Today was nice and sunny so I decided to take advantage of the natural light to photograph the dolls I bought last Sunday at the doll show. I do like to photograph dolls outside sometimes even though I have the photo tent and lights, frankly it was warmer outside than inside my house today anyway.

As you would have seen from my last post there were some very nice vintage dolls on sale. I was trying to be careful what I bought though. Not so much because of money, if I see something really special I will try to get it these days but because we are still waiting for my house to sell. I have had it off the market over winter but will soon be putting it up for sale again. I already have a lot of dolls packed away and to be honest the doll room was getting full before that so I decided that I would spend my money on smaller dolls this time. I will buy more big dolls and old fragile dolls in the  future I’m sure but now does not seem like a great time to do that.

Well first of all we found a box of these small hard plastic dolls. They were tagged five dollars each but the seller said she would sell them for $2 each. I decided to buy two so they wouldn’t be lonely. The two of them had somehow got their swing tags entangled and Naomi said it looked as if one was trying to strangle the other so I don’t know how well they are going to get on.  These dolls are a bit too big for our dolls houses. they are probably about four to five inches tall. I haven’t measured them yet but I put them next to a Kelly I had handy and they were a bit taller. I had been wondering how I would dress them and Naomi suggested using balloons as this had worked well for the fashion dolls. I tried this afternoon but apart from making  a pair of panties for one I was not very successful.  These dolls are hard plastic, strung with rubber bands and have sleep eyes so they are quite fragile and I found it hard to manipulate the balloons for fear of breaking them (the dolls not the balloons). In the end I was going to leave it and come back to it later but then I had a brainwave. They might be able to wear Kelly sized clothing. That turned out to be a good guess, this one is wearing a dress from a Kelly clone which is a good fit. That means that I can either knit them something from my Stickatill knitting patterns for Kelly or just buy some Kelly clothes online. Problem solved.

My next buy was also a hard plastic doll from the 1950s or 60s and again we had similar dolls as children. This one only has strung arms, her hair is probably mohair and her eyes are painted on. She was in a cellophane bag but as it was damaged anyway  I took her out. This type of doll was usually sold nude to be dressed by the owner and they were often used for craft projects as well. I will probably make something for her later. I might be able to adapt a Skipper or Stacie pattern as she is about that height but bigger around the waist.

My next purchase was a bit larger, fourteen to sixteen inches. I haven’t had the tape measure out today. A vinyl jointed doll probably from the 1960s. She is unmarked but could be an Australian Pedigree. I have a soft spot for this type of doll. Sadly she has a couple of issues, half a finger missing on one hand and her hair had been cut at the front.  The worst part about that was that the cut plugs are standing up so it is not easy to comb a fringe over them. I didn’t want to pull them out so after combing diluted fabric softener through her hair I decided to use hair gel to flatten them a bit and get her an Alice band or a little hat later. In the meantime she has borrowed a ribbon from another doll. I don’t really want to get her rerooted or get a wig because I really prefer to have the older dolls looking more original. Penny, my 16 inch Pedigree is different as her hair was past saving. She will have to have a wig but this girl has  pretty hair so I would rather keep it. On the plus side her sleep eyes are working fine and she has all her lashes.

Her little dress fits her quite well. It isn’t tagged although it looks professionally made. It closes with velcro so she may be late sixties rather than early if it is her original dress.  I haven’t given her a name yet but I think I may go with Alice, for obvious reasons, and because I don’t have an Alice yet.

I did buy one more thing before leaving; no, not the doll. That’s Dinah, my big vinyl Pedigee girl. The animal print fur jacket she is wearing. It doesn’t really go with her dress but it is a good fit. The jacket is meant to be for a sixteen inch Evergreen doll or similar but I thought it would suit Dinah’s colouring. None of the dolls really has anything that goes with it at present but I whoever gets to keep it will get a new outfit. I would like to see Dinah in stronger colours and her pink and white check dress needs mending, there is a little tear in the skirt so she is a candidate. Dinah also has hair issues but she was happy to let Alice use her ribbon.

So that’s what I bought at the doll show this year.