Barbie doll wiki : Things to use for Barbie repair – cleaning material

My article this week is about useful cleaning material for Barbie dolls one should have. It’s important to have some easy to use things at home when you plan to buy old Barbie dolls. There are some things in every household that are very useful when we come to the topic of cleaning a Barbie doll.

To be honest I clean every Barbie doll I get if she comes without a box. That’s sometimes a lot of work especially when you buy a whole group of dolls. Believe as a longtime collector that will occur from time to time. Not every week, not every month but occasionally. What do you need for such an occasion?

Useful cleaning products

My little survival kit is a box of Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol ( at least 70%). You use the Q-Tips for a quick sip of rubbing alcohol. It is normally used for cleaning electronic devices, especially for cleaning dirty or old contacts. I highly recommend rubbing alc. I’ve never had any problems with it until now and I got the hint in 2011.

What else is useful for use at home? I can recommend you cleaning sponges from Aldi. There are several different products that are sold under the name but it seems that the chemicals attached to the sponges are different.

I heard of collectors that got problems with these sponges but I never had any problems with them. If the Q-Tip/rubbing alc combination is not working use the sponge. It brings sometimes benefits to have one at home.

What other collectors do

I’ve heard from other collectors that they use a mild soap and a sponge to clean their dolls. In almost 23 years of collecting I’ve never done it. Why? You can’t exclude the risk that the knee joints get wet especially when you clean Twist n Turn Barbie dolls from the first generation around 1967 since the have metal knee joints that tend to oxide when you work with water. It means in the worst situation they oxide and leave an ugly brown or greenish area around the knee. It’s the goal of most Barbie collectors to prevent these stains. The only I thing I can do is warn you about problem.

The ultimate clean Barbie doll?

Well, you might ask yourself if there is the ultimate clean Barbie doll. The answer is no. This comes due to the fact that the arms, legs and the head are made from a form of PVC and rubber and it’s hard to keep rubber clean itself. I already told you that there are problems with sticky legs and leaking softener. Here’s a short video how to do it.

Is the leaking softener a problem of the age

No, the leaking softener is no problem of the age. All I know about the problem is that it’s no age problem. The probability to find it in all decades from 1959 until today is high. I’m not so familiar with chemistry but read about the phenomenon and it is said that is has to do with the mixtures they use in the production machines. Obviously the recipe was changed a bit over the decades and sometimes you have problems that appear like 1987 the cow spots, that were caused by iron shavings in the mixture.

Other useful things to have a home for Barbie cleaning

I can recommend you guest towels. They are very useful when you want a doll to dry, no matter if you washed her hair or just cleaned her with Q-Tips and rubbing alc. I don’t dress the dolls immediately afterwards. I really give them time to dry ( often over night, often a whole day). Then you can be sure that you wont get any problems with water still somewhere on the doll body. Another advantage is that you can wash the little towels easily. They don’t need as much space in the washing machine as a normal towel needs. Even if there is a stain caused by a doll, it’s no problem because it’s just a guest towel. ( I never had this problem myself )

Barbie doll wiki: Kelly/Shelly, Barbie’s cute baby sister

I’d like to share another article about my Barbie wiki today on another sister of Barbie called Kelly. Kelly is in variation still today available on the market but I’m not so much interested in the new doll called Chelsea. The name was changed to Chelsea in 2011.

 I’m going to give you all information I found and know about Barbie’s baby sister Kelly and her early years. Baby sister Kelly was available in 1994. She was developed by Carol Spencer, a longtime Mattel employee, who started her career in the 1960s at Mattel. As far as I was able to find out Kelly her very own project. She wrote about this time in her recently published book called “Dressing Barbie“.

Love at first sight with Shelly

I really loved the doll the first time I saw her in a catalog. She was so cute and I decided that I wanted to buy everything I could find for and about Kelly. That was in 1995. And from the early years I have almost everything in my collection.

Carol designed all her clothes. Kelly was known as Shelly in Europe and Canada. Maybe a decision for better sales figures? I have no idea why they changed her name for the European market but in 1995 she was also available in Europe too. I would estimate that she was approximately three or four years old in 1995. The first edition of Kelly “Bedtime Fun Kelly” included a Kelly doll with a pink pyjama and a baby bed. She also came with a Sunday dress made out of black velvet and lots of toys . A short while later she got three friends. They were called Susie, Chelsea and Melody.

