Hiya, Dollface!

Just so you know, with that title I did not mean to sound like a politically incorrect gangster from a 1930's or 40's black and white Hollywood movie.  I just wanted to say hello--and introduce you--to a petite amie of mine, a beauty I created in my porcelain doll-making class back in the mid-1990's.  I chose a mold from an antique doll that was created by a French company called Bru (or Bru Jne & Cie)* to make her exquisite face and arms; then I constructed her soft body out of faux leather, muslin cloth, and stuffing (although a true 19th century Bru doll's body would have been made of real leather, with nothing faux about it).  I added glass eyes and a wig, and then I proceeded to garb this little sweetie in a dress fashioned with a collar made from a scrap of antique lace-embellished cotton.  Isn't she just tres, tres belle?

I'm a little weird about dolls.  I love, love, love them.  It's ironic, isn't it, that someone like myself would give birth to only male children?  That I would have no one with whom to share this obsession?  But fear not, there are others out there like me, adult women who have never outgrown their childhood fascination with dolls.  My doll-making class was populated with such women.  My across-the-street neighbor had a mother who was similarly afflicted, and she is the one who gave me the black straw hat that my Bru doll is sporting here (as well as the antique doll purse in her hand, another old maroon lace-trimmed velvet doll hat, two other little purses, some old leather doll shoes...this trunk is filled with treasures that this kind woman passed on to me).

What's so wonderful is that now, I have been blessed with not one, but two little girls with whom I might one day share this passion for dolls--my identical twin granddaughters, who turned one in June.  I no longer have to be embarrassed by the fact that I have five all-grown-up, tall, strapping sons (and no daughters), and yet my living room shelves are filled with dollfaces such as this one.  Hey, they aren't just for me anymore; they're for my granddaughters, too!


*If you are interested in learning more about Bru dolls, you can go to: http://dollreference.com/jne_bru_cie.html.