Angela - Story Time - My Collecting Story

Hey all. Angela here. I decided to follow a trend I've seen before...people seem to enjoy telling their own 'how I began collecting' stories and reading others' stories. So, here's the story of my doll collection and how it began.
I was twelve when it started. I'd had dolls before that, a handful of Barbies and a few baby dolls, but about that time, Bratz and My Scene started to turn up. For once, Barbie wasn't the only doll with a presence in the toy aisles.
It began with a My Scene Club Birthday Barbie...I was originally buying Nolee as a gift for my best friend and I wanted Barbie so bad, with her purple makeup and dress and those big blue eyes. I can remember asking Mom, and at first she said no, I couldn't have a birthday doll when it wasn't my birthday. She did eventually give in and therefore, I got my first My Scene Barbie doll to add to my collection.
I added a few more dolls, started paying closer attention to the toy aisles and when I could find the time, I would search the internet for information, photos, which dolls had been released, which would come next, store exclusives and collectors editions, every variation of every character, I knew them. I would search ebay for older ones although I was too young to have an account to buy them, it was just fun to look.
I would pack my whole collection of dolls and their accessories and clothes into my favorite pink backpack and take them to my friends' houses to play dolls. But at the end of every play date, every doll was put back in the outfit she came with and her hair brushed and styled neatly, if not in the original style she came with.
...I admit, I got protective of my dolls. To the point where I would rather buy and gift my friends dolls to play with than let most of them touch my dolls. Some of my friends were the type to lop off Barbie's long blonde locks, mangle her hands and feet and then blame a younger sibling for the damage done to their dolls. I was very particular about how my dolls were played with and handled, I still am...maybe more so now than I was.

My collection rapidly blossomed (Although I will note the My Scene an 89% of the Bratz and Monster High are *NOT* pictured here because they're currently in storage for space reasons) from ten or fifteen dolls to well over three hundred and then over time, to six hundred or so (haven't done a count in a while).
It had a lot to do with the fact that each version of a My Scene Chelsea or Barbie doll had different makeup, different hair streaks and styles, different clothes. Each could almost be a different character if I wanted them to or the same character with different makeup. Kaycie's the writer here, but I confess to creating stories for some of the characters my dolls represent.
There was a time around when My Scene and Bratz faded out of the picture where a lot of the regular Barbie type dolls looked like the same blue eyed, blonde, blown up Lara face mold and I just couldn't see having 67 of the same dolls in my collection when the differences in the dolls were so slight as to be unseen.
For a couple of years, 2011-2014, I didn't buy very many dolls at all. I got out of the habit of walking the toy aisles and I was in college at the time, my life was fairly busy with classwork. But then I decided to take a stroll one day down the Barbie aisle and I found a doll different than any I'd seen before. Her hair was dirty blonde, not platinum, and her eyes were gray. Her face was more angular and slightly dimpled too, not your standard Barbie.

Here's a photo of Lex, Alexa Jane. She was my first of the new fashionista dolls. Shortly after I bought her, Mattel launched their 'The Doll Evolves' campaign for Barbie and I got completely sucked back into the dolly world.
This time, I've vowed not to let go again. Catching up after being so far behind is just a pain to do and having to relearn most of the dolly facts I once knew about brands and characters and different doll lines.
So, now you know my collecting story. It began with a love of dolls, a desire for more dolls and an eye for the details and differences in each doll.
-Angela

Kari's Fashion Runway - Jewelry and Accessories #1

Left: Kari, Right: Becca

Hey guys! It's Kari! I have some fun stuff for you today! First of all, here's my partner in crime for the fashion corner, Miss Becca Oldstein. She's the one who keeps me from going too completely over the top crazy with my designs and helps make some of them a reality!
Today's fashion show is all about jewelry and accessories, we've dressed our models to match their accessories - But don't mind if some of them have a bit of visible irritation going on around the ear lobes, we had to do some last minute piercings (we'll give you a lesson in another post, I promise!) so everyone could wear their earrings. Here are some of our models!

 First up, we have Cynthia modeling her purple lace dress with purple and gold jewelry set includind headband, earrings, necklace and two (2) gold bangle bracelets. Following her, we have Dawna Hokulani, our Hawaiian beauty in Unicorn Chic with her yellow and mauve earrings and necklace (not pictured: yellow and mauve bangle bracelet).

 Our next pair of models, Carly in blue and leather to properly show off her chain pendant necklace and matching blue gem earrings, finished off with a single blue bangle, and Elsie, whose flaming red hair nicely contrasts with her blue and green color scheme, from her green soft knit top to the choice of blue and pale green for her necklace, the beads on her silver hoop earrings and the matching bangle on her left wrist.

