture Emilie and Annette are in the two shades of blue, while Marie is wearing lavender, a color that NONE of my dolls wear! Oh phooey, I'm just going to make my own ID bracelets and attach them to whichever doll I choose. In keeping with the old color codes my dolls in green, blue, and pink will be Cecile, Marie, and Yvonne, respectively.
We're standing in the moon's eyes/
Marie/and me...uh-oh, maybe I should leave the singing to the professionals.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!"
It's weird. All of these babies need restringing, but Marie and the one I've chosen to call Emilie are the worst (Emilie will be the one in yellow). Good thing I've got a roll of elastic waiting in the other room. Regarding size, the Dionne dolls are among the smallest that Aunt Kathryn made, being a little bigger than
Hattie and
Hitomi, and quite a bit smaller than
Katsumi.
The backs of their necks are marked with the name "Dionne," making me wonder if these were assembled as kits.
But then again, Marie's eye sockets are much bigger than those of her sisters. Surely such a variation in eye size wouldn't be found in a kit.
Just look at their sweet little faces! Some of them have eyelashes that are coming loose, but a light dab of tacky glue will fix that. Regarding the history behind these dolls, the Dionne children were not treated kindly when they were young (even their own parents were cruel to them), but then name a child star that DIDN'T have to put up with crap of some sort??? From Shirley Temple and Jane Withers on up to Lindsay Lohan and JoJo Siwa, child stars have had to put up with at least some form of nonsense. Pushy and
sometimes psychotic parents, overly enthusiastic fans, stalkers, contractual problems, money woes, inner demons, you name it. And for what? In the case of the Dionne quints they were exploited for being...just for being identical quints! That's VERY special, yes. If I had five beautiful, healthy babies at one whack I'd be stoked, but I wouldn't want them to spend their lives in the public eye, nor would I blame them for everything that went wrong like the Dionne parents did! Thus, and call me weird if you want, but when I handle these dolls I catch myself talking to them in this slightly sickening Mary Poppins-style voice and calling them "my girls." Yeah, like I can somehow compensate for the mistreatment of the real children by treating the dolls with extra love. But that's what I do. I also sometimes catch myself humming "
Ave Maria" due to
this picture of the quints at their first communion (and because I love Franz Schubert, LOL).
The article where I found that picture provides some extra insight to the crap those girls had to put up with; notice that none of them are smiling in that picture, even though first communions are supposed to be serious but happy occasions. Alas, the children never had happy lives, even as adults. Emilie died at twenty of epilepsy, and I sometimes wonder if the Almighty wasn't taking pity on her. Thus I treat these dolls with a little extra love and respect, like I would've done had the real babies been mine from the get-go. I pray that the three who have passed (Emilie, Marie, and Yvonne) are finally at peace, and that Annette and Cecile will find happiness before they too pass.
Right then. I always get a little melodramatic when I learn about kids that weren't treated kindly, but I'm moving on. The quintuplets are my favorites of Aunt Kathryn's dolls, but they're not the only ones. Oh nooooo, we're only getting started. Also in a celebrity-themed vein are these two, Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.
They're both shorter than Barbie and Ken, and as Rhett's body is stuffed he looks a little roly-poly.
I never have had any use for that sappy romantic drivel that is Gone With the Wind, though I may have to change my tune now that the movie has been blacklisted from snowflake channels. I do like Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable though, regardless of my opinions on the movie. Indeed, more often than not I just call these dolls "Viv" and "Clark." Mr. Gable has an amusing family story attached to him, one that goes back to the late forties when Grandma and Grandpa were dating. For one date they went to see a movie with Clark Gable in it, and the conversation that created the family joke, which occurred while the flick was in progress, went something like this:
<Clark Gable appears on the screen>
RANDOM OTHER PATRON (loudly): That's Clark Gable!
GRANDPA (loudly and sardonically): NOOOOOOOO!
Ever since Mama told me that story Mr. Gable has been a running gag for the two of us. I don't know about y'all, but I think Aunt Kathryn did a...well, she did a so-so job of catching the likenesses of the actors.
No, they're definitely not Madame Tussauds-level likenesses, but it's obvious that Aunt Kathryn had them both in mind when she put them together. I do love how Aunt Kathryn caught the height difference between the two actors (Ms. Leigh was reportedly 5'3", while Mr. Gable was 6'1").
