2006-April 29 the Vinyl goddess

 On April  2006 my friend Anne and I went to check on what was new in town.we received a nice invitation to attend the Vinyl Goddess. the poster was draw by our friend Glenn Mielke and indeed we went.

 and we discovered the we were "famous"!!

Glenn, built a big poster composed of pictures Anne & I took during our play days.
During those fun days we created all kind of stories with our gang,  I will tell you about them, very soon, in another blog. I was very surprise to see this. It was very well done and give our friends a good ideas of the fun we had with Anne during those days.
The show and sale room displayed plenty for all taste, and we all had a very good time. If I remember correctly this is were I discovered the Re-Ment miniatures, I was fascinated.
  Lilly (Tyler, R.Tonner) already became my favorite doll and my muse. she was very happy to be present at this event and  was accompanied by her friend Mei-li (Tonner).

Tonner and Effenbee dolls accompagned Lilly and Mei-Li in their tour.

 

Lilly surrounded by super heroes from divers famous covers

Bratz, Barbie and Pocahontas were presented as well with other dolls of all sizes

We had the opportunity to see very nice dioramas as well

We all had a very good time.

Time period: Calgary Ab. 1999-2007.

2000- the making of the doll Club

Being part of the club, and sew & sale my own One of a Kind, it was quasi inevitable that one day I would be asked to make the doll club. Carol, the club's president consulted the group for the doll to use and the choice was, "Cool collecting Barbie"
She had a nice "oldies" face and make up  and She would represent well the club.

 Glenn Mielke was asked to design the outfit and he gave me the sketch.

I had first chosen a fine black velvet, but considering the tiny shoulders it was impossible to do something "clean" with such fabric, so I bought an 100% black silk, it is, still today, a fabric I love to use for dolls, as it is soft, fine, easy to drape and not difficult to work with. For the stole's contrasting color, I favored a peach light satin. The mat and black silk was contrasting nicely the lightly shiny satin and added some elegance.
The hat was a bit of a challenge, as the sketch showed, it was fairly flat and rigid, and I wanted to stay as close as I could from Glenn's idea. I decided to use some shiny black, nylon blind craft cord, that would give it a flat and sturdy shape. Of course it would have to be totally hand sewn.
 I had found tiny peach rose flowers matching the stole satin to adorn the black hat.
We used the shoes coming with the doll, and another member of the club, Marilyn Akazawa, took charge of making the jewelry.

I used several different patterns to create my own, after this done I started to work. Here are some steps in picture of the making of the 2000 Club doll.

 01-tracing the pattern

 02-cutting the silk

 03-sewing the dress

 04-ironing

 05-hand finishing

 06-first try on to mark the snaps

 07-hand sewing snap & hem

08-sewing buttons beads in back

09-final ironing

 10- sewing the stole

11-finishing the stole

 12-hand sewing the hat

13-final try on of the dress

14- ready for the jeweler

15- Presentation to the club members.

50 dresses were done in all.

Time period: Calgary Ab. 1999-2007

1999 Sept.10-12 . 1st Canadian convention "Pretty in Pink"

Of course today the conventions are numerous and very well attended and documented, thanks to the digital cameras. In 1999 the WEB was still at its infancy about those very collector's  oriented events. This Barbie Convention was the first ever organized  in Canada, it was as well the fisrt (and today the only yet)I have attended. it was not the best time of the year for me, as hubby got a job in Calgary and we were just moving in the city.
I unfortunately have no pictures of Gene who was indeed present at this convention,  I just hope I will find some one day that I could ad to this page.(if you have any pictures of this event please contact me, thanks)

 I still have the 1999 1st Canadian  convention doll. she has been created by Paul Knibbs,  and the design  of the box was from Glenn Mielke. and even after all those years I  find this doll beautiful.

My very talented friend, Glenn Mielke as well design the nature size Barbies to welcome the conventioneers.

the tables were full of surprises

Expositions and contests were numerous and very exiting, 

swimsuit, evening gown, native country costume etc..

 Joe Blitman came as special guest

 I attended Andy Bremer beading seminar. I learn a lot of new trick that I soon applied to my new models

The sale room was busier like ever. Here I am near my good friend Glenn

 

Here are some of the models I offered

 It was a magnificent time, I just so regret not having any Gene pictures.

This year I registered to the Barbie club of Alberta.

 Time period: Calgary Ab. 1999-2007