Meet Bleuette, A Resin Ball Jointed Doll from Ruby Red Galleria

Hi Doll Friends!

I'm so excited to introduce you to the newest member of my doll family. Please help me welcome Bleuette. She is a new ball jointed doll available from Ruby Red Galleria. She is also available in the US from Denver Doll Emporium. I found her at a bargain price on eBay though.

As you have probably noticed, I have developed a great interest in the history of dolls. In addition to modern dolls, I love searching for antique dolls, learning about them, and adding them to my collection whenever possible. After learning a little about Bleuette, I purchased the book "Bleuette: The Doll and Her Wardrobe" by Barbara Craig Hilliker to study and learn more about the history of Bleuette. This large book is filled with information and hundreds of beautiful color pictures, and I would highly recommend it if you'd like to learn about Bleuette.

Bleuette History

You may have heard of Bleuette dolls before. The original Bleuette dolls were produced from 1905 to 1960, as a premium for the French girls' magazine, La Semaine de Suzette. Little girls who subscribed to the magazine would receive a Bleuette doll, and each magazine contained patterns so that girls could make entire wardrobes for their dolls. Bleuette dolls were designed for interactive play and as a tool to teach girls sewing and homemaking. There were more than 1,000 patterns published for Bleuette during the 55 years that she was produced, in addition to the commercially made outfits that were also available.

Bleuette dolls have a bisque head and a wooden composition body which is fully articulated with joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. The dolls range in size from 10 5/8" to 11 3/8" and there are several different Bleuette head molds.

After learning about Bleuette's fascinating history, I knew I'd love to have one of these lovely dolls, and maybe even sew, knit and crochet a complete wardrobe for her. So I began to look for an antique Bleuette. I joined a Bleuette group on Facebook, where I learned that most Bleuette collectors buy reproduction Bleuette dolls. The reason is because a nice original antique Bleuette is valued at around $5,000 or more.

My First Bleuette

My Bleuette search quickly turned from searching for an antique to looking for a reproduction. Since there are so many different head molds and different artists, not all Bleuettes look alike. That's not a problem, it just means you search for one you love. During my search, I ran across this new version of Bleuette by Ruby Red Galleria. Her head and body are made completely of resin. I thought the resin would be more durable for play and redressing than bisque. Since I have other resin ball jointed dolls, I took an interest in this new resin BJD version of Bleuette.

She came dressed in her white one piece underwear, which are beautifully detailed with lace trim and two tiny working buttons.

So embarrassing Mom, I'm in my undies.

Since she came only in her underwear, she requested that I start on her wardrobe immediately.  I sewed her first dress from a rose print fabric and added lacy trims.

A fun fact about ball jointed dolls is that they can be so easily customized, and the Ruby Red Bleuette is no exception. Her wig is removable and can be changed for a totally different look. Her eyes can also be changed. In addition, she came with two interchangeable face plates, which Ruby Red calls the Bleuette face and the Charmette face. She also came with two pairs of eyes in blue-gray and brown. You can see the two different face plates with different color eyes side by side below.
She came with pierced ears, so she is already looking forward to starting her own jewelry collection.

Can I have some lovely earrings please?

She is about 11 1/2" tall and is jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees, just like her bisque and wooden counterparts. Here you can see that even though she is about the same height as Rapunzel, her proportions are very different.

Here she is with Rosalee, my Fairyland Littlefee resin BJD who is a little shorter at just under 10" tall.

Bleuette dolls love to collect lots of accessories, so she immediately started collecting things from around the house.

She decided that the Schoenhut piano and the bowl and pitcher were the perfect size for her house.

She has a great love for animals, especially the sheep and the alpaca.

HELP! She needs a NAME!

I could really use your help with choosing a name. The choices on my list are Maryette, Josette, Juliette, or Ruby. I'd love to hear your thoughts and name suggestions in the comments section below!

Hugs ♥ 
 - Lisa

Merry Christmas, Tuesday Morning Shopping Finds & More

Merry Christmas Doll Friends! I am so thankful to be at home with my family this Christmas. Since my last post, I was hospitalized with a blood clot in my leg resulting from falling off a ladder a few months ago. I'm am just so blessed that the clot was found before anything bad happened. I am happy to report that I'm doing better and hopefully on the road to recovery.

A Christmas walk down memory lane...

Looking through some old family pictures, I found lots of pictures to confirm that my love of dolls started at a very early age. This picture was from my very first Christmas.

Christmas 1968
My mom, me, my big sister & our dolls

At just 5 months old, I received a Mattel Tippee-Toes doll for Christmas. She came with a little blue and yellow tricycle that she could ride. My sister, who was 8 years old, received an Ideal Giggles doll. These were among several dolls that I remember so well from my early childhood.

The last picture is of me with a little Goldilocks doll when I was just 8 weeks old.

Pullips & Ai BJD's back in stock at Tuesday Morning

For those of you who wanted to add a Pullip or an Ai Ball Jointed Doll to your collection, I have seen both back in stock at Tuesday Morning this week.  Here are a few of the dolls I've seen.

My local store had Tiger Lily from the Disney Peter Pan collection back in stock. I already have this precious little girl in my collection. The adorable little curly blond Dal, "Colline" wears a Heidi-inspired Swiss outfit.

