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 

What makes a bebe a bebe?

WARNING:  this post will discuss the French and German bisque dolls that I'm currently obsessed with.  I know some of y'all aren't big fans of those.  For that reason, feel free to skip this post if you so wish.  I won't be offended.

Alrighty, time for a random post about something that has been bugging me but isn't really super-important.  As y'all may or may not remember, I'm the proud owner of three bisque dolls from the Victorian/Edwardian period.  Hattie and Mabel are both German, and Katsumi is Japanese.  Pardon the reused picture.

No French dolls in my group, as for some reason they are quite expensive.  Oh sure, I've got a little doll who was sculpted in the likeness of a French doll...

...but she's not the real deal.  I don't mind that Bru-Hilda here is not the real deal, but she did make me think.  At the library where I work there resides a huge coffee table book entitled simply The Doll.  All of the dolls featured in the book are vintage or antique, with a healthy proportion of them being German or French.  No Simon and Halbig dolls made an appearance (sad face), but what struck me was the way some of the bisque dolls were labeled.  Some of them were called "bebes."  The word "bebe" is French for "baby," and it and the word "poupee" were used to describe dolls back in the day.  Poupees were usually older girl and woman dolls, while bebes were smaller children.

Therein lies my quandary.  I've seen a great many child and baby dolls from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, but they're not all called bebes.  None of my three bisque dolls are bebes, even though "bebe" (pronounced "bey-bey") does mean "baby" and both Hattie and Katsumi are baby dolls.  I don't think a German doll could ever be considered a bebe since French terms usually weren't applied to German dolls, even though some German dolls looked a LOT like the French dolls.

Alrighty, so only the French dolls were bebes, I presume.  But...not all French dolls were bebes.  In addition to pictures, The Doll also includes commentary on the dolls in the pictures (or "plates," as the book calls them), and thus I know that the Jumeau girls in Plate 14 are bebes...

...as are all of the dolls in Plate 134 (they are all Jumeau as well).

I was beginning to think that one had to be a Jumeau to be a bebe, but then I ran into this mix of French girls in the final plate (numbered 191).  One is a Jumeau, one is a Bru, one is a Steiner, three are marked with initials from companies I've never heard of, and they're all labeled "bebes".  So much for my theory!  Dig the smallest girl's mittens, by the way.

Now...with one exception, these next dolls are not referred to as bebes, even though they are French and represent little girls.  In Plate 52 the brunette in the center, the one with her eyes staring goofily downward, is called a bebe in her description.  She is a little Steiner.  The long-faced doll on her left and the flirty-eyed girl on her right are both by Jumeau, and they are NOT listed as bebes even though they are the same size as the Steiner.  The larger doll in stripes and the two smaller dolls in the foreground are not listed as bebes either.

The Jumeau trio in Plate 130 are not called bebes either (I wish the one on the right was mine, LOL).

So...I haven't learned much!  I assume that in order to be a bebe one has to be a French bisque doll, but that's all I've managed to deduce.  Being a Jumeau clearly doesn't make one a bebe, nor does size, and the face doesn't appear to make one a bebe either.  Heck, all of these girls start to look alike after awhile, so who the heck knows???  Doll Reference, my usual go-to for any sort of information, was no help either, as nearly ALL of their Jumeaux were marked "bebe."  Most of the dolls in the entries for Bru and Steiner are the same way.  I don't know for sure if they really are bebes or if Doll Reference just labeled them as such.  OR...maybe my big book got it wrong, and ALL the little dolls in the pictures above really are bebes because they look like little girls?  Jeez, I don't know, and y'all probably don't know or give a crap (LOL).

Do any of y'all know for sure?  Is being a French child doll all it takes to be a bebe?  Or is there something else the doll needs?  Must they be marked as such, like the Eden bebe in this Theriault video?  If any of y'all have any solid answers I'll happily take them.

Much love and thank God tax season is coming to an end,
RagingMoon1987

Throwback Thursday review: Morimura Brothers bisque doll

It's the Moon Girl again, and it's impulse buy time!  Well, actually this doll is one of two impulse buys in a twelve-hour period, as I'd bought Cheerful Tearful several hours before I bought this one.  As could probably be expected I belong to a number of doll-themed groups on FB, and a post on one of these groups prompted the purchase of this particular doll.  One lady shared a picture of one of her dolls, this drop-dead gorgeous little baby that I assumed would be either a Simon and Halbig doll or a Kestner Hilda.  The doll turned out not to be German at all, but rather a product of this Japanese firm I'd never heard of called Morimura Brothers.  Of course I promptly got the galloping greedy gimmies, and within fifteen minutes I'd picked this little fixer-upper off of eBay.