Vicky shows a bit of skin with her cropped tank, the very casual nature of her clothes fittingly accessorized by a chunky jewelry set accented with Superman logo charms on both earrings and necklace (not pictured, chunky white bangle). Jayda, by contrast, shows us a very Princess Jasmine look in gold and turquoise, the beads on her earrings matching the faux bows on her necklace and headband. (not pictured: gold bangle bracelet).

Our final pair of models today are Monique, rocking a blush peach striped crop top and matching tulle circle skirt to help show off the pastel colors of her butterfly adorned earrings, necklace and matching bangle, and Aubrey, who is not only showing off star studded pale blue and black jewelry in the form of her headband, earrings and necklace (not pictured: Blue and black bangle with star charm at the center), but a hand made, one of a kind blouse and skirt ensemble made completely from the loose knit material of a pair of socks!

That'll be our show for today ~ Keep an eye on our Etsy store for some of these jewelry sets to pop up for sale! (Dolls not included, our models need to stay with us for future shows!)

Angela's Dolly Care Corner - Hair Care Tips #1

Hey all, Angela here.

I've been seeing some stuff going around on YouTube and other platforms about how to care for doll hair. Some people say brush it often, some say not at all, some say use a comb and others say only a wire brush. Fabric softener, hair conditioner, shampoo or soap? What a mess. My way is not the be all and end all of doll care, but I will share the methods I swear by.
Today's will be about maintaining doll hair. We'll work on repairing doll hair sometime in the next while, that'll be a more involved tutorial after my next thrift shop rescue session.

Part One// Tools//
Your tools will vary slightly per which doll you're working on, but for the vast majority of dolls, a wire bristle brush (American Girl, Our Generation and My Life As all make these specifically for dolls, but one made for wigs from your local beauty supplier will work as well and/or the wire brushes meant for use on pet hair.
You do not want to use said brushes on your own hair or your pets' hair as it will transfer oils to the doll's hair and potentially ruin certain dolls' hair.
As a side note, doll hair comes in various fibers, some of which are more heat resistant than others. For best results, use boiling water for hair treatments that require heat such as straightening or curls - don't risk using flat irons or curling irons on your dolls unless you can control the temperature to a very fine degree or there will be the chance you'll melt your doll's hair. Ditto for blow dryers, only use COOL settings.

If you must use heat tools to style doll hair, make sure they have a very, very low setting and avoid straight heat on Barbies with Saran fiber hair.
*Side note number two, AVOID boiling/hot water on Mattel dolls both Barbie and Disney if they have a tendency toward the glue hair syndrome. To tell whether your doll has the glue hair syndrome before you boil, give her head a good squeeze. If she's hard to squeeze/straight up rock hard, she has a large amount of glue in her head. Avoiding boiling water/extreme heat and avoiding excessive brushing at the scalp can and will help not to exacerbate the issue.
You'll also want a small spray bottle. For Barbie and other rooted dolls done in Nylon, Saran or the lower grade Kanekalon Barbies tend toward using (Bratz, Moxie Girlz, Descendants and Disney Princesses etc.) You can use a mixture of one part fabric softener (unscented is best if you don't want your doll smelling like a dryer sheet) to three parts water. For more expensive, wigged dolls, you simply want to fill your spray bottle with water.

Kaycie's Story Snippets - Mermaid High Council

L to R: Meriel of  Pearl Caverns, Aralyn of the Hidden Deep, Ryanne of Gemstone Cove, Naia of Sunset Bay and Lunessa of Starlit Hollow, Angela's Mermaid Council of repainted Dreamtopia Mermaids in their handmade underwater habitat room 

The City of Poseidon has risen to the surface once more. The Ancestors are returning to our world. Aralyn's thought echoed through the room, her gaze shifting to each of her mermaid sisters. With Father leading the Pod Guard to investigate, I will sit on the Council in his stead.

He would not leave you in his place if he did not place his full trust in you, Naia's response echoed in Aralyn's mind, her attention flicking to the Sunset Bay mermaid, Therefore, we must trust in you as well, Aralyn. What are your thoughts on where the Hidden Deep Merfolk will live? We share our homes, but your pod needs to be united once again.

I have a scout team out searching for viable homes, Aralyn assured her, It will not be much longer we will impose on you and the other Merfolk of the Bay.

We thank you for that, Naia nodded, her gaze searching the rest of the room, Is there any other business to attend to?

Our oysters, Meriel's response came quickly, They do not produce as many pearls as they once did. We fear the Moonstone's power may be fading. 

