I know a couple with a house full of collections.  To name a few, they have model cars, hats, tea cups, and tea pots.   Some people collect coins and stamps, while others collect rocks, butterflies, recipes and recipe books.  Who knows the rhyme or reason to what someone fancies?  Take dolls, for instance.  This blog will present some of the reasons many people collect dolls.

If a consensus were taken, I think that the most common reason is nostalgia.  The greatest number of collectors come to doll collecting because of a nostalgic memory of a childhood doll.  When I began collecting dolls after many years of buying them for my daughter and granddaughters, my first one was a baby doll that resembled the one I had as a child.

Some collect dolls for the love of history.  They love the historic place dolls hold in our culture from Vogue vintage dolls to the manufacture of bisque dolls in France and Germany in the 1800s.  These doll collectors will often narrow their collection to one time period, or of one artist they have studied and researched.  Some historic collectors are also interested in the history of fashion.  Some doll collectors become interested in costuming, which can encompass anything from fanciful fairy and literary costumes to baby doll and children’s play outfits.  People who like to sew are often drawn to this kind of doll collecting.

Dolls can also be collected for therapeutic reasons.  They can soothe a psychological need or an emotional void when there is a loss of a child, the inability to have a child, or retirement from a career dealing with children.  Doll collecting can often fill the void because dolls are representations of real people.  Often there’s a therapeutic value or connection with collectors of reborn baby dolls.

Finally, many collectors enjoy the decorative value of dolls.  They often collect Christmas antiques and ornaments as well as dolls.  Besides Christmas, dolls can be used to make visual statements and can be used to decorate homes.  A single dramatic doll may be a focal point in a home, or an entire room might be decorated with dolls.

Whatever the reason, doll collectors will agree that there’s no time like the present to start this wonderful hobby.  What are your reasons for collecting?

We invite you to leave a comment to express your thoughts.

Also, Follow Jeanine on Twitter: @JeaninesDolls

 Like the Doll Shop @ www.facebook.com/jeaninesdollshop

Judy Porter is another Made in America doll artist.  She has been sculpting for seven years.  Before that, she worked professionally as a caricature artist doing events and parties, commissioned portraits, and all types of commercial art.

In 2012 Judy spent some time working with her mentor Pat Moulton.  With Pat’s help, she sculpted her first ball jointed doll and created Sierra, the doll that won a 2012 DOTY Award.

Judy’s new doll collection celebrates the fun and imagination of childhood.  As a child who always loved art, she had a very vivid imagination that was supported by her loving family.  Her background as a caricature artist gives her dolls a unique dimension of cute impishness.  She says that the chunky feel of resin, which is beautifully done by Pat Moulton’s husband Garel, gives her bigger dolls “cuddle factor,” which means it’s a doll you just love to hold.

To view Judy’s dolls, go to Judy’s page on our website at http://www.jeaninesdollshop.com/doll-shop/judy-porter

We invite you to leave a comment to express your thoughts about dolls.

Also, Follow Jeanine on Twitter: @JeaninesDolls

 Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeaninesdollshop

We are happy to welcome World Renowned Doll Artist Pat Moulton to our website.  Pat has 30 years of sculpting experience.  She is an accomplished doll artist well recognized in the doll world, with many awards. I became acquainted with Pat when she sculpted for Middleton Doll Company.  At that time, the company headquarters was in Belpre, Ohio, and the dolls were manufactured there.  Middleton Doll was one of the last companies to move manufacturing overseas.

Pat started out doing adult portrait sculpts, moved on to sculpting children, and soon found her love of sculpting babies.  She was the first artist to create a newborn doll kit, and the first to create babies in silicone vinyl.  Pat is now very excited about her new venture of making Ball Jointed Dolls.  Her efforts have paid off by winning a Nomination for a Dolls Award of Excellence and a first place ribbon for her BJD at the 2009 Tiny Treasures show.  This year at IDEX 2013, Pat won 2 Industry Choice Awards.