Now that I'm honest-to-God LOOKING I could've told a Morimura doll from Hilda since they're quite different.  The Morimura Brothers were based out of...NEW YORK CITY???  I was expecting Yokohama or one of the larger Japanese metro areas!  Anywho, Morimura Brothers had an import house in NYC and were active from 1876 to 1941.  During World War I it was a no-no to have anything to do with Germany, and that may be why Morimura Brothers started producing these little bisque dolls that look a lot like honest-to-God German dolls.  Not ALL of Morimura's dolls had the western aesthetic, though, and the ones that were done up like Oriental children are to die for.  Given the fact that the import house disappeared in 1941, I can't help wondering if yet another world war put an end to Morimura Brothers; remember that 1941 was the year that Pearl Harbor got attacked (by the Japanese), and the year that we entered World War II (fighting against the Japanese, among others).  Japanese-Americans were not treated kindly by Americans during WWII, so I wonder if Morimura Brothers was put under due to misguided patriotism.  The few sources I found say nothing of this, but the years do line up pretty well so I can't help but wonder if the two situations are related.  Anywho, Morimura Brothers produced both dolly-face and character dolls, plus dolls made of celluloid, rubber, compo, and china.  I think they also did other items besides dolls, stuff like vases and that.

Now that that's out of the way, here's my girl.  Some of Morimura's dolls look more Asian than German, but my doll hits the German aesthetic hard.  Nevertheless I've chosen to name her "Katsumi," which means "to win or overcome" in Japanese.  With her wig missing a fair amount of its hair Katsumi certainly looks like she's overcome something, but let's look at size first.  Katsumi is twelve inches from head to toe, meaning that she is smaller than most of my other baby dolls (Morgan and Anita are shown).

Baby Peep is closest to Katsumi in size, and even she is a little bigger.

That may make clothes sharing interesting, though I'm hesitant to redress Katsumi in modern clothes.  It just wouldn't look right!  Now let's look at this wig...or rather, what's left of it.

Con-sarn it, why is it that whenever I get a doll with a human hair wig the wig is falling apart???  I think human hair wigs are fascinating!  Oh well, can't be helped, I guess, considering that human hair is a natural fiber with a limited lifespan.  Once it's cut from the head it eventually dries up and falls apart, so I should not be terribly surprised by the state of Katsumi's wig.  Katsumi had pretty hair, though.  See what a lovely color the remaining fibers are?

Hattie, as y'all may or may not remember, needs a replacement wig ASAP (I think I've found one on Etsy), and Mabel got a replacement soon after I received her, so will Katsumi be needing a new mop as well?  Actually...seeing as she has fringe all the way around the edges I may just get her a cute little cap, something like what this Morimura girl is wearing, maybe?  A good hat can hide a multitude of evils, as we'll soon see, but I might also be able to repair this wig, if y'all can believe that.  The hair is sewn in, and the cap is in great shape. 

Here's what Katsumi's pate looks like.  It looks like the wig was solidly glued in place at one point.  The pate has a few cracks, but it is holding strong otherwise.

See how nicely the pate fits in with the contours of her head?  It's a nice pate.

Now to the face.  Katsumi has had some repaints here and there according to her eBay seller, but I don't think any of them are on her face!  This face looks flawless except for those tiny black flecks on her nose and cheeks, and that is NOT dirt for once.  I tried to rub them off, but they're just flecks baked into the bisque.  Otherwise this face is for the most part pristine.

She's certainly better looking than poor Mabel is!  Please ignore their sliding wigs; Mabel's is too far forward, and Katsumi's is too far back.

According to the eBay seller these eyes are...number 22 eyes, whatever that means.  If she were a ball-jointed doll I'd know that 22 eyes would be a reference to size, so maybe that's the case here as well.  Katsumi's eyes are a lovely shade of blue, but they're also...I'll admit that they're kinda creepy up close.  It may have something to do with that lazy right eye.

First bisque doll I've got that can close her eyes!  Hattie never could close her eyes and Mabel's have been set to fixed.  I do have to shake Katsumi a little to get her eyes to close, but they WILL close.

Mabel's poorly painted mouth was a big problem for me, but it looks like Katsumi has dodged this bullet.  She has orange-red lips and blushed, peachy cheeks.  And dig that cute little chin with its baby fat rolls!

