I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day. We enjoyed a nice family meal with my sister which was lovely as we haven’t seen each other for ages. She had a special present for me. The Swirl ponytail Barbie has been on my wish list for very long time and she managed to get one for me. Here is Barbie under the tree after we’d unwrapped everything.
Barbie is in pretty good condition for her age. Her face paint is good and she has all her limbs intact. She doesn’t have green ear and her hair is in pretty good condition too. She does have one issue which is some green marks on her arms. Only one arm is badly affected the other one just has one spot. That is something I can live with. I have put some Remove Zit on the affected areas and hope that I may be able to fade it but if not I’ll just put her in long sleeves. The red swimsuit is in great condition too.
I combed Barbie’s hair out this morning. It was a little mussy. Later on I’d like to try to set her hair to make it look more as it originally was. iI think I’ve seen a tutorial somewhere on how to do that.
Anyway I’m very happy that I can now tick “Vintage Swirl Ponytail Barbie” off my wish list.
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
She is a real beauty and will have a lot of friends and family now. I can’t wait to see her in some of your hand-knit creations. What is the stain from on her arm? Is it common to the plastic aging or something that’s gotten on her (like ink)?
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I can’t be sure yet but I think that it is probably from a chemical reaction in the ageing vinyl from the way it looks. It’s quite common for dolls of that age to get “green ear” from the metal earrings they used to have but I’ve seen it on other parts of their bodies as well. I may be able to get it off with Remove Zit which is a cleaning compound created for cleaning dolls. I’ve coated the area with it and now have to wait a few days before I take it off. If I can’t remove it after a few tries I’ll just dress her in something that covers it up but I’ll have to check her regularly to make sure it doesn’t spread.
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I like the name “remove zit”. It sounds like an acne cream for teenagers, 😉
What a puzzle this green reaction sounds.
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There is a lot to it. A lot of the early vinyl dolls suffer with it. I have been very lucky as none of mine did. Remove Zit was developed by Nicholas J Hill whose wife was a doll collector. He even wrote a book about it. http://www.twinpines.com/Vinyl-Dolls-book
I know he was a chemist and I’m not sure about this but think he may be the same Nicholas J Hill who founded Wellness Foundations LLC from my reading it sounds like it could be the same man. He sold the doll cleaning business after his wife passed away.
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There are so many things in the world. Wow. A doll cleaning business. What a wonderful idea. Have you thought of selling your hand-knitted outfits? They’re lovely.
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I had thought of it actually now I’ve found all these great patterns. A lot of people are doing it on eBay and Etsy and when I’ve refined my skills a bit more I may have a go.
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It will be good to see what you do. Be sure to share a link here is you decide to do this.
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Wow, what a great gift! A brunette too – my favourite kind 🙂 i have no real older girls yet (i think my oldest is probably late sixties). Maybe one day …
I use acne cream with benzoyl peroxide for stains as i cant source Remove-Zit for a reasonable price. It works spookily well on pen marks and general staining, although I’ve never tried it on these kinds of green stains. Please let us know how it turns out 🙂
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I will. I’d heard of using acne cream. I had to buy the Remove Zit online as you can’t buy it in Australia but I’d heard it was the best stuff and have a tub from a previous job.
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She is a great gift, congrats. I hope you can get rid of that stain. My earliest is a straight leg Midge.
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It has faded a bit already so I’ve reapplied the remove-zit. I will post a picture in the near future. I have a straight leg Midge too as wel las Alan and my chidhood Skipper so Ken is next on the list.
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She is gorgous! What a lovely gift from your sister. 🙂
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