The full moon is tomorrow night, Meriel. The Merfolk of the Hollow will be holding the Moonlight Vigil ceremony to restore the Moonstone to it's proper power, Lunessa looked across at Meriel, You are welcome to join us and observe if you wish.

Wait! Ryanne's voice joined the fray, the other four Mermaids suddenly silent except for the sound of flippers in water and scattered voices from outside the Council Chamber, Listen. The Pod Guard returns!

They're early! Aralyn turned suddenly, swimming toward the entrance of the caverns, concern written across her scale-patched features, Something's wrong!

Behind her, the other four Mermaids of the Council followed, fear etched on their faces. Not many things could bring the Pod Guard and the Mermaid King back early from a trip to the surface and none of them wanted to think too hard about the few things that could.

Angela's Dolly Care Corner - Glue Hair Cure

So, this is for those of you who have had a Mattel doll in the last several years that has come down with the dreaded glue hair problem. When your doll’s head is full of hard, sticky glue that seeps out into her hair and makes it all sticky, clumpy and nasty.

Baby powder only works on the ones with light colored hair cos’ it leaves a dusty residue. Ditto for cornstarch. A lot of the suggested cures are toxic, nasty chemicals that can remove the doll’s face paint if you get it too close and they don’t always want to work the first, second or third time out. Even good old trusty Dawn dish soap doesn’t cut this greasy mess. But this does:

Turpenoid, pictured above, is a natural, nontoxic cleaner and conditioner for paint brushes –meant as a solvent for oil based paints!

It’s nowhere near as harsh as degreasers and other cleaning chemicals and it has conditioner meant for synthetic bristles built into the formula. The best part? It won’t take your doll’s face off and the fumes won’t suffocate you!

The cleaning process for doll hair is a two to four step process depending on the amount of glue ick in your doll’s hair.

1. Start by pouring some Turpenoid into a tupperware or other dish of your choice - I used a disposable tupperware- and dip your doll’s hair into it. Work it around with your hands the same as you would to clean a paintbrush and don’t be shy about getting it on the doll’s scalp too, where the glue seeps out from.

2. Now take your doll to the sink – and make sure you use COLD water only!!! Hot water will only make the glue seepage worse as it softens the glue inside the head! – Add some Dawn dish soap to her hair and lather it up real good and bubbly before you rinse. Repeat Step 2 at least 2-3 times to make sure you've got the Turpenoid out.

**If your doll’s hair feels odd between your fingers after it’s rinsed, don’t worry, That’s as much from the turpenoid and sticky glue that has come off on your hands as anything. I repeat those two steps a second time for safety, just to be sure the remaining ick feeling IS what’s on my hand and not the doll’s hair.

Final step is to lay your doll out on a towel and let her dry thoroughly!

Thanks to the brush conditioner in the Turpenoid, your doll’s hair should come out not only clean but soft and smooth as new and easy to brush.

Don't use heat drying/styling methods unless you have a device with extra low heat settings and you know the doll's hair fiber is NOT Saran.

Courtney Blaire, before and after Turpenoid Natural wash

Emma, the tech behind this blog's layout and graphics - Left and bottom right are post wash, top right is pre-wash.

And that's our show for today, folks! Thanks for reading. More dolly care tips coming soon!
--Angela--

Kaycie's Story Snippets - Aralyn and the Mermaids

Naia (left) and Aralyn (right), Angela's fully customized Dreamtopia mermaid dolls

‘It doesn’t belong in our waters,’ Aralyn’s voice echoed in the minds of the other mermaids nearby as she swam up to examine the large, snowflake shaped thing that had landed in the ocean above their city.

'Do not start a battle you cannot win, my daughter,’ A male voice echoed in her mind, warning her away from the floating object although she dismissed it without a second thought.

Swimming toward the surface, Aralyn broke out of the water, the patchy scales over her torso glittering in the sunlight. Kelp tangled, dark blue tinted hair glued to her face, her clouded eyes almost hidden from view until a claw-like hand shoved it out of the way behind an ear.

Staring up at the spires of the large city, a hiss of aggravation escaped the mermaid, electricity sparking out of her fingertips to skitter across the water toward the city.

This thing did not belong in the ocean, her ocean. And she would do everything in her power to rid their world of it.

Angela's Tangents - The right way to collect?

Angela again, back for another tangent! I decided to split the last post into two because it was becoming quite the novel.

