Recipes for Happy New Years! For Dolls and People

Here is a link to Dr. E's Greening Tips for the Common Person, where I often post my own original recipes.  Happy New Year; Peace in 2018.  May your doll dreams come true.  Find me on my other blogs, and on Antique Doll Collector Magazine Blog and Ruby Lane Blog.


https://dresgreening.blogspot.com/

German Character Dolls: Top Five for Collectors | Ruby Lane Blog

German Character Dolls: Top Five for Collectors | Ruby Lane Blog

Dolls Can Melt that Winter Ice Storm

Beating the Winter Blahs with Dolls and Antique Doll Collector Magazine

 

 

 

We all know the feeling; it is winter; March is more than a crocus blossom away, a future memory of lions and lambs.  Everyone has cabin fever, and everyone has had it with snow, ice, snowplows, and sniffles.  So, how do we make it to the homestretch without going snow-mad?  Dolls are the answer!  Below are my tips for beating the winter blahs with dolls:

1.       Joint Pinterest and start a Board.  There are terrific boards on dolls and doll-related items.  Mine are Doll Collection, Women’s Apparel and Holidays. Try Antique Doll Collector Magazine for fun boards based on a great publication.

2.       Surf eBay for collector’s guides.  When you watch an item, there is a new feature that reads “add to collection” where you can save pictures and information for items you like, similar to Pinterest, above.

3.       Join Facebook; there are terrific pages for dolls and doll stores.  Ask to join the group, and if it is not closed, and administrator who invites people in will include you.  Antique Doll Collector Magazine and Friends of Antique Doll Collector Magazine are great sites.

4.       Explore other social media like Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr  or doll related photos and images. You can also set up albums of your own doll photos on Google and on the social media discussed above.

5.       Visit The Library of Congress online at loc.gov and explore resources for dolls, including thousands of photos and other images.  You can also explore titles for doll books, and then visit your own library to “read more about it.”  As a fledgling doll maker, I loved the library for its copy machine which allowed me to make paper dolls and to add to my research files.  Also, check out any library cafes [we have to eat] and book sales.

6.       Dust and rearrange your doll displays.  Facebook and Pinterest are great places to get ideas, as is our own About.com Doll Collecting site.

7.       Check out the new dolls available at the big box stores, department stores, and doll shops.  Look online if you do not live near shopping centers,  Again, libraries are a good place to use computers, as are your Smartphones, iPods, Tablets, and other hand held devices.

8.       Look for clearances sales, and think outside the doll house.  Craft stores, hobby shops, fabric s stores, and gift shops are great sources for dolls, books, related items, and supplies for doll making, doll clothes, repairs, and miniature projects.

9.       Make a doll, visit places described in 8, or go to Etsy for inspiration.  You can favorite certain stores and sellers and get newsletters.  If nothing else, make a snowman; technically, they are dolls.

10.   Watch movies about dolls and toys: Toy Story, Child of Glass, Dolls, Dollie Dearest, Shirleymania

Barbie Nation, Barbie Films, Raggedy Ann Films, Documentaries, etc.

11.   Check out films on YouTube about dolls; good searches are Doll Collection, Doll Museum, Dolls History, names of dolls like Monster High, Barbie Collection, Names of stores and specific museums.

12.   Find a doll blog, like Doll Museum or Dr. E’s Doll Museum Blog, and post something nice.

13.   Take a walk

14.   Start a doll club

15.   Get on the Speakers’ Bureau to talk about dolls, do a doll talk, hold a class, and take a class, e.g., how to photograph dolls. Look at Tom Kelley’s shots of Marilyn and dolls, and Tom Kelley, Jr.’s work, too.

 

Because every doll has its story...

Today, we bring you Seasons Greetings and Peace for 2018.  Our hope for 2018 is to come a few inches closer to obtaining our brick and mortar building for the museum, and to file the paperwork necessary to make it all happen. 

We are a museum for all dolls and their history, because every doll has its story.  Like the late great Genevieve Angione, we believe all dolls are collectible, and will strive to represent every era of humanity, back to the Stone Age, and then some!

We are not doll snobs and don't believe in doll divas, either.  In fact, it is our opinions that doll divas are themselves one step away from turning into Stepford wives. 

