Casting Call: Part 3

 

Supplying footgear for articulated dolls can be difficult.  I actually like Mattel poser bodies from the 1990s better than the Fashonista bodies, but since most of them were sold as cheerleaders, WNBA stars, and other athletes, they usually have flat feet.  Donor Liv bodies have jointed ankles that allow the doll to wear heels but the feet don’t fit standard fashion doll shoes so over the last month I have made about 8 dozen pairs of sandals! 

All of my Latina actresses are now on articulated bodies.

About 75% of the white actresses are also on articulated bodies.

Upgrading the black actresses is a much more difficult proposition.

First of all there are fewer articulated black bodies available.  Making good complexion matches further complicates the issue.  I'm hoping that when the Prettie Girls come out, they will provide more upgrade options. 

Here are five more of my starlets ready to strut their stuff!

Miranda



With her auburn hair and brown eyes, Miranda is a classic “autumn” in the Color Me Beautiful system.  Like her sister, Veronique, she was $4 at Big Lots circa 2005.

The corduroy jacket was probably a Kari Michelle fashion.

I paid $1 for it at the May 20th doll show.  I acquired the “leather” pants for .20 cents at the May 5th doll show.  The yellow top came with a Janay playline doll circa 2006.  Miranda has a small part as a servant in an upcoming episode for of "Playscale Crafting."

Kinja

Around 2005 Integrity Toys made a series of Asian princesses for Sears.  I missed them when they were in the stores but got this one for $10 NIB at a doll show in November.

Kinja quickly landed a small part as a ballerina even though I haven’t found the right complexion match to upgrade her to an articulated body

The quilted “down” coat is probably from the 1980s since it fastens with a metal snap.

I paid $1 for it at the May 20th doll show.

Olga

I bought one dozen doll busts at Dollar Tree so that I could display my wigs at the May 5th doll show. 

Of course I replaced the heads and painted the busts, but I was enchanted with Olga’s face mold and vivid coloring.

so she was quickly promoted out of the spare parts bin.

A nude Liv body that I purchased at the May 5th doll show became Olga's body donor.

I paid .20 cents for the pants at that show and $1 for the jacket at the May 20th doll show.

Arabella

Arabella was originally a fairy princess from Toys R Us circa 2005.  She won the lead role in Arabella’s Dance, which I am hoping to publish as an ebook.

In this children's story, Arabella is a ballerina who travels to Africa to study African dance.

The navy corduroy coat is probably a Kari Michelle fashion.

I paid $1 for it at the May 20th doll show.

Lupe del Rio Velez

I found Lupe at Wal-Mart circa 2006.  She promises to be a versatile and long-lasting star like Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio.  In the last year she has accumulated an impressive number of credits.  She started out as a lingerie model.

Then she won a small part as a party goer in “Firehouse #5,”

she played a student in “Homage to Léon G. Damas,”

appeared as Emilio’s date in “New Year’s Resolutions,”

and worked with him again in some of my salt dough tutorials.

Lupe is on a Sporty Fashonista body that I bought on sale at Target.

The jacket and pants were .20 cents each at the May 5th doll show.  I believe the seller made them.  Amazingly enough, the jacket zipper really works!

Watch for "Casting Call:  Part 4" where I will introduce a papi chulo that I found at the May 20th doll show.  He is more than worthy of serving as Lupe's leading man!

À Bientôt

Casting Call: Part 2

If you stick around until the final half hour of a doll show, you can often get good deals from vendors who don’t want to haul all the unsold merchandise back home.  I scored several NIB action figures for $3 this way at the Atlanta Doll Collectors’ annual doll show on May 5th. 

El Mariachi



This figure was a rugged-looking mercenary with big guns and raggedy fatigues.

I thought he would do justice to the mariachi outfit that I bought in San Antonio, Texas back in 1997.

I had to open the sleeve seam to fit his trigger finger into the jacket but I think he wears it well.  

Rodolphe Rigaud



'Dolphe was part of 21st Century Toys’ WWII series dated 1999.  His fatigues and gear were remarkably detailed and well-made but I cast him as a computer geek who has stopped to eat his bento box lunch in the park.  I wonder how many text messages he has to review before he can enjoy his meal.