Like Mabel and Hattie, Katsumi has inset teeth, and very fine teeth they are.  I didn't photograph this very well, but they have a dab of glaze on them.  Thus when the light hits these teeth they look quite realistic.

Here's Katsumi's head mark.  Not all bisque dolls are marked, but I've been very fortunate to get three that are.  Note the letters "MB" inside the circle; that ain't Milton Bradley, y'all!

I wonder what the holes are for?  They're molded in, not drilled, so they have to serve some sort of purpose.  God knows what that purpose is, though. Maybe they assisted in the placement of the eyes somehow.  The numbers also make me scratch my head, as both "22" and "3" were molds used by Morimura Brothers for their dolls.  I suspect that Katsumi is supposed to have a 3 head, as the 22 head is an obvious character head with big dimples in its cheeks.  But as is often the case with me, I'm not sure.

Lastly, Katsumi has little simply molded ears.  They've collected a little dust over the years, nothing a damp Q-tip can't take off.

I like this head!!!  It's in better shape than poor Hattie's, and it's well panted, AND it...well, I just like this head.

Most bisque dolls this size have bodies of wood, composition, or kid, and Katsumi is in the compo category.

This composition is completely unlike any other composition I've handled.  It feels very solid in my hands, not lightweight like the bodies and heads of my other compo kids, and it makes a different sound when I tap it with my fingernail.  It has your typical wear and tear at the joints...

...and your typical cracking and crazing (some of it painted over)...

...and your typical "old composition doll" stuff, but nothing serious.  And hey, her arms are attached!  That's more than I can say for my poor Hattie!  The shape is your typical rounded baby shape, with bent legs and arms, plus outstretched fingers.  To my delight, Katsumi's fingers don't have a lot of wear.  Composition fingers sometimes do, but not this time.

The shapes of the arms are subtly different.  The right arm has a hand that's flexed inward, while the left wrist is cocked back a bit.  The left arm is also ever so slightly straighter at the elbow.

The soles of Katsumi's feet are a little grubby, which surprises me since she can't stand.  Her toes are in good shape though, just like her fingers.

The joints have your typical rotational movement, meaning that Katsumi can sit, lie back, and raise her arms.  Her head is a socket head, meaning that it can turn and tilt like Hattie's head can.

Very typical of bisque dolls, or at least typical of the few that I've handled.  I must say that Katsumi feels more substantial in my hands than Hattie and Mabel do, and she also feels sturdier than my other composition dolls, even though her head would shatter if dropped.  I love the way this body is constructed though, and I now want to see if this sturdy body was a characteristic of Morimura dolls.

Like Hattie and Mabel, Katsumi is dressed simply and comfortably...or she looks like she'd be comfortable if she were a real person.  Her sole garment is this white dress.

Or so I thought.  Look what I found underneath!

I'm not sure what to call this undergarment, but it has a flap that serves as a diaper, as the safety pin attests.

The neckline is trimmed with lace.  I'm not sure why since this part doesn't show when Katsumi is fully dressed, but it's a nice little touch anyway.

There...isn't really much to say about this dress!  It's got long sleeves with lace trim...

...and the loosely woven fabric has a nice criss-cross pattern.  This fabric thus looks a little like white-on-white plaid.

The back closes with two small mother-of-pearl buttons.

While fooling around with the buttons I discovered that the collar is also trimmed with lace, the same lace that trims the sleeves.

To my great surprise, the seams and hems are tidy and rock-solid. Gauzy fabric doesn't always take to seams well, but this time it did.

Katsumi's bonnet is not original, and here is where the fun begins.  Since I don't want to bother rewigging yet another doll I went with the next best alternative:  a nice hat to cover Katsumi's thinning mop (and to make her look more put together).  I ended up going through quite the ring-around-the-rosie with hats for Katsumi, as her head is a rather unique size.  My first try was with this vintage crocheted bonnet.

I wish it were white so it would match Katsumi's dress better, but beggars can't be choosers, and I love the combination of pink and yellow.  Look at these scallops!

Once in a great while I crochet, and not to boast but I'm...not too bad at it, though I've never attempted anything as elaborate as this!  But all the technicalities in the world don't mean squat if the bonnet won't fit, and...

...yeah.  WAY too big for Katsumi!  I didn't measure Katsumi's head before buying this bonnet, and indeed I never do measure my dolls' heads before buying hats.  In this case that proved to be a mistake.  Lemonade from lemons though, as I've got other dolls who can wear that bonnet.  Oh, and look what the seller sent me as a freebie! 

