A reason why

There are more reasons than I could ever mention as to why I love dolls so much: interest in social history, in childhood memories, children's fashions, past and present. But the main thing is inheritance. I do believe I was predestined to be a doll lover; it is in my genes. My mother Elsa;

Rosalinde

....she is sleeping soundly in her blush pink romper wearing Nicoles little gold bangle. And looking much like an old 1940's print by Maud-Tousy-Fangel...

Filling an empty cradle

The time came for my Lorna Miller Sands babies to go to a new home. A sleepy little girl has come to stay in their place. Lullaby's Gracie Amelia made by Janet Paulger is the name of this sweetie:

Gracie is wearing my baby-bracelet with little pink enameled hearts and my silver napkin ring from my christening. Both popular gifts for new babies way back.

Blonds have more fun

Maybe it is so. While I cannot claim that rooting with blond mohair is fun, I do like the finished result. So Rosalinde did get her hair - finally. Her she is; my little blond baby

This is how it looked during the process. As you can see she is rooted with only one hair at the time and directionally as it would grow naturally. I used beautiful, shiny hair from Delta Dawn and finest #46 crown needles. The blue lines you may see is the blue eyeliner I used to map out my rooting (I had blue eyeliner at hand and it does wash off after her rooting and hair cut is completed).

Christmas at Easter

Her name is Eve. She is my little Christmas girl but instead of carrying Christmas gifts she has a paper cone filled with Easter eggs.

She was made by Pierotti, my little blond angel. Although only 17 inches she is easy to spot in the doll cabinet. She is also a memory doll for me as her collar crochet and her apron sewn so lovingly by my mum, from fabric and embroidery Anglaise lace from my grans sewing box. I know that both mamma and mormor would have loved Eve and her sisters. Her halo is a piece of swans down from a cardigan Nicole, my daughter, used when she was little.

M - is for Mystery

My beautiful and illusive Bebe M. She was always a mystery, but maybe not anymore... In the past, dealers and collectors has referred to her as Bebe Mascotte (May Freres). I once saw a reference to her identifying her as made by Francois Marseille: "Sold Date: 09/23/2006 Channel: Auction House Source: Proxibid, Inc. Category: Toys, Dolls, Games & Puzzles 16 (41 cm.) Bisque socket head, dark blue glass inset eyes, long painted lashes and brows, closed mouth with outlined lips, pierced ears, brunette mohair wig over cork pate, French composition and wooden fully jointed body, nicely costumed in antique dress and bonnet, undergarments, antique shoes, stockings. Marks: M 5 (doll) Bebe Jumeau Diplome d Honneur (body). Excellent condition, body not original but appropriately sized and of the same period, original body finish. Attributed to Francois Marseille, circa 1888". A doll friend did some further research and found a reference to this maker in "The Encyclopedia of French Dollsw" and so graciously sent me a copy:

Here is my Bebe; one of the prettiest I have seen. She is early and is on her original straight wristed body. Her clothing and shoes are all antique and her straw hat is spectacular:

Rosalinde - my version of Solid silicone Little Miracle

A few WOP (work in progress) photos of my Little Miracle. A sweet silicone kit sculpted by Lilianne Breedwell. Poured by Jennifer Sussman. She is my second (silicone paint work) to date. Painted with Psycho Silicone Paint Base part A and B and Genesis. The tutorials written by Wendy (Dickison) and Donna Lee was invaluable help as well as a reborn paint tutorial by Nicole Russel. Although this is silicone and vastly different (both in method and result) to that of vinyl, part of a reborn paint tutorial can be used. I have given her the name Rosalinde; Lilianne's beautiful OOAK clay sculpt to the right, Jennifers silicone double to the left;

During the process of painting her;

Here she is all ready for showing. As you can see I took many photo's. She is a beautiful newborn sculpt;

She is still a WOP as she is in the process of getting rooted with beautiful light blond mohair from Delta Dawn.

Brown Eyed Girl

I will admit to loving the early Kestners more than any other German made bisques. This young lady has been in my collection for several years. She's a big (27") beautiful Pouty Closed mouth Kestner. She wears a lovely and early brown straw bonnet with beautiful long silk ribbon ties paired with a empire waist silk dress buttoned in the back. Her beautiful brooch is a family heirloom and is a Norwegian Sølje. She carries a bead embroidered antique purse. The little toddler holding her hand is a character child by Kammer & Reinharts (mold 126, 18"), one of my favorite child molds. She looks so sweet in her original silk dress. One of the first antique dolls I bought.

