August, 2019
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Is You Is, Or Is You Ain’t?
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Sometimes newly arrived lost dolls know exactly what they’d like to be. Such was the case with this particular O.L.D. She breezed through the door in the friendliest manner, barely able to contain her laughter.
“Can I be a Bee Charmer?” she said after a quick hello. “Get it? I’m a Miss Charming doll! So, a bee charmer! What could be better?”
What an excellent idea!
Thus begins the description for Hazel Twigg No. 126, Izzy the Bee Charmer. You can see her adoption page HERE.
Izzy is an 18″ all composition “Miss Charming” doll manufactured by the Eegee Goldberger Company to compete with Shirley Temple.
Our girl arrived in pretty rough shape. She needed a really good cleaning, as most lost dolls do, and while her face was very pretty, her body and limbs were really rough, with lots of chipping, lifting and missing composition from the seams.
I practically had to repaint her entire body after removing the lifted top layer, filling it with epoxy, and then sanding it smooth-ish. I didn’t want to take off her entire layer of skin!
She was supposed to be my first doll back after a bit of a summer drought. “The next doll will be CHARMING!” I crowed on my Facebook page. But my first repaint failed. Everything was decidedly too dark, and my original idea for her was giving me a stupor of thought. I set her aside and went with the Patriotic Summer Drummer instead.
When I get into a “stupor of thought,” I know I have to switch gears. I was originally going to go with an image I found entitled “The Bee Charmer” when searching for inspiration. It would be hard to capture the moody and beautiful atmosphere, and that style of dress didn’t really suit this Miss Charming. I could have used a different doll, but that would defeat the whole idea! I decided that Izzy looked more like a country girl.
When it was finally Izzy’s turn again, I rolled up my sleeves and re-tackled her repair work. Is it perfect? Nope! Sturdy? Yep! The first thing you’d notice? Nope! Then, let’s get GOING. Because Mama’s Got A “New” Sewing Machine!
I found it at a thrift store for $10. It’s a very heavy, all metal Singer Model 223 from 1956. AND it has zig-zag! I could do buttonholes if I really, really wanted to, and jeans and overalls have zig-zagged seams! EXCELLENT. And to think, I almost didn’t get it. My wee sister Julie encouraged me to, bless her.
These overalls are as close to perfect as I can get them. They’d better be! They took a lot of thought and two plus days to make. For a little pair of overalls! But they have five functioning pockets. I even made the metal hook thingies for the buttons on the bib from one of those lawn flags.
The bees are made of pipe cleaners and cotton pompoms. 
The netting is removable, so she can just wear the hat. 
I added a kerchief option, because she had a lot of florals… 
…and I wanted to introduce some plaid.
A little metal bee I found in my stash for her big main pocket, a little bottle of honey my sister had gotten me weeks before when she heard I was doing a bee charmer, a little bucket and voila! Izzy the Bee Charmer was ready to go. That is, after a little sanding. I sanded the little leather boots I made, as well as the jeans. I didn’t want her looking too new.
Izzy is our last girl of summer. Can you believe the end is nigh? Yesterday I saw a flock of geese flying south! Already! Speaking of geese, one of them will come into play for my next girl if I can figure out how to make it work. It’s going to involve an illusion. Oh, you’ll see…
Hazel Twigg No. 125 Back-to-School Eddy was adopted by Adele M. of Castroville, Texas! She has two of the previous three Kewpies for a total of I think six Hazel Twiggs in all. THANK YOU, Adele!
And with that, I leave you! Get your wearing of white out of the way, Labor Day will be here soon. In the meantime, you’re my favorite!
While You Were Sleeping…
It has been my observation that as a rule, Kewpies are not very talkative. In fact, they make very little noise at all. Perhaps it’s the way their mouths are painted. But THIS Kewpie was an exception.
In our entryway we have a large mirror. When the lost dolls first enter the hideaway they are of course very curious to see themselves. Wouldn’t you be after decades spent asleep? Well! The minute this fellow looked in the mirror he shrieked and started vigorously rubbing his starfish hands across his mouth. He then quickly removed the cute crochet outfit with the pink pow he’d arrived in and kicked it off to one side, grabbing a stray sock on the floor and hastily tying it around his chubby waist.
“What on earth is wrong?!” I asked.
“I’m not a girl!” he said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he added sheepishly, upon viewing all the solely female faces around him.
I laughed and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll soon have you put to rights. I’ve been waiting for you…”
Thus begins the description for Hazel Twigg O.L.D. (Once-Loved Doll) No. 125 Eddy, also known as “Mr. C.” to his students. You can see his adoption page HERE. Eddy is a composition Kewpie doll.
There’s no telling what can happen to a doll once it’s little human has outgrown childhood and the doll falls into a deep sleep. Some well-meaning grandmother might take it upon herself to redo said doll’s face and crochet a little outfit for them. Well, he’s awake now and back to “himself.”
Eddy is based on one of the best men I know. He’s married to my sister Carol’s daughter Rhiannon. My Nephew-in-law…? And definitely a welcome addition to our family. It’s one thing to excel when your childhood is perfect. Quite another to become an exceptional funny, kind and hard-working human being when you face challenges early in life, as our Eddy did. He’s a great dad, husband, nephew, teacher, and friend. And now he’s a great principal. Who better to dedicate an O.L.D. to?
