I’m really creative with so many ideas I could write down or tape but the problem is that I have a shortage of supplies at the moment. My list with things I could use is so long and I have problems to get the things I need for my next projects. If you ask me why …. sorry, I have no idea. Maybe it has to do with the winter because nobody wants to go outside and the wish to sell something is not as big as in summer? Who knows? I have no idea but the market in Germany is almost empty.
My new book from Amazon Japan
In the last week my Japanese Barbie doll book from Amazon Japan arrived. It was much faster in Germany than I expected. I haven’t read much in the book yet. I have to translate it sentence by sentence from the Japanese but this is going to last some time but I’m curious what to read and find in it. This is my first real Japanese Barbie book. I have another one but it has not so much text and I haven’t translated it. For the long journey from Japan it arrived here in an astonishing short time. I think it was only three or four days. I didn’t expect it to arrive so soon. In general I can say that it is no problem to order there a book.
I’m really curious what Fumiko is going to tell. She worked closely with Charlotte Johnson in Japan for one year and they produced the prototypes of fashions for Barbie available in 1959.
Buying at Amazon Japan
Last week I saw the video I posted last week. I saw there a Japanese Barbie book which I have never seen before neither heard of. Although I can’t read Japanese it seems very interesting since this book was written by the Japanese seamstress of Charlotte Johnson ( first Barbie designer). The woman has an interesting story to tell how to make prototypes for later Barbie doll dresses but I think it is far more interesting to learn how she saw the whole thing.
The only place where I could find this book was Amazon Japan. So I created my account. That was not as hard as I thought it would be. You can switch almost everything to English and need a credit card but that’s almost all you need. In my case I got a mail from the customer service which I misunderstood at first because it was all written in Japanese. Very funny and the google translator obviously did it wrong at first too. So several days later I got a second mail from the customer service that said something was wrong with my credit card. They were right. I had given them a wrong date. After I changed the date it was no problem to order and by the begin of the next week the book should already be here. So this was my adventure buying at Amazon Japan. If you get a mail from the customer service after your order you know what this means … check you credit card.
Let’s go back in history and meet the first clothing designer of Barbie doll
Last week I posted a video about the first sculptor of Barbie doll, this week I have another great video. This time it’s about the first clothing designer of Barbie Charlotte Johnson. The video lasts one hour but it is very interesting.
The first sculptor of Barbie doll?
Some time ago another collector posted this video which I forgot in the meantime but I think it’s worth to post it. No words needed. I hope you like it. Most of the people working behind the scenes are not known to collectors.
Wishes for 2019
While writing the last article for 2018 I think about 2018. What happened in 2018? My blog became available for Smartphone users. I tried to mordernize it a bit. I have written many articles. I also invested a bit in better equipment for my videos. I also plan to invest in 2019 but not this week. I’m still enjoying my vacation. I have ideas for new videos in 2019. My biggest wish for 2019 is that you watch my videos and read my articles. It’s not always easy to get a feeling for what you like and what not.
I have no special dolls in mind that I want to have urgently in 2019. I think I’m beyond this point of collecting now. Do you have any special dolls you want to have? But until you have or get them, let’s have lots of fun with my first dancing video. I among the dancers.
Nice Christmas presents
Although I didn’t expect to find any special Barbie doll for X-mas I was surprised by a nice seller who had a good offer. So I was able to enlarge my Barbie made for the Philippine market collection this Christmas. I had to wait long years to find any Barbie doll from there in general and suddenly it seems that some collectors sell a part of their collection from this very special country. I recently saw a report about a hospital and the poverty there. So I’m surprised that there were sold so many special Barbie dolls only for the market there. In a way that’s strange somehow. As far as I know Spainish is the offical language. Their indepence was celebrated in 1898 and for their 100th independence anniversary were Barbie dolls available. I got one of them for X-mas.
The biggest controversities about Growing Up Skipper
Can you imagine that you just tape a video, load it up to youtube and get many many comments? Great imagination, that’s what every youtube channel hopes. Then you get views and views and views but also a lot of strange comments in which people complain about the process of growing up itself because Mattel did a Skipper doll in 1975 with a function that when you move her arm in the right direction her breasts grow and she grows. I don’t know what exactly is the reason for this controversity.
I got comments like “why did you show this doll” and “what a shame” and comments of this quality. I taped it because I heard of the doll and wanted to see if the mechanism still works after almost 40 years. Talking Barbies don’t talk anymore because their mechanism works with a rubber band which tends to melt within a decade. I was just curious to see if it still works. Not more and not less. I don’t even know how good or bad she did sell. There are no numbers. Some people told me that it she is hard to find.
I found one and it was not the problem to get one in Europe. What I don’t really understand is the controversity my video caused. I was just curious to see if it still works. This is just a doll, no human. Why does growing up causes a discussion? Every human grows up.
Why Victorian Holiday Barbie is sexy
Have you ever thought about how Christmas celebrated in the Victorian era? Well it must have been very different from how we celebrate today. Can you imagine a Christmas without Christmas Card written or no holiday from work? I can’t imagine it. Can you imagine only handmade toys were given to children? The most part of the society was poor only a few were wealthy. With the industrialization coming up the society changed.
uSanta Claus was not red like we know him today. Queen Victoria was one of the first persons in Great Britain with a Christmas tree. This tradition was unknown in GB before Prince Albert came to GB. But I think most of you have never thought about it. Anyway history has always been romanticised in the look back. This is what this Barbie shows you. She’s nice, beautiful and very festive. Do we really want to know how it would be to live in Victorian times? I think most of you don’t want it.
Who has really no Holiday Barbie dolls?
The Holiday season is not far. Since August you can buy the lastest Holiday Barbie 2018 if you want. I’m not such a fan of her. I have several Holiday Barbie but not the latest ones. I think the history of the Holiday Barbie series is very interesting. Within the last 30 years many things have changed like the jewelry, the Make-Up and the dresses themselves.
I think they are not so festive anymore. The early Barbie dolls from this series you can see a greater “wow”-effect. I don’t know really how to describe it but I would express them as beautiful. Maybe this is so because I grew up in this era and they were familiar to me. Anyway, I also have later Barbie dolls from after the 2000.
