You're No Body Til Some Body Loves You

Some collectors have coined the phrase "Frankendolly" to refer to dolls that have been "body-switched".   I guess that makes me Dr. Frankenstein.   I've always been someone who can't leave well-enough alone.   Even as a kid I was taking things apart and putting them back together ... thinking I had improved the original design.

When I started collecting dolls as an adult, the most I could expect from a fashion doll was a twisting waist, turning head, twirling arms and clicking knees.   Now we have girls with pivotal ankles, wrists, rib cages, etc.  It's amazing the poses a doll can make!

Recently, my sister became interested in fashion dolls.  (Ashamedly, I must take some of the blame because she started reading my blog and is now headed toward Fashion Doll Financial Ruin.)  Shout out to my sister, Debbie!   This blog is dedicated to you because I was trying to find dolls to send to you  to keep you out of retail establishments.  This is a doll I created for her.

When I was doing this, I found it interesting to look at the different versions of the bodies that worked with 11 1/2 inch dolls and allowed them to still wear most of the same clothes (namely the smaller bust).  Here is a group picture of four dolls.  The girls kindly offered to wear bikinis to show the body types.

The doll on the far left is the new Barbie Basics 2.0 Denim Steffie doll.  I changed her to a fashionista body.  The pros/cons.  To quote Hannibal Lecter, she's "a little roomy in the hips."  This means some of the clothing is a tighter fit there, but it is not usually a problem.  Big PRO is the price.  They cost about $10 at most retail stores like Walmart, Target, K-Mart, Big Lots, etc.  (Unfortunately, they are becoming more difficult to find as Mattel puts its full weight behind "Swappin' Styles".)   But you need to remember that you get what you pay for.  They are not the best quality.  I didn't use a pivotal Barbie body like Jazz Divas or Pop Life because they are all similar.  You just add some more skin tones.  This is the biggest CON.  The fashionistas come in only two skin tones right now.  You have the light AA and the light tan Caucasian.

The next doll is the actual Model Muse body that is used for the Barbie Basics currently.  It is a very stylized body and is quite attractive to the eye. I like my girls to be able to get around, so the obvious drawback is the lack of articulation.  These dolls are a little thicker in the waist and may be hard to dress (especially when you have to get things over the arms and hands).  They are very attractive however, and many collectors prefer them.  BTW, the head on this body is a FR Dominique head.  More to come on this subject later.

 The third body is the Liv doll body.  I'm not sure which Barbie head this is.   [NOTE:  Thank you to reader Maya for identifying this doll head as the Grand Entrance Barbie that came in the blue gown!]  I had purchased some Liv dolls when they were on sale for half price last week at TRU.  My girls wanted to steal their cool casual wear.  Since I had a body, I thought I would see what results I could get.  The cool thing is that the doll is a light skin tone which is hard to find in Mattel or FR dolls of this size.  One bonus is that you get the pivotal ankles, but the feet are BIG.  It's hard to find shoes for them.  They are a little shorter than the other dolls and not quite as curvy.  They come across as a teenage sister, but they do pose very nicely.  The torso pivot is at the waist instead of the rib cage.  They are well-balanced in their design if you can get past the less mature body structure.

The last body type is my personal favorite for many reasons.  And the doll head is one of my personal favorites as well.  It is the Louboutin mold Denim Basics doll.    She has a Dynamite Girls body by Integrity Toys.  There are several things I prefer about this body.  First, the shape is very nice.  The best feature, though, is that the hands come out so it is extremely easy to dress them.   They come in several skin tones and are heavier and better molded.  The problem is the price.  The DG girls are usually $40 - $55.  However, Integrity has had them on sale for $20 each.  I bought several of them at that time for body donors.  I believe many of them are still available on their site.

Here is another group photo of the girls ... all wearing the new basic jeans.  I wanted you to see how they looked wearing clothing.

Even though I usually change Mattel Barbie Basic heads to articulated bodies, I began to wonder if I could do this in reverse.  Put Integrity heads on Model Muse bodies.  Sometimes I had to change the neck knob for it to work.  Here are two of my school girls.  A DG Dayle and a NuFace Erin:

I thought these looked pretty good!  I got into a body switching frenzy by this time.  How about switching a Mattel head to a NuFace body.  Well here is one of my very favorites.  Model of the Moment Urban Hipster Nichelle.  I LOVE this doll and wanted her to have articulation.  As it turns out she fits beautifully on an Integrity Toys NuFace Nadja body.

Okay, it appeared that I was cooking with gas by this time (which, by the way, when you boil water to change the heads and you have a gas stove top, make sure you don't allow the doll's hair to touch the side of the pan.  TOTAL MESS!)  Now, it was time to see if I could make the transfer to the tall, more ample, girls.  Top Model Nikki made a wonderful transition to a Fashion Royalty Josephine Baker body.

When I asked my favorite girl how she felt about all of this, this is what she had to say ... this is Chaundra's quote.  "As someone who has benefited from the transplant process, I can say that I appreciate the doll who gave this body for my use.  Without your generous donation, I wouldn't be able to move and be so animated.  I would also like to thank all of my fellow housemates for the wonderful photo shoot ...."

