Barbie disaster here!

Doll friends I need help!
We have a 1970's European issue Busy Hands Barbie Equestrienne and last night while checking to see how her head was attached, I accidentally popped the head right off. It attached with the little double ended plastic "mushroom" shaped thing - which came out of the neck.
Now her head just won't go back on and not wiggle and flop.
My daughter, who bought the doll with her own money at the Barbie convention here in LA a couple of years ago, is devastated and I'm persona non gratis.
Does anyone one know an expert Barbie doll doctor who could help me? I'm going to haunt some of the forums and see what I can learn too.

Wild Art

I've been browsing around at text dense site Wild Art Dolls, where there are "fabulous and zany" pin dolls, fashion doll redux, paper doll info and Aisling's free patterns. But the big draw is the interviews with a bunch of doll and fiber artists. There are also some informative tutorials, and links to art doll books on Amazon. Pop goes my wish list.

Twin Pines For Sale

Received today from Nicholas Hill at Twin Pines of Maine, a company whose products I use for my dolls and which I have featured here in the past:

You can own Twin Pines Of Maine.

All of the products offered by Twin Pines were made specifically for
dolls simply because there were no safe, effective, commercial products
available to do the job at hand. The need for each product was described
by my wife, Barbara, so she could manage her extensive collection
safely. I make all of the products. My name is Nicholas Hill. I am a
chemist. I am not a doll collector.

Over the years the demand for each product has grown significantly and,
at present, tens of thousands of collectors in virtually every country
of the world enjoy the quality, safety and effectiveness of Twin Pines
Products. There is no competition from any company anywhere in the
world.

Sadly, a few years ago Barbara passed away. Since I am not a collector I
have decided to sell the Company. There is an announcement on the
www.TwinPines.com web site.

The sale will include all product formulations, production equipment,
raw material inventory, containers, customer list, domain name, complete
training and a very complete doll reference library.

Seller financing may be available for an appropriately qualified buyer.

The selling price is in the low six figures. Serious buyers only please
e-mail me at Nick@TwinPines.com .

Nicholas Hill

*I will add that I have used their cold water wash, the translucent green liquid, as an awesome spot cleaner and stain lifter on our regular clothes as well as for doll clothing. It does better on oily stains than pretty much anything else, and tiny drop goes a very long way. I have also reduced vintage Barbie ear greening with 911. Nothing gets that gone entirely, but I am happy with my results.

Fashion doll collector

Fashion doll enthusiasts will enjoy Fashion Doll Empire, Cliff in Hong Kong's thoughtful and picture heavy collector's blog. He writes enthusiatically about his own doll collection, upcoming releases, gently compares and critiques different body types and sometimes includes tutorials, like some recent helpful tips about modifying doll neck holes to facilitate interchanging heads. It really makes you realize how crowded the BJD fashion doll field really is.

October 6th is German-American Day commemorating the arrival of German settlers to Philadelphia in 1683.

There have been a lot of wonderful German doll makers. Here's a link to a travel site specializing in doll tours of Europe, including the International Puppenfestival Tour in May, 2010. Pardon me while I dream for a few minutes.

I'm ready to pack my bags after reading about visiting the ancient buildings that were once doll factories in Waltershausen, Germany. The page contains a fascinating description of doll making as a family based cottage industry in the 18th century and earlier.

In a similar tradition and closer to home, Sowatzka's Dolls is a family of doll makers, collectors and expert restoration artists. Gary has several pages of useful tips for collectors and many restoration techniques. As well, they are collecting personal doll memory stories(and offering prizes!). Many of these moving tales are about love and loss and redemption - the importance a doll can have in a child's life, or an adult's.

Charisma collectors' resource

The doll designers and artisans over at Charisma doll company have a blog where they share news about upcoming collectible doll products, including special opportunities to buy vault dolls. In the news is an upcoming porcelain baby doll/reborn kit which will be offered through craft stores.

They are asking collectors to contribute their stories to the blog too. I think my favorite part is the policy where workers can bring their dogs in to the office if they want. And the joy they bring to a little girl whose doll came home from the hospital.

BJD and more

Doll Paparazzi has a wonderfully informative blog, Doll-Lite. It is packed with information, primarily it seems about ball jointed dolls, including lengthy and detailed interviews with doll designers, costumers, face-up artists and collectors. Scrolling down on the side reveals links to a collection of tutorials.

Really an extraordinarily useful, comprehensive resource with some very lush photos. Allow yourself plenty of time to read.

Collector's Blog

I found a wonderful resource for collectors of BJD's and fashion dolls. The emphasis here tends to be art doll makers, so it's nice to discover this blog, Fashion Doll Review, made by a collector whose interest and attention to detail gives her status close to expert. Self described "fan", Alison, posts about fashion dolls of all sizes and also makes garments for the dolls in her collection. It's worth browsing early posts for useful and informative doll care content. Plus she has a killer list of doll collecting links and blogs, and interviews with doll fashion artists.

Oh and she also quilts (and her list of favorite books include a bunch of mine).

Doll stand bargain

Currently on sale at American Science and Surplus are these doll stand display cases. 15 inches tall with two different kinds of stands included, they are only $5.95.

This site has been one of my favorites for a long time because these guys have an alluring assortment of craft supplies and tools at low, low prices: a couple of different kinds of doll starters, remarkably inexpensive glass bottles great for holding beads and embellishments, paint brushes, dyes and every now and then glass beads, craft wires, ribbons and glues. Plus stickers, foam stamps, papers, sketch books. Also the descriptions are a hoot.

Display boxes and stands

Here is a website devoted to caring for your collectibles. Collecting Warehouse a large selection of acrylic display boxes, as well as a glass dome collection that makes me think "miniature diorama". They also carry stands.

I keep seeing commercials for this shoe storage box, that I'm thinking would be a nice storage option for many of my daughter's play and fashion dolls.

At Jack Johnstone's Art Doll guild site, you can find hidden doll stands to give the appearance of free standing dolls.

If you need to clean dolls...

Just in case you haven't heard of them...Twin Pines of Maine has a line of several gentle cleaning products for cleaning dolls, including vinyl, doll's clothing and doll's hair. I have a number of their products and they seem to work as advertised. The cold wash is also good for spot cleaning food stains from people clothes, and highly concentrated so only takes a drop or two for that purpose.

They also have a book about restoring and cleaning vintage dolls. I know there is some debate about the wisdom of cleaning antique dolls, and concerns about diminshing the value of such dolls through cleaning. However my personal use for the products has been for old but not super rare or special dolls that kind friends have given to my daughter for play and alteration purposes. For this the Twin Pines products have worked fine so far.