dolls — Page 2

Sorting, Walking, Curling, Reading

January 27, 2024 at 8:42 am by Claudia

Rest assured, it’s still gray out there. This was taken over a week ago on a rare sunny day.

I attacked that junk drawer with relish yesterday. Much was thrown in the trash, the rest was reorganized in a way that made sense. It is now a thing of beauty. I was in the mood to tackle it yesterday. If only I was in that mood on a daily basis! The result was very satisfying.

We haven’t done our walk since January 11th because of the weather. Lots of snow, bitter cold, high winds, lots of rain – that has been our weather for the past two weeks. Today, we have a rare dry day, so we’ll be back at it. Tomorrow, we have a rain/snow forecast, so we’ll see. After that, it should be relatively stable for the week. We have missed that daily walk at the library.

I’m reading The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang and, though it’s very different than my usual fare, I’m quite enjoying it. And I just finished reading my required pages for this week in Wolf Hall. I haven’t played with the girls much this week. I needed a break from my Blythe feed on Instagram. It can sometimes be a bit overwhelming – too much visual stimulation and too much buying and selling by people who have far more money than I. When that happens, I back off for a while.

Besides, little Shirley Temple needs my attention this week. The sponge rollers that I need for her hair arrived yesterday. The whole idea of sponge rollers sent me on a memory trip. I remember setting my hair with large pink sponge rollers. I’m not sure what I was trying to achieve with my straight hair, but that was what we did in those days. My mom used the bristly type of rollers that you stuck a pick into. Remember them? The women in our neighborhood – and Don tells me it was the same in his, as well – routinely put curlers in their, tied a scarf around them, and went shopping. Seeing anything like that nowadays is extremely rare. It took me years to finally accept the fact that I had fine, straight hair. It has a very slight wave when allowed to dry naturally, but basically it wasn’t going to do what I wanted it to do – whatever that was.

Stay safe, my friends.

Happy Saturday.

A Gift

August 23, 2023 at 8:19 am by Claudia

Mowing. Yesterday, we mowed the corral, the back forty, the upper part of the front lawn, and the secret garden.

For the first time this summer, we’ve had 5 dry days in a row, giving us enough time for the ground to dry out and to mow every part of the property. For most of the summer, we had to mow a bit here, wait a week, then mow another section, etc. We were tired after this mowing extravaganza, but we are so happy to know we do not have to mow anything for a while.

Sad, but true: this is a highlight of our summer. And, as I said the other day, we’re strong!

On Monday a postal delivery van drove up the driveway and a guy emerged holding a box (which looked suspiciously like a doll box.) I hadn’t ordered anything at all, so I had absolutely no idea what this was. It was addressed to me. After examining the box more closely, I saw my friend Doug’s return address. You remember Doug? My friend of more than 50 years from our days at Eastern Michigan University studying drama? He is the one who designed several of the Gene Marshall ensembles. In addition, he’s has designed his own line of dolls – more than one. His most recent line is called the 1470 Collection; porcelain dolls that echo those of the 1920s.

Sure enough, the box said ‘1470 Collection.’

I couldn’t believe he sent me a doll! I was so excited I could hardly stand it!

Here she is. Mary, Silver Siren.

Oh my goodness! I’ve never had a porcelain doll, so the weight of the doll was a surprise. These dolls are inspired by dolls made by Simon and Halbig, and Cuno and Dressel – companies that were designing porcelain dolls between 1912 and 1925 or so. They often had porcelain heads and composition bodies. This girl is entirely porcelain, strung with elastic, with glass eyes and pierced ears. She’s 14½ inches tall, jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.

He also included 3 more outfits as well as shoes, and a hat.

Needless to say, I was stunned. The more I look at her, the more beautiful she is. She’s exquisite.

I kept saying to Don that she was heavy and I was going to have to find a stand for her. Then I read her description again yesterday and read “comes with stand.” Duh. I know better! I didn’t even think to look more closely at the box. Sure enough, there was the stand, hidden under some cardboard.

