One of my new ideas for the blog is to write about the doll-related projects in my life. I could call this series of posts "regular person attempts tricky things that you can learn from the internet!" but I'll probably just put the word "project" somewhere in the title. I love a good project. I've documented project-like things in the past, but I'd like to make it more of a regular occurrence. The basic formula will be to set the scene in a relatively short post and then publish a few progress updates--interspersed between my more conventional reviews. This way you'll get to follow along and share in the suspense as I succeed (or fail!) in my endeavors. When the project is complete, I'll put together a cumulative post with some concluding pictures and statements. Let's see how it goes!
The first project involves My Twinn dolls. My Twinn went out of business in January. I was sad to hear this news, but it didn't come as much of a surprise. By late 2015, the quality of the 18" dolls was plummeting, there was a glut of unsold, mega-browed 18" Adopt-A-Friends, and the company had ceased production of dolls with darker skin tones. The situation didn't look promising. The way I see it, My Twinn dolls were made great by four critical things: a great range of customizable options (including over 40 face molds), overall high quality of construction, beautiful inset eyes, and carefully hand-painted eyebrows. Many of these features had gone out the window by the time My Twinn closed its doors.
Like many collectors, I think the best versions of My Twinn dolls are the ones assembled in Denver, Colorado from 1995 through 2001. These dolls have high-quality vinyl, beautiful (durable) eyes, nice wigs, a variety of faces, and (occasionally) artist-painted eyebrows. To commemorate the end of My Twinn, I decided to add one more of these vintage gems to my collection. The Denver dolls are all at least 15 years old by now, though, so adopting one is likely to involve a bit of restoration. This project will document what kind of work can be required...and how I struggled through it.
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My Twinn Audrey from 2001. |