A Dolly Neighbor Visit With Lisa Neault, A Miniature Doll Enthusiast, Collector and Diorama Designer

My name is Lisa Neault. I have been a doll or rather a dollhouse miniature enthusiast all of my life. It started when

I was quite small, encouraged by my mom, my dad, my stepdad, and then by my husband, who encouraged me to get into the 'business' of customizing and building 1:12 scale- teaching workshops, and so on, until I stumbled into the world of 1:6 of the fashion doll and dioramas, and then I was hooked. 

King William Miniatures was started in 2004 when I began to re-vamp my old dollhouse for my stepdaughter's 7th birthday and my husband noticed I had a flair for it and asked me how I knew how to do it...I just began to dive back into creating again after having been away from it. Soon, a website was born, and I was invited to be a dealer at a Molly Cromwell productions and Tom Bishop shows

as well as N.A.M.E. (National Association of Miniature Entusiasts) state days. I also became a member of one of the local miniature clubs. 

This lasted a couple of years, selling at shows and online, and always one for new challenges, I was interested in a miniature friends' interest in Barbie and began searching for Barbie on the internet. What I found in 2006 enthralled me. I was hooked. I had always collected Barbie but not really seriously and usually always had dolls in my dollhouses. What I saw with the dioramas of some doll collectors completely had me bowled over- the modern take, with the miniature items were things I had never seen, even on a dealer perspective and it intrigued me.

My first purchase back into the doll collecting world was Learning to Cook Barbie, a reproduction of the vintage doll. I adored her since I remembered my aunt having that same outfit and doll. Then it was onto other dolls- such as Integrity toys High Tide Vanessa, a wonderful articulated doll with such

versatility. The dolls caused me to be frustrated with the lack of furniture and accessories available to collectors in this marvelous scale. 1:12 Scale miniatures had so many wonderful pieces available to them in whatever periods they wanted, why not 1:6? So I talked to my dealer, Pitt Ginsburg, who owned Bespaq International Corporation and helped me solve this problem. I was able with his help to invest and have my own wingchairs in 1:6 scale manufactured /designed  for my company and also to sell some of his previous 1:6, 1:4 and 1:3 items as well. It was a great period of time, when our shop was open, from 2009 to 2011, but regretfully had to close in early 2011 due to the overhead costs. 

My doll collecting has never been just limited to 1:6 scale, though- I have been just as enthralled with American Girl- Felicity is my favorite with Rebecca another favorite because she can wear anything! I have quite a collection of mini american girls who live in my 1:6 scale doll town in my doll room. As well as bjd's- I own an MSD soulkid as well as several tiny bjd's too. I also have a Sybarite as well a 12 inch reproduction French fashion doll that I love to sew for when I have the time- these were the original 'barbie' doll of the early 1800's . 

Right now, the focus of my collection is 1:6 scale Collectible Barbie, Fashion Royalty dolls and Action figures I customize for my dioramas that are temporary and permanent that I build in my doll town. My business , KingWilliam Miniatures, has come to an end because my life has taken a different turn and my husband's business, LeoPaul and Associates, a commercial boiler company, takes up most of my time in the home office, so I limit myself to commissions occasionally. I no longer build custom dollhouses, or furniture, like the Bespaq furniture my company used to have , but I do create the various scales of miniature foods for the dolls and sometimes I do them. I am best known for the miniature cakes on the various doll boards . 

Lisa has been so gracious to share her photos of her work with me and I am telling you that I could write several posts about her incredibly detailed works of art. If you are not already following her work on her website you should click here.

Check out Lisa's Photo Work on Flicker by clicking here

Thank you Lisa for sharing your work and your passion with us today! Now it is your turn to share your story! Please email me at karenmowen@gmail.com 

As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

A Dolly World Visit With Kathy van Beuningen, Doll Costume Designer and Doll Collector

Today I am sharing with you about one of the most amazing Fandom Cross Overs I have ever seen. Kathy van Beuningen has creates some of the most fantastic costumes for her dolls and shares her love with others by showcasing her creations this month at the Joliet Museum in Joliet IL.

Kathy kindly shares with us her photos and here creations a long with answers to questions I sent her.

Kathy tell my readers about why you do what you do and how you do it? "I make my Star Wars doll costumes out of whatever I can find that will create the desired effect and be as accurate to each character as possible. I use fabric and leather scraps from other completed projects and fashion other parts out of things that would otherwise be thrown away.  The dolls’ costumes are mostly made out of recycled materials.  I research the costumes in books and on the Internet.  I start by designing and creating the patterns I would need for the various components of each costume, working in layers. I draft the pieces to make the parts for the little costumes out of used paper."

