Merry Christmas, from my dolls to yours!

I have had a busy year and haven't been blogging or even working on my dolls very much — until recently. I have several projects I am currently working on or planning to work on, so hopefully there will be new stories to share very soon.

Here are a few of my Christmas presents to myself:

A bent-knee Cosmopolitan Ginger in the Disney mouseketeer outfit, and a Ginger clone in a MIB A&H Julie outfit...

...and a mint, unopened canister of Ginger shoes, part of a fantastic lot of Ginger dolls and outfits that I was lucky enough to win on eBay.

Have a very merry Christmas — and may there be dolls under your tree!

New additions to my collection

I have been too busy for many of my project dolls lately, so I haven't been posting here as much as I used to. However, I have been adding a lot of dolls to my collection.

In addition to fixing up "project dolls," I have a couple of boxes full of clothes that I enjoy finding dolls to wear. Just this week, I have found several nude dolls to dress. Here are a few of my newest additions.

The Ginger on the left is one I've featured before, #444 from 1956. The one in the center is new — a nude with perfect hair that I found and dressed in #226 from 1954/55. The one on the right is another I've had a while, but recently completed her outfit with hat, belt, and lavender socks. The accessories came in a boxed outfit and are correct for this dress.

This little sweetheart is a Ginger clone that I've dressed in one of my favorite clone outfits. I'm not sure who the doll is, or who the outfit belongs to. The dress closes with a Greek key snap, which was used by both Cosmopolitan and some of the companies that sold Ginger clones.

Next we have a pretty little brunette I just got and dressed in #441 from 1954/55. Although I put the outfit together myself, all of it is correct except the bloomers (she has white taffeta fat pants on, but they should be the same navy waffle weave as the dress). The belt has torn before and is a bit short as a result, but is otherwise correct for the outfit.

This next one is probably my favorite of my new additions. She is wearing an outfit I've featured before: Ginger's sailor outfit, which I've since discovered is #333 from 1955. I found one for myself, then found the white belt and red ribbon necktie to go with it. The beanie is a lovely crocheted one made by Regitze to replace the original red felt beanie.

The doll has a broken walking post, which I might try to fix eventually, but for now I'm not too worried — she is lovely enough that I don't care if her head wobbles a little bit!

The trunk used as a backdrop for these pictures is a new addition too, incidentally.

I am hoping that in the coming weeks I will have an opportunity to catch up on my project dolls. Stay tuned for some posts on hair restyling and seam split repair.

Another year, another doll show

On Sunday my mom and I had a booth in another doll show. A fellow Ginger collector and good friend of mine from Denmark, and the owner of GingerDolls.dk, also had a few things (a few small dolls and a boxload of clothes) for sale in our booth.

This particular show ran twice last year — October and December — and we did both shows. This one, however, was more successful than both of last year's shows combined.

I've been slowly focusing my collecting efforts on Cosmopolitan Ginger, and as a result I've been getting rid of dolls that don't fit my collection anymore. There are some dolls that I won't get rid of no matter how my collecting changes, but there are others that I don't care as much for and that take up too much room to keep. My mom would call it downsizing, but I think techically a collection has to get smaller in order for that to be true — and mine is growing all the time.

Anyway, here is a listing of what we sold at the show:

My mom:

* 1930s Madame Alexander Madelaine DuBain
* 1950s American Character Tiny Tears with original trunk, clothes, and accessories
* 1950s magic skin baby with clothes and accessories
* Figurines from occupied Japan
* Carved wooden animals from Kenya
* Doll clothes

Me:

* 1950s 14" hard plastic "Made in USA" doll
* Madame Alexander Alexander-kins with the Maggie Mixup face and a 1960 tagged outfit
* Newer MIB Madame Alexander dolls
* Several "$5 dolls" — nude 1950s fashion dolls, Ginger clones, etc. — all needing TLC
* Doll clothes

Regitze:

* Ginny and Jill doll parts
* Doll clothes

One thing we have found about these shows is that it helps to have a combination of high-dollar dolls ("eye candy") and bargain stuff. So in addition to our nice dolls, we had a number of bargain dolls and several plastic tubs full of clothes (off to the side, out of the picture) for people to dig through. We set our prices fairly low, and by the end of the day our table was quite a bit more bare than what you see here.

Of course, the result is that we will turn around and put a lot of what we made into buying more dolls. The cycle never ends!

eBay picture sharing

I know it's been a while since I've posted on this blog. The lighting in my makeshift studio went down and I haven't been able to fix it yet. But I'll get some new pictures and posts up soon.

