Danielle took a couple of days off to rest after the Daddy/Daughter dance. She didn't realize how exhausted she was from coordinating that whole production. She also wanted to do something special for the boys, since she hadn't spent much time with them lately.
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I always try to do research when I am working on something new to me. I discovered that there are way too many dinosaurs! I identified quite a few of the ones I had, but couldn't figure some of them out. It was pretty comical.
Video Outtakes
I had to include a couple of outtakes from this video. I can not begin to tell you how many times I had to pick up these kids. I felt like I was in a bowling alley. There would be one that would fall, and then knock everyone over.
Special thanks to Ms. Leo for the blog post on swapping heads from the little kids onto the big kid bodies. My new big Tommy needs bigger clothes and a haircut, but he loves his new big body.
They are just too cute!
ReplyDeleteVanessa, you are a ball of energy putting all the photo shoots and the video out in the last few days. Do you ever sleep? LOL
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the next chapter in the Danielle and Rod love story!
Too cute! Another great story, pictures, and dialogue.
ReplyDeleteUntil I began watching your videos that feature Lisa, I hated the Asha sculpt because of its overuse. Mattel has a tendency to introduce a new face and use it for what seems like forever.
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To everyone, I just posted a couple of outtake pictures for the video.
ReplyDeleteFrannie - What's sleep? I don't do much of that, and I sleep with my computer so I can roll over in the middle of the night and work.
DBG - You mean like the Desiree mold? I think the Asha mold came out when I wasn't really doing Barbies, because I don't recognize that sculpt so readily.
Frannie - Oh I forgot to mention, I also made a new sofa this week.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed the outtakes. Not sure if they were there when I posted originally. They are hilarious!
ReplyDeleteWhile watching the video, I wondered, "How does she get those dolls to stand without stands?"
Yes, Asha was overused as much as Desiree. In the 80s and well into the 90s Mattel overused the square Christie face for dark skinned Barbie/Christie. I still hate that face.
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Vanessa, it's fun to know, that different doll collectors from different countries have the same ideas. I never read Ms. Leo's blog and I'm not very fond of head swapping, but I like to discuss dolls, especially doll kids and doll families with my friend Julia, also a Russian doll collector. A couple of weeks ago she said that it would be very nice to have boys of Chelsea size, and I said that it could be possible just to put Tommy heads on Chelsea/SiS bodies. Now I see that I was not the only person who thought about it. :)
ReplyDeleteDBG - No the outtakes weren't in the original post. I had meant to add them, but totally forgot. One of those kids would fall and it was like dominoes or bowling. The first pic shows my strike. Most of the kids are pretty stable and stand fine without stands, especially the SIS dolls. But for the Asian doll and the redhead the legs only move back and forth. There's no side action which makes it hard to keep them standing.
ReplyDeleteDukasha - I personally had never thought about changing out the kid heads, until I saw the blog post. But it is a pretty ingenious idea. That would be a way around those colored legs, too. It also helps if you want to have your kids have birthdays and get older. So you, too, had an ingenious idea.
ReplyDeleteEaster Chelseas' colored legs are also a problem for me and I thought about head swapping to get rid of them right after I had seen those legs on somebody's Flickr photos. But that was an idea about swapping heads from Chelsea doll onto another Chelsea doll's body without chanhing their height. I also did that with Kelly dolls earlier to make some of them more movable. And swapping heads from small kids onto the Chelsea/SiS bodies is something new. Yes, my kids (at least some of them) get older and I just begin to use other dolls for them, but too often I can't find the needed doll, because it doesn't exist. You know, that I also like black dolls, especially kids, but Mattel doesn't produce many of them. Or, well, there are girls, rather many of them, but boys are rare, especially older boys, not Tommies. I always thought that it would be nice to have a black boy of SiS size, but with a darker skin. I like Julian, but his skin color is too light. And this swapping heads idea allows us to get such a boy. I think, it is great. Though it would be even greater if Mattel produces such boys with different skin colors and we don't need any head swapping at all...
ReplyDeleteDukasha - I am really hoping that Stacy McBride-Irby's new company, One World Project, will fulfill some of our desires for lots of boys and more men. I know she is starting with "Prettie Girls", but I can't imagine they don't have boys planned, too. I am no longer looking to Mattel to produce the dolls we want. Clearly their corporate mission/vision statement does not include dolls of color being a major part of their ocmpany. In our great land of talented people, there has to be someone(s) who wants to produce dolls of color. Maybe I should go talk to the local Chinese business people about the business potential. They seem to know how to get things done. If I was passionate about it, I would do it myself. I think approaching an art/design student about the idea could possibly work too. Look at where Jason Wu started and look where he is today. There are many ways to get it done. There are billions of people in this world. Mattel is just one company, who never promised us anything.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mattel is just one company and there are many other companies, making beautiful dolls, but usually, when somebody needs doll kids 1:6 for doll families and doll photo stories, he/she uses Mattel dolls, because other companies usually make adult fashion dolls, not kids. Well, there are non-Mattel doll kids and teens 1:6, especially the Kelly-sized ones. All those Evi Love and their little siblings, Cici and their little siblings, Paola, BabyWorld, Kid Kore Jodi, Takara little kids, Kurhn little kids, Momoko Mame, OHC little kids and many-many others. I like them, I collect them, I have many of them. Some of those dolls have black versions. I also like Stacie sized kids, and there are non-Mattel black dolls of this size (Kid Kore Katie, JPI dolls). There are also black teen and pre-teen dolls (BFC Calista, OHC dolls, Juku Couture Kana, maybe some Licca dolls). Yes, they all do exist and I have many of them. But I never heard of a company, who's doll kids (not only black, but kids in general) were really better than Mattel ones. Well, I agree, that some of them are better in some aspects or how to name this... I mean that small BJD or Obitsu dolls are more movable, others can have interesting faces, or unusual size, or eye and hair color, or something else, that Mattel dolls don't have. But Mattel kids in general are so beautiful, so various in size and look, that no other company with it's doll kids can offer something equivalent. Even if we speak about black kids only, the situation is the same. There are no many Mattel black doll kids, but any other company has much less. Besides, non-Mattel doll kids don't always look good in Barbie families and Mattel kids always do. That's why I'd still prefer that Mattel makes new black kids one day. But maybe you are right and Mattel is not the company that can realize our dreams... It would be wonderful, if some other company begins to make beautiful black dolls 1:6, including kids of all sizes/ages (especially boys) and black men of course. It would be even more wonderful if their men don't have those smiles, which I'm so tired of in Mattel black male dolls, and if all their dolls are movable and don't have other defects: colored legs or other body parts, molded shoes or something like that. It would be absolutely great if those dolls look good with our black Mattel dolls, because I like them and still want to have them also. But do you think all these things are possible? it seems to me it looks like a miracle. :)
ReplyDeleteDukasha - You are definitely the connossoir when it comes to fashion doll kids and teens. I am thinking outside the box and hoping that a new company, (maybe OWP) will start producing fashion doll kids, too. Mattel kids are cute, but the AA ones, particularly the girls can be much better. I would like to see some with some more realistic hair. Mattel won't start producing more AA dolls unless there is another company giving them competition. That's how they operate.