"I enjoy finding creative solutions to the projects I intend to build.  I have found many, otherwise disposable, items useful for building the doll costumes such as: scraps of wood, plastic, discarded pieces of packaging from candy, food and household products, aluminum cans, buttons, plastic bottles, caps and lids, wire coat hangers, shoe forms, broken jewelry & toys, used-up office supplies, empty pens, toothpicks, thumb tacks, beads, marbles, empty thread spools and pretty much anything that would otherwise be thrown away.   I also find useful pieces of junk outdoors on the streets and sidewalks and in the alleys."

"I usually prefer to use 18” ‘American Girl’ type dolls for my doll costumes. I have found many of the dolls that I use to build these costumes at local resale stores.  Now they have a second-life as characters from the Star Wars universe and other genres.  I do occasionally purchase other necessary things such as glue, paint, modeling clay, doll stands and sometimes shoes.  For the most part, I try to recreate, re-use and re-purpose as much as I am able.  I discovered that building the Star Wars costumes for the 18” scale dolls is a great way to research costumes that I would like to build in the future or celebrate favorite Star Wars characters."

"The faces of several of these dolls (Darth Maul, Queen Amidalas, Lando Calrissian doll) are hand-painted by my husband, Vince Newkirk."

Tell us which is the hardest costume you have made.
  "The hardest costume???? Hmmmmmm.  Most of them do offer me some sort of a challenge that can sometimes take me years to resolve......but the costumes that did take the longest to build are the Queen Amidala costumes."

Tell us how you got started...
" I am a Chicago artist and I am a member of both the 501st & Rebel Legion fan costuming groups since 2000. I started building these doll costumes in 2002. I currently have over 2 dozen different costumes/characters that span the saga and I am working on & planning to build more. Each doll takes, on average, a several months to complete. I try to make each one as detailed as I am able and try to re-create these to be as accurate as I am able by making every piece of each doll costume like a full-sized version of the costume whenever possible."

"I have been exhibiting them at public libraries, museums and conventions where they have been extremely popular.
I currently have built 30 different Star Wars costume replicas for my dolls, as well as a group of "Harry Potter" and "Wizard of Oz" doll costumes and I am working on others.
I have displayed my dolls at conventions in Los Angeles, California (2007) and in Tokyo, Japan (2008), as well as at some local conventions over the years. They did attract attention, especially from the younger generation. Their scale, familiar format, subject matter and friendly nature makes them accessible and appealing to children of all ages."

"Several years ago, the Director of Youth Services at the Joliet Public Library had made a request concerning a stronger female presence from our costuming group for their library's annual "Star Wars Day" to attract the interest of and appeal to little girls who visit the library. When I read about this, I immediately thought of the dolls I had built at that time (about eight) and offered them for display at the event. Most girls are familiar with the historic-themed American Girl dolls and all of the related story books. I reasoned that seeing the familiar dolls in Star Wars outfits may inspire many little girls to become interested in reading more about these characters. I built two new dolls for this event, because I wanted them to reflect the multi-cultural diversity of the community and in our Star Wars community."

 "My dolls were such a hit at the library event in 2012, that they were requested as a promotional display the following year at the Joliet Area History Museum. I built several more dolls to add to my collection. Then they were on display at the Joliet Area History Museum in May and June of 2013.
When I learned that the Skokie Public Library had requested our Star Wars costuming group's presence at their "Star Wars Extravaganza" event in 2013, I contacted the library with the offer to display my dolls there. The dolls were so popular, that they were on display there from late October through early December 2013.
24 of my dolls were on exhibit again last year at the Joliet Public Library in May and June. They were the featured display in July and August 2014 at the Lincolnwood Public Library in conjunction with their "Star Wars Reads" day after I contacted the Lincolnwood Public Library District and offered the exhibit for display."

"28 of my Star Wars dolls, as well as related books from my collection, were on exhibit at the Skokie Public Library again in September and October 2014 in conjunction with their "Star Wars Extravaganza II" event that occurred in October 2014."

