Antique Doll Collector Magazine: September 2016: An Interview with Laurie McGill

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: September 2016: An Interview with Laurie McGill: Laurie is a member of the Dallas Doll Club, which received its charter in the United Federation of Doll Clubs, Inc. in 1959. She is a f...

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: September 2016: An Interview with Laurie McGill

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: September 2016: An Interview with Laurie McGill: Laurie is a member of the Dallas Doll Club, which received its charter in the United Federation of Doll Clubs, Inc. in 1959. She is a f...

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: Restoration and Doll Hospitals

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: Restoration and Doll Hospitals: Doll hospitals have probably existed as long as dolls have. It’s no surprise, then, that many of the questions I get from collectors a...

R. John Wright Design Journal and Pumpkin Moonshine

My latest post on the RJW Blog:  http://rjohnwrightblog.com/weblog/2016/9/15/tom-sylvie-and-pumpkin-moonshine


Thanks, Rachel Hoffman and R. John Wright!!

Courtesy, R. John Wright

Courtesy, Uneek Doll Designs

Mud Toys and Paper Dolls

From In Order to Live . . . by Y. Park:


"Yong Ja and I were the same age, and we lived in the same part of town. I liked her because we were both good at using our imaginations to create our own toys. You could find a few manufactured dolls and other toys in the market, but they were usually too expensive. Instead we made little bowls and animals out of mud, and sometimes even miniature tanks; homemade military toys were very big in North Korea. But we girls were obsessed with paper dolls and spent hours cutting them out of thick paper, making dresses and scarves for them out of scraps."

SEOUL WALK - Children's toy district in Dongdaemun

North Korean Toy Store

North Korean Toys

The doll head, Walker, Texas ranger

Yesterday's episode featured a doll head at a crime scene. Who knew?🎎 More on little known doll museums soon.

Doll Museum: Courtesy our Friends at Theriault's, For the Love ...

Doll Museum: Courtesy our Friends at Theriault's, For the Love ...

The Future of our Annex Blog, Doll Museum

We have arrived at the 21st century in our leisurely journey through the chronology of dolls.  The creepy doll fad is still with us, especially now that Halloween is here.  Creepy animatronics, dolls, and masks abound.  Halloween costumes representing dolls continue to be popular, especially Day of Dead figures and cracked porcelain dolls.   I can't find a Spirit of Halloween near me this year, which is frustrating.

American Girls, M. Alexander, BJD's, new CPKs and Monster High dolls continue to be popular, and I will do a report of new dolls for the Holidays and 2016.

I will also begin covering dolls by country, with more an emphasis on ethnic dolls and international costume dolls.  These are the basis of many great collections, but they are pooh-poohed by the doll snobs.

Also, I'd like to post more on doll trends and dolls in pop culture.  You, my audience of nearly 100,000, should guide me.  I will continue to share blog posts from mine and other pertinent blogs, but I'd love to hear what you would like read about, and I'd love to hear your ideas for interesting new and young collectors in this hobby.

A recipe; Creamy Italian Chicken

2-4 chicken Breasts

1 can chicken broth

1 envelope Italian salad dressing, Good Seasons or other brand

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream  of chicken soup, any brand

I oz container whipped cream cheese

Crock Pot:

{Or the way my memory is work, I should say, Crack Pot!)

Combine chicken, Italian dressing mix and chicken broth.  Make sure there is enough liquid to cover the chicken.  Cook 2 hours.

(On the stove, combine ingredients in a Dutch oven, and cook till chicken is browned and cooked through.  Add liquid as needed . Then, combine and stir other ingredients, and bake for about 4-45 mins or so, watching constantly to see if there is enough liquid.  Again, follow directions for baking Tuna casserole)


In  Crock Pot, add all the other ingredients and stir.  Cook another 3 hours, but watch.

Serve over white rice or noodles.  I would add canned or Fresh Mushrooms for flavor, but it its heavenly even without them!

This is real comfort food!!

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: Restoration and Doll Hospitals

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: Restoration and Doll Hospitals: Doll hospitals have probably existed as long as dolls have. It’s no surprise, then, that many of the questions I get from collectors a...

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: Restoration and Doll Hospitals

Antique Doll Collector Magazine: Restoration and Doll Hospitals: Doll hospitals have probably existed as long as dolls have. It’s no surprise, then, that many of the questions I get from collectors a...

Today is 9/11/16

Today is 9/11/16

 

A weird thing happened to me yesterday; my bill at McDonald’s was $9.11.  Here we are again, 15 years later, trying to honor something we don’t want to remember  but have to.  The horror and pain of that day never seem to go away. What gives me pause every year is that I meet more and more people who were at the Pentagon or the Twin Towers.  My own Dad had been at the Towers only a few years before on business.  He always wanted to take me back, because he saw stores full of dolls and other things he knew I would like.

 

9/11 has touched all of us; we own the tragedy as much as if we were there.  In my other life I chair departments in criminal justice and fire science, and many of my students are police officers and fire fighters.  In their honor, I decorate my office with pictures and small police cards and fire trucks.  One of my colleagues was a police officer, and every time the anniversary comes around, I think of him sitting with me in our office reviewing the memorials of officers killed on duty, and then we come to the 9/11 numbers and pause.

 

In this election year of division and calumny of all kinds, few seem to feel unified as Americans.  On this day, I hope we can mourn and remember together, and put our differences aside.  I hope we can say a prayer for everyone killed by acts of terrorism and violent crime, especially this year.  I hope we can remember that “The Star Spangled Banner” is a piece of prison literature, and the act of writing it gave its captive author hope.  And finally, I hope we remember that the United States, for all her metamorphoses and faults, is, and will always be, the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.  And that, no matter the election’s outcome,  that the government by the people, for the people, will not perish from the earth.

 

 

National Teddy Bear Day and More!

Dolls are everywhere!  In the aftermath of an apartment house fire today on the news, a girl who survived was rejoicing that she found the doll her grandmother had made for her unharmed.  It was a rag doll with long brown yarn hair, large painted eyes, and a dark green dress with a pinafore.

 

 

Vogue Magazine, Sept. feature an article I will post more about on robotics.  Included are small, robotic dinosaur toys, similar to our Robosaurus.  The theme of the article is a study addressing whether robots could be programmed to feel emotion, and whether humans could bond with them.  

 

Today is National Teddy Bear Day!  Hence, I include some posts.  For more great bears, visit the website of artist R. John Wright, google R. John Wright!