Dolls Who Live Here

I thought it would be nice to introduce the dolls who live with me.  Things seem to change often around here, but my collection has been downsized to my very favorites.  I will list according to who came here first.

1.  Hitty Jane - I bought a carved blank Hitty doll from Gustav Trullet in Argentina.  When she arrived, I sanded her smooth, painted her and antiqued her.  I am not a painter by any means, but I love her.  She is painted very simply and turned out just like I wanted.  She is the typical Hitty size, 6.25 inches.

2.  Little Jenny - This sweet little doll was carved by a special friend, Jenny Anderson, as a gift.  We decided to name her after her creator.  She is amazing and was a wonderful surprise!  One of the sweetest surprises I have ever gotten. She is 5.25 inches tall.

3.  Hattie - Hattie was made by me from a Gail Wilson Joel Ellis Doll Kit.  Gail painted the head and I made the body.   This was the hardest crafty thing I have ever done!  Lots of instructions and steps, but she was so worth it.  I ordered the dress form and pretty period style dress with a full set of unders already completed.  She is 12 inches tall.

4.  Woody Ann - This doll is a Robert Raikes doll, created for Madame Alexander as the 95th Anniversary of Raggedy Ann.   She came wearing the 95th anniversary dress and had a red yarn wig.  She was already adorable, but I wanted to attempt to make her look like an "all wood" doll.  I removed the yarn wig and created her a wig with paper clay.  I did this much like I did for  Greta.  But this wig was much more involved and took much longer.  She is 8 inches tall.  At first I wasn't sure I liked her, now I can't imagine her any other way.  Her happy face is infectious!

5.  Hitty Button - Hitty Button was made from a resin Half Pint Hitty by Sara Cole.  She is only 2.75 inches tall.  She was a gift from my dear friend, Barb, who bought her as a blank and painted her.  She is quite special and very dear to me.  She has her own special traveling case to keep her safe when we travel.

6.  Rowan - Rowan was a gift from my sweet friend, Michelle.  She is a Madame Alexander Silk Rose Woodkin.  I did a little work to her face to soften the harsh lines around her mouth and lighten the lip color.  I also added the red wig.   She is made of wood, is 8 inches tall and multi-jointed.     I am still amazed that she would give her to me.

7.  Tess - Tess is a kit doll made by Polly Shorrock/Alice Wainwright in the 1950s/60s.  She is 7.5 inches tall.  I got her still in the plastic wrapper, so even though she is vintage, she looks new.   She was an early Christmas gift from my sweet husband.   Her face was already painted, but I enhanced her hair and eyebrows.   I also added metal eye bolts for her joints instead of using the enclosed elastic cord.  Her dress was made by my sweet friend, Cherie.

8.  Hazel - Hazel is a Polly Shorrock/Alice Wainwright doll from the 1940s/50s.  She is another early Christmas gift from my sweet hubby.   She is vintage and was already complete and painted when I received her.  She is 12 inches tall and jointed by metal eye bolts.   She has a carved bun on the back of her head.  Her dress was also made by my sweet friend, Cherie.

9.  Peg - Peg and her rope bed and pouting chair were made from a Gail Wilson Kit.  I purchased the kit on ebay and assembled and painted each piece, except the quilt.   It remains unknown if the quilt will be completed or not.  Peg and her furniture were meant to be toys for Hitty, so she lives in Hitty Jane's room.  Peg is only 2 inches tall.

10.  Mouse - Mouse is a tiny cloth doll designed by Jane Davies and produced by her sister, Deb Canham of The World of Miniature Bears.  I tried to identify her, but was unable to, so I named her Mouse.  She is 6 inches tall, hand painted and has a mohair wig.  She was a very sweet surprise gift from my precious friend, Barb.

11.  Tottie - This little doll came in a small box lot of little dolls.  She was the one I wanted out of the bunch.  She is made of wood, and had a Christmas ornament cord attached to her head.  The first thing I did was remove the cord, patched the hole and dabbed on some paint.  She is only 4 inches tall.  She had one arm on backwards, but I was able to also fix it.  She can even stand on her own.  She is unmarked.

12.  Matilde - She is a Waldorf Inspired doll made by Little Jenny Wren.  She is 17 inches tall and completely handmade by Jenny Marshall in Australia.  She is made in the traditional Waldorf style.  Tildy is one of Jenny's "Matilda" dolls and is stuffed with clean, carded sheep's wool.  She has a hand embroidered face and goat weft wig.  Her clothing and shoes were also made by Jenny.   I'm so very happy to have this sweet cloth girl.

