Here is somewhere fantastic to visit next time you are in Danville, Kentucky. The Great American Dollhouse Museum opened in October 2008, and features an immense and beautiful international collection of doll houses and miniatures, and a playroom for children's play. More reason to travel...
Slumdog Millionaire won a slew of Oscars(tm) and other awards this last awards season. In honor of that both disturbing and uplifting film, here are some websites about Indian dolls.
For a very wordy site, but still interesting information try here. There is a bulleted list if you scroll down, that turns out to be links to more pages, only without the usual underlining. As an aside, this site is a great example of how to make a hard to navigate website, a what-to-avoid if you will. I had to be really determined to peruse all the content. But if you were interested in some fine detail about regional traditional doll and toy crafting in India....
Might be easier just to get a book or two.
Cynthia Davis's doll workshop is mentioned on the blog of doll artist Sherry Burton Ways, who also has a website for her doll making venture, Sankofa Doll Artistry. Sherry makes vivid OOAK mixed media and cloth dolls in the spirit doll genre.
We have one of the golden statuettes living happily in our house standing on one of the few horizontal surfaces that is tall enough for it amongst a bright crowd of my daughter's collection. It was awarded to my late father-in-law, James Coburn. The Academy allows heirs to inherit the statues, but they can't be sold unless they are offered to the Academy first for $1. Not that we would ever, ever want to sell this. It's a long story, but my husband has very few things that were his father's, even fewer that were meaningful and not just "stuff". This is one of the very special things.
As a figure sculpt, they have very clean lines, and a sense of timelessness. The original design was drawn by Cedric Gibbons, art director at MGM at the time, and the original sculpt by Los Angeles artist, George Stanley (here's more of his work in the Moderne style of the time). 
Ute Vasina makes unique trolls and dolls from cloth with a lot of personality in their needle sculpted faces. On her website she offers fabrics, eyes, hair, patterns and CD's for sale, as well as showing several free patterns for pin dolls. She will presenting some workshops at AFIC in May.
Jodi and Richard Creager collaborate to make beautifully detailed OOAK figures and miniatures. They have been doing this for over thirty years! What a wonderful partnership. What a wonderful life. 
Teresa Thompson in the UK makes historically costumed miniature figures in 1/12 or 1/8 scale that display her comprehensive knowledge of clothing through history. The dolls are fabric over a wire armature and many of the fabrics are vintage and repurposed. When you visit the site be sure to click on the "My Dolls House" link and scroll around...especially if you happen to be a member of Doll Street Dreamers and participating in the Discworld challenge.
I'd love to be able to name the artist behind these small (8-9 inch) wire jointed polymer clay dolls, but I can't find any name but "Dollings" . Many of them have a bleak outlook on life, that doesn't stop them being beautiful. We need pessimists in the world too, as well as happy little bunnies. So many of Shakespeare's great heroines came to sorry ends.
Here's a nice looking how-to book about gourd dolls. "Making Gourd Dolls and Spirit Figures" By Ginger Summit & Jim Widess, looks rather comprehensive, to judge from the preview pages posted on the Caning Shop website. The photos look clear and the variety of dolls for inspiration huge.
The 2009 Toy Fair is happening in New York this weekend. There is a video on the website showing some of the new toys that will be shown this year. I eagerly await the hearing about the Toy of the Year winners, which will be announced later today, Sunday. The List of nominees includes Madame Alexander's 18 inch cloth Fancy Nancy in the Specialty Toy category.
Oh and just in passing the March/April digital edition of Dolls magazine has just come out and is delicious, full of previews of 2009 upcoming collections. Still free, but not for long. Worth subscribing to, for sure.
Ruby Lane is an antiques and collectibles online auction store with member stores including one called Old Babes that specializes in estate dolls and doll memorabilia. They currently have 40 antique doll related items including tiny purses and Shirley Temple Soaps.
There are several other doll stores within the Ruby Lane umbrella listing 13,060 doll items. Well I'm not planning on counting them, but that sounds like a good place to start looking for your 
next antique doll for your collection. Here's a Disney's Snow White from 1939.
Every industry has it's A-listers. A few people whose artistry and experience earns them the highest respect within their profession or vocation. Including doll making. I've mentioned some already, and will feature more over time. And here is another well known name, Deanna Hogan of Blue Heron Dolls.
Just look at the adorable personality in these dolls' painted faces. Colleen Babcock has designed and made these. She maintains a delightful blog, The Magic Bean, that includes the generous Freebie Friday showcasing links to free doll, fiber arts and crafty stuff.
On her Etsy store are a pattern and a kit for making your own Gather Ye Rosebuds figure. You would swear they just giggled.
But seriously folks, not content with encouraging you to travel all over the USA for conventions and museums, now I have found somewhere fabulous to visit in Cumbria, UK. It is "A World in Miniature" museum and it looks absolutely breathtaking and mind boggling. Everything is 1/12 scale. Luckily we can take a mini tour (no pun intended, at least at first) on the website.