I'm just now noticing that Scarlett has My Twinn arms (a long porcelain piece on a long cloth piece).
Also note the bracelet, painted onto Scarlett's left wrist.
Interesting thing that I read about Clark Gable: he died relatively young of heart problems (and cigarettes, yucko). That itself isn't all that interesting, but when Mr. Gable crashed at the hospital the medical staff refused to do CPR on him due to fears...that his heart would burst??? That was new one for me, but given the way one's heart behaves after a heart attack I shouldn't have been surprised. Yes, Mr. Gable had had a heart attack and was apparently bouncing back from that nicely, but when a coronary thrombosis delivered the knockout punch his heart hadn't recovered enough from the first infarct to handle CPR. To make matters worse a defibrillator wasn't available, and those don't always work anyway. My dad (who ironically also died of a coronary thrombosis and did not respond to either a defibrillator or CPR) used to say "When you're number's up, it's up," and that was definitely true for Mr. Gable. He lives on in his movies though, and in this doll that looks...well, it looks a little like him. I personally am glad to see a doll done in Rhett Butler's likeness, as he often gets overlooked in the doll world. Can't have Scarlett without Rhett! I kind of wish that
Melanie was here too, as I have a soft spot for the recently deceased
Olivia de Havilland, but can't have everything!
In a similar scale to Scarlett/Viv and Rhett/Clark is this well-dressed young lady, who is not a celebrity that I know of. I could pretend maybe that she's some movie star from the same era (
Carole Lombard, maybe?), but as far as I know she's just a random pretty doll. I would pretend that SHE is Melanie, but she doesn't look a thing like Olivia de Havilland. She looks...well, she looks a little like Carole Lombard!
Carole Lombard was married to Clark Gable at the time of
her unfortunate death, so calling this doll "Carole" might work. Regardless of names, I love how her peach ensemble flatters her blonde hair and blue eyes, by the way; peach is one of those colors that looks good on a lot of skin tones. Her paint isn't as heavy as the paint on Scarlett and Rhett.
She's also taller than Viv and Clark by quite a pinch.
Her shawl is a separate piece. I discovered this in comic fashion, as it fell off while I lifted her from the china cabinet, and I then almost kicked it under the cabinet!
If I had any complaints about Carole it would be that her feet are bare.
I call attention to this because Scarlett and Rhett both have shoes.
Feet don't bother me like they used to (I used to have a strong aversion to bare feet), but I still don't like it on an otherwise fully dressed doll as it makes the doll look incomplete (beachwear, sleepwear, and
Rael and Salome are my exceptions). I wonder why Carole is barefoot and Scarlett is not? Maybe sculpting Scarlett's shoes was too hard? I doubt that since Scarlett's shoes are rather simply molded. Maybe Aunt Kathryn just thought it wouldn't matter because Carole's feet don't usually show under her long skirt. Either way she doesn't have shoes, but her feet are nicely sculpted so a lack of shoes isn't a huge travesty.
Back to celebrity dolls now, these young ladies need no introduction. I used to have four of these, but
I traded one of 'em away.
The largest Shirley is wearing a Stand Up and Cheer dress, but with tiny hearts instead of polka dots.
To my great delight, this doll appears to be wearing a Heidi dress.
As I've stated before, most of Shirley Temple's movies are too saccharine for my taste, but I adore
the dream sequence from Heidi. My doll depicts Shirley in her "Heidi" garb rather than the Dutch outfit worn in the dream sequence, but that doesn't bother me any. I do notice, however, that parts of Heidi's clothes are pinned together, which surprises me, given Aunt Kathryn's eye for detail. I love the fabric she used on the bodice, though!
The third one is clad in white, which I assume is a variation of the pink
Baby, Take a Bow dress. I've always thought it interesting that the original little dress was
this beautiful blush color, but dolls depicting Shirley's
Baby, Take a Bow self are
usually wearing white like this doll is. Her right shoe is beginning to fall apart, but I can fix that.
Interestingly, this Shirley has blue eyes, rather than the usual brown.
These wigs are perfect! I wonder where Aunt Kathryn found them, back before eBay was a thing?