"In November 2014, my dolls were on display at the Vernon Area Public Library District and the Niles Public Library in conjunction with their "Mini Comic Con" event that took place on November 8th (VAPLD) and Niles Public Library's "Fandom Fest" event occurring on November 23rd after both libraries reached out to our group about making an appearance for their event"

"Both libraries were very excited about my new "Harry Potter/Hogwarts" theme dolls as well as the Star Wars dolls, since their events encompassed all genres of fandom and the Harry Potter book series is very popular with all ages.  I had originally set up 18 of my dolls, 14 Star Wars characters and 4 "Hogwarts / Harry Potter" student dolls at the Vernon Area Public Library District in Lincolnshire, IL on October 30th to help them generate interest in their "Mini Comic Con" event that took place on November 8th. This was the first time that I had ever exhibited the Hogwarts dolls in public.  Several days later, I went back to the Vernon Library to change the doll display to show the other dolls in the cases and remove some of the dolls so I could make a display at the Niles Public Library. Since the Vernon Area Library made such a generous effort to get those display cases for my dolls, I wanted them to get as much use out of them as possible. Several of my dolls were also guests at the Springfield Doll booth at the Chicago International Toy and Game Fair in November 2014."

"In April 2015, five of my Star Wars dolls were on display at Star Wars Celebration VII in Anaheim, Califorina.  They were 'on loan' to the Rancho Obi-Wan Museum exhibit at the convention.  J.J. Abrams (director) and Kathleen Kennedy (President of LucasFilmLtd) loved them when they toured the exhibit.  I am sure that many of the 60,000+ attendees at the convention were able to see them as well."

"Currently, I do not have any other exhibition dates / locations planned.  However, if the opportunity arises, I will definitely display them again! I am hoping to display the group later this year in Milwaukee, WI at Discovery World for their Star Wars event in October 2015."

What made you start creating Starwars Costumes for Dolls?

"My daughter received her American Girl doll (Kirsten) for her birthday in 2002.  I had been building child-sized re-creations of different Queen Amidala & Padme costumes for her to wear for many different conventions and events since 1999.  After she had recived her doll, she wanted to bring it along to a convetion we were attending.  I told her that she couldn't be toting along a doll dressed in a late 1800's Scandinavian pioneer girl outfit to a SciFi convention, but maybe I could put together a more appropriate outfit for her doll to wear.  Then I made her doll a Princess Leia outfit for the convention.  The folllowing year I created a new Padme costume for my daughter and decided that she could show her 'daughter' Leia.  However, since Leia does have a twin brother, Luke, I decided that I would need to get another doll and build a Luke Skywalker outfit too, so that the presentation would make sence;  my daughter as the 'mother' and the dolls as the twins."

"after that, I started building a few more doll-sized Star Wars costumes for various reasons & because they are fun to build."

What is your favorite costumes to make currently?
 " I would have to say the Queen Amidala costumes, but those also take the longest to build, several months or more for each one."

If you would like to contact Kathy van Beuningen she has asked that I share her Facebook page information, to contact her directly please click here.

The details are just so amazing don't you think?
 So what is Kathy working on now I asked....

"Wizard of Oz dolls.  I am still working on that group.....I want to find a different doll for Glynda & eventually build the other main characters as well."

I want to thank Kathy for sharing her story and her amazing work with us all today! If you are lucky enough to live in the Illinois area please visit her dolls at the https://www.jolietmuseum.org/

Now it is your turn to share, I invite you to share your story, your passion, your collection and more by emailing me at karenmowen@gmail.com.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

A Dolly World Visit With Michelle of The Lemon Bay Doll Company

Today I am thrilled to introduce you all to Michelle of The Lemon Bay Doll Company. Michelle agreed to share her story with all of us about how her life long love of dolls turned in to a wonderful family business. 

"I guess our story must be similar to that of many of the doll related cottage-industry businesses on Etsy.  Quite simply, we are a family who love dolls.   We are also a family of hobbyist woodworkers, boat enthusiasts, amateur boat builders, and retired restauranteurs.   

If I were to point to where it all started, I would have to say it was Christmas of my 8^th year.  I am as old as AG’s Julie, if you care to do the math.  The week before Christmas, my mother asked me if I had finished my letter to Santa.  In my most mature, eight-year-old voice, I informed her that I was getting a bit old to believe in Santa. But, hedging my bets I added, if he was real, I hoped he could bring me a doll that looked like Laura Ingalls.  Somehow mom managed to sew a beautiful cloth doll dressed in a prairie outfit.   Christmas morning came and under the tree was a package from Santa.  Inside I found my beloved Rose, an 18” cloth doll with shoe-button eyes and a pretty pink embroidered mouth, a purple and orange (it is 1974 remember) flowered dress with puffed sleeves, petticoat apron, bloomers, black shoes and a sunbonnet!  I was convinced.  No one but Santa could have made such a beautiful doll and I decided not to retire the jolly old Saint for at least a year or two more.  I also vowed I was going to play with Rose forever

Years passed, and so did my resolve.  I guess I was off to college when Rose was finally packed away.  While she traveled through life with me, she didn’t see daylight for over 15 years. 

