Another Little Darling

Browsing eBay this afternoon, I found this Little Darling listing just about ready to expire without a bid, so I placed one and won. I have no idea what these UFDC Convention dolls sold for back in 2014, so I'm curious to find out if I have spent too much, or have been lucky enough to have found myself a nice little bargain.

Seller's photo

I doubt very much if this Ana (Little Darling #2) lookalike was hand painted by any reputable artist and assume most Convention dolls would be mass produced, but she's very pretty and will make a great friend for my Cassandra (Little Darling #1).

Seller's photo

Nevertheless she comes complete with all accessories and should be arriving very soon, as she only has to travel from Queensland. There's a bonus there, low shipping costs! I shall post more photos when she arrives.

P.S. I was correct in my thinking, the Convention dolls are factory painted and touched up by The Doll Dreamers' Guild Artists.

Behind the Times

Sometimes I think I'm always the last to know, but I guess with the world as it is today, this would have hardly made world wide headlines.

While researching the history of the 2020 release of the Ruby Red's Fashion Friends, I was saddened to discover that the wonderful and brilliantly talented artist Dianna Effner, who sculpted them and the ever popular Little Darling dolls, had passed away on October 14th last year due to cancer, at the age of 75. 

If you haven't read it already, you can read the Dolls Magazine article here.

I'm assuming the Fashion Friends Sara, is the same sculpt as the 19" American Kidz portrait #1 which was originally made in porcelain with the choice of a cloth body or the "All Porcelain Body", which later, also became the face of the 18" Keepsake Playmate doll shown below.

Photo: Studio Doll Pro (Keepsake Playmate)

Photo: Expressions (American Kidz portrait #1)

Photo: Expressions (American Kidz portrait #1)

Photo: Expressions (American Kidz portrait #1)

I'm really glad now that I have kept all my Dianna Effner sculpted dolls, I don't have many, but I'm grateful for those I have and will be happy to welcome the two currently on their way.

My 13" Little Darling with face by Joyce Mathews

My 8" porcelain Doll Show find

And Jamie my 20" Maru & Friends doll

Christmas Came Early at Our House

My tiny dolls have very little patience, I think they take after me! LOL! So when some of them saw the presents under the tree this morning, they thought Santa had come early and NOW was the right time for them to open all of their presents. Fortunately, I managed to stop them before they opened the lot. I told them they could each open just one present and the rest will have to stay under the tree until the proper day. :)

From left to right: 8 " porcelain Dianna Effner doll, Fairyland Puki Fee, PetWORKs Ruruko, 7" Helen Kish Riley.

I shall be back before the New Year with this year's roundup. In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas with your families. I hope you all receive what you wished for.

Big hugs,

X

Cassandra Arrived!

Yes, she's here and she's all mine! 😁 This doll was really worth waiting for. You may notice her left brow is slightly lower than the her right, but I quite like that she's a little asymmetrical, after all, humans are that way IRL.

Who said a redhead can't wear pink? I knitted the outfit for her while I waited and am pleased it fitted her so well.

She also has another outfit almost done, just have to sew up the cardi and add buttons. :)

Hope you are all having a lovely dolly week!

Hugs,

X

Seduced

In November of 2016, I discovered Dianna Effner's 13" Little Darling dolls. Normally, I wouldn't have paid a great deal of time looking at vinyl dolls after being an avid BJD collector and accumulating eighty of them over the past few years. Yet, when I saw them on the internet I felt such a strong attraction to these dolls and continued to Google them.

I soon learned that although Dianna had sculpted the original dolls and hand painted the vinyl dolls faces, there were other artists trained by Dianna, who also painted them. As I continued to search I soon found which dolls I thought I wanted to own, but it was going to take a long time to bring any of them home.

Dianna was not taking orders at the time and from all indications the wait for one of her dolls would drive me to distraction, and should one come up on her website, the price would be way beyond what I would be prepared to pay for a vinyl doll, no matter how good it was or who painted it.

I almost went ahead with this doll (a #1sculpt), but the wait was just far too long, so long in fact I figured I'd probably not be around to enjoy her.

This is another that I would have loved to bring home . . . a #2,

and this #3 one too, but alas such is life. I'll just admire them from afar and enjoy the dolls I have. :) 

And for something a little different . . .

. . . here's a couple of recent arrivals in new cardigans that I knitted. :)

Dianna Effner Penny

I attended a doll show this morning and found this little cutie sitting naked on a table. Fell for the face immediately and brought her home. She is made of porcelain and has a hand painted face.

I have dressed her in what I had on hand that fitted her, but I will make her an outfit of her very own down the track . . . maybe a Jane Austen period costume . . . what do you think?

Got quite a bit on this weekend, so I'll catch up on reading your blogs on Monday . . . hope you are having a good one!

Happy Days!

I received this beautiful doll yesterday, she was the doll I selected to replace the pre-order doll I cancelled and I am extremely happy with her. She is a 52cm, second edition Jamie, sculpted by Dianna Effner for "Maru and Friends" and the tallest of all my vinyl dolls.

When I opened her box, she was held in place with white satin ribbons and wore a hairnet over her hair. A certificate of authenticity was included, along with the story book about Maru and the friends she makes when she arrives in America.

The clothes she is wearing came with her and are extremely well made, they include underpants, boots, slacks, top and a jacket which is quilted and fully lined, just like a jacket we would wear ourselves.

She is so pretty I am tempted to add another of these dolls . . . but not for a little while yet. :)