I'm an unabashed Ideal fan, but in this case I think Aunt Kathryn ekes out the professionals. True, Ideal Shirley was mass-produced and likely meant as a toy, and Grandma's Shirley is in dire need of a professional's help, but I still like Aunt Kathryn's dolls better, especially in the face.
The homemade dolls also have nicer undergarments, but I'm not going to show that because often when I show dolly panties I get a rash of folks looking for smut. I'm not in the mood to sort through another dozen or so spam messages from bots, so y'all will have to take my word that Aunt Kathryn's dolls have more detailed underthings. Ideal Shirley and the largest porcelain Shirley do have one crucial similarity though, one that they share with Marie and Emilie Dionne and with plenty of Aunt Kathryn's other dolls.
Lord have mercy, I'm glad my sister isn't here to see that! She hates dolls as it is, and seeing these dolls' heads lolling around would REALLY freak her out!
That's largely the extent of Aunt Kathryn's celebrity dolls, but it's definitely not the end of her collection as a whole. This next pair ties in with Heidi, albeit tangentially.
I'm not sure if these two are supposed to be another version of Heidi and her little guy friend, or if they're Hansel and Gretel, OR if they're supposed to be modeled after Hummels. They look a lot like my grandmother's Hummel figurines, and they also look like the little dolls that were
modeled after the figurines.
I promise that the girl Hummel's eyes are not that creepy IRL. Some of these eyes throw unusual glares under a flash. Anyway, Grandma's Hummels have a humorous story behind them, just like Clark Gable does. When Mama was about twenty-one she got to tour parts of Europe with some friends, and shortly before she left she asked her family if they'd like any souvenirs. Since one of Mama's destinations was Germany Grandma asked for a few Hummel figurines. Well! When Mama got to Germany she found the sought-after Hummels, but the prices were outrageous! Mama coughed up the money for two little figurines, and upon her return to the U.S. she found the same Hummels at the airport's gift shop...for about half the price. So Grandma got her Hummels, two from Germany and the rest from here. This pair was always my favorite when I was little.
Again, they always reminded me of Hansel and Gretel. They don't look as much like Aunt Kathryn's dolls as some of these next ones do, though.
The little chap with the accordion particularly looks like the dolls, with his hair blowing back and all. This isn't Grandma's whole collection, by the way; I'd estimate that she has maybe twelve Hummels in all, plus some Boyds Bears and other cute bric-a-brac that I used to admire when I was small. Technically I guess these little figurines are mine now, since Sister never vocalized an interest in them and Mama has no place to keep them because cats, that's why. But then I have no place to keep them either (because cats, that's why) so they stay in the house that Grandma lived in...for now.
Right, then! This next little girl is in the same scale as the two smaller Shirley Temple dolls, and she also has a mondo overbite.
I named her "Narcissa," for reasons I've forgotten. Her dress is white with a pink bodice and a pink underlay, so go figure on why I named her after a flower that's commonly known for
being yellow, white, or both. I could probably paint over those teeth if I want to, but I'm hesitant to do anything to Aunt Kathryn's artistry.
There are also these two, who will take getting used to. Dress them both in blue and they could sing "Ride My See-Saw," as moody as they are. Hmmm...I need to change that joke up a little; these two look like they've been listening to a more somber melody like "Talking Out Of Turn."
<sings melodramatically> WHEN WILL I LEARN??? Oops, I promised Marie Dionne I wouldn't try to shatter windows with my voice. LOL, seriously though, I know little kids pout, and when pouting they often look like these dolls do, but it doesn't make for a very attractive doll. On the other hand, I do appreciate these character faces, as they can't have been easy to sculpt. Character dolls always add...well, they add character to a collection, but they're not always the most attractive faces in the dollyverse. I've got a few character faces that ARE attractive, like
Little Bo Peep and
Kitty and
Hattie, and I've also seen some that I thought were U-G-L-Y, like
this Jumeau. Character faces are always a gamble, and these two that I've got...well, they look a little like my sister did back during the toddler stage whenever someone looked at her cross-eyed! The yellow one especially looks that way...or she would if her eyes were blue like my sister's are (LOL).
So I haven't decided yet what the fate of these two will be. I probably will keep one as unique as they both are...but I'm not 100% positive of that! They might look good with
this little doll, the little moppet in
the old Longfellow poem! Plus, I love this doll's yellow dress! I'm a sucker for a brunette in yellow.