The vintage Ken shirt is almost too tight for his broad chest but I paid only .20 cents each for the shirt, jacket, and pants.

My ladies are already swooning over 'Dolphe’s smoldering brown eyes.

Hazmat

Most of the time I confiscate action figures’ weapons and military gear but I was very pleased to get this hazmat suit with an action figure I purchased NIB for $3 at the May 5th doll show.  I don’t have a name yet for the stalwart Power Team figure who is now modeling it.

I found him in a bargain bin at the May 20th doll show.  Back in the days when Power Team figures were available in the stores, I always meant to buy some white ones but reducing the black man shortage was a higher priority so I was glad to get this fellow for $3.  

Vince

Here is another bargain bin Power Team figure from the May 20th doll show.  He didn’t have hands.

Fortunately, the snowboarding outfit that came with an NIB figure I bought at the May 5th show included a set of molded mittens.  I bought tons of these skis from Dollar Tree in 2005.

Lance

Another one of the NIB action figures that I got at the May 5th doll show was wearing this astronaut suit.

Lance, the present model, is a Power Team figure from the bargain bin at the May 20th doll show.

There are ten more ladies and five more guys waiting in the green room for their moment in the spotlight so stay tuned.

À Bientôt

Casting Call: Part 1

If you were very lucky (and very well-behaved), once or twice in your childhood Santa Claus might have brought you so many toys that it took you weeks to get around to playing with them all.  With two dolls shows last month, I felt like I had received that kind of Christmas bonanza, which is part of why I haven’t posted in a while.  It has taken me all this time to organize photo shoots so I can show off all my new loot.

I also wanted to spotlight some of the faces in my collection since I focus on “clones” rather than name brand dolls.  While many collectors assign their dolls to families and spend considerable time, effort, and money tracking down just the right spouse, children, parents, and other kin, I don’t group my dolls in permanent families.  Instead they are all contract players with my video production company – Ayamedia.  Thus, for the last year, my strategy for doll show purchases has been to cruise the bargain bins for articulated bodies.

While pickings were pretty slim at the May 20th doll show, one vendor had a bin full of clothes she was offering at $1 per piece.  After she dumped the bin out on the floor and encouraged me to take my time making selections I ended up buying about $20 worth of “vintage values.”  So this is the first in a series of five posts introducing some of the up-and-coming talent at Ayamedia Studios.

Veronique

Blue eyed blondes are a dime a dozen but blondes with melting brown eyes like this charmer are not so easy to come by.  Big Lots used to sell bikini-clad dolls with this face mold for $4.  They had hollow plastic torsos, but the bendable vinyl legs were good quality. 

I don’t know whether the pink top was originally intended as outerwear or lingerie but for a $1 find, it coordinates very well with the Saint Regis Lace bra and panty set.  

Jeanne

Jeanne was originally a head and torso designed for a Wilton doll cake.  I always hated the face mold on my pregnant Midge doll so I did a head swap and came up with a sporty-looking mom-to-be. 

I paid $1 for the maternity dress at the May 20th doll show.

Mimi

With her bright red hair and violet eyes this spunky schoolgirl has a very distinctive look.  I paid about $4 for her at Wal-mart circa 2005.  Mimi had a small role in “Sticks, Stones, and Camera Phones” as a girl who texted a suggestive photo to a classmate.  Her talents earned her a premium Mattel “poser” body with a pivotal waist and arched feet. 

I paid $1 each for the jumper and black tights at the May 20th doll show.

Ramona

Hobby Lobby sold this doll as Native American, but she has the same face mold as her blonde counterparts and her rounded, hazel eyes give her more of a mestiza look in my opinion.  She reminded me of the blue-eyed Scots-Native American heroine that Helen Hunt Jackson created to draw sympathy for the plight of Native Americans in her best selling 1884 novel, Ramona.   An earlier doll show purchase enabled Ramona to upgrade to a flat-footed Mattel body that originally belonged to a WNBA star. 