Eddy is No. 4 in the “Daily Heroes” series.
The Mail Carrier 
The Police Officer 
The Fire Fighter 
…and now, The Teacher
It occurs to me that it takes a village sometimes to put these O.L.D. dolls together. I wish I could remember who gave me the little baggie of teacher pins that inspired me to one day do a teacher. Because basically there’s no real “costume” for a teacher, a teacher is pretty much a neatly dressed human being that does great things. The pins would be just the thing to define this particular doll as a Teacher.
For the books I used little old savings account booklets from our local bank after it was sold and they became obsolete. Old stock was brought up from the basement. Savings books, pens, pencils…
I grabbed some of each, but thought, “Well, I guess I could do a banker maybe?” Never realizing that these nifty little old books were the perfect size for dolls! And that if you find images you like and have a great friend named Jennifer T. with an fancy printer, you could paint said books, decoupage the little nifty prints on them, and voila! You have a doll-sized book of any kind that you can imagine. Why, oh WHY didn’t I grab more?!
My neighbor CC gives me old clothes she no longer wants that are made up of great fabric. A faux suede jacket she recently gave me made up the buttons and collar of Eddy’s jacket.
Not knowing exactly where to put those pins on our dear teacher, I was going to make some kind of sash. It was my mother that suggested I put them on the strap of the satchel when I told her I was planning on making one. I was going to base the satchel on my dad’s old briefcase, the one with a hard front and back and curved top and the accordion sides and bottom.
“Why don’t you just put the pins on the strap?” my mom suggested helpfully.
Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? I made the strap a little wider to accommodate said pins. Thanks, Mom!
And a big “Thank You” to all the teachers and principals out there, especially at this time of year!
Recently a dear friend-I’ve-never-met (yet!) sent me a picture of all her Hazel Twigg dolls standing side by side together.
So fun to see O.L.D. faces again. Feel free to send pictures of your Hazel Twigg doll in her new natural habitat, whether it’s one or many!
That same friend, we shall call her Janey J. of Oakland, California for that is her name, now has another Hazel Twigg joining her. Flossie the Summer Drummer is already there and has been welcomed by many open arms. Thank you, dear Janey!
And with that, I leave you! Happy Back-to-School season, you’re my favorite! You are my village.
It’s Only A Flesh Wound!
Over the years, we’ve had all sorts of knocks at our front door when it comes to the Once-Loved Dolls. Shy ones, eager ones, soft ones…So I KNOW my knocks!
But this one I confess scared me a little. It made me jump! Because I could tell this was not a knock. Someone was kicking at the door! And they sounded almost…angry. Still. I’m much bigger than they are. I flung open the door to give our latest O.L.D. what for, when to my surprise I saw the jolliest face I’d seen in a long time! Then I started laughing. She wasn’t angry, she was excited!
I was right about the kick, however. As with most dolls that started out with magic skin arms, the “magic” had long since disintegrated…
Thus begins the description for doll No. 124, “Flossie the Patriotic Summer Drummer.” You can see her description HERE.
“Flossie” is this doll’s given name straight from the manufacturer. The Ideal Toy company made her, and although she is not marked, her face is unmistakable. She measures 18″ tall.
I love Flossie Flirts! So named because not only do their eyes sleep, they move side to side. In addition to these flirty eyes, many of the Flossies had a new feature: soft rubber, aka “Magic Skin” arms and sometimes even legs.
Think of it! For the first time, dolls had limbs that weren’t hard and unyielding, these you could actually squeeze! They were soft, and you could bend them! I remember my mother telling me about how exciting it was when she and her sisters received dolls with this wonderful new skin that felt so real.
Unfortunately, the new skin didn’t age well. The rubber would either shrivel or disintegrate, so frequently in this day and age, if you’re lucky enough to get a sweet Flossie Flirt, nine times out of ten she’ll have arms and occasionally legs that are misshapen or missing altogether. Such was the case with our Flossie. Hence the kicking at the door. It’s hard to knock when you don’t have any arms!
Thank goodness for the Givers! I found a pair of arms for Flossie that would do.
Since she now had arms, by golly Flossie wanted to use them! What better way than as a drummer? Since it’s summer, why not a Patriotic one? Thus the “Patriotic Summer Drummer” was born. And she has arms that, while they’re not squishy or bendable, will last her a very, very long time.
Fortuitously, HyVee had a “Summer Snack Sale!” Flossie’s drums are made from the bottoms of three Pringles potato chip cans. Urp. How I suffer for my art…
Finally! My first dip back into the pool after a bit of an absence. Summer’s almost over, school’s about to begin again. I’m swimming in earnest now, just you wait!
Many moons ago there was a Flapper named Marilyn. She has already spent a languid summer in Portola Valley, California by now and I’m sure feels very much at home with our dear friend Linda L. Thank you so much, Linda!!
And with that, I leave you! I love you like I love fall! HARK! Is that a hint of yellow in the leaves? No? Not quite yet? Well, it’s coming! You’re my favorite!
D5 Creation