The Mysterious Blue Doll

I had noticed a very blue Barbie type doll at the store. She was sitting on the shelf instead of being bagged (which meant that some dreadful child had unbagged her). She had a built-in bathing suit and a moon and stars on her front above the bathing suit in a necklace-like pattern and she had holes in her back where we figured she had had wings. She was there for a few days and then Auntie Berman came in, saw her and liked her, and we got her. We also noticed that her faced looked just like our friend (and my supervisor at the store) Miss T. (I like to disguise people's real names in this blog, to protect their innocence. Although to tell the truth, Mrs. Smith's name really is Mrs. Smith, a fact that amuses us so much that we call her that.)

Anyway, we brought the Blue Barbie home and tried to find out about her on the internet. She had 2006 Mattel on the back of her neck and on her lower back. I couldn't find anything about her very blue skin. Then this morning Auntie Berman called up and said she was no longer blue! I had to go over and see for myself. We began to doubt our collective sanity.

I googled some more and found Barbie Fairytopia dolls. Some of them, apparently, had hair that would turn different colors when wet. But what about her skin? I found a description of one that said she had blue skin and reminded the woman of a corpse.  This Barbie had had fairly dark blue skin. Then Auntie Berman said she (Blue Barbie) had been sitting in a dark corner, so maybe sunlight had something to do with it. I decided to experiment.

After half an hour in the sun, I decided she wasn't going to Turn. I decided to try the Water Test next.

Not a pretty picture but I had to weigh her down with something. So far, no results.

Here is a picture of her trying to look normal.

I guess I'll have to write to Mattel.

Meanwhile, we had a very good thrifting day yesterday.  At Easter Seals I found a brand-new-in-the-package American Girl raincoat for Lorraine.

Fortunately it's fairly warm out, since Lorraine still has no shoes. American Girl doll shoes are supposed to fit, but I've found that her feet are too fat for them.

Last week I found a wonderful red-haired doll at work. As a person of formerly red hair, I am usually disappointed by dolls with red hair. They are either a fakey red or the doll is ugly. But this doll, who turned out to be Kim Possible (a secret agent cartoon character) was cute and had reasonably real red hair. She has bendy legs and an impossibly small waist and she is 10 inches tall. The thing on her arm is her kimmunicator.

I made her a skirt. Her kimmunicator comes off but I'm afraid I'll lose it so that's why she's still wearing it.

I suppose Auntie Berman is going to rave on about how she kindly picked me up from work that night and had to wait an hour and she desperately needed to use the facilities and finally I brought this doll over to the window and held it up and she was thrilled and then I finally came out and offered her the doll and then quickly said that I really wanted her for myself and I was only asking to be polite.

And now I must get back to sewing for all my dolls. I forgot to mention that we found another 4-Ever Best Friends doll at Easter Seal and got her and then Auntie Berman didn't really want her, so now I have two. So I decided they are twin sisters who have been reunited after being sent to different orphanages. We also seemed to have picked up more Moxie Girlzr. Two of them we got just for their feet, but of course I can't just get rid of them because they're footless and I don't want them. I am going to experiment with their hair, which is pretty snarled up. I guess we can always use them for parts.

MGA Dolls: Moxies and 4-Ever Best Friends

I got the 4-Ever BF doll last summer. I thought she was very different and very cute. I didn't know who she was and emailed the MGA people, who kindly identified her for me. I named her Jade.

"I just hate posing like this."

It's okay. Dolls are used to being photographed naked. They don't really mind. She is 9 1/2 inches tall and doesn't really "go" with any of my other dolls. I had fun dressing her in various outfits I already had. Here I made her pose barefoot in the snow in December.

"Right! I don't feel a thing."

This was a black felt skirt and top with a sailor hat.

"A snap instead of a pin would have been nice. And ribbons on the hat.
But I'm not complaining because I was naked for so long."

I introduced her to some of my other dolls but she wasn't very impressed. Here she is talking to her cousin Mimsi (Auntie Berman's Pottery Barn doll).

"Grown-ups sure are weird!"

One of my little doll's Indian outfit was just the right size, surprisingly.

Jade and Alouette get along surprisingly well together,
considering the difference in their backgrounds.

Then last week at the store, I noticed some of the bagged-up dolls. At first I thought they were Bratz dolls, which I think are hideously ugly with their oversized heads and slutty-girl makeup. But these were nice looking, normal-sized head dolls. The only bad thing about them is that their feet come off and most of the ones we get in the store don't have feet.

The brunette had two feet when I got her. She was in a bag with a Barbie and I traded the Barbie with another blonde Moxie in another bag (which also contained a Barbie), and somehow a foot got lost along the way. I got that blonde for Auntie Berman (who is going to turn her into I Dream of Jeannie) and later we decided we each wanted a blonde and a brunette, and Mrs. Smith wanted one too, so we all went back and I asked about the foot but apparently it was irretrievably lost and gone forever. We each ended up with two dolls. Mrs. Smith found a two-doll Bratz carrying case in the purse section of the store and was quite pleased with herself.

Jade and her two new sisters.

The blonde's hair was very long and very snarled. I soaked her hair in fabric softener overnight (after googling "untangle doll hair") but it was still quite a mess, so I cut it. Auntie Berman and Mrs. Smith watched in horror as I chopped away and both were amazed that I did such a good job. Auntie Berman's dark-haired Moxie has even worse hair and I am soaking her head right now.

Today Mrs. Smith came over and somehow in the conversation she said something like "I have two dolls and I'm not getting any more." Auntie Berman and I laughed and laughed. We assured her that she would. She said "Wanta bet?" and we said yes, but she never specified what the bet was.

A few minutes later she came inside and saw my little Julia doll (see http://dollieswithholesintheirstockings.blogspot.com/ ) and said "I think I'll start collecting some of these little dolls, because I had to take the ones I had back to my mom. So I asked her if she wanted Julia, because I hadn't gotten attached to her yet and she said sure.

It wasn't until she was heading for the gate that I said "You lost the bet!" She tried to claim I had tricked her, but I really hadn't. It wasn't like we went out and bought a doll and gave it to her, specifically so she'd lose the bet. It had all happened naturally and in less than 15 minutes from the time she had said she wasn't getting any more dolls.

Head Transplant and a New MGA Doll

Auntie Berman had a Queen Amidala doll from a thrift shop, but since we are fascinated by articulated dolls, she wanted QA to have an articulated body. After googling and reading about "Remove Barbie Head" I felt qualified to do the job. I found an articulated body Barbie at work.

Now, my little pretty, you are going to lose your head.

I turned the blow dryer on her neck for a while and using a small flat screwdriver, pried the head hook out. You have to look closely to see the brown hook coming out of her neck.

Don't worry. She didn't feel a thing.

Now Queen Amidala has a different, more difficult hook and I considered just snipping the hook with wire cutters or something, but then the poor Barbie wouldn't have a body. So with perseverence and using the blow dryer again, I got the hook out and switched heads. This is kind of a blurry picture but it's the best I could do.

Look, Your Majesty, you can move your elbows, wrists, chest, and ankles!

I put clothes on the Barbie's new body. I don't know what I'll do with her. Maybe practice face painting.

Good as new!

Barbie's body is a little more well developed than QA's, so the dress was kind of a tight fit around the top.

A few days ago I saw a very pretty MGA doll at work and had to get her. She is an Addison from the BFC Ink dolls. She has a slightly different body style than the MGA 4-Ever Best Friends, but I think she and Jade will be have fun together.

Jade and the Addison doll.

I'd better start making more clothes.