I picked up the pink gingham pants for $1 at the May 20th doll show.  The coordinating pink top was already part of my wardrobe department.

Tiana

I have my reservations about “The Princess and the Frog” but to date I have acquired three Tianas.  One has the original lacquered hairstyle.  

 

I washed the glue out of the second one’s hair but left her with a shoulder-length permed style.

  

I scalped the third one so she could wear natural texture wigs and upgraded her to a Mattel cheerleader body that I found at an earlier doll show. 

The top and pants were $1 each at the May 20th doll show. 

Stay tuned.  In the next post it will be raining men!

À Bientôt

Mass Blogger Interview

I was so exhausted from all the last minute sewing I did to prepare for the Atlanta Doll Collector's doll show on May 5th that I've been neglecting my blog even though I turned in my grades May 6th and was enjoying a "stay cation" until the summer session started at school this week.  Many thanks to Ms. Leo at I Luv Dolls for posing the Mass Blogger Interview questions that motivated me to start posting again.  Here are my responses:

When did you start collecting dolls?

I was the kind of anal retentive child who actually listened when adults said “take care of your toys.”  

"Down Memory Lane 3"

I still have the original shoes that came with this outfit that I received along with Twist and Turn Barbie when I was five years old.

Since I didn’t tear my toys up or lose pieces, I’ve been “collecting” all my life.  

What was your first purchase as a collector?

Probably around the time I was in junior high school, there were dolls I wanted to add to my existing families that I couldn’t wait until Christmas or my birthday to receive so I saved up my allowance to buy them myself.  Even as a child, however, I was more interested in collecting play sets than dolls.  One purchase I remember vividly is the Wishing Well Park set.  I was about 14 when I bought it.

I don’t have the original set any longer but I got a replacement on eBay several years back.

How many dolls do you own?

300-400.  

What is your favorite doll and why?

My current favorite – in terms of getting the most playtime is the Monster High build-a-monster skeleton girl.

I’ve been busy making wigs for her and assembling her wardrobe for months but I haven’t quite got her ready for a photo shoot and blog post.  I don’t know why she appeals to me so much.  I was never into “goth” stuff until the Monster High dolls came along.  Still, from a design standpoint I think their clothes and accessories are the most interesting fashions on the market at the moment.

What doll or dolls are not your favorites and why?

My fondness for Monster High dolls not withstanding, I dislike big headed dolls.  I’m not into anime so I don’t like the trend of giving dolls disproportionate heads.  I like 1:6 scale dolls because they enable me to create an alternate but real-seeming world.  The over-sized heads spoil the illusion for me.

What is the biggest challenge about collecting dolls?

The biggest challenge for me is finding child dolls of color.

"The Fly in the Buttermilk"

How do you display or store your dolls?

I have 6 shelving units that are 36” x 24” x 60”.  All together there are 24 shelves where I set up my dioramas.

The dioramas are very messy right now so I'm just showing the back corner of my playroom.  One day I will make a "brick" facade for the front side so the shelving units look like a nice apartment complex.  Then I will turn the dioramas around to face into the playroom.  Unfortunately the lighting is very poor so I have my shooting stages in another room.

There are 13 stacks of 4 bins along the back wall of my playroom.

This is where I store my cars, small houses, and play sets.  Welcome to MGM back lot!  There are dolls in flat plastic bins on top of the play sets but recently I have started to experiment with standing them upright in empty wine case boxes.

This system makes casting for photo stories much easier.

Have you ever been to a doll show?

Until last year I had never been to a doll show.  In 2011 I went to three dolls shows and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Recently I rented a table at the Atlanta Doll Collector’s annual doll show.  I sold enough to cover the cost of renting the table but I immediately spent the money with other vendors.  I’m looking forward to another doll show this weekend.

When you travel, do you look for dolls?

Yes.  I always walk the toy aisles to see what dolls are available.  Specifically I check to see if there are any black dolls available.

What is your latest purchase?