She is now upstairs on my desk.

Doug and I are going to talk on the phone this morning and I can’t wait to hear more about this exquisite line of dolls.

When I thanked him (via email because I didn’t want to call and disturb him late in the day) he simply said “I wanted you to have her.”

I am blessed.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Gene Marshall Dolls

August 16, 2023 at 9:31 am by Claudia

A little doll story: I’m not sure just how I came upon this line of dolls but it was most likely in a Barbie collection search or a Robert Tonner doll collection search because I love nothing more than seeing what people collect. I saw these 16 inch fashion dolls called Gene Marshall dolls and I was intrigued. As always, I started to research them.

They were designed by a lovely man (whom I’ve since chatted with) named Mel Odum. They were sold from 1995 to the about 2013. Mel, who is an artist and illustrator, wanted to design a doll and he came up with the idea of Gene Marshall, a fictional movie star from the 1940s – 1950s. She had a story as to her start in Hollywood, what movies she made, and every doll came with a story card. Mel enlisted designers to come up with fabulous ideas for her clothes. He gave her a dreamy eyed look based on old black and white movies, an impossibly small waist, and an elegant body.

Well, I fell in love – especially with her clothing. I love that period of design. And I found out that the dolls were highly affordable on the secondhand market – much more affordable than Blythes, which I find are becoming too expensive to collect these days. (That’s a story for another day.) I can find a fully dressed mint Gene for around $40 – $45.

I found a couple of Gene Marshall groups on Facebook. I started to learn more about the dolls.

Meet the girls.

On the left, Gene Marshall “Teatime at the Plaza.” She’s wearing a fabulous coat dress and hat.

In the center, Gene Marshall “Simply Gene” a basic doll in a bathing suit. (The first girl I purchased.)

On the right, Gene Marshall “Hello Hollywood” – the suit that Gene wears when she first travels to Hollywood.

They have accessories. They wear those great chunky shoes from the forties (my mom had a pair that I would wear when I played dress up.) Their hair is fabulous. There’s a lot of it and it’s beautifully styled.

Now, here’s the ‘life is so interesting’ part: While I was researching, I discovered that my best pal from college days, Doug James, designed lots of her outfits (there were several designers working on the line.) I knew Doug had designed his own line of dolls, of course, but seeing his name crop up as a Gene designer was such a delightful surprise! He designed that ensemble on the right. I had to get her in honor of Doug. (He told me he had a story to tell me about that outfit and, since we’re supposed to chat today, I’m looking forward to hearing it.)

Mel commented on a post of mine in the Facebook group and said that Doug was one of his favorite designers.

Anyway! I love these gorgeous dolls. There have been books written about Gene and her story. And there are books that list all of the clothing and dolls – collectors’ books.

I know, I’m getting older, but I’ll always be a collector. It’s a bit like breathing to me. – I started collecting when I was about 10 years old. I love the search, the research, all of it. Slow and steady of course, especially since I have limited space. I’ll be very picky. But they can be sold when I kick the bucket and they, along with the Blythes, will bring in a modest amount of money. Not to mention the McCoy and Roseville. And the vintage dollhouses. Do you know that I have had offers for the vintage dollhouse in the kitchen more than a few times? Two different collectors/designers have reached out to me because they want that house. One is an architect who collects that kind of thing. The other, I believe, is a designer and has a shop. I said no to the first offer. and when I got the second offer, I broached the subject with Don and heard a very forceful “Absolutely not! That stays right where it is.” But I did tell them if I ever considered selling it, I would let them know.

The Genes, the Barbie repro, and a Robert Tonner doll will live upstairs in the office/studio – along with my mom’s vintage Shirley Temple, my baby doll with two left feet, and my very old Tiny Tears-like doll that live on top of the cabinet. I don’t think Don really needs (or wants) to see more dolls in the den!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Sorting, Walking, Curling, Reading

A Gift

Gene Marshall Dolls

claudiahillsparks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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