Tiana 2

Mila and Raye have found homes, and I'm getting a great response to the My Way Kids poll!  Thank you so much!  If you're curious about the results, I'll publish those in Raye's blog soon.  So far there's a very clear answer to the waist question (no seams!), and a more ambiguous answer to the body paint question.  I also updated the measurements chart for Alison, and will try to answer any other questions soon.

But today I'm here to show you my second version of Princess Tiana!  As I mentioned in my earlier post, half of the princesses in this collection will be inspired by the beloved Disney characters, and the other half will reflect an historical time period relevant to the original fairy tale or, in Tiana's case, the time period of the Disney movie.

The original frog-themed fairy tale, called The Frog Prince, is of German origin and was published by the Grimm brothers in 1812.  I have another princess who represents the 1800s, though, and so I decided to use the more modern 1920's New Orleans setting for Tiana's inspiration.

Like the first Tiana, this princess started out as a well-worn Tasha doll.  This girl has darker skin and is not from the Denver era:

2005 My Twinn doll with the Tasha face.

My Way Raye, With Some Updates, Experiments, and a Poll

For those who were hoping to see another Tiana--sorry!  I have been working on her post and this one at the same time, and I just happened to finish this one first.

I haven't been great at answering all of the comments on the My Way Kid posts, but I truly appreciate all of the nice words and excellent suggestions!  Today I'll show you another My Way Kid that I've fixed up, and I'll also address a few of the suggestions that were made.

I tried two new things with these dolls that could use some feedback.  It would be wonderful if you would weigh in with what you think by using the poll in the right hand margin.  Thank you so much!

The most recent Kid that I've been working on is this dark-skinned cutie with the Mischievous face.  In keeping with my strict four-letter name rule for these dolls, I call this one Raye, which I think means "my friend" or "my companion."  She's definitely been a fun little companion these past few weeks:

My Way Kid doll with the Mischievous face.

Tiana 1

I have been dreaming about this princess collection for so long, it's hard to believe that I'm finally getting a chance to work on the dolls!  My plan for this group is to make four pairs of princesses (Tiana, Rapunzel, Belle, and Cinderella), and for each pair, one doll will reflect the modern Disney interpretation of the character, and the other doll will be an historical representation of the character.  The historical versions will mostly be themed on the time period of the origin of the fairy tale (or when it become popular), but for Tiana I bent the rules a bit.

My historical version of Tiana will be based on the setting for the Disney movie (1920s New Orleans).  This is because--for diversity's sake--I didn't want the time periods for any two princesses to overlap.  But I'll talk more about that as I introduce each historical princess.

Today I'm going to share not the historical version of Tiana, but the Disney-inspired princess. This girl started out as a Denver Tasha with medium (03?) skin and a time-worn appearance:

2001 My Twinn doll with the Tasha face.

My Way Mila

I'm not going to do extensive blog posts about the My Way Kids that I work on (it's a My Twinn blog after all) but I think it might be fun to share a little something about each girl's makeover.  So, I'll post blog snippets about these dolls; I'll highlight anything noteworthy about their makeover, and also post the pictures I take for their sales page on Etsy.

You can read all about the My Way Kid brand in my last entry.  These funny little dolls have captured my heart and I am having a really great time working on them!

I give all of the My Way Kids a four-letter name.  This makes the naming process easier, and I also think the pixie-like faces of these dolls fit well with short, simple names.  I named this little one Mila (I pronounce this Mee-lah, but you can pronounce it however you like).  Here's how Mila looked when I got her:

My Way Kid doll with the Cutie face.

My Way Kids by Geppeddo

Ack!  I didn't mean to keep you in suspense for so long!  Sorry about that.  Here I am, finally, ready to share a bit about the new brand of doll that I've been working on: My Way Kids by Geppeddo. 

I was really surprised and delighted to see that one of you--kiwic1chick--guessed it right away!  Wow!!   I didn't think my hints were very good.  Well done.  The Just Pretend guess was good, too.  I don't know much about that brand, either, but have recently been hunting for some Just Pretend clothing to see if it might fit the My Way Kids (I don't know the answer to that question yet).

Anyway, for those of you who, like me, were clueless about these little dolls, I'm going to do a Toy Box Philosopher-type introduction and review of this unusual line!

My Way Kid doll, 2001-2004.