"Oh, did someone say 'photoshoot'?   I wasn't aware we were having our picture made.  I hope my hair looks alright,"  Carli enters the scene with faux innocence.

"Some dolls just cannot leave well enough alone.  This girl is really beginning to get on my nerves. Where is that box to your sister?"

Bare Nekkid Ladies

There is always excitement when a new doll arrives in the mail.  When I called home at lunch time, my husband informed me, "There's a doll box."  I couldn't wait to get home.  The rest of the afternoon just dragged on and on and on.  I think I may have even broke the speed limit a little on the way to release my newest acquisition.

As everyone knows by now, I have some difficulty taking dolls out of their boxes.  At least that's true with expensive or limited edition dolls.  I know it's crazy, but I have this phobia about it.

That's why it is so liberating to purchase a nude doll.  I don't have to worry about lowering her value or "messing" her up.  She doesn't have a "presentation".  She's NUDE.  BARE NEKKID! 

I recently purchased one of my grails from a poster named Adam on Vinyl Lounge/Pink Parlor.  I couldn't believe my luck.  She was nude, but she had already been placed on a tall articulated body.  SCORE!  And the price was fantastic.  I have been looking forward to her arrival all week.  Here she is ... Bodacious Adele.

When she arrived, I was so happy to see that she still had her original hairnet sewn into her hair.  Her hair had never been combed or touched.  What a beautiful doll!  I dressed her immediately for her first photo shoot. 

I love receiving a nude doll in pristine condition.  I went to my collection to review what other dolls I had purchased nude.  The first "nude" doll I ever purchased was Poesie Sans Coleur Vanessa.  I got her on e-bay.  The seller just wanted the wedding dress.  They had a collection of Silkstones ... all wearing wedding gowns.  They didn't want the doll.  I was so lucky ... I got her with "Buy It Now" at an incredible price.  I later upgraded her to a new tall body when I learned how to transfer heads.

The next doll that came to my home nude was Spectacular, Spectacular Eugenia.  I got her from Dawn on Doll Divas.  She was reducing her collection and listed Spectacular with several other dolls for sale.  I was the first to respond ... right place, right time.  I love this doll.

I got Firefly Agnes from someone on the doll boards as well.   The individual had removed her eyelashes, but I don't mind.  This doll is one of my very favorite dolls ever produced.  Her eyes are so intense.  She is probably my most photographed doll.

I was on e-bay one day, and Most Desired Eugenia came up.  Again ... she was nude and the Buy It Now price was super.  I had not considered adding this doll to my collection until I saw Jon's photos on Doll Divas.  He took such fantastic photos of this girl that I couldn't resist adding her to my collection.  At a nude price, I couldn't pass her up.

When I got divorced I had to sell many of dolls.  One of the dolls I sold was Diamond Dusted.  She was NRFB  and one of my very favorite dolls.  I had been wanting to add her to my collection for a long time and she came up on e-bay ... just her head.  It was being sold by Ann in Florida.  I knew her from Pink Parlor/Vinyl Lounge.  I got the head and put it on a replacement body.  I guess that would count as purchasing her nude.  I'm going to list her anyway!

The 2008 Integrity Convention theme was "The Heist".  One of my favorite dolls from that collection was Shirred, Not Shaken.  I believe she is a very under-appreciated doll.  That fire engine red hair is to die for!  For some reason, when I look at her I am reminded of Ann Margaret.  Another nude doll added to my collection.  I was beginning to be an old hand at buying nude dolls.

This year I had the worst purchasing experience of my doll collecting life.  A doll dealer in Australia offered an exclusive doll for sale.  It sold out quickly on line.  I got up at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning to buy this doll.  I got my order in and everything seemed alright.  The dealer later canceled my order because she said she couldn't get my credit card information to process.  This has never happened to me before.  I wasn't even offered the opportunity to correct the problem, if there were actually a problem to begin with.  She said that the doll was sold out and that I could not buy one or go on a waitlist.  I don't understand this because the dealer is still selling these dolls on e-bay for $100 more than the retail price.  I can't believe Integrity is allowing this to happen.  I reported it and was told "Thank you for comments, we appreciate your input."  Yeah, right!

Anyway this doll was shipped and mold was discovered on many of the dolls when they arrived.  Then Integrity replaced dolls.  I was able to snag a replaced doll, NUDE, of course.   This is Regal Estate Agnes.  I believe she is one of the best Agnes dolls ever.  Agnes is my favorite character and this face-up is especially beautiful.

Following this year's convention, I fell hard for one of the table centerpiece dolls ... Smoke Screen Dania Zarr.  Found her nude on the doll boards and quickly added her to my collection.

I was surprised by how many dolls I had added to my collection as "nudes".  I had three blondes, three dark haired dolls, and two redheads.  How fortunate that I got Bodacious Adele ... another redhead ... when means I have an equal number of each. 

But what happens when I add another?  I guess I will need one of each of the other hair colors to compensate, right?  Naturally!