And then there were two Kenners

I guess I had a moment of somewhat tipsiness last week and found this girl at a lower BIN than my first Kenner.  I felt very guilty, but I'm glad I purchased her.

Arrival bath photo

Kenner #2 is a head and half of a body.  The face is in nice condition.  She has some stains and missing some of her bottom lip paint, but in a way I think it makes her more interesting.  She is missing her original pull chord unlike my first Kenner.

Other than the replacement pull chord, it's pretty apparent that she has been opened at one time.  There are pry marks where the face plates meet and some cracking where the hard cap inserts in the plates.  Took me forever to get the hard cap off.  I had to do some trimming of plastic and glue.

The hair is horrendous.  It is very matted and plugs are missing.  I've worked out some of the matting only to find that the scalp is ripped at the thatch line.  I soaked it for over 48 hours in fabric softener.  As of right now, I'm going to store it and decide if I want to do something with it later.  As of right now, I plan to order a wig from Sleeping Elf.  I am, again, too lazy to make one myself.  Since going full time I have precious little free time.

some of the missing plugs can be seen

She is now on an alter Licca body.  I used the bolt method with epoxy to secure it in the neck hole.  It works!  After applying the epoxy I had to file it down to make the right fit. The body color matches the face also.  

Awaiting her new hair!

Kenner Blythe

After hair soaking and some face cream

I've been collecting Blythe since 2010; at first owning a Kenner was not priority.  Over time I've watched ups and downs in the market and in the community.  Kenner Blythes soared in prices after she was featured on a cable television program with the price tag of $800-900 [I believe he paid $700 but intended to get $1,500].  I thought my chances of owning a Kenner was over.  Prices sky rocketed after that episode now that everyone knew what Blythe was for sure.  I saw a NRFB Kenner on eBay for $3,000 just this week.

Also, this week I saw a lull in pricing for the TLC dolls.  It was low enough that I felt confident in bringing home a Kenner thanks to Paypal Credit.

I got up at 2 am and 10 bids later I won her!!

She is a fixer upper, but I'm not complaining!!

Some information that I found out from her 2 eBay listings.

She was bought by the person who sold her to me on March 12, 2016 from California.  She is a 6 line Kenner.  Her eye lashes were sparse.  I bought her on the April 19th from Massachusetts.  Her body was switched out with a 7 line Kenner and had no eye lashes.

Straight out of the box.

Soaking.

I'm too impatient!!  I had to get her cleaned off and her hair worked out.

Her hair is still crunchy and fried looking at the ends.  She is still yellow but I don't care she is mine!  I replaced her eye lashes.  I might replace them again once my cheap ones from China arrive.  I'm considering altering a Licca body for her to preserve the semi-original body.  It has a crack in the butt which I figure will not hold for long with the glue job by the last owner.

She has no name.  Right now she is going by Miss K.  I hope it doesn't stick. 

Reading Deluxe Kitchen Set

One of my goals for this year is to have some sort of doll house, room box, display, etc.  I kind of put the cart before the horse and bought the Reading Corp's Deluxe Kitchen set.  Well to be exact, I bought 2 partial sets.

first set

The first one is pretty used condition with the sink, refrigerator, and stove (no top cabinet).  Then, I purchased a near complete set within days of the first.

second set, table not pictured here

I cleaned the first set up and repainted the silver.  I'm giving this the pieces to my daughter.  Second set, all I had to do is clean it up.  I do believe the attic it came out of was from a coal heated home at one point.  My fingers looked like I was setting up a charcoal grill afterwards.  The suet did not stain the pieces.

It is unbelievable that the little paper boxes have survived since the 1960s!  In R's Playmobil sets, they were the first to be crushed.

A few bonus pieces, but mostly the set.  All dishes, pots, and pans included.  The two blue upside down looking cups below the red plates are actually salt and pepper shakers.

both handles are there

The silverware and utensil set is complete.  The clear box is a refrigerator bin.

I noticed some variations between the 2 sets.  There are screws in places on my better set that weren't ever there on the first (no holes).  I don't know what this means or if this is a way to date the production times.

One of the chairs have already suffered a causality.  As I was cleaning it the leg snapped off.  At closer inspection, it was an old repair with glue that resembled Elmer's or other craft glue.  I reattached it was E6000.  I had it on my real cabinet drying and R's hat strap caught knocked it off. Bah. The top snapped off then!  I glued that back on with E6000.  The leg stayed on, so that was a plus.  I won't be using the chair for more than sitting my Blythe chihuahuas in them.  The legs will won't hold any weight.

a bonus phone on the repaired chair

On top shelf is the last of my Pullip family and my Petworks Ussagie Bunny.

A few boxes are missing, but mostly the food pieces were not included.  I used a nice list I found on someone's blog to determine what I was missing.  Each section was consider to be up to 5 pieces.  For example, the stove was counted as 5 and it included: stove, battery cover, rotisserie turkey with rod,  and pot holder/rack.

I'm now on the hunt for rement and other miniatures.  This set matches the Ikea living room set decently.  My Sindy washer and dryer are actually blue (which match 1970s Barbie stuff well).  I haven enough items now to actually fill up a doll house.

Estate sales

I love estate sales.  I feel a little guilty for enjoying them so much because of the circumstances of the sale.  Lately, I have really scored!

Vintage Pinking Shears for 1 dollar along with other junk

Vintage typeface (Roman pt 8) shelf now full with my little things

Edward Mobley Co. 1960 sleepy eyed kitty. I wish I would have taken a before photo.

At the same sale as the kitty, I also purchase some vintage Barbies who will find new homes, a Topper Dawn Dale doll who is staying with me, a Skipper dress that I did not have and some other stuff.  The worst purchase was a 1960 Barbie Dream house.  I didn't really know what I was buying.  Now, I remember my childhood friend showing me her mom's house.  It isn't in the best of shape on the exterior, the interior is okay.  I hope to rehome it also.

The Skipper dress concerns me because it is red and it stained the Skooter doll it was on.  I'm trying to determine what's the best way to clean it.  I also purchase a repeat outfit with hopes to clean it up for resale.  Once again, not overly sure how this outfit will react to cleaning.  It is the velvet and plaid dress...can't remember the name.

I might need to invest into an identification book.  I know when a I see a Skipper dress, but I don't know the names.  I overall know the values of the current market or the ball park area at least.

I had a lot of fun and hope to catch a few more in the future.