ReplyDeleteI'm late to the party again but I wanted to add my two cents about non-Mattel dolls. In the early days before Mattel became a big corporation, they had an excellent record of hiring women and people of color. They were ground-breaking in their introduction of Francie, Barbie's colored cousin, and in producing the Julia doll based on the TV character. They made a serious effort to give Christie and Brad distinctly African American features and, as Black Doll Enthusiast has pointed out in her excellent posts on Shindana Toys, Mattel was also instrumental in helping this black owned toy company get off the ground. It is a shame that they have moved so far away from their original efforts to offer dolls that provided a positive image of people of color. This is one of the reasons you don't see many Mattel dolls in my photo stories. By using off-brand dolls, I also get a wider variety of faces.
ReplyDeleteAside from the rant, I really enjoyed the video. I think I recognize some of the dinosaur fossils from Dollar Tree. I bought a bunch of those too but I was thinking more along the lines of catacombs. I love the museum scene. Keep 'em coming!
limbe dolls - Thanks for the history lesson. Mattel has definitely done a 180. I am still wondering where the new Stacy and Todd dolls are. Does Mattel think that since they have the SIS line they no longer need to produce the other AA kids?
ReplyDeleteYou are right the dinosaurs are from $1 tree. I was looking at buying a coloring book for Jacob and I thought he would like dinosaurs. Then when I saw all the dinosaurs I got the idea to do the museum. I always watch the kids show "Dinosaur Train. Dinosaur train. We're gonna ride, ride, riiddddee, the dinosaur train." Oops forgive, me I just broke out singing the theme song.
WOW! You beat me to it! I had been working on something like this for about a week. I just got a chance to look at other blogs today. Now I'll have to change mine. Yours look really good! You Go girl!
ReplyDeleteChiming in late..LOL. I have a lot of the darker skinned Kelly & friends from the 90's. Somewhere along the line they all started getting lighter. I love that w/the SIS line they are giving us options again. I wish for some articulation in these dolls. I have a couple of the dolls with the textured hair. My fave is a OOAK. Now I'm going to have to do an entry on my kids..LOL.
ReplyDeleteI have kids from all different doll lines. If I like I buy. I haven't found very many clones that are cute enough to keep. I may have stolen an outfit or 2 and donated or thrown away the doll.
Love the video and the outtakes as well.
Ms. Leo - So you were doing something with dinosaurs? That is wild! Now I am curious as to what you were doing.
ReplyDeleteDollz4Moi - I can't wait to see your kids. Yes, some articulation on the kids would be awesome. I am like you as far as mixing the lines. I think it adds a sense of realism, because in real life we all don't look the same. I know a lot of people don't like the soft bodies of the Only Heart Kids, but I love having them in my line. The ability to pose these dolls in realistic positions far outweighs the negative of the soft bodies. The Obitsu bodies are great for articulation but they look terrible with all those joints. Not to mention they don't have any of color at the moment. I have lots of dark skinned Kellys still boxed. I have some cute clones. But truth be told, I just have way too many little kids. They can't all make the stories.
ReplyDeleteVery nice Vanessa! I especially love how you use kids in your stories and videos. I have never deboxed a little one.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia Girl - The kids rule in my house. It's pretty amazing that I don't have any, considering how big a part they have always played in my life.
ReplyDeleteI'm late on this one, trying to get caught up again. LOL
ReplyDeleteGreat looking museum! The kids are soooo cute. :)
Danielle is so pretty...I love her hair down. I've been coveting her hair over my Fashion Fever Kayla mostly because of the bangs. My Lea's hair is so thick it's a little hard to work with.
Great video!
Tracy - I was so happy to be able to wash and condition her hair in a way to get it to look good down. Months ago when I had her hair down, I didn't like it at all. This time the shampoo gave her hair a little more body. Funny, I was liking your Lea because she didn't have bangs. LOL. We are just never satisfied.
ReplyDeleteYou are almost caught up.... one more to go. Better hurry up, I'm planning to shoot another real soon. LOL.