From ggsdolls!!

 

 

To you and your family!!

Have a safe and enjoyable one!

Always, ggsdolls

Lady Prince by Iwai Co.

 Continued from my last post, here. I decided to contact, Hello Iwai, a fellow collector, from Instagram, about these Twiggy style dolls. That was Sunday, of course, it was the weekend, so the response was, that he would check their catalog and get back to me on Monday. Little did I know, I was DMing the CEO of Iwai Industrial Co. Ltd. in Japan. Oh my! Mr. Hideyasu Iwai, III, is the grandson of the creator and former CEO of Iwai Co.! He shared with me that his father took over the company at the time and now him. His father/Eddie is photographed with their most popular doll, "Hi Hi" on their Instagram page. For further information their main website for Iwai Co. Ltd. or you can also click for the English site here.

I was star struck for the moment, and had to remind myself, to be humble and show respect. Mr. Iwai was very kind and shared with me on Monday, a catalog picture of the very doll, I had shown him Sunday.

He said that my dolls were in fact, real Iwai products and that these were the dolls produced and release back in 1972. From google's translation, It says, "Ladies Fashion - Lady Prince! Ladies Fashion is a refreshing friend." Due to release in May of that year. Oh my it was just amazing and to have the information of the dolls I have admired since seeing the first one back, in 2015!! The catalog ad continues on with, "Three styles created, "Gaucho", "Midi", and "Pantalon". At the time, Gaucho's were very popular in the early 1970s, these were short pants that were originally worn by Horsemen from South America, but they became a popular style for women in the 1970's - Wikipedia/Pinterest. So, my girls Amy and Twiggy have that style, made in two colors. "Midi" style were dresses or skirts that stopped at the mid-calf, also called, "Longuettes"- Wikipedia/Pinterest . This fashion is worn on the doll, I do not own in my collection, also in two colors. Last, is "Pantalon" I think it meant, "Flared Pants" style, also known as "Bell-Bottoms"- Wikipedia/Pinterest, and that is what Cynthia and Marsha from my collection are wearing. I grew up wearing these as a child of the 70s!

Quite unique how Iwai Co. choose to use the latest fashion trends of the day! Because, I'm sure those who owned a Lady Prince, were into the stylish look and probably displayed the dolls in their homes. They probably greeted you at the door on a side counter in a shop or perhaps were decorative on the work desk at the reception, of an office or restaurant... How exciting to imagine! They were only 600yen about $6 at the time.

I truly appreciate Mr. Iwai's help and giving me the information I needed on these amazing dolls. Now, to just find the gals in the Midi dresses, and my collection will be complete! The Iwai co. has many other dolls and products that are equally desired, visit their website! The ones we collectors see often are, "The Moodies" and they are also made by Iwai Co.!!

Until next time, Cynthia, Marcia, Amy and Twiggy bid you farewell/sayonara!!

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls

Found More Iwai Dolls!!

 Back in February 2016, I acquired these lovely vintage Iwai Co. Twiggy type mod dolls from a fellow collector in Italy. My original post here. They are marked 1972, Iwai Co. Ltd. made in Japan. I have long hoped to find the first doll I saw up for auction back in 2015, that I lost on Yahoo Japan. Fast forward to 2020, and sure enough, while doing my usual searches via Ebay... I did just that!

Acquired from California, the seller had them listed as Long Legged Mod dolls, no other information. I asked her if she could share how she came to find them. She said, she gotten them from a garage sale, and when she asked the owners where they got them, they simply shrugged their shoulders. But, the seller knew they were unusual and bought them to resell, and I'm so glad she did. When I saw them, I was in shock and made an offer right away. After the initial shock, I told myself to stay focused and wait for the seller's response. After a few hours, she accepted and they arrived to me safe and sound. I was thrilled when I opened the box... Because, I was afraid it was not true, and this was all just a dream! Nose twitch insert here. LOL

 The brown fashioned gal/Twiggy, is the one I have been searching, all this time for. She is in lovely condition with her original stand. She sports a yellow hat, with a red and yellow sweater top, under a brown jacket, and flaired matching bell-bottom shorts. Her green thigh high socks have green four-leaf clovers on the side of each sock, with a pair of brown Loafer shoes. She just needed a bit of touch ups to her paint. But otherwise gorgeous!

The blonde wavy haired gal/Marcia, I have only seen in black hair, and black sweater top with pink bell-bottoms. So, to get her in blonde, was a dream come true as well!! She wears a lovely sweater multi-colored sweater top, that reminds me of those YSL "Mondrian" style fashions, properly paired with white bell-bottom pants, and light brown boots. Also with her original stand, sadly I needed to fix the stand because it was cracked at the base, where the shoe is being held in place. She is still stunning and I'm just thrilled to have her in my collection too!

Here they are side by side with the other ladies in my collection...

Similar stances, just different colors and look, Marcia just has a sweater top, but the black haired gal/Cynthia has a long necklace painted onto her sweater top. Definitely creates a different look to each lady. My short haired gals/Twiggy and red hat/Amy, have the same molded on styles, just different colors again. I wonder what the Amy's sock color was? I don't think I've ever seen her other then the one here... Hmmm? Oh wait, I think I may have, they were white with brown shoes, I believe?! Haha, brain blast!

All my gals together... Cynthia, Marcia, Amy, and Twiggy!

A bunch of stylish ladies from 1972!!

Have a safe and well weekend my friends!

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls

My Finds This Week!

 It has been a slow week and I haven't really been doing much, because a few projects are on hold for now... So, has the mail. I was told it is like Christmas holiday season. Especially now, that more and more people are buying online and having things shipped in. It's been a crazy year, and I'm not depending on things to change anytime soon, unfortunately.

So, here is what did make it in! I found this lovely Vintage 50s Westinghouse aqua radio, and bought it mostly for the look. Sadly, it doesn't work, but that's okay, because I mostly planned on using it as a display piece in my collection! See the 2nd photo!

Next, I happened upon this lovely vintage Brio set of chairs and table on Etsy from YellowBirdMorning shop! I have always been on the look out for Brio pieces from the same era. Adria was so sweet and shipped my items fast. Be sure to check her shop out too for some amazing vtg dollhouse pieces! I need to take some photos of what I have thus far for my Brio collection. Sadly, the table is missing its extension piece, but that is okay. Lovely Scandinavian design too!

Then, I won this adorable and unique Oike Miko Chan Bunka Hug Doll Posedoll on Yahoo Japan. She is minty and still