We are also a sort of home for wayward dolls, for we find pathos and value in dolls that have lived hard lives.  They are artifacts that show some child loved them.  We also preserve the rare and sought after, the sublime and the ridiculous.  We hope that you take a look at our blogs, including Doll Museum, and our Facebook pages and Twitter page under Dr. E's Doll Museum.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Our dolls come from all over the world; many were brought here by my family and me from every continent but Antarctica. Enjoy!  Be Safe!  Have a Blessed New Year!



Fringe Benefits Focuses on Rochester, NY, home of The Strong Museum and Toy Hall of Fame

I caught this just this morning on my way out.  They showed the outside of The Strong, but focused instead on the Eastman museum and home.  They showed many exhibits there, but there is a link between the museums because the Strongs owned  a lot of Kodak stock.  Read old issues of Doll Reader and Strong National Museum of Play literature fore more.


Also, the show displayed artifacts of the Onondaga people, including a scale log cabin, completely furnished as it would have been, every intricate.


Other random thoughts have me muse on Fingerlings, which were the hot toys this year, and on whether the After Christmas sales will become as crazy as the can be.  Many stores now discount everything ahead of time, or sell online. I won't be out as much as I have been this year.  Too much work, and too many life changes coming up. The doll budget is not what it used to be, but let's face it, it isn't as if the museum doesn't have any :)


This will give me a chance to work on my latest book, and to review on doll trends beginning in 2018.  Happy Boxing Day, and have a safe countdown to the New Year, and don't forget the upcoming Theriault's auction!!

Doll Display Tutorial: How To Create A French Fashion Vignette

Tiny China Delights | Antique Doll Seminar

The State of the Doll Museum, Hasbro's Robotic Kitties and Games to help with Dementia

First, I'd like to wish all my followers and readers a safe and happy holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and  a Happy New Year, and a belated Happy Hanukah to those just finishing that celebration.  God speed to us all. It has been a difficult year; I lost my dear friend Rosemary Rovick to cancer, and another dear friend the author and paper doll artist Stephanie Hammonds.  Stephanie died the same day as my Dad this past November.  Rosemary collected Christmas ornaments and miniatures, and Steph loved Katy Keene and other vintage paper dolls, and all kinds of vintage dolls.  They were kindred spirits indeed.  Dad bought more dolls than I can count, and built doll houses and shelves, shadow boxes he called The Condominiums, drew paper dolls, whittled tiny dolls from sticks, and so much more.  He carried to 3 foot dolls wrapped like mummies through European airports, and carried all kinds of dolls back from Japan and South Africa.  He'd been to every continent but Antarctica, and brought me dolls to prove it.  He joked he was going to court to claim the dolls as his.  My answer, and my mom's, was "The Judge is going to say to you, 'Sir, you're way too old to be playing with them.' "

Scroll down for an album of Pics from our Museum Collection

Christmas brings memories of my mother taking a doll we already had and refurbishing her as one of our gifts. When she left us ten years ago, I found an unfinished crocheted outfit in her craft basket.


Dolls are currently in the news and will create more memories, I'm sure.  Hasbro is marketing robotic kitties geared at folks in nursing home to mimic the creature comforts and companionship real cats provide. There is also a video game developed that will aid those with dementia.


New dolls continue to flood the shelves, and there will be more posts about them, later.  The vintage and antique market is going strong, too.  While not everyone deals in highend dolls, I'm told by friends of mine who buy and sell on ebay that even ordinary Barbies and vinyl dolls are enjoying a brisk trade.  I'm guessing OOAK artists appreciate them, but also those who love the rag-tag dolls out there that need help.


Theriault's will hold in early January an amazing auction which includes a rare Rochard doll with it's Stanhope necklace.  That is definitely a doll on my wish list!  I hope to publish another book on dolls this year, to file the paperwork for the museum, and to blog professionally on dolls and related collectibles.


Dolls are the ultimate goodwill ambassadors of peace, and they are portraits of all of our moods and personals, both good and bad.  They are our history and tell our stories.  May we have a peaceful 2018, and a year devoted to the love of dolls and collecting. Merry Christmas!

From Mitsuwa Shopping Center Black Friday

Merry Christmas!