A new face to me was Yeolume, who is supposed to be Pullip's future daughter. She wears a school girl outfit, and is 10 years old according to her character profile. She is smaller than Pullip, closer to Dal size. The Pullip dolls were $39.99 each, which is a great price for a Pullip.

These tiny Ai Ball Jointed Dolls were found at my local store this week. My daugter also saw other different Ai dolls, while shopping at a couple other Tuesday Morning stores this past week. The Ai BJD's were $29.99 each, which is an incredibly inexpensive way to give ball jointed dolls a try.

English Ivy

Coreopsis

Hybrid Statice

So if you're looking for Pullips or Ai Ball Jointed Dolls, now's the time to run out and check your local Tuesday Morning stores. I have also seen the Mini Pullips at Tuesday Morning this week. A tip for your search, sometimes these dolls are locked in the glass case by the register, and other times I've found them on the toy aisle with the other dolls.

More Christmas...

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! Most important is the Reason for the Season, celebrating the birth of Jesus. I love all of the Christmas time festivities, and all the beautiful lights and decorations. This year, I've had a lot of fun decorating in miniature for my dolls. In my last post, I shared some pictures of my new doll cabinet. Well, it looks a little different now, all decked out for Christmas.

Here's a few closeups of the shelves decorated for Christmas...

And on top, an Annalee Reindeer & Santa, along with an old fashioned looking Snowman ...

My vintage Georgene Raggedy Andy and old fashioned repro Volland Raggedy Ann found a cozy spot on the big tree with their pal, Santa.

The Elf on the Shelf even found his way into the dollhouse and made some new friends.

I hope you all are having a wonderful, blessed, safe, healthy, and merry Christmas.

Hugs ♥ 
 - Lisa

Box Opening Video - Ai BJD from Tuesday Morning

Yesterday, I posted about my new Ai Ball Jointed Dolls from Tuesday Morning.

The box opening video didn't upload in time to be included in the post, but it finally finished uploading and was published today.

A little late, but here's the box opening video...

For more photos and details about my two new Ai dolls, check out yesterday's post about them here.

Hugs,
Lisa

New Ai Ball Jointed Dolls from Tuesday Morning

In the last post, I told you about the six Ai Ball Jointed Dolls that I saw at Tuesday Morning while on vacation. Now, I'm finally going to reveal which ones stole my heart and came home with me.

In case you aren't familiar with Ball Jointed Dolls (or BJDs), a BJD is a doll that is articulated with ball and socket joints, and their parts are strung together with strong elastic cord. BJDs are not typically sold in stores, so they are not easy to come by. This usually requires preordering a doll from the manufacturer in Asia, and waiting months for your doll to arrive. BJD's can cost hundreds of dollars too, so it can be quite expensive to acquire one. Tuesday Morning occasionally has a small selection of Ai BJDs in their stores for just $29.99 each, which is a very inexpensive way to add a BJD to your doll collection.

Ai's BJDs are made by Jun Planning, which is the same company that makes Pullip dolls. If you haven't seen my other review about my first two Ai BJDs from Tuesday morning, you can find that here.

Of course, I liked all six dolls, but of them, I decided to buy the two that were the most special to me.
First was Nerine... because I fell in love with her smile! Here is her box. They come in a white storybook style box with embossing and foil lettering.

The box opens like a book and has a magnet hidden inside to keep the cover closed.

Inside the box, there is a clear plastic protective cover to hold everything inside. This cover simply lifts out.

The dolls and accessories are inset in a white satin covered foam cushion.

The doll is held in place with two satin ribbons. Just untie the satin bows to free the doll. I wish all dolls were lovingly packaged like this. :)

She came with a brown polka dot dress with ivory lace trim, a tan jacket with a tiny animal print and ivory lace, a matching lacy bonnet, and her own brown teddy bear.

Hmmm... she thinks the jacket is a bit too bulky for the summer, and maybe Teddy could wear it. I think it would look cute on a little dress form in her room.

She also came with these adorable little brown boots with silver buckles.

She has blond hair with ringlets and blue eyes. As with other BJD's, her wig and eyes can be changed. The wig can be removed and changed to a different wig. The head cap, which is held securely in place by a magnet, can be removed to adjust the position of her eyes or change them completely. For pictures of how the wig and head cap works, click here to see my first Ai review.

She is jointed at her neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. All of these joints make her very posable, especially for her small size. She only stands about 5 1/2 inches tall. She can hold a pose very well.

Here's a closeup of her little feet. She can stand well on her own, both with shoes and without.

In the next few pictures, she is undressed to better show her joints and posability.

Not many other dolls can pose like a BJD.

The other Ai that was special to me was Lupinus... she was just so different. Here is her box.

Look how sweet... shhh, she's sleeping.

She even comes with a little bed and a rosebud pillow with lace trim. Her bed is like a crochet doily that has been stiffened and formed into a little bassinet basket.

She is wearing a rose print dress with pink bloomers and white lace socks. She came with her own cream colored teddy bear.

She came with a white furry headband that has plaid lining on the inside and red gingham bear ears on the outside.

In the store, I originally thought her hair was brown, but it is actually red.

Here are a few pictures of the two little ones together.

Both of these precious little girls need names, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on ideas for names!

Please leave your name suggestions in the comments below.

Hugs,
Lisa