Mood:
sillyNow Playing: "Fox and the Hound", on VHS, Dearest Son's choice.
I'm gonna write this here, so hopefully I won't forget it for a while. NO Coffee after 1pm !! Couldn't sleep for jack last night, and I'd had coffee all day. Now I know. Sodas I can handle all day and still sleep. Coffee is something entirely different !
Now then. On to doll stuff !
Please meet 'Joy', my hybrid Ballerina Barbie. I had one the first year they came out, I think it was 1976. My parents were already saying I was getting old for dolls (boy, were they in for a surprise !), but I wanted this gorgeous doll sooo much.
So I did what a kid does. Made her the One Wish. Basically, I asked for her and only her that holiday. I was devious as a kid, and self-serving. Not much has changed since. :)
I, and half the neighborhood, got this doll that year. We staged elaborate ballet performances, admiring the way her arms went out, not like Malibu's, whose just went up and down. Her arms and fingers were graceful, her long legs and beautiful stand seemed born for the stage. I loved her unusual face - although I realize it was a well-used Mattel mold, I was more accustomed to Malibu and Leia.
But all good things end, and she, along with every doll but Leia, went into the attic for a few years. They all later ended up with my best friend's Barbie-less sisters. At least I got to play with them again when I visited !
I found this lovely lady at a thrift store. Her body was beyond salvage. The elastic band that allowed such elegant posing in her arms was deteriorated, the kicking leg mechanism had frozen, but even with gentle pressure, they only went from stiff to barely-hanging-on swingy. But her head was in pretty good shape. Her hair, although sparse in the back, hadn't gone wooly, and her face paint was great.
So she came home, along with a Belly Button body Barbie. A swift head-swap later, and a headless better body was improved, I had a Ballerina with nice hands that went out, and the discolored original body got tossed. There was nothing I could do with it. The BB body is thinner and less robust in the bust, but I think that suits a ballerina !
She's dressed in one of the two dresses I got recently. This is a My First Barbie outfit, #4868, My First Party Dress. I think it came out in 1981, but I'm not sure. My next purchase will be reference books ! It's not a perfect fit - her head lolls a bit - but I think the skin tone's a good match, and I can always squeeze her head down if I need to. I named her Joy, because that's how I felt when I first saw her - and I still do.
In other news, I tried to print up a pattern from the Barbie In Japan book. but our ink cartridge is DOA. Tried to refill it, which was an utter failure. It leaks like a sieve, and my hands look like I got fingerprinted for crimes against humanity. When I went to the fabric store, I just knew the clerks were cringing, hoping I wouldn't touch anything. Nope. I did, but I knew the ink is there 'til it wears off, and the material was in no danger. It'd been several hours since the attempt.
Didn't buy anything, but there's a great sale on the 17th. Half off thread's a good buy, but I never know what I need until I go to sew something. And I already have a few dozen spools I doubt I'll ever use. Anyway, I finally traced it, and it's ready to use when I get the time. The directions are all in Japanese, but the illustrations require none of my nonexistant translation skills.
So I may get to sew tomorrow. For now, though, I'm dirt tired from not sleeping last night, and it's nearly bedtime. Hope your Monday went well - and you didn't try to refil ink carts !