I also like the other doll's wig, which is quite unique. It's mostly short all over, with a fall of barrel curls in the back.
Okay, I admit that these sorrowful little children has endeared themselves to me. They're quite different from the rest of these dolls, most of whom are smiling or wearing a neutral expression. And thank God, they're not lolling their tongues out either, like that Jumeau doll was! Sticking one's tongue out is okay if you're
Albert Einstein or
Gene Simmons or
a cute little dog, but I'd prefer that my pretty little dolls not do that!
Moving on, these little well-dressed Kewpies remind me a bit of the Dionne dolls with their pastel frocks. The only difference is that there are four rather than five.
There were more than this, in fact, but I traded three of these away too, in the same trade as the one Shirley Temple doll. I'm not a huge fan of Kewpie dolls anyway and thus didn't mind trading a few of these off, but I'll admit that I'm glad I still have a few like this. They'll look adorable with my vinyl Kewpies.
Hmmm...looks like I like Kewpie better than I say I do! After all, Kewpie IS a Missouri girl like Yours Truly. Her creator
Rose O'Neill traveled a lot during her life, but she reserved a special fondness for the Ozarks and eventually settled there permanently. I can see why; if you've been to the Ozarks once you tend to remember them. It was during Ms. O'Neill's time in
Taney County that she got the idea for Kewpie and began drawing her. The illustrations of these fat little imps, and later the dolls and figurines made in their likeness, made Ms. O'Neill very famous. I know at least one of this blog's followers is a Kewpie fan, so if any of y'all would like me to review my three vinyl ones just say the word. They all have enough differences that I could do a comparison review. As an aside, note that this Kewpie's dress is made of the same material as the dress on one of the pouting girls and on the largest Shirley Temple doll. Waste not, want not.
I had a hard time placing these next two.
These share features with Kewpie, with
Googlies, and with Effanbee Patsy, but they are also very different from Kewpie and Patsy and the Googlies. Most of Aunt Kathryn's character dolls are based on an honest-to-God doll that was available in stores once, but I had a hard time remembering who these two were supposed to be. It finally dawned on me that they're supposed to be like
Campbell's Kids.
I love the combination of red hair with yellow clothes!
Aunt Kathryn was apparently fond of twins, possibly because she had a set of twin nieces and a set of twin nephews. She would've had another set of twin nephews, but one of them died in the womb. Either way several of her dolls are sets of twins too, like this pair of Kewpies...
...and this teeny duo, whom I usually display with the Kewpies...
...and this tall pair...
...and these two. They've got huge, staring eyes
like owls, so I call them the Owl Sisters.
Hedwig is dressed in mint green, and
Athena is dressed in pink.
Quick shoutout to Tam, and kudos to her as well for her awesome review of
Carbona Stain Devils. I'd always heard good things about Stain Devils, but I'd never used them. I say this now because Hedwig's dress is going to need some sort of treatment with stain medicine. Her dress has developed large brown patches of God-knows-what, and I don't like that so I'm going to have to fix it. Thanks for the review, Tam! Now for shizzles, here's a better look at Hedwig's face. She and her sister have BIG eyes!
They remind me a little of
Little Miss No Name (thanks again to Tam for the source on her) and
Susie Sad Eyes, though I doubt that those dolls are who Aunt Kathryn was aiming to emulate. I wonder if they're Googly reproductions, but they look a bit too serious to be Googlies. This little chap, on the other hand, has the aesthetic down pat.
I'll admit that I'm not a huge Googly fan. I've seen some that I thought were
terribly cute, but I've also seen some that I thought were
hideous. Overall they're a little too hit-and-miss for me, but some folks like them a lot. My boy is a very cute one, with big brown eyes and a Kewpie-esque smile that a great many Googlies have.
Look how nicely his hair is sculpted!
I think I'll name him "Frank," after
the guy who once voiced the very googly-eyed
Cookie Monster...and Grover...and Yoda. LOL, I always wondered why Grover and Yoda sounded alike, and now I know! Voice actor trivia aside, Frank's closest shelfmate (and subsequently best friend) was/is a wide-eyed girl doll, who I initially thought looked a lot like the aforementioned Patsy.