Like many doll artists, Pat’s creativity is fed by her family.  She is the mother of three grown children, two girls and one boy.  She is also the proud grandmother of three boys and one girl.  Pat says, “they are the highlight of my life and at times have been the inspiration for my sculpts.”

Pat is proud to say that all she does is made in the USA.  .  She works side by side with her husband who makes the tools and casts the armatures, as well as casting her resin dolls.  Her husband also works for many other doll artists to bring their dolls to life in resin.

Please leave a message to welcome Pat to jeaninesdollshop.  Also, go to our Newest Arrivals at http://www.jeaninesdollshop.com/doll-shop/newest-arrivals to view her work.

Follow Jeanine on Twitter: @JeaninesDolls & Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeaninesdollshop

Once upon a time in America most business was home based.  Families had to produce what they needed to survive and surplus products were bartered to acquire goods that could not be made at home.  American dolls were made from materials such as corn husks, rags, and twigs that were available at home..  Compare the America of long ago with the America of today, where everything once made by hand is consolidated into mass manufacturing.  This blog begins to trace the complex history of doll making in America from the days of homemade beginnings to doll making as it is today.

As was pointed out in a recent blog, Martha Stewart described in her article titled ‘American Made’ Salutes Innovation’ that wherever her work or travels take her these days, she is discovering the resurgence of what she likes to call “doers.”  She is seeing like minded people who are setting up shops, developing new products, growing good foods, and making good things.”

Jeanine’s Doll Shop is evidence that in today’s America, there are many of us who want to follow the new American dream by becoming innovative doll doers.  Ours is a unique website for “doll doers,” i.e., those of us who are interested in dolls and the concept of dolls.

I invite you to become a part of this American dream by visiting jeaninesdollshop.com.  When you do, I invite you to take time to explore.  If you like what you see, connect with us by joining our mailing list and following us on Facebook.  Have fun!

Your comments are always welcome.

Artists At Work

In the words of Martha Stewart from a recent article titled American Made Salutes Innovation, doers are described as like minded people who are setting up shops, developing new products, growing good foods, and making good things.  Teddie Martin is a new friend of mine who fits this description.  I became acquainted with Teddie when I joined the Golden Isles Doll Club of St. Simons Island, Georgia, last year.  This doll club is one of many in Region 9 of the United Federation of Doll Clubs (UFDC).

Teddie is the creator of our newest product line, Unadorned Hats.  Here is an introduction into the mind and heart of yet another Doll Doer:

 One of the earliest photographs of Teddie Martin shows her in her bassinet holding a Sun Rubber doll.  That little doll began a life-long love of dolls that continues today.

She learned hat making at the feet of an aunt who worked as a millinerist in an upscale ladies store. She would visit as often as possible to watch as her Aunt Sissie and the other ladies in the back room of the hat department did their magic.

The hats she is offering here are mostly made from a vintage straw hat, probably from the 1940s. Teddie has left them unadorned for kind of a “do it yourself” project. Just add ribbons, flowers, feathers or lace to make your one-of-a kind chapeau for your doll.

To view these adorable unadorned hats, go to our Newest Arrivals at http://www.jeaninesdollshop.com/doll-shop/newest-arrivals

Follow Jeanine on Twitter: @JeaninesDolls & Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeaninesdollshop

Just For Fun

This blogs belongs to the category called Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

If a survey were taken, I would bet many of us could recite a favorite nursery rhyme.  Those of us who grew up being read to in childhood no doubt were introduced to rhyme and the rhythm of language by way of Mother Goose.  That is how it was for Beverly White, world renowned teddy bear artist of Happy Tymes Collectibles.  When Beverly was a child she was read to by her oldest sister who was like a mother to her.  Her sister would read endlessly to her brother and her from a 12 Volume collection of nursery rhymes, poems, and folktales that make up a collection of children’s books called My Book House.