There comes a time when an update is due

For a long time now, I have been wanting to try my hand at silicone painting. It has been kind of a closed book and a mystery for us who were uninitiated. The opening finally came when a lovely artist; Wendy Dickison shared a tutorial with us collectors. I bought my first kit from Emily Jameson. A sweet little baby girl sculpt called Kate. I received the blank silicone parts. Upon painting him I realized that he was a she, and I named him Joey. I finished him a while ago and finally found the time to give him hair. Joey is micro rooted; one hair at the time with beautiful dark brown kid mohair from Angela Sprott Her hair is absolutely gorgeous; fine, strong and shiny; This is how the blank kit looks like;

This is little Joey after he has been panted and given hair;

http://babies-by-emily.webs.com/ http://angelasrebornnursery.webs.com/home.html

A basketful of love

We had another baby from Lorna Miller Sands last summer.  Her name is Cammie Rose. She is, like her sisters Chloe and Dessie, an OOAK made from polymer clay.



I am a great fan of Lornas sculpting and her way of capturing the moment.

The fairest one of all....

....is my beautiful early Kestner. She is around 21 inches tall and has the sweetest face any doll could wish for and her body is early straight wrist.



 

She found friends already

Look who moved in with her; two small  kittens and a little fairy. The fairy is a Fairyland Realpuki who's name is Soso. Soso is a tiny BJD from a Korean company.

It's been such a long time now....busy with life, I guess...

Those who knows me well, also knows that I'm obsessed with dolls.....all types, that is. Bjd's  has fascinated me for a long time, so, like most doll collectors do at times; I caved in and ordered a beautiful elegant being,  from Korea. She is a Dollstown Soph B with Elf body (around (53 cm tall). Soph B arrived "Au naturel" (unpainted) and it was a pleasure to try my hands at painting (or as they say in the BJD world; Face-up) and blushing her long limbs. 

I've given her the name Elphine; suiting her well as she is an elf doll with pointy ears.

Favorite hat

I have this strange fascination for doll-hats. Strange it is, as I've never worn a hat, nor do I suit them (whenever I get brave enough to try one it generates amusements from those around....so every now and then I will comply as I like to make people smile).

This wonderful hat is worn by my big Bebe Phenix. Both the French Bebe and her hat is from around 1890. The hat was very dusty when it arrived and was treated with a generous sprinkling of odorless talk-powder. I used a hairdryer (on cold setting) to blow off the powder (a sight to behold; standing in the shower cubicle to minimize the amount of dust everywhere :D).

The gift

I first noticed the drawings around a one year ago. They hang in the corridor of our local Childrens hospital. The date on these wonderful drawings made me wonder of the "why's and who's and how comes".

I found that our local Children's hospital had been given as a gift from Sweden to Norway after the liberation in 1947. The drawings was also part of that gift. They were all made by Swedish primary (elementary) school children in 1947.

A new little lady

She is my little Kestner girl and she's also my Cinderella; the owner of one little shoe. She is unmarked except for a number 4 at the nape of her neck. I could tell who her maker was as her plaster pate was all intact. She also has that little smile around her mouth that so many dolls from the Kestner factory has.

Once upon a time...

....there were two little girls; growing up together. 

They were not sisters, yet they felt like they were. They lived with their old grandfather; once a fisherman and smallholder, and their mothers; Kristine and Monsina. Their mothers were true sisters, growing up in Øygarden (a small kingdom of islands).

The sisters and their father, Mons, moved to Bergen around 1898 and the two ladies found work at what was termed in their time; an eatery establishment. They also did laundry to make ends meet. As family history recalls; Nina Bull, the niece of famous Norwegian violin player Ole Bull, was one of their customers. Nina Bull was very fond of Alfrida and Ingeborg and treated them with items from her own childhood sent her by her uncle when he was touring Paris.

The dark haired girl is Alfrida Constanse who was to become my grandmother. She was born in 1905 and the younger girl in the photo is Ingeborg Elvilda Amanda; her cousin. 

 Monsina died young and her sister Kristina becoming the mother and caregiver of two little girls instead of one. Thus the two little girls became real sisters.

Itty bitty babies

Dessie (Medina Odessa) and Chloe, cernit/clay mix OOAK's by Lorna Miller Sands;