There is a whole world of collectors out there both young and older who enjoy dolls and toys of all kinds. For some of us, it's fashion dolls like Barbie, for others the 18 inch dolls like American Girl, Our Generation. Some like expensive ball jointed dolls or look for the most unique dolls to collect. Others like the licensed Disney, Marvel etc. character dolls from certain franchises and want to collect solely those. And still others prefer to simply collect whichever dolls we find attractive in that moment, regardless of which they are.
And this is the other trend I've seen lately - People behaving as though there's a right or wrong way to collect. There truly, truly is not.
You want to keep your dolls in the box to preserve their original hair and clothes to perfection? That's fine!
You prefer to take them out to play and pose them for photos, restyle hair etc.? Also fine!
Maybe you only collect second hand and prefer to go to thrift stores and flea markets to pick up your dolls of choice for restoration purposes? Cool!
Do you keep them original or customize every doll that comes through your hands? Have just a hand full of customs amid a bunch of originals? Collect modern or vintage or a mix of the two? Barbie? Bratz? Both? Action figures too or just dolls? Larger dolls, smaller dolls, complete sets or just those that strike your fancy? Lots of dolls or just a few choice ones? Doll houses or simple, clean shelves or perhaps you'll turn the shelves into doll houses? Store bought clothes and accessories or DIY crafting? Do you name every doll or do you simply name the few? Leave them on their shelves or bring one down to keep you company at your desk now and then?

Angela's Tangents - Is there an age limit on dolls?

Hey all, Angela here! We're going to start this day off with our first tangent post! The question at hand for today...Is there an age limit on doll play/collecting?

Lately, I've seen a lot of questions floating around to the effect of 'am I too old for dolls?' 'should I stop playing with dolls?' 'will I be made fun of for playing with dolls?' 'Is it weird for __ age to play with dolls?'

The answer to all of these questions is so, so simple. There is no age limit on dolls and toys. If you enjoy having dolls around and styling/creating stories with your dolls, you do you! Little do you know, the girl who spends all day uploading her life to Instagram actually has a secondary Instagram full of doll photos. The kid who spends her time uploading videos to her YouTube channel for her friends? She's got a hidden YouTube account with a false name just for her doll collection videos and dolly DIYs.
And that one kid who teases you for the Monster High doll you brought to the park/school/etc last week? He's got a whole collection of Marvel action figures, he's just afraid you'll tease him if he brings them out of the house because his Dad says toys are just for kids, not for someone his age. If he knew you'd accept it, he'd want Batman to rescue Frankie Stein from the Joker on the Jungle Gym -- Because wouldn't that make an epic story?!
There comes a point where, sure, the actual acting out of the imagination stories does tend to take more time than we have to spend as we grow up. But that doesn't have to stop you from creating a character and taking a set of photos or writing a story to go with the doll in question. Doesn't stop you from having a dozen Barbies or a whole room dedicated to dolls if that's what makes you happy. It just means you've got to balance your dolls with the other things you need to do.

Hello There!

Hello all, and welcome to my blog. I'm Bailey, but you can call me Bay. We were on Tumblr for a short time, but we're moving to Blogger in an effort to move outside the mobile-only world of Tumblr and more easily connect with others.

So, let me start with introductions to myself and some of the friends who will be helping me with this blog. We'll work on giving you more about us later on.

^^ This is me. Bailey Maria Roberts. No relation to Barbara Millicent Roberts, our last names are merely a coincidence. I'm a chef on a top secret military base by night and I run the on-base library by day. I got involved in the project to help my friends out and wound up organizing the entire darn thing!

This is Karina Brooks. She prefers Kari unless you're Matteo or her brother Ty, they have other nicknames for her. She's a botanist first and foremost, but she does have a knack for fashion design. Any of the clothing and accessories DIY posts will be Kari's domain.

This is Aang and her husband Carson Beckett, they both work in medical ~ Any more serious surgical repairs (in doll terms, head swapping and limb repairs etc.) will be Aang's doing, as they require her know-how and steady hand to complete with minimal side effects.

This is Kaycie Mills, she's our resident fiction writer. Well, technically she and my boyfriend, Jeff, share the title of fiction writer, but Kaycie will be doing the writing for this blog. Any time you see a snippet of story alongside photos on this blog, that's Kaycie's work.

And finally (for the moment), this is Angela Biro. She also works in medical by day, but by night, she is our one true doll aficionado. She's our ace at identifying and restoring dolls to their former glory as well as creating all manner of wonderful dollhouse props for her dolls. She will have both dolly restoration/customizations and a subcategory of posts called Angela's Tangents, in which she will tell us what she thinks of the latest dolly drama.

We aren't exclusively a Barbie blog, not by a long shot ~ We include every doll from Effanbee's international dolls through American Girl, Journey Girl, Monster and Ever After High, Bratz, My Scene, Barbie, Polly Pocket and many others. All dolls are welcome and accepted here, so you won't find us trashing any doll line.

Please, enjoy!