Doll Parts, Flower Petals, Tocken Trivia, also for Dr. E's Greening Tips for the Common Person

Ah, what a week it's been.  I'm glad to see the last of July.  This is a post of pot pouri for doll related news.  For example, a cell phone commercial features the little mannikin from operation.  Watching "Cold Mountain" on TV I notice a scarecrow in the farmyard where Nichole Kidman lives.

Robots from my Collection, in honor of Hitchbot

 The evening news featured Hitchbot, the little robot that traveled the world and hitchhiked, relying on the kindness of strangers.  Someone in Philadelphia trashed him, and ended his journey.  Not at all fitting from the home of so many dolls and relate beings, especially Letitia Penn. Tweet him at #hitchbot.

It's too bad I didn't find him on the side of the road.  He could gladly live at the museum.

It has been a good summer for collecting.  A few of my finds include a knitted doll from Love, Shirley Temple, and two black bisque babies from Among Friends Auction. Also from Among Friends, a tiny wax lady spinning inside a glass dome. Elsewhere, I have found a lovely artist version of a Leo Moss doll and an original Jumeau Bebe Reclame.and a Figure A Steiner that needs a lot of TLC.  I could not have asked for more.

From Love, Shirley Temple

Earlier, I purchased a Patti Playpal from her original owner, and found two North American historical bears thrift shopping.  Several Barbies in need of TLC joined the museum, as well as the teen version of Dora the Explorer which we did not have.

Online Find, photo by Marisa

A lucky yard sale yielded a 9 inch Spider Man, a 7 inch Hulk, and two tiny Star Wars action figures. I also found a tin that contained Lincoln Logs and a Hot Wheels carrying case.

Two 8 inch faceless cloth, vintage Amish dolls and  family of black cloth dolls and handkerchief dolls arrived in late June. About the same time, a host of international dolls, two antique China heads, and several artists' bisque dolls arrived.

Lourdes

These are unusual happenings; usually, it's one or two dolls, or a handful of small dolls from yard sales.

I have seen playpal type companion dolls selling for $50 and CPKs showing up again at local charity shops after a brief hiatus.

At the big box stores, I see miniature My Little Ponies in baggies at Target, and tiny Barbies for the Lego Polly Pocket sets sold in miniature pink Barbie boxes.  Very cute.  Funkco is quite popular, and A Doll for All Time is selling on Amazon and eBay.

Living Dead Dolls is launching series 29, while Monster High continues to be popular.  MH and My Little Pony Fashion dolls periodically appear at Marshall's.

I've seen a variety of dolls on Amazon.com, and the prices seem to be quite healthy.

People seem to be interested in all types of dolls, and even the modern porcelain "walda" types are selling well in antique stores and some thrift shops.

Happy Dolling and catch my posts on About.com Doll Collecting, or collectdolls.about.com, and on my sister blog Doll Museum.  I also write the Antique Doll Collector Magazine Blog. 

Catch me on Reddit, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Stumble Upon, Flickr, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.  We love comments.

My other love of course is flowers.  My container gardens are not as lavish as other years; we were disappointed at the lack of black petunias.  Still, we have our lilies, a few roses, great begonias, impatiens, monrovia in colors, and fairy gardens of all types.  Look closely and you will see our gnome village, tiny fairies sitting under an arch, our perennial Halloween town with tiny pumpkins that mirror our real pumpkin vine.

To save water, I use the old kitty water on plants, right before I fill their bowl fresh.

Thanks to my good friend, MB, I have been dressing dolls in vintage clothes.  I also am trying to do some repair work.

Hobby Lobby, The Dollar Stores, and Michael's are sharing Halloween decor early.  From Spirit of Halloween, I predordered The Antique Doll.  I got the last one in 2014, and I don't want to run the risk of not getting her. There are more dolls online, and the store will open around the first week of September.

Part of the Gnome Home

Summer is a good time to gather grasses, cornhusks, nuts, and other natural materials to make dolls.  Last year, I drew my series of Herb's Daughters paper dolls.  Thanks to my good friend Steph H, herself a paper dol artists, who sends me great envelopes of paper doll supplies!

Happy Collecting, stay healthy.  Dolls are great stress relievers, and stress can be the greatest killer of all.