Last year I changed the theme of my front porch to a doll makers shop.  It was the first year for the theme and I spent a lot of time searching thrift stores for dolls.  I also made the doll maker, found an old sewing machine, and cut up some dolls for “parts.”

 This is how that turned out.

Last year,  I knew I wasn’t done developing the idea.

This year @jessesco sent me this picture found on Pinterest.

And a little FYI about her:  Total Enabler.

 

Now the 1st thing you might notice about that doll is that it’s been spray painted all white.  LOVE.

The 2nd thing, at least to me, was that this was no ordinary doll.  Look at its height compared to that couch arm.

No, my friends, this was a GIANT Life Sized Doll!

I immediately started googling “Life sized dolls”

Um…….Let’s say the results were not quite what I was thinking

Any sort of search with the words “large, big, plastic, and companion dolls” gave me….well….you can imagine.

I had to figure out WHAT these dolls were because I obviously needed as many as I could find.

And I did.

So right around the time when women were really entering the workforce and maybe putting off having another child, you just bought your kid this doll so they can pretend to have a sibling.

Totally normal.

Oh, and that’s not all.  She had siblings.

Now, a regular person might stop right there.  Not me.  I then proceeded to research the hell out of this doll until I knew everything about them.

I run to Ebay to find these dolls.

And I found them.  Yes.  They were pretty, and clean, and perfectly dressed, and HOW MUCH??

No no no.  I wasn’t willing to pay $80 for a doll.  No.  I wanted the sad, neglected and possibly half melted ones.  

The ones you might find in the attic after 40 years staring at you from a dark corner and you immediately must get rid of.  

Ebay was for people who actually wanted these dolls for…..their collection?

So, I search our local Craigs list.  Those people just want the money and to dump their stuff.

“Have a doll, looks like a patty play pal, hair has been covered with a wig, $15”

Wait.  Did they just write that this doll has wig on wig action for $15?

I pile the kids in the car.  We arrive and the house itself is beyond weird.   It was like nothing I’d seen before.

My older son said  “If that house does not strike you as medieval church, I don’t know what does”

I grabbed that doll and got the hell out of that place.  It was almost scarier than the doll itself.

 

 

 

 

Oh, hello creepy doll.  Won’t you come home with me?

In the meantime I came up with an idea to use this 3 foot doll.  Problem was I needed 3 of them.

Knowing Ebay was for the collectors dolls, I search Etsy, Craigslist, and every other online store.

 

Weeks pass and I finally secure a smaller doll.

By now, my doll searching craziness was at an all time high.

There are not as many neglected 3ft dolls as you might think.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time scouring sites to find the cheapest and most unwanted dolls.

And while I didn’t find a doll right away,  @jessesco  (enabler extraordinaire) did find this which is now mine:

Right at the point I was going to give up, dolls came flooding in.  Really.

I won an online bid for another 3 ft doll.

Then @LEOWifey sent me one.

Finally, I got a call one day asking “What is your height requirement for the dolls?”

After all of that?

 

I hope you come back to see what I do with them.  If I can make it all work, I think it’s going to be pretty amazing.

Hint: there’s a windshield wiper motor involved.