Happy New Year!!

In the Dead of Winter, a new beginning, and a new chance for peace.

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Electicism in Dolls

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Electicism in Dolls: Electicism, Perhaps I've Made up a Word!   My friend, noted author and doll artist R. Lane Herron writes a series of articles ...

The First Virtual Doll Convention! Begins January 10, 2019

As the bleak midwinter approaches, what better way to beat those winter blahs than a virtual doll convention!  Enter the magical cyber world of your own computer, curl up with your favorite doll and fur child in front of a roaring fire, Victorian stove, or your favorite safety pace heater!  Pour the hot chocolate, the hot toddy, the Earl Grey,  Get ready to tour the doll world and art world through great programs by doll experts, web fieldtrips of the most fantastic art museums in the world, practice your culinary skills, and immerse yourself in the warm, wonderful world of dolls!  Below is the information from doll star Rachel Hoffmann!

Rachel Hoffman
 December 3 at 12:07 PM
Registration for the January Virtual Doll Convention Open - please register to get in the convention system and on the mailing list for the activities of the Virtual Convention: https://www.virtualdollconvention.com/…
Click the black “purchase now” button and the website will guide you through.
If you are not available at the time of the live broadcasts and scheduled events, don’t fret! They do not disappear or go away and will be available for later viewing when you can catch up. Don’t miss this!
After you register and as we join the Virtual Doll Convention over the next couple weeks, please feel free to reach out to the group in a post and introduce yourself and share doll + bear photos. What we would love to know about you:
Who you are and where you live?
What kind of dolls or teddy bears you collect?
Do you remember your first doll?
What do you hope to happen at Virtual Doll Convention?

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: First Ever Virtual Doll Convention

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: First Ever Virtual Doll Convention:   In the words of our own "Doll Uncles" and Rachel Hoffman, the First ever Virtual Doll Convention is here!    We've pr...

Here Come the Holidays; Season of Dolls

The Holidays are Here

Melinda, my first German Bisque

A Mignonette

 

The Holidays are upon us, and there is no better time of year for dolls.  Dolls are not only where you find them, as my friend Mary Hillier, author of Dolls and Doll Makers used to say, they are everywhere!  Dolls appear as gifts under Christmas trees decorated with even more dolls.  Ornaments shaped as dolls prevail, so do tree top angels and Christmas Fairies. Crèche figures, snowmen, The Elf on the Shelf, Marzipan figures, gingerbread men, nutcrackers, all close relatives to dolls if not dolls themselves, appear.

 

Vintage Doll Ornaments

Vlasta Dolls

Goebel Madonna and Child, Hummel

Teddy bears and stuffed animals pop out of stockings, and toy soldiers march to their own drummers.   Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is coming to Town, The Nightmare before Christmas, and other specials are often animations based on doll and puppet creations.  Of course, there are action figures of all the characters, too.

 

Barbie and other dolls have Christmas versions of themselves, and doll houses and mini buildings like the various Dept. 56 villages take over the mini real estate market.  Animated figures adorn shop windows, homes, and yard displays.  It truly is a doll’s world at Christmas.

 

What does all this say about us, the collectors who love dolls?

Doll Tree

 

It’s hard to say.  Our dolls and collections are the spoils of war, gained often with great sacrifice and patience.  They are what keep us going in hard times.  Dolls are a health distraction and remind us there is art, beauty, even whimsy in a world that is grown dark with suffering. Some dolls express the sorrows of the world; while others are made to help others gain a much needed source of income. 

 

Dolls are the universal messengers of peace and eternal symbols of innocence and childhood.  Even spooky dolls spark the imagination and help us realize that things really don’t go bump in the night; they are only our fears going bump in our heads.

 

My word this Christmas is once again sad and filled with mourning and frustration.  We are very, very near to finding a building for our museum.  We were fortunate to find wonderful cases and shelves, and our paperwork is in order.  I was working on a Kickstarter project to help us with funding, when disaster struck my family yet again.  So, this week, I’m off to slay dragons, and to deal with things that are unthinkable.  Dealing with yet another family death within the year is too much.  What’s worse is that three of the close circle of friends that were my support group, as I was theirs, also died is past year.  My parents are gone, and I’m almost completely alone, dealing with things the best I can. Yet, I’m not prepared to deal with them.

 

My life is not my own anymore. Still, the dolls wait.  My museum business plan waits.  The cases wait to be filled.  Small, trivial problems in a dangerous, hopeless world, but everyone has dreams.  Do they all need to be trampled?

 

With hope and prayers, 2019 will be our year.  There will be peace for the world, peace in our hearts, and peace in our minds. 

 

So, take your dolls out. Arrange your displays.  Hang the doll themed ornaments ad decorate your doll house.  Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, and go out and find the corresponding ornaments.  Enjoy it all while you can.  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year! From the American Doll & Toy Museum.