On the road to Reborn Baby Dolls

My Love for baby dolls that really resemble children started with the Lee Middleton Dolls in 2009. They captured my heart as their little personalities were shown in each ASC sculpt. I became a successful retailer offering the full line of Lee Middleton dolls.   My first introduction to Reborn babies was when Lee Middleton came out with their first kits to reborn.  I was fascinated by the idea of painting my own baby. But before starting, Lee Middleton Dolls sold out to Madam Alexander Dolls and my business went in a different direction. In 2012 Madam Alexander Doll sold out to  KLL Dolls (Kahn Kucas) and they changed the whole concept of the Middleton Dolls then basically dropping the line.  At that point I started putting together my own dolls offering custom orders using the Apple Valley Dolls. AVDolls offer pre-painted (air brushed) vinyl doll parts for making your own dolls. They come in many different expressions. AVD  owned by Secrist Doll company that specializes in providing soft vinyl Baby sculpts for reborn artist along with their own painting supplies.  Secrist paints are pre-mixed and pre-thinned, no guess work.  Wonderful for beginners. Starting with these and began adding more detail to the AVDolls and painting some of the un painted ones. Their paints I found  easy to work with and instead of baking the vinyl parts,  Instead of baking I used a heating tool.  Purchased very good quality wigs from Monique and provided some very cute dolls.
 Then I found Bountiful Babies and fell in love with the realism of their sculpts. They do a wonderful job of providing pictures of the finished dolls, reborn to perfection by reborn artist.  Bountiful Baby  has their own brand of paints which are also pre-mixed Genesis  heat set paints and they also sell the standard Genesis Paint for mixing your own shades.  Thinner is required for both. These are a little harder to work with because you need to thin to the right consistency.
  By now I'm hooked, buying glass beads for weighting instead of poly pellets, premium poly fill for stuffing, investing in oven for baking (3 to be exact until I found the best one), spending hours viewing how too videos, Practicing, Practicing, and Practicing- now comes the art of rooting hair- harder than painting.  Oh, forgot to mention before Lee Middleton closed their doors I bought up lots of their reborn kits and tucked them away in storage.  Smart move on my part. Thank you God for the insight.
My next post will be on the differences in painting with Secrist Reborn Paints and Bountiful Reborn Paints.

Visit us at www.quality-dolls.com

What happened to Lee Middleton Dolls & Madame Alexander Dolls?

In 2010 Madame Alexander Dolls purchased Lee Middleton Dolls.  Alexander Dolls may have had good intentions, but as a long time retailer of Middleton dolls, it was very frustrating and sad to see the Middleton babies put to the side in their priorities.  Dolls were scheduled to arrive the Summer of that year, but never were received until late October, November. The ASC dolls were made of a different vinyl and not accepted well by the lovers and collectors of  Middleton Dolls.  The next year were promises of better timing, but ended up being worst .  The Middleton Artist Studio Dolls were discontinued and the other products were even later, so late most retailer stopped stocking them.
In June of 2012 Alexander Dolls was sold to  KLL Dolls, (Kahn Lucas). Kahn Lucas main interest was the line of Alexander Favorite Friends Play Dolls. Favorite Friends dolls are 18" dolls similar to American Girls dolls, but at a lower price.  KLL continued with many of the other Alexander 8" collectibles and play dolls placing them in their displays in large retail stores. Only the Middleton Nursery Babies were continued, all others we were informed would not be continued.   As one of the top ten Middleton Retailers, it was a heart breaking time and the destruction of my and many dolls business that specialized in Middleton Dolls.
What I am Doing Now
In Spring of 2009 Middleton Dolls introduced a new line of Reborn Doll kits. Not only were they a success but they sparked my interest in Reborn Baby Dolls.  When the company closed I purchased the remaining stock of Reborn kits and decided to become a Reborn Artist.  After many years and many hours of practice I have accomplished that goal.  I now reborn the Middleton Doll kits, Secrist baby dolls, and Bountiful Babies. Babies are made to order, with your choice of eye and hair color.  My Blog now continues showing the finer art of reborn babies.

 Hope you will join us often

Middleton Doll Newborn Cuddle Babies Review

Middleton Doll (now owned by Madame Alexander Doll Company) introduced a new line of dolls in 2011- The Cuddle Babies.  They arrived late Fall just in time for Christmas shoppers.  The 12 new dolls -dressed as 7 girls and 5 boy dolls came in 5 different Reva Schick face sculpts. Girls Babies are dressed in a very cute pink cotton gown, and the boys are in teal cotton rompers.(pictures below) Both styles come with matching hats and wear diapers under their outfits.  They are boxed in their own special gift box.

