Author Archives: Cindy Rice

About Cindy Rice

My wonderful husband, my beautiful daughter, and I live in northeastern Illinois with our two sweet chihuahua boys. For as long as I can remember I have loved dolls and making things. I got my first Barbie when I was only three years old! My mom sewed for my Barbie dolls and taught me how to use her sewing machine when I was only seven. I cannot believe she let me near that needle, but she did. Not having enough money for my clothes habit in high school and college led me to start sewing all of my own clothes. There were so many fabric stores around back then and fabric was so inexpensive. I would wait for the 99 cent pattern sale and go crazy. Sewing for myself continued well into my 30’s. (I even made my wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses.) Shortly after I got married I left my full time graphic design position and started designing cross stitch patterns. I called my company “The Lilac Studio” and sold my botanical patterns at trade shows, through distributors which sold to retail shops, and mail order. My most popular pattern, “A Bouquet of Pansies” sold 5000 copies and won a J&P Coats Golden Needle Award! I was also featured in various cross stitch magazines and designed special projects for the magazines. When my daughter was born I didn’t have the time needed to cross stitch and design patterns all day long so I let my pattern design business slip away. And then I started discovering dolls again and I now had an excuse to start buying them. The only problem was that they were for my daughter and not for me. I soon discovered all of the adult collectors out there and decided I would be one of them. I started small at first, collecting Mattel Kelly dolls. Soon I collected over 100 Kelly dolls! After Kelly, I discovered Helen Kish’s Riley and Tonner’s Ann Estelle. I have since learned to knit doll sweaters and love an excuse to knit so most of my doll outfits include a sweater and/or hat. I love creating miniature outfits for dolls and enjoy sharing them with others. Currently I create doll ensembles for Ruby Red Fashion Friends, Kish Bethany, Dianna Effner's Little Darlings, Wilde Imagination's teeny tiny Amelia, Kaye Wiggs BJD, Boneka 10", Linda Macario's Penny.

This Past Week & Looking Ahead

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I wonder… do your days and weeks fly by fast, fast, fast? I try to hold onto each day, but it just seems to slip through my fingers before I can get a hold of it, and before I know it the entire week is over.

So, I am wondering, what did I accomplish this week that is out of the ordinary? Anything? Well, here are a few things that happened… ordinary or not.

This week I added a link to my Instagram account. The link is located within the right column’s paragraph below my photo right here on this blog. I am trying to keep my Instagram photos casual and different than those you will see elsewhere, so you might want to follow me, or if you don’t have an Instagram account you can click that link every now and then to see what I am up to. Here is the link to my Instagram account too. My Instagram is still very small and new, but everything takes time, right? I only have 5 followers right now, so if you follow me I will greatly appreciate it!

I spent the entire day on Thursday photographing my next set of dolls that are looking for new homes. There will be 5 of them on eBay tonight and will start as the other two auctions are ending. Thanks to everyone who is willing to bring my dolls into their homes; it helps me a lot knowing where they will be going. Here are a few preview photos.

Kish Tamsin is one of Helen’s bent leg vinyl babies who fit nicely with the 14″ Chrysalis girls. She was very attached to Song (who is up for adoption now) and spent her time in Song’s lap while living with me. Wish I had a photo to show you of the two of them together, they were so cute.

I have 5 Riley and friends dolls. My daughter has fond memories of Riley and Tulah, so I am keeping those two dolls. I have decided to part with Avery, Zsu Zse, and Anjali. All three have had a successful modeling career with me, so are used dolls and quite nude as their outfits are long gone. It was very heart breaking to me was when I pulled Avery from her storage box and saw that one of her thumbs had a brownish stain. I have no idea where that came from and had never seen it on her before. Boo hoo, poor thing! A little doll manicure is what she needs.

Aside from a few rubs on their vinyl, Zsu Zse and Anjali are in good shape. Their hair has been taken out of pigtails and braids, but can be put back to its original style.

