anniversary of death of my best friend, Mary, doll artist

"Pansy"

"Sissy"

"Walter & Petunia"

"Twins"


"Jazz">

Sunday, March 29th, was the anniversary of the death of my best friend, Mary. She was diagnosed with a fast growing glioblastoma multiforme, grade 4 on 911, had surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy and then passed away on Good Friday. Mary was a delightful and multi-talented artist who always saw the glass as half-full... and sometimes brimming over. She was also the original 'momma' of my darling Gertie. The first photo above was taken when she was in Germany selling her original sculpted dolls on HSN Germany. She's holding the factory version of her first doll, Lucinda. All the other dolls are some of her original sculpted dolls. The head, arms, and legs are porcelain and the bodies are cloth. An armature allows the dolls to be posed. Most of Mary's original dolls were about 24" tall and all were dressed in vintage/antique clothing which Mary altered and/or remade to fit them. She liked to present her dolls in vignettes suggesting a story and she loved having her dolls playing "dress-up" ("Jazz" was designed to be playing dress-up with one of the girls whose photo I can't find right now...).... and Mary just loved searching for all the little accessories that made her dolls unique.

Mary also made gorgeous reproductions of French and German antique dolls. I'll post some of those another day. It has been seven years since Mary died and I still miss her so much. She was truly a bright spot in my life and I'm lucky to have had her among my friends. I'm sure she and Gertie are in heaven with many squirrels for Gert to chase and flea markets and gardens for Mary to explore.

My Momma Didn't Buy Me Any Toys...

So... I grew up and bought my own. The first photo has the larger dolls... these are all German antique dolls... Kestner, Hoffmeister, and a few others. The small A&M doll (middle right side) is about 12" and is in her original condition including her pink gauze dress with cheap lace and trip. The dress is heavily sized (and would either disintegrate if washed or become a very limp piece with no body). The hat has been added. She likely had a huge hair bow when originally purchased. The body is a very grainy, rough compo. These dolls were cheaply made and it is difficult to find them in such pristine condition. She is not particularly valuable, but I love seeing her so fresh and new looking with her tiny paper "patent leather" shoes and her crispy clothing. The middle doll... blonde with no hat and a sort of 'baby face' is marked "Herzi". I've found very little information about her. She is about 18" tall on a toddler jointed compo body. The top far right doll is a Schoenau Hoffmeister, about 20" tall on a compo body. She wears her original faux fur cape and gold filled bar pin. My favorite is probably toward the bottom middle... a 12" Kestner 143 wearing her original fur trimmed wool bonnet.

In the px below the top two (red cape & blue sweater) are 10" celluloid. The next row ... all about 6-7" tall, porcelain heads and compo bodies. The front doll is all bisque... about 5" tall. All are German antiques.

The doll to the far left dressed in an off white dress with pink ribbon trim is a favorite. She has sleep eyes and a darling compo body. I bought her at an estate sale.

The small box, the pink ballerina doll shoe, and the doll potty all hold tiny china dolls... sometimes called 'bathing dolls' or 'frozen charlottes'.

These dolls are mostly reproductions of small antiques with a few original artist dolls. Sizes range from about 3-4" to 8".

Yet another favorite of mine! Old Santas! I don't care about the quality, rarity, or material... just smallish old Santas. This photo was shot from the side of a small display cabinet so not the best view.... and it is way too crowded. The Santas need a new home.

I made a few of the snowmen ... the snowmama with her twins and the snowman candy container (bottom right corner wearing burgundy hat).

The snowman at top right corner is an old whiskey advertising piece. The largest snowman in the middle top is a 1940s vintage animated piece with eyes & nose that light up. The smallish (abt 8") front row far right is a beer bottle from Germany. I have another collection of very small snowmen I'll share later.

Spent most of the week wrangling contractors and yard people... resulting in new french doors for the living room and bedroom plus a few new windows to make the french doors fit in the space where the old sliding glass doors stood. Also... new bathroom windows...clear glass... big change from the old frosted glass... and, best of all, with a mechanism for leaving the window open about six inches, but locked so it cannot be opened further. The old windows didn't have this plus I'd added very poorly fitting screens so the windows had to stay closed most of the time. It has been so nice to have open windows and cool breezes all weekend.

I also bought a new bottle tree.... made with welded rebar. It is much smaller than I'd like, but it is a start. I'm hoping it will grow into a big tree by summer's end... and I'll plant the seeds and have even more bottle trees.

PS... My mother did buy toys for me... just not very many... lol... and not the ones I wanted. When I was young girls still played with dolls... and for a long time. At age 13 she told me I was too old to have a doll. I wasn't.

first post!

I'm very new at this blogging thing... intended to start one for the past year at least... so... don't know exactly what my focus will be... probably antiques, crafts, and artsy-fartsy projects.

I've collected antiques for the past 40 years and am slowly downsizing. My main interest has been collecting antique dolls and related items. I intend to share my collection of vintage photos of children with their toys... mainly young girls with their antique dolls. If you're a doll collector you may have seen some of them in a series I published in The Doll Reader during the early 90s called "Little Mamas".

The slide show I posted today was sort of an experiment as I happened upon a tutorial showing how to set up a slide show and post it. In the future I intend to post related photos in slide shows.

The other thing I'd like to share is the loss of my darling dog, Gertie, early Christmas Eve day. Gertie was an almost 14 year old Australian Cattle dog and was a delight in every way. I'd never had a dog and had no idea one could love a little dog as much as I loved Gertie. I miss her every day and still think I hear her padding around the house sometimes. She loved hiding her toys and I am still coming across little items she'd hidden... a few paper towels here, a well-gnawed bone there, and here a little piece of a paper plate she'd carefully squirreled away to be enjoyed later no doubt. (She loved paper!) Gertie was extremely intelligent and well behaved. She was just a complete love... she never met a stranger and people seemed to really 'take' to her (it is possible that's my imagination though...).

Whatever. I miss her something terrible and wish we'd had a few more years together. I 'inherited' Gertie 7 years ago when my best friend, Mary Van Osdell, died. Gertie was seven at the time and she came to me quite spoiled. I am proud to say I kept the 'spoil' level at an acceptably high level... and enjoyed every moment of it. My last gift to this sweet soul is to make a mosaic urn for her ashes. I'll post photos.