Cuddle Babies size and body style is the same as the original Middleton 19" Newborn baby used as: Middleton  NOW dolls, My Own Baby (MOB), and the famous Newborn Nursery Babies. The body slip has jointed disk at the shoulders and hips for easy movement of arms and legs.  The body slip is stuffed with fiber-fill and weighted with poly-beads to the over all weight of 3 lbs. Bodies are attached to the head and vinyl limbs with zip lock straps. The weight gives the doll a life-like feel when holding and the flexibility to sit with natural realism as show in this picture.

Cuddle Babies are a very popular doll with both children and adults. There quality construction provides years of play and a doll to cherish for a life-time.  2011  Alexander Doll suggested retail price was $100.00. In 2012 the price has been raised to $110.  We at Quality Dolls will continue to offer the dolls at our price of $99.00 throughout the Spring and maybe longer.  We not only offer the Cuddly Babies at a lower price, but we also include our own 'Certificate of Adoption' and periodically a gift of a bottle or pacifier.  Stop by our Website and adopt a Cuddle Baby for your special 'little one'.

 Below are the description on the Cuddle Babies now available.

Mommy's Delight; come as boy or girl dolls with blonde or brown hair and blue eyes. As you can see by the picture they have an open mouth that is large enough to fit a (real baby) size bottle or pacifier.  (Pacifier needs to be the straight nipple style)
Angle Love; African American Cuddle Baby also come boy or girl dolls with open mouths large enough to fit a full size bottle or pacifier. They both have big brown eyes and tight curly dark brown/black hair.
Mother's Joy: comes only as a girl doll with a big smile on her face. Her mouth is open enough to play pretend bottle and pacifier.(by pretend I mean a regular size pacifier including the Middleton doll pacifier is too large to be inserted in the mouth- but could be held up to the mouth for pretend)  Mother's Joy may  be purchased as either a brunette with brown eyes or blonde hair and blue eyes.
Baby Face: comes as girls only either with brown hair and brown eyes or as a strawberry blonde hair with blue eyes. Baby Face has big wide open eyes and a somewhat of a surprise look on her face. Her mouth size is also good for pretend bottle and pacifier.
Lil' Peanut; comes as boy dolls only with blonde hair and blue eyes or brown hair and brown eyes.  He has a very lovable face with a look of wonderment. Lil' Peanut face is my favorite. His mouth is also a pretend bottle and pacifier.

Alexander Dolls also provides some adorable additional outfits and shoes to dress and re- dress your Cuddle Babies Dolls. And for hours of play we have the perfect doll furniture and accessories.

Stop by for a visit real soon - Quality Dolls at www.lee-middleton-dolls.com to adopt your Cuddle Baby

Middleton Doll Company Purchased by Alexander Doll Company

Blog posted on my old Blog site in March of 2010:


On March 11, 2010 the Middleton Doll Company was purchased by the Alexander Doll Company, aka- Madame Alexander® Dolls.
The business assets of Lee Middleton Dolls have been acquired by Alexander Doll Company. The acquisition was made official on Thursday, March 11, 2010.    CEO of Alexander Doll Company, Robert Porell states in press release, ” the shop and former factory in Belpre was not acquired as part of the business, but is under consideration as a separate purchase.”
As a Lee Middleton Doll retailer- collector- and lover of these unique artist sculpt dolls,  I am pleased that Alexander Dolls is planning to continue selling the Middleton dolls under the Lee Middleton Doll label.  The falling economy hit hard and  Middleton Dolls managed to introduce only eight  new Artist Studio Dolls  in Spring of 2009 -Lovebirds Twins, In Dreamland, Ireland, Blossom Fairy, Bunny Hugs, Baby Cassidy, & Sweet Jasmine and one doll in the fall Precious Hope an exclusive sold by Quality Dolls.
Middleton Doll Company placed a freeze on shipping stock from the warehouse on Tuesday the 9th. and plans to resume as soon as the two “book keeping’ systems can be worked out between the two companies. Middleton doll retailers are still waiting for information on what will happen next.
Playbabies and Newborn Nursery babies are being manufactured as soon as possible and should be available by late summer.  The manufacturing of the NOW (artist dolls for older children) and ASC  dolls (artist dolls for collectors)  is not known.  I have only heard speculation on the possibility of their return sometime next year.
There are many question that have not been answered, for I’m sure there are many decisions to be made.  I am trying to reserve judgment as to how this will effect the future of our ‘beautiful little babies’.  For the collector I see this as a time the value of the dolls introduced up to this point will climb.
This Blog is written and maintained by Susan of  Quality Dolls™.  Quality Dolls is listed by the Middleton Doll Company as one of their top 10 retailers. Quality Dolls offers the full current line of Lee Middleton dolls via of two websites;  www.lee-middleton-dolls.com and www.quality-dolls.com.
Our hope is to share with you reliable information with updates being posted as new information is made available.  Your comments and questions are welcome.