13.  The Raggedies - At the end of last year, I fell in love with Raggedy Ann all over again.  I had refrained from adding them to my collection until I saw Rennie (on the left).  Vollindy in the middle and Annie on the right have joined her.

14 & 15 -  Hitty Mae & Hitty Thimble -  These two tiny Hitty dolls were sculpted by Sara Cole.  They are called May Bee Hitty dolls and are only 2.5 inches tall.  I purchased them and painted them as a gift for my granddaughter's 12th birthday.  She got to choose which one she liked best.   She chose the one pictured on the left and named her Hitty Mae.  I kept the other and named her Hitty Thimble.  She got several tiny little accessories as well as a little suitcase to keep her things in.  She also got a lot of tiny furniture to furnish a house space on one of her doll shelves.  

16.  Sybil - Sybil is a custom dream doll made for me by one of my favorite artists, Jan Conwell.  She is 18 inches tall, hand made and hand painted by the artist.  She never uses molds, so all of her dolls are one-of-a-kind.  She also made her a seasonal wardrobe at my request and made her according to what I asked for.  She is an amazing example of Izannah Walker inspired dolls.

17. Grace - Grace was made by another favorite artist, Rebecca Kerin.  She is 22 inches tall with a head sculpted from clay and a cloth painted body.  When I got her, she had 150 year old flax hair that was falling out.  No matter what I did, I could not fix the problem, so I made her new hair from paper clay.   I love her even more now.

18.  Zoe -  Zoe is a 15 inch Waldorf Inspired doll made by Little Jenny Wren in Australia.  She was made entirely by hand by Jenny Marshall.   She is made in the traditional Waldorf style.  She is stuffed with clean carded sheep's wool.  She has an embroidered mouth and eyes and a semi-brushed mohair wig.   Her clothes and shoes were also made by Jenny Marshall.  Another favorite!

19.  Junie -  Junie is a one-of-a-kid cloth reproduction of an antique Babyland doll.  She has a photo face made from a copy of an actual antique photo.  Her body size and shape, as well as her clothes were made as exact copies from an antique Babyland doll.   Junie is 20 inches tall.  She was created by artist Glenda Smith.   She is a wonderful addition to my collection.

20.  Hitty Erin - Hitty Erin was a gift from a precious friend, Barb.  She bought the blank doll and painted her just for me.  She is the typical Hitty size of 6.25 inches.  She is a wonderful doll and one I will always cherish.

21.  Hannah - Hannah is a reproduction Ludwig Greiner "covered wagon" style doll made for the USPS along with a stamp to commemorate great dolls in American History.   She is 30 inches tall.  When I got her, one eye was scratched up pretty bad.  So I repainted the eye and also added a little bit of an antique look to her.  I think she looks better with a little more color to her face.

22.  Winnie - Winnie is an early Schoenhut model 14/105 doll, likely made between 1911 and 1912.  She was in bad condition when I got her.  Instead of having her fully restored, I did the work myself, leaving some of the original signs of genuine age.  It took a lot of work and several tries to make her look presentable and pleasing to me.  I'm not an artist by any means, but I am very happy how she turned out.  Her body was left as found.  Only her head and face were restored.  Winnie is 14 inches tall.

23.  Tibby - Tibby is a handmade Izannah Walker inspired doll made by Jan Conwell.  I bought this doll from a friend back in May 2014 and later on, I decided to put her up for adoption.   The same friend I bought her from adopted her back from me.  Then a few weeks ago, my friend decided to downsize some of her dolls and things, and I adopted her back.  I'm happy to have her back home with me.  Tibby is 21 inches tall.

24.  Helene -  Helene is a handmade Izannah Walker Inspired doll made by Russion artist Svetlana Lukina.  Helene is exquisite!  She is perfectly and skillfully made.  She is one-of-a-kind.  The artist never uses molds for the faces.  She hand sculpts each and every one.  This doll is another dream doll for me.  She is 18 inches tall.

25.  Hitty Bea -  Bea was adopted from one of my best friends.  She was made by Gail Wilson ans is only three inches tall.  She is adorable and such a fun size.

26.  Little Raggy Ann - A wonderful little doll found by accident.   She was made by Gail Wilson and is three inches tall.

27.  Hitty Etta - Hitty Etta was made and painted by Gail Wilson.  She has a wood jointed body with a composite/resin head.  She is 6.5 inches tall, like most Hitty dolls. 

28.  Maude - Maude is a hand carved wooden Izannah Walker Inspired doll made by Jaida Corser.   She is signed on her back and marked number 1 - 2001.  Maude is tandem jointed like Hitty dolls.  She is 7 inches tall and a bit thicker than most Hitty dolls.  Her face is amazing and what made me want her so much.