In the meantime, I want to let everyone who sells on eBay know about a new policy regarding people's photos. eBay has change their terms of use so that unless you opt out, you are automatically agreeing to let them use your photos without notifying you or asking for your permission.

It's really best if you opt out before August 31st, which is when the new policy will take effect. After August 31st they can still use your old photos, just not any you upload after opting out. Problem is, eBay isn't being very proactive about letting people know — not that we're surprised. Why would they do that?

To opt out of sharing your eBay photos without your permission, hover your mouse over the Accounts tab on your My eBay page and click on the Site Preferences option from the drop down menu that appears. To the right of the selection "Share your Photos," click Show. Most likely your account has defaulted to "Yes." To change that, click Edit (under the link for Show) and then put a little tick mark in the box to opt out.

Doing this will protect the item photos you post on eBay from being used without your knowledge or permission!

Repairing a Ginger doll's broken walking post

A common problem among Cosmopolitan Ginger dolls from the 1950s is that they are found with broken walking posts. The post that connects their head to the walking mechanism in their hips is made of plastic, which makes it susceptible to breaking. If the post breaks, not only does their head not move back and forth when they "walk," but it only wobbles and can spin all the way around.

Several years ago, I bought a nude Ginger doll that arrived with a cracked walking post. The crack, which I could see through the arm holes, went about halfway through the post, so I knew if I wasn't careful it would break off the rest of the way. I decided to try gluing the walking post in the hopes of saving her.

I actually glued her twice. The first time I used super glue, applied painstakingly with the tip of a toothpick. Once I felt I had enough glue in the crack, I positioned her head to close the crack, held her like that for several minutes, and then very carefully laid her on her back to dry.

The super glue actually held for quite a while, but one day when I was dressing her or styling her hair, I wasn't quite careful enough and the glue failed. This time I didn't have any super glue handy, so I decided to try the glue I use for wig replacement and touch-ups. I think I used a little more glue this time, too. Again, I held her head in position for several minutes before laying her down to dry. So far, the Tacky Glue has held, and I haven't had to reglue her walking post again.

I took a couple of photos to show my repair job. In the first photo, you can see the crack at the top of the curve. If you look closely in the second photo, you can see the clear layer of glue over the outside of the walking post.

A little bit of work, and I was able to save a perfectly good Ginger doll from the trash bin!

Vintage doll wig replacement, part 2

More than a month ago, I blogged about replacing the wig on one of my 8-inch Ginger dolls. Here at last is the rest of the story, as well as a few pictures.

As you'll remember, she wasn't the prettiest doll starting out — her crazy wig inspired me to nickname her Medusa. So I took the wig off of another Ginger doll with a walking post that was broken beyond repair.

Once I had the new wig in place (all of this is described in detail in the other post), I tied a ribbon around her head to keep the cheesecloth wig cap flush against her head while the glue dried. (I don't recomend fast-drying glue unless it's something that is reversible — too easy to make mistakes. Better to learn patience!)

After about 24 hours, I took the ribbon off. Although I had rebraided the wig before switching it, I did have do a little restyling after transferring it. Once the braids were how I wanted them, I put an extra spot of glue on each of side above the ear, so that the hair alongside her face stayed down instead of peeling up and making her look funny. That meant putting the ribbon back on again, of course.

When I took the ribbon off for the final time, I was duly impressed with my own work. Because I'd done such a thorough job of removing the evidence of glue and hair from the original wig, it's not immediately obvious that the wig is a replacement.

I also found her an outfit that I thought appropriate: #666 from the 1955 catalog. I bought the dress separately, so the yellow taffeta fat pants, yellow rayon socks, and white shoes are all appropriate vintage replacements. I'm still missing the hat, which I believe should be a lacy-looking white hat.

A lot of doll collectors shy away from dolls with replaced wigs, but I think the key is finding an appropriate vintage replacements. Most modern replacement wigs will be glaringly obvious, but you can easily find an appropriate vintage replacement by buying a parts doll with a good wig.

Of course, replacing the wig does affect the value — my doll might be worth more than she was with a Medusa wig, but not by much, and definitely not as much as if it were her original wig. Therefore, I don't necessarily recommend doing this on a doll you plan to sell; but if it's just a doll you plan to display and enjoy, I think you'll be pleased with the results.

Catching up

A friend scolded me lately for not having updated my blog lately, so I have to apologize — I've been extremely busy lately with work and my other hobbies, which involve enjoying the nice springtime weather.

However, today I bit the bullet and took a whole bunch of really great pictures, so you can expect new posts again! I'm especially excited about these pictures, because I've put together a new backdrop and studio setup, and I'm extraordinarily pleased with the results.

Check back soon for updates and more eye candy!