Why I Sell Lee Middleton Dolls

In 2008 I was searching for a doll on line for my granddaughter and ran across the Lee Middleton Doll website.   Immediately fell in love with their dolls. And you can see why above.  They have a life-like reality to their faces that just captures your heart. Very unlike most vinyl dolls you would find in the traditional toy stores. I bought my granddaughter, Alexa's her first  big girl doll,-Zoe aged for 3 years and up.   I already had a business in Miniature Dollhouses, furniture and supplies and when I spotted the invitation on the Middleton website to become a Dealer.  I thought -what a wonderful idea!  

My intention was to develop a website, sell the dolls and have them 'drop shipped ' from the Middleton Warehouse directly to my customer.  I chose the URL (Domain name) Lee-Middleton-Doll.com because I intended to offer the complete current line of  Lee Middleton dolls. And within a short time I did have them all inventoried on my website.  Soon I realized to give the best customer service and answer the wide range of customer questions about the individual dolls, I needed to have 'hands on' ability. So I started stocking the dolls.  That is when my house became a Doll Shop and warehouse.
 My love for them grew with each doll, with their impeccable quality soft cloth bodies and perfectly painted vinyl faces & limbs, all dressed in top quality outfits.

A word about Why Lee Middleton dolls are so special
Middleton PlayBabies were and still are specially designed to reflect the stages of a young child's physical and character development.  Many of these dolls also come in ethnic skin tones as well as Asian sculpts giving great diversity. 
Middleton NOW dolls were (I say were because they are no longer being manufactured) collector-quality dolls safety tested for children aged three and up. The same artist sculpts that were used for the ASC (Artist Studio Collection). Their bodies are weighted for realism, but not to the extent of the ASC Dolls. As of this writing I still have several of the NOW dolls in my inventory and offer them at discounted prices, because they need a home! 
The Artist Studio Dolls (ASC) dolls are rated as Collectible dolls for 14 years and up, but many are purchased for younger children, especially by Grandmothers wanting  to give a gift that will be cherished for a life time. Note the dolls are not dangerous for young children, it is just that the manufacture chooses not to have them certified for children. (Certification is expensive for the manufacture)

 Check out our Website www.lee-middleton-dolls.com to see what is New

Over the years there have been many changes in the Middleton doll company that is now owed by Madame Alexander Doll Company.  But one thing that never changed is the Quality of the dolls or my love for them.
 Follow our Blog;  for updates on the New and  retired Middleton and Alexander dolls, with special reviews on the dolls; On my new adventure with Reborn Dolls; and On the ups and downs of owning a doll business in these changing times.
Have a wonderful play-filled day,
Susan

  

Dolls Dolls Dolls -A Gift your little girl will never forget.

Dolls, Dolls, Dolls my house is full of them.  I don't think there is a room (including the basement) that does not have a doll or a part of a doll, either in the process of being made, already displayed or boxed ready to ship.

My love of dolls started with my 'Tiny Tears' baby doll over 60 years ago. A baby doll you fed a bottle and she cried real tears. (why I wanted the baby to cry I don't know- I guess I  loved realism even then)  My next favorite was my Madame Alexander Bride doll I received around 1957 give or take a year.. I still have the Bride doll, with her wig replaced. (At some point in my teenager years I thought I was a beautician and cut her beautiful hair. Ruined her hair - gave quickly up that career goal.)    The original Tiny Tears was destroyed by mold,  (which was one of original flaws with the doll) but my daughter gifted me a replica made by Aston Drake a few Christmas's ago.  What a wonderful surprise and gift! 