I bought almost two dozen dolls at the Atlanta Doll Collector’s annual doll show on May 5^th.  Most of these were bargain bin dolls that I purchased because they had articulated bodies.  I had a mass head-changing party when I got home.   Once again, however, I most enjoy collecting play sets so one of the best things I got at the doll show was the Sweet Roses canary cage.

I have almost all the Sweet Roses furniture from the late 1980s but I hadn’t realized there was a birdcage.

What doll is on your wish list now?

There are a number of new dolls on my wish list:

--Monster High Howleen Wolf

--Monster High werecat twins

--Monster High Build-a-Monster witch

--Monster High Build-a-Monster gargoyle boy

I am also interested in building my collection of plus-sized dolls so I’m looking for Rosie O’Donnell, Cheetah Girl Raven Simone, Mimi Bobeck, and Tracy and Edna Turnblad.

What do you wish you didn’t purchase?

Last year I purchased a Liv Twist and Dance Alexis because she was the first dark-skinned Alexis I had seen.  She was a good complexion match for one of my favorite Chic Boutique dolls but I was so disappointed that she couldn’t bend her knees or sit down that I took her back to the store and got a refund.

"Paper Bag and Blow"

What is your favorite doll related item?

My favorite doll related item is probably the My Scene Tiki bar.  I bought 3 of them from Toys R Us at a steep discount and have been able to use them to create an African market scene.

How often do you photo your dolls and what doll is the most photographed and/or photogenic?

I try to photograph my dolls at least once a week.  When I have more time, I do doll photo shoots more often.  I prefer to use “clones’ so the most frequently photographed face mold in my collection came from Dollar Tree.  

I bought more than a dozen of these dolls.  I have several of the heads on different bodies.  With the addition of different wigs they play a variety of characters.    

"Dollar Store Divas"

 "The Penny Pinching Princesses"

"Sticks, Stones, and Camera Phones"

"Beulah's Boogie Part 2"

"Homage to Léon G. Damas"

Do you talk to other collectors in person or just on the web?

Except at doll shows my communication with other collectors is mostly through the web.  I have one friend who comes over for "play dates" every few months but she doesn't collect dolls herself.

If you had the chance to speak to Mattel or other toy makers, what 

would you say?

The majority of the world’s population has brown eyes.  Dolls with darker complexions do not need blue or green eyes to make them “aesthetically pleasing.”

What doll do you wish would be reissued? 

Fully articulated dark-skinned Liv Alexis with flesh tone panties.

What two dolls would you combine and how would you want them 

combined? (Muff style question)

Put the African American Basics male that came out last year on an articulated Fashionistas body.

Dead Week

    After a cold snap that dumped late April snow on some states, the weather turned balmy for the last week of classes, but Debbie and Vanessa haven't seen the light of day.  They have been holed up in the library putting the finishing touches on their senior thesis projects.

Debbie was a gift from Debbie Behan Garrett of Black Doll Collecting. 

Vanessa was a gift from Vanessa Morrison of Van’s Doll Treasures. 

My doll friends know that I like clones because they add a wider variety of face molds to my collection. 

These two dolls were originally on hollow plastic bodies.  Debbie came from the dollar store and Vanessa was a Chic Boutique doll who turned up in a bargain bin at a doll show.  They had to wait for more than six months, but this week I found a cache of dark-skinned Liv Alexis dolls on clearance at Toys R Us and was able to upgrade Debbie and Vanessa to fully articulated bodies. 

As usual I replaced their original hair with hand-crafted wigs.  Vanessa got a mane of long, straight dreadlocks,

 and Debbie got a curly mop of auburn locks.

Now they are sure to make the Dean’s List!  Many thanks to Debbie and Vanessa for adding these fresh faces to my collection.

***
Due to the end of semester crunch there is no tutorial this week. 

À Bientôt

Amira and Karim N’Diaye are still a little jet-lagged after flying in from Dakar, Senegal but they wouldn’t have missed Rod and Danielle’s wedding for the world.

Very best wishes to the happy couple!

Watch for the wedding on:
http://vansdolltreasures.blogspot.com

***
The brunch buffet series concludes with a tutorial on making waffles:

À Bientôt