When Beverly began her Happy Tymes business in 1984, she relived her happy memories of childhood by creating original six inch Nursery Rhyme Clothespin Dolls.  She drew her characters from the My Book House collection.  She created 15 original nursery rhyme and historic figures.  Each figure comes with the origination history of the nursery rhyme character.  Which is your favorite character?  Just for fun, go to Jeaninesdollshop.com and scroll to the bottom of the page to view the remaining charming characters from Bevs collection that are still available for purchase.  Also, please leave a comment to tell us a childhood memory of your favorite nursery rhyme.

Thanks for sharing, and have fun!

Follow Jeanine on Twitter: @JeaninesDolls & Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeaninesdollshop

In the same Martha Stewart spirit of discovering “doers,” this blog features a doer who is a friend of mine.  She is a world renowned teddy bear artist.  .  She began her Happy Tymes business in 1984.  At that time she was busy being a supportive wife and mother of five children (two sets of twins).  Being trained as a nurse, she was also still doing a little camp-nursing on the side.

When she started, she hoped to create a business that would be both personally and financially rewarding.  She began by creating her original and copyrighted six inch Clothespin Dolls.  A 12-Volume set of books called My Bookhouse provided the inspirational illustrations from which she drew her characters.  In her words, these characters “nostalgically drew me back to a happy time in my growing years.”

There were 15 original nursery rhyme and historical figures, made with jointed clothes pins.  They were numbered and signed and were sold in craft stores and at doll shows.  She created 190 of these 6-inch clothes-peg dolls from 1984 until 1990 when she made three bears to accompany Goldilocks.  At that time she became bear smitten, and has been making prize winning, world renown bears ever since.

Products offered on Jeanine’s Doll Shop are the outcome of personal friendships developed through my doll travels.  I first met Beverly at the 2011 IDEX show in Orlando, Florida.  More about doll friendships will come in later blogs.

We are honored to offer for purchase a few of Beverly’s remaining signed and numbered Clothespin Dolls.  To view and order these charming and original dolls, go to http://www.jeaninesdollshop.com and click on Newest Arrivals.  Keep in mind that our supply is very limited.

Please leave a comment on my twitter or FB page.

Follow Jeanine on Twitter: @JeaninesDolls & Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeaninesdollshop

An article by Martha Stewart recently appeared in USA Today titled ‘American Made’ salutes innovation. In the article, she described the process of how America, a land where everything was once made by hand, became a land where manufacturing consolidated the making of things.

Martha went on to say that wherever her work or travels take her these days, she is discovering the resurgence of what she likes to call “doers.” Doers are described as like minded people who are setting up shops, developing new products, growing good foods, and making good things.

I, too, am witness to the resurgence of doers in America. My friends are selling homemade baked goods at local farmers markets, making and selling their handmade products, and becoming internet entrepreneurs by their own creative efforts.

Launching a newly updated website is my way of becoming an innovative “doer.” Jeaninesdollshop.com is a unique place for “doll doers,” – i.e anyone interested in dolls and all things connected with them. I invite you to follow the progress of an American dream, as my website continues to unfold. To view, click on this link: http://www.jeaninesdollshop.com.,

Your comments are always welcome.

Follow Jeanine on Twitter: @JeaninesDolls & Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeaninesdollshop

It’s been awhile since my last blog because I’ve been waiting for the new change.

I’ll be moving to a new place called Jeanine’s Doll Shop soon.  Stay tuned for more doll talk, fun, and adventure.

These little Bo Bergemann dolls are waiting for Santa.  They are just as excited as I am about what’s to come!

Seeing is believing!  Have you seen how lifelike the August collection of Masterpiece dolls are?  At a glance, they can easily be mistaken for real life babies, and two to three year old toddlers.  Shopping for these lifelike dolls will take you to children’s clothing stores and thrift shops to purchase real clothes for these adorable life sized dolls. 

Take a look at their beautiful sculpted bodies and realistic hair, and see why they make all passersby do a double take.

To preview these very lifelike Masterpiece dolls, go to http://www.specialdollsonline.com/masterpiecedolls

P.S.  Feel free to leave a comment to tell us what you think.