Over the years I have collected dolls of famous people 'mostly women', or dolls that looked like or reminded me of family members.  So there is no real surprise that 5 years ago I became a doll retailer of Lee Middleton, and Madame Alexander dolls and now have expanded my horizons to Reborn Babies that I paint and assemble. The surprise is- it took me so long.
My purpose for this blog is to share the love of dolls, and my adventure in the world of the doll business. 

My Tiny Tears - Originally manufactured by the American Character Company. First introduced in 1950 made of rubber (that is why they did not last- the rubber rotted over time.) She cried real tears- as did a few other doll of that time. What made Tiny Tears different was that she was filled with water by placing her full bottle in her mouth and squeezing her left arm.  When you removed the empty bottle, squeezing her left arm again would make her shed tears. Below is a Magazine advertisement I found for Tiny Tears. The ad shows Tiny  blowing bubbles, being bathed, and getting a diaper change. Lead caption reads " A Gift your little girl will never forget" OH- How right they were!  I might add - I find that the same sentiment for the Middleton Dolls. 

My Bride Doll:  When I started selling Madame Alexander dolls I did not realize this doll was a Alexander doll.  She is not in the best shape- but looks better now that I have replaced her wig with a Auburn Jessica wig.  She no longer has her shoes, stocking or veil.  Her gown is satin with a crochet trim with rhinestones. Although I can not fine any information on her I believe she has a Margret Face. I can find no marking on her the only thing that tells me she an Alexander doll is the tag in the dress.  LOL - If anyone can shed any information on her it would be appreciated.

What is it about Lee Middleton Dolls that makes them so Special?

30 Years and Counting:

Lee Middleton Doll Company celebrates Thirty Years: Lee Middleton-Urick captured the beauty and innocence of childhood 30 years ago while sculpting at her kitchen table. Since then, Middleton Doll has introduced thousands of dolls in various skin tones, eye colors and sizes sculpted by many talented doll Artist.

Masterpiece of Realism:
Artist Studio Collection dolls are limited edition, hand numbered babies. They are styled as either infant, newborn or toddler body styles and made of soft ‘Baby Skin’ vinyl. Each doll sculpt is a masterpiece in itself capturing the very personality of the child it represents. They are hand painted, lashed, and exquisitely dressed. The dolls are so life-like that many have been mistaken as real babies. In fact the Breath of Life series dolls actually appears to breath. Dolls and/or individual faces are retired after a pre-defined amount of time to insure them as collectibles. Middleton babies reach right into your heart and hold it captive.

Personality Plus:
This life-likeness does not stop with the collector dolls, but carries over to the Middleton NOW and PlayBaby dolls designed for children. The NOW dolls are designed with the same three body styles as the ASC dolls. Each Middleton doll has a unique face and expression all their own. While other dolls companies manufacture dolls to have that perfect little look alike doll face with different hair or eye colors. Middleton NOW dolls have different face shapes, with different expressions. They not only have different color hair, but also different lengths, straight or curly and easily combed. NOW dolls come in light, medium and dark skin tones, some even of Asian decent. They come as girl or boy dolls styled for girls and boys to befriend. Boys you ask? --Well yes, boys need friend too.

Child Development:PlayBabies are styled for children in different stages- newborn, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 2, 3 and 4 years. They also come with beautiful one of a kind faces, different skin tones, removable clothes, washable bodies and meet the best in safety standards. Your little girl or boy will learn how to love and nurture with these life-like babies.

Grandmother Approved:Lots of parents purchase Middleton dolls for their children, although I have found more dolls are purchased by Grandmothers for their Granddaughters. I think the reason for that is Grandparents do not think as much about pricing as they do about the quality. Grandmothers think of the memories the doll will hold for years to come and how that doll will become a keepsake and be cherished for many years after they themselves have passed-on.

Tradition Passed On:Lee Middleton died suddenly in 1997 of heart failure. A fellow doll Artist Reva Schick took over the company and just like Lee, Reva has a strong religious background and credits her artistic talents to God. Lee always tucked a tiny Bible into each ASC doll box and Reva has continued that tradition. Giving God honor, not only for their talent, but by passing on- Gods love through His Word.

What is so Special about Middleton dolls? - All of the above and when you hold your own doll or see your child interact with theirs you will truly understand why.

To see for yourself visit us at www.lee-middleton-dolls.com