Perfect for my Day of the Dead-loving sensibilities!  I've taken to wearing goofy-looking hair ribbons to the library, so I'll sew this to one of the ribbons.

Readdressing the matter of hats now, Blythe hats turned out to be the best fit for Katsumi, though the two I initially had handy don't really suit her.

Okay, I forgot about the red one that my Blythe doll wears during cold weather.  I didn't even try that one on Katsumi yet.

Mmmm...meh.  That's a bit too fancy for a baby doll.  So back to Etsy I went, to get yet another hat.  This one was made specifically for Blythe dolls and can be ordered in a number of different colors, but since I didn't want to pick between blue and green I chose the intermediate, teal.

Mmmm...looks more sage than teal.  No worries, I love sage.  Since this hat IS intended for a Blythe doll it's a little big on Katsumi, but not too big to bug me.  I just pull the ties tight and all is well.  Problem with the wig solved for now, and as a bonus that hat is perfect for the season.  Not too heavy, but not too light either.  Unfortunately it's now made me wish for a matching sweater, but guess what?  I can make one!  Not a bad little outfit, though!  Definitely suitable for a baby doll, especially one from the first part of the 20th century.  Plus, it fits her!  Y'all may or may not remember that Mabel's dress is rather big on her.  I was able to adjust the fit, but that gets a little annoying after awhile and I'm glad I don't have to play that game with Katsumi.  If I had any gripes about Kat's clothes it would be that the clothes are hard to get off...but I can avoid that problem if I just don't remove them!

I think that's a good place to wrap this up.

BAD
*The wig is in bad shape, much to my chagrin.
*One eye is out of alignment ever so slightly.
*Uh...hard to undress???

GOOD
*Uh...EVERYTHING???

No joke, as much as I hate playing favorites I think I like Katsumi the best of my bisque group.  She is in better shape than Hattie and she's a lot prettier than Mabel, and I can't photograph this, but when I handle Katsumi she just feels nice.  She's got a nice weight to her, and she doesn't feel like she'll lose an arm or a leg if I touch her wrong.  Her composition body will likely stand the test of time better than Mabel's kid body will.  Of course Katsumi must still be respected like all bisque dolls should.  She wouldn't survive a fall or a drop, so I'll still have to treat her gently and not wag her around everywhere like I would with an American Girl doll or an older vinyl baby.  She's a very nice old doll though, worth every cent I paid for her.

With that, my bisque troop has expanded to three:  Katsumi, Mabel, and Hattie.  All of them similar in their own way, and yet all of them individuals with their own special stories.

To think that I once thought I'd never be fortunate enough to own a bisque doll, and now I've got three!  Morimura dolls are worth the effort for any serious bisque collector, though.  They have the aesthetic of German dolls, but they add a bit more variety by being neither German nor French, and as I said above they feel nice in the hands.  Furthermore, from what I can tell the Morimura dolls also avoid the quality cuts that hit the late-era German and French dolls.  Towards the end of the bisque reign some of those dolls had bodies made out of stapled cardboard, and their hair would be a poorly arranged, often tangled wad of mohair rather than an honest-to-God wig.  I haven't seen enough Morimura dolls to know for certain if they escaped such treatment, but the few dolls I've seen didn't have cardboard bodies or clumps of hair glued to their heads.  They're cute dolls, and they're very easy to find at a reasonable price.  Indeed, for every Simon and Halbig doll that I've found, I've found at least two Morimura dolls that were at least as nice, sometimes more so.  And yet the Morimura dolls rarely go for the price of even the cheapest Simon and Halbig, even though they ARE nice dolls.  I suspect that Morimura dolls often get lost in the not-so-great battle between the French and the German dolls, and that really is a shame.  I confess that I myself developed tunnel vision during my frequent eBay/Etsy browsing sessions and thus am often surprised to see a bisque doll that ISN'T German or French!  Time to shed that ignorance, I reckon, because Morimura dolls are worth the effort for any bisque fan.

I still want a Simon and Halbig doll, though, particularly a 570 head.  The 570 has a slight smirk that I find endearing.  Oh, and as a last little haw-haw, check out this Jumeau doll's opinions on her German rivals; I doubt she'd find Simon and Halbig 570's smirk terribly amusing!  My Jumeau fans may get a hearty LOL out of that one!

Happy spring,
RagingMoon1987