I was pregnant with my first child, a girl, when I remembered Rose.  She came out of the box and took her place in the nursery as a decoration more than a toy.  On my daughter’s first birthday, I decided to see if she would be interested in Rose.  Within the first 30 seconds, one of Rose’s button eyes was bit off and her cloth face torn by the razor sharp baby tooth responsible for the blinding.  Rose got her first facelift and was promptly put back on the shelf.   We had plastic baby dolls for a few years.

When our oldest was four and our second was two, I learned about American Girl.  That was it.   Whether the girls were ready or not, I was.  That Christmas our first two American Girl dolls arrived under the tree.  Our oldest is now 14 and still loves doll play as much as her 12 year-old and 8 year-old sisters.  Our collection includes 20 dolls, mostly AG though we now have two MyTwinn 23” dolls who play ‘mother’ to the 18” girls.  We prefer the historicals.  I guess you’d call us old fashioned. We favor their feminine, modest clothes.  Ever since Felicity and Elizabeth entered our home, and our hearts, our family has been designing and producing toys for imaginative play: doll houses, beds, school desks, tables, armoires – anything our girls could imagine.  

Family and friends had been prodding us for years to try and sell our 18-inch doll accessories to the public at large.  We have entrepreneurial blood in our veins and after selling the last of our 35 Italian restaurants, we thought retirement would provide us the time and energy to give it a go.  We never intended the business to be more than a way to fund our doll collecting budget. 

The final nudge came one afternoon as we watched the girls pushing their dolls in a laundry basket with a yardstick for a mast and a handkerchief for a sail. They had just read the AG Caroline books and as happens so often around our home, they were acting out the adventures with their own dolls. 

 

Christmas, 2012, was fast approaching and they were still playing with the laundry basket schooner. “We should build a boat for the dolls,” we mused, “How hard could it be?  We have built several small sailboats and we’ve scaled down many designs for the 18-inch dolls already,” we reasoned, “Why not?”   That year, with squeals of delight, the girls found the prototype for our doll skiff under the tree.  Four months later, Lemon Bay Schooners

with one listing months later, Lemon Bay Schooners:  “Handcrafted Wood Schooner for 18” Dolls.”

Though the skiff will always be one of my favorite items to build, our product line has grown to include over 30 items.  In the process, it has outgrown our original name, Lemon Bay Schooners.   In April of 2015, we officially changed our DBA to Lemon Bay Doll Company. 

We felt it was time to have our name and logo better represent what we do here.   When we opened our Etsy shop, we were located in Englewood, Florida, the location of Lemon Bay, and kept our boats in a Lemon Bay marina. We have since moved north on the Gulf.  We operate out of our home, a ten-acre farm in the countryside just south of Brooksville, Florida.  Our woodshop, no longer in our garage, is now in a converted 1,200 sq. ft. horse barn.  I do the sewing in my closet, a walk-in that is about the same size as my first apartment.  We gave up parking our cars in the garage when we moved to Brooksville, and now under air, our garage is the home of our shipping department and “Dollville”.  “Dollville” is an ever-evolving test ground for all our prototypes and the fertile ground of our children’s doll play – where most of the ideas that develop into our products are born.   

At Lemon Bay Dolls, we appreciate the quality of artisan craftsmanship and have always been drawn to the more “natural” look of handcrafted wood toys.  Because our children and now yours, will be handling our toys, we are committed to keeping them as non-toxic as possible.  We polish our toys with a homemade beeswax finish to bring out the natural colors and grains of the wood or offer them unfinished for the customer to paint.  When we create toys for our children's imaginative play, we seek to impart our love of creativity and adventure.  We look to provide a vehicle with which we can teach them skills that they will someday apply in life.  We hope our toys can offer this same possibility to our customers and their families.

 

Thank you Michelle for sharing your story with us. To visit The Lemon Bay Doll Company Etsy Shop please click here. 

Now it is your turn, share your story with our readers by sending me an email to karenmowen@gmail.com

As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com