Another update

At long last, my doll collection is being shipped out to me from Australia! It will be exciting to have my boys and girls with me once again, and I'm going to go through them all to see who still hasn't been written up in this blog. I also think we will be overdue for a new video. :)

They will take a few months to get to me, and then comes the fun part - figuring out where and how I will display these cuties. Please feel free to share your doll displays here. Just email me a photo (see my profile for the address) and I'll put it up with this post.

Thank you for sticking with me during years of transition as I changed countries!

All the best,
Melanie O. 

Another update

I bought a house! And I hope to get all of my dolls sent out from Australia in the coming months. I miss them and I can't wait to write more about the other girls in my collection. I hope to go on the road at some point and exhibit them - they're just so much fun and such a part of history.  Anyone know of any doll shows in their town?

I'm still here and will answer questions as I can, so feel free to write! - Melanie O.

Another Doll Land update

Well, the past couple of years have been quite an adventure!  I moved back from Australia, thinking that I'd land a job right away, get a nice place to live, and send for all of my dolls. Well - time certainly popped that balloon! It took me eight months to land a contractor's job, and over a year after that to finally get a good permanent full time job. So, the next thing on the list will be to find a house and after that, I can send for my dolls!

I miss having my dolls around me. Each once is so unique and has her own story to tell.  As they all come from many different decades, you can almost trace the changes in fashion and technology. Each doll is a snapshot of a moment in time.

If you're reading this blog, I would love to hear about your favorite dolls. What do you like most about them? And what makes your doll a "favorite?" I'd love to read about some of your doll memories.

In the meantime, I'm going through my doll photos and found a few I still need to share with you! Coming soon...

Feel free to comment

The recent blog template upgrade meant that my comment box has disappeared! I am going to dig into my archives to see if I can retrieve all of that information, but in the meantime, if you have questions or comments about any of the dolls, or dolls in general, please comment in any of the posts in my blog. I will be notified and will respond as soon as I can. - Melanie O.

Another Doll Land update:

Well, I am employed! It took eight months, but I did manage to land a good job. It's a contract role, however, so I'm holding my breath that they like me well enough to bring me on full time. Then I'll be able to sponsor my husband and write more about my dolls. I still have quite a few to cover, including my Lenci dolls, a Civil War era China head doll, Native American dolls, Coco Chanel doll, Madame Alexander Jacqueline and many more.

This move has taken a lot longer than I anticipated and I miss having my dolls around me, so, what did I do when my husband came to visit me and we took a trip to Savannah? Of course, I had to purchase a porcelain Southern Belle with fixed glass eyes. She's made by Golden Keepsakes of Ontario, CA.  She's not vintage, but it feels more like home when there's a doll in it.

This doll has a soft stuffed body and porcelain head, forearms and hands, and lower legs and boots. She is constructed on an armature so that she can be posed, and has her own stand.

In my travels, I have always tried to pick up dolls in native dress as souvenirs. Whenever I see them, I am flooded with great memories. Am I the only one who thinks that dolls make great souvenirs?

Happy birthday, Sydney Doll Hospital!

I came across this article and just had to share it. While I lived in the Sydney area for ten years, I never did have to take any of my dolls in for repair, mainly because I was just brave enough to do a lot of things myself - however, there are some things I would never try myself and these are the people to send your doll to when you have just about given up hope for one of your "babies". They must be doing a lot of things right because the Sydney Doll Hospital is celebrating 100 years of doll repair and restoration.

Whether your doll is hard plastic, vinyl, composition, wood, or celluloid, the Sydney Doll Hospital has repaired them all. I was fortunate enough to see a repaired Polish celluloid doll that was someone's childhood treasure. This lady is nearly 80 years old and has held onto her childhood doll for her entire life. By the time she reached 80, you can imagine how faded this doll appeared. She needed a new wig and new clothes. One trip to the doll hospital later, and her doll looked as if  it had just been purchased  yesterday! They did a brilliant job of removing scratches, repainting her, and fixing her wig. She was just stunning! If I could start my own business, I'd have to open my own doll hospital. I bet there are a thousand things I could learn from the Chapman family.

Read more about the Sydney Doll Hospital.

Doll Land Update

Hello fellow vintage doll lovers!

I have to apologize for not adding another doll to this blog in a while, as I certainly do have more to write about. You see, I've been on a bit of an adventure these past several months.

I have been back in the USA, looking for a good job so that I can sponsor my husband to move here, but so far, no luck. I may wind up back in Australia before too long - and that's where my doll collection currently resides. As soon as I know where I can hang my hat on a more permanent basis, I will be sure to share more about my dolls, their history, and what they mean to me.

In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying this blog as a reference for your own collection. Be sure to check back or subscribe to this blog so that you get my next updates.

And may we all have a happy 2013!

Jointed Fashion Dolls - Cindy and Dollikin

With the popularity of Madame Alexander's Cissy doll, there came the inevitable competition by other doll manufacturers. Little girls now wanted large fashion dolls with bendable joints so that they could be posed in any number of ways. To meet the demand, in the late 1950s, Uneeda gave us Dollikin, and Horsman gave us Cindy.

Both dolls in my collection are approximately 19 inches tall, athough there is an 11 inch Dollikin doll, and smaller versions of Cindy. Dollikin has a jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles. Her knees, elbows, hands and feet joints use a swivel type of fastener (pin) mechanism, and Cindy's upper body joints are held with elastic. Cindy's body and legs are one piece of soft bendy vinyl with wire inside to hold a pose. Cindy does not have the wrist or waist joints that Dollikin has.

Dollikin's body is made completely of hard plastic but her head is made from vinyl, and Cindy is made of vinyl. Both dolls have high heel feet and sleep eyes with brush lashes. Cindy is marked HORSMAN on the back of her neck, and Dollikin is marked UNEEDA 2 S on the back of hers. Of course, no fashion doll would be complete without a great fashion wardrobe.  My Cindy is dressed in her original bride's costume. Her hair is perfectly coiffed in its original setting and she wears pearl earrings in her pierced ears. She wears grown-up nude stockings on her feet and carries a bouquet of fabric flowers. More fabric flowers adorn her veil.

Dollikin came to me needing a bit of work. Someone had tried to re-root her hair, but patches were bare and thin. I spent some time filling in the bare spots with Katsilk doll hair (highly recommended,) and dressed her in a spare doll dress I had. To me, there's nothing sadder than a fashion doll without clothes. I purchased her fancy stockings and shoes and hope to get a vintage fashion outfit for her at some point. Her arm joints are rather loose, so I will have to do some investigating on how to tighten them back up. I'd love for her to return to her original posable glory.

Both dolls have beautiful faces and make a great addition to my collection. You're never too old to play with dolls!