My last doll that I am putting up for adoption this week is the only doll that I have ever bought from a local doll shop, long since closed; all my other dolls have been purchased online. It is funny, but when I purchased her I had no idea what her body would be like underneath that rabbit costume. The costume was stuffed with fiberfill and it looked like she was a stuffie with a vinyl head and hands, but I bought her anyway. She is the 12-1/2″ White Rabbit doll, companion to the 16″ Alice in Wonderland from 1996. Now that I have read Helen Kish: The Artist and Her Dolls by Louise Fecher, I know that The White Rabbit is part of Helen’s first multi-jointed vinyl dolls and is the Jesse sculpt (a boy doll). I made a few dresses for this doll, but mainly used her (or him) as the Easter Bunny for the Riley and friends line. Oh, Kish and Company graciously restrung her for me a while back, so her elastic is nice and fresh.

White Rabbit’s 2-piece bunny costume is made out of a nice wool felt and has a fluffy bunny tail. I didn’t use the vest when White Rabbit was acting as the Easter Bunny.

To be taken to my eBay “items for sale” page click to the photo in the right column. These 5 dolls will be available for bidding at 9:00 pm CST, tonight.

Also this week, I finished knitting Talyssa’s sweater in Diadem, a super luxurious (mulberry silk/baby alpaca) single ply yarn, and yesterday I completed the embroidery on it. Working with a single ply yarn did get easier after I got used to it, but I cannot say that I would buy more single plied yarn. It is very slow going as you have to be careful to catch all of those threads with every stitch. With multi-plied yarn each strand is twisted together, so it tends to stick together. On the plus side, the sweater is very soft and slightly fluffy with a beautiful sheen from the silk. Her new ensemble will be available very soon.

I have to share this one last photo with you. It was about 7:00 in the morning and this little bunny was enjoying an apple that had fallen from our apple tree. I had to take this photo from inside the house, so I didn’t scare it. It had already seen me however, and had stopped munching.

Wishing you all a great week!

“Pretty for Fall” or Anytime

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My latest ensemble for Gina can be worn anytime, I think. The color palette is slightly muted and it includes a beret which are fall-ish elements, but you can replace the beret with a hair ribbon and the boots with a pair of shoes and this ensemble could be worn in the spring, couldn’t it?

The sweater and hat set are knit with lace weight natural colored merino wool yarn. I added white glass pearls for the buttons which tie in nicely with the warm white lace. The lace is a fine cotton Cluny lace that was made in England. The ribbons are rayon and were hand dyed along with the tights.

I used four shades of rosy salmon colored embroidery thread for the roses with a touch of muted aqua-y blue to embroider the colonial knots.

I realized after the photo shoot was over Gina’s pretty pink tights were hidden because of her boots and the angle of my shots. You can see a bit of them in the above photo.

Gina looks so sweet looking up at me.

For more information on Gina’s “Pretty for Fall” ensemble, please visit the “Available for Sale” page at cindyricedesigns.com .

Doll Downsizing Continues

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This past week I got together my next dolls that are looking for new homes and got some photos taken of them. I decided to put these next two on eBay at the same time since they are the same kind of doll. I have my 14″ Chrysalis Urban Song and Lark Little Lady up for adoption. I am keeping my Chasing Butterflies Piper for now.

Lark has the most beautifully colored strawberry blonde mohair wig. When I received her I wanted her to look more contemporary, so I made her tendrils into bangs. I did have her hair curled into tighter curls at one time, but now only the waves remain.

Here she is holding a pose.

Song has spent a lot of time with Tamsin watching me sew, knit, crochet, and embroider. Tamsin will be up for adoption later, but here is Song.

Song picked up a tiny beauty mark next to her lip. One of the perils of being a doll, I guess. I love this closeup of her face. We can really see how her face was painted. (No, Helen didn’t paint her.) Doesn’t it look simple to do? Well, maybe not.

Here are a couple more shots of Lark. She was NOT painted by Helen either.

Such a cute little profile.

So, if you think that you would maybe like to bring either (or both) of these sweethearts into your home click on the photo in the right column to be taken to my eBay page where you can enter a bid, if you wish. (After 9:00 pm, CST) Sorry, only US shipping for these two.