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. ????? ??? ?? 4? ?? ?? (??? ? ??????) . ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ????, ???? ???? ???? ????? . ??????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??? ??????? . ??? ???? ???? ? ? ???? ??? ???? ????? . #???? #???? #???? #????? #???? #??? #???? #?????? #?? #??????? #???? #???? #babydoll #vintagetoys #vintagedoll #dollstagram #kellydoll #barbiekelly #tommydoll #kellyfashion #dollclothes #gomgomsister

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They reminded me of a comic

I’m not sure but I think in 1995 there was also a very big gift set with Barbie, Skipper, Stacie and Kelly having fun on a big sleigh known as Winter Holiday gift set. This set it very special because Skipper is one of the few dolls with the back then recently newly introduced Pizza Hut face mold which is lovely but different from the mold that was used before. Kelly in her snow suit always reminded me of character of a Japanese comic series inspired by Louisa May Alcotts “Little Women”. Maybe that’s why I wanted the set but I’m not sure. I had no set with all four sisters until then.

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Snow Time ?? #barbie #barbiewinterholiday #barbiewinter #barbieholiday #barbiechristmas #barbiestacie #barbiekelly #barbieshelly #barbieskipper #barbie90s #barbiegirl

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Many sets and dolls became available

Later in 1996 there was the first Barbie Kelly gift sets called Strolling Fun Barbie and Kelly this set came with a stroller. Shelly was able to move her on arm while sitting in the stroller. In 1997 there was another Kelly Barbie gift set called Shopping Fun gift set. In this set Kelly sat in her shopping cart. She had magnet in in her hand. She was able to hold a pair of prepared boxes (also with a magnet). In 1996 she was also produced as Bathing Fun Shelly. I found two variations in pink and yellow for the trim of her towel and bathrobe. I also found variations in the dolls themselves. One of my Bathing Fun Shellys has Saran hair and the other one has Kanekalone hair.

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Barbie & kelly strollin fun Th. 1995, rare.. dus rusak tapi isinya bagus, new ya masih segel (kenangan anak 90an) sold . . . #jualbarbievintage #barbie1995 #barbiestrollinfun #barbiekelly #barbie90s

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Q&A ???? ???? ??? ????? #kelly ?? ??????? #shelly ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??????..? shelly ??. ?????? ????? ?????? ??? ?????????? ??????!! Shelly ?? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ??????~ ???? kelly? ??????? shelly ???? #barbiekelly#barbieshelly

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My two Bathtime Fun versions ( Kanekalone hair in box, Saran hair below)

In 1997 she got her potty training set. The Potty Training Kelly has a bottle you could really fill with water and then push on the heart button on her belly to make her pee. I think it was a similar mechanism like used for the drink and wet dolls but in a much tinier execution.

More functions

Carol Spencer produced several very sweet clothing sets for her in in the first years. I have made lots of pics of early outfits which you can find here http://barbie.final-memory.org/my-shellykelly-fashion-show/. These sets very not only available for Kelly but in in a combination for Barbie and Kelly. They got matching styles.

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Fashion Avenue Matchin’ Styles (1996) ???? #barbie#fashionavenue#barbiematchinstyles#barbiefashion#barbiestyles#barbiewardrobe#barbieclothes#barbieoutfits#barbiekelly#barbiesisters#kellyclothes#kellyfashion#doll#barbiedoll#barbiecollector#dollcollector#90s

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There was also Pool fun series shown in advertisements. I had a long time problems to find out if this series was produced or or if it was was only a prototype shown in the advertisement (like often in catalogs in the 1990s). In 2007 or 2008 I finally found her and her friends and I know this series was produced and I got mine. http://barbie.final-memory.org/a-first-impression-of-my-shellykelly-collection/

Pool Fun Marisa
Pool Fun Chelsie
Pool Fun Kelly

Kelly goes abroad

Eating Fun Shelly/Kelly was introduced in 1997 but I can’t tell you how the mechanism works since mine is still in box. After that came in 1997 there was another set with all four sisters called “Travelin Fun Sistershttps://images.app.goo.gl/Cj4XFoZgRGVNEkh48. Last year I furthermore found the Power wheels Jeep set with Shelly and Tommy (male baby counterpart for Kelly). In box this set is hard to find and it’s often very expensive. So I had to wait a long time until I found one.

I have for example many sets of early Kelly/Shelly sets. I’m going to divide this article in at least two parts. Next part is coming soon.