This is the doll that prompted my purchase of the
Patsyette doll back in November...and wouldn't y'all know, now that I look closely she doesn't look anything like Patsy! Here's how her face compares to Patsyette's.
Patsyette looks shy and innocent, while Aunt Kathryn's doll looks more focused. Her eyes remind me a lot of the eyes on Galoob's
Baby Face dolls, in fact. Also, the hair color is right, but the hairstyle is different. Patsy and her many sisters/friends had rounded bobs, while Aunt Kathryn's doll has more definition in her hairstyle.
So I have no idea if this doll is supposed to be Patsy or not, but she and Patsyette make a cute pair anyway, and I think she'd have passed as a Patsy lookalike back in the day. I think I'll tweak the spelling a little and name this doll "Patty." Patty's dress has little sailboats on it!
I have two other Patsy dolls now, and they're very different from both Patty and Patsyette. They will be getting a post before the year is out...so if you're not a big fan of Patsyette, consider yourself warned (LOL).
It turns out that I mistook Patty for this beautifully dressed girl.
Now THAT is Patsy, or a doll that looks like Patsy. To help differentiate her from my other Patsy-type dolls I've chosen to call her "
Alannah" instead, since she's clad in black velvet . Alannah has some age-related problems, mostly in her shoes (the pleather is splitting, thus why I hate pleather doll clothes)...
...and of all these dolls, she is the loosest. It took a lot of patience and some Flying Wallenda-level balancing to get the picture above. Usually poor Alannah looks like this.
Good thing the loose strings are easily repaired. Despite aging badly Alannah is one of my favorites, because she looks like my beloved Patsy and because she's the only one wearing black. Black looks good on just about everyone.
These next three present an opportunity for comparison. They're all Little Red Riding Hood, but only one of them was handmade. The larger doll and the smaller one are mass-produced.
I definitely don't mean to pooh-pooh the two mass-produced dolls, but...let's just say it's obvious that they were mass-produced, especially with the little one. Her shoes are PAINTED ON, something I don't often see except in very tiny porcelain dolls.
Her clothes are also not as nice of quality, being stiff and scratchy in texture. She's got a sweet face, though.
The larger mass-produced Red is quite a bit better off in terms of clothes. Her cape is made out of this lovely soft velveteen, and her little shoes are honest-to-God shoes rather than being painted on.
She's got a sweet face too, with dark blue eyes.
Now here's Aunt Kathryn's Little Red. She too has a nice face, though maybe not quite as sweet as the one on the biggest doll. Her eyes are brown, like those of the smallest doll.
Her clothes are the nicest by far, with impeccable stitching and wonderful drape, and she carries a little basket like all good Little Red Riding Hood dolls do.
Ever since my mom found out we're related to the man commonly referred to as the Big Bad Wolf she's nurtured a bit of a soft spot for the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I don't know if I'd brag about this family relation since the "Wolf" was a complete and utter a-hole, but...can't help who you're bred from! Lord Jesus Himself had a
possible prostitute and a
known adulterer/murderer among His ancestors!
Right then, let's look now at the rest of these. For the most part the rest of these dolls just look like regular little girls, albeit well-dressed little girls. This one reminds me of a French bisque doll.
She's quite different in the face from
Bru-Hilda, my other French repro, but she's still got that French aesthetic. She's also got a drifting left eye!
I may cobble together some glasses for that. How hard could it be??? I also need to come up with a nice French name for her...something like "Suzette," maybe??? The next one was standing next to Suzette in the china cabinet. She sports lovely green eyes and is wearing one of my favorite outfits. It follows a similar color scheme to Patty's dress.
She wears a necklace that is a little bit similar to the one worn by one of the pouting dolls. They're both made out of the same buttons and the same cord. Like Alannah, this doll stands out a little from the other dolls because she's wearing bright primary colors rather than pastels. With the exception of Alannah, Patty, and Red Riding Hood most of the others are wearing white or pastels, like this frightened-looking young lady does. This one doesn't have a name yet.
Also in pink is this pretty girl, who looks a little more relaxed than the one above.
This one is a Shirley Temple-lookalike!
This one doesn't have a neck joint.
She's also got molded hair (the other girl dolls do not).
