Bay’s Story Time – Mermaids of the Deep

Welcome to our first Story Time blog, where we’ll introduce you to two of our custom dolls and tell you a part of their story!

Kate’s Tangents – Is There A Right Way To Collect?

I decided to split the last post into two because it was becoming quite the novel.

There is a whole world of collectors out there both young and older who enjoy dolls and toys of all kinds. For some of us, it’s fashion dolls like Barbie, for others the 18 inch dolls like American Girl, Our Generation. Some like expensive ball jointed dolls or look for the most unique dolls to collect. Others like the licensed Disney, Marvel etc. character dolls from certain franchises and want to collect solely those. And still others prefer to simply collect whichever dolls we find attractive in that moment, regardless of which they are.
And this is the other trend I’ve seen lately – People behaving as though there’s a right or wrong way to collect. There truly, truly is not.
You want to keep your dolls in the box to preserve their original hair and clothes to perfection? That’s fine!
You prefer to take them out to play and pose them for photos, restyle hair etc.? Also fine!
Maybe you only collect second hand and prefer to go to thrift stores and flea markets to pick up your dolls of choice for restoration purposes? Cool!
Do you keep them original or customize every doll that comes through your hands? Have just a hand full of customs amid a bunch of originals? Collect modern or vintage or a mix of the two? Barbie? Bratz? Both? Action figures too or just dolls? Larger dolls, smaller dolls, complete sets or just those that strike your fancy? Lots of dolls or just a few choice ones? Doll houses or simple, clean shelves or perhaps you’ll turn the shelves into doll houses? Store bought clothes and accessories or DIY crafting? Do you name every doll or do you simply name the few that mean the most? Leave them on their shelves or bring one down to keep you company at your desk now and then?

Kate’s Tangents – Age Limits on Dolls?

Hello, Kate here! We’re going to start this day off with our first tangent post! The question at hand for today…Is there an age limit on doll play/collecting?

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of questions floating around to the effect of ‘am I too old for dolls?’ ‘should I stop playing with dolls?’ ‘will I be made fun of for playing with dolls?’ ‘Is it weird for __ age to play with dolls?’

The answer to all of these questions is so, so simple. There is no age limit on dolls and toys. If you enjoy having dolls around and styling/creating stories with your dolls, you do you! Little do you know, the girl who spends all day uploading her life to Instagram actually has a secondary Instagram full of doll photos. The kid who spends her time uploading videos to her YouTube channel for her friends? She’s got a hidden YouTube account with a false name just for her doll collection videos and dolly DIYs.
And that one kid who teases you for the Monster High doll you brought to the park/school/etc last week? He’s got a whole collection of Marvel action figures, he’s just afraid you’ll tease him if he brings them out of the house because his Dad says toys are just for kids, not for someone his age. If he knew you’d accept it, he’d want Batman to rescue Frankie Stein from the Joker on the Jungle Gym — Because wouldn’t that make an epic story?!
There comes a point where, sure, the actual acting out of the imagination stories does tend to take more time than we have to spend as we grow up. But that doesn’t have to stop you from creating a character and taking a set of photos or writing a story to go with the doll in question. Doesn’t stop you from having a dozen Barbies or a whole room dedicated to dolls if that’s what makes you happy. It just means you’ve got to balance your dolls with the other things you need to do.