Take that back. One other little girl doll has molded hair, in a style similar to Patty's.
From a distance she looks fine, but up close she's a little creepy. I think I understand now why most of Aunt Kathryn's larger dolls have inset eyes.
This one reminds me of a Marie Osmond doll named "
Got Milk?", mainly because of her blonde hair and her blue and white dress. She looks like she may be at least partially inspired by Alice in Wonderland.
Rounding out the girl dolls is this one in blue.
I'm not sure what to name her either. She looks like a "Betsy" to me.
Underneath the girls I found one last boy doll. He looks like he too might be based on the Googlies.
He's cheerful enough to be Frank's big brother. I think I'll call him "Frederick."
The coup-de-grace for me were/are these sets of twins, who were late arrivals to the party.
More twins, LOL! Remember at the beginning of this post when I said that I got these dolls back in the summer? Well...I got MOST of 'em last summer. These babies came along on October 25th, and they're special to me because I remember Aunt Kathryn showing them to me when I was about thirteen or fourteen...and then I never saw them again until now. I remember falling in love with their sweet little faces. Both sets have a sleeping twin and an awake twin, and the larger awake doll has inset eyes.
Here's a closeup of the larger sleeping twin, just for the heckuvit.
The smaller twins both have painted eyes.
These dolls are relatively lightweight compared to the larger ones, because their bodies are stuffed. Only their heads and their tiny fists are porcelain.
The smaller twins also have porcelain binkies tied to the ribbons on their bonnets.
Both sets have their own bedding, complete with a receiving blanket, and to my great delight the blankets are big enough to swaddle the larger babies. Don't worry, I didn't wrap 'em too tight!
I'm tinkering with naming these babies "Sarah" and "Jonathan" after the possible subjects of the paintings
Pinkie and
The Blue Boy. Scholars aren't really sure who the boy in
The Blue Boy really is, but the most popular hypothesis is that the boy's name was Jonathan Buttle. Indeed, Buttle owned the painting for much of his adult life, but it's never been proven for certain that he's the one in the painting. Pinkie's identity is definitively known as the then-eleven-year-old Sarah Goodin Barnett Moulton, who was indeed called "Pinkie" among her family, and who sadly did not live long after having her painting done. She looks older than eleven in that painting! Aaaanyway, I currently keep these babies in their own cardboard boxes, but someday I'd like to find small cradles or baskets for them both. Baskets and cradles are must-haves for old-timey babies like these.
Before wrapping this up, I want to show y'all one I've had all along.
When I was...oh, I'll say 'bout eight, Aunt Kathryn called my family over to her house saying "I have something for the girls." When we arrived her couch had a dozen of these dolls that looked eerily like Precious Moments. "They're for all the girl cousins," Aunt Kathryn said, "but I wanted <insert my name> and <insert Sister's name> to have first pick." Sister and I stuck to our usual habit of the time and picked dolls that wore our favorite colors. My doll is dressed in mint green and has a dark brown bob wig, while Sister's doll wore lilac and had dirty blonde hair. I somewhat unoriginally named my doll "Kathryn" after the woman who made her. She has a stuffed body that's a little
too soft, a heavy porcelain head, and porcelain hands. I say a little
too soft because Kathryn can't hold her head up...not well, anyway. She has to be propped up from behind, just like
Baby Ping does. Not that that bugged me when I was small, as it just made her perfect for sitting in my lap. She's actually not terribly unlike the Lap-Sitter dolls that were
strictly for that purpose, now that I think about it. On the rare occasions that I did set up my dolls for tea parties I just braced Kathryn against the wall and all was well. I look back on all that now and wish I'd gotten a picture of all the dolls together, because they were all similar but all different at the same time, and because the colors they were wearing (pastels, of course) made them look like a flowerbed.
That's quite a bit to mull over, innut??? I think I should admit that despite being fond of all these dolls, I'm not really sure what to do with them. I've already traded some away, and I'm not sure if I should keep the rest or offer a few to other family members. One of Mama's other cousins is fighting cancer, and I wonder if maybe a couple'a these wouldn't cheer her up some (she too is a dolly fan, and she learned this week that her tumor grew a little). Whatever I decide to do, I'll post it here. Thank y'all for your kind attention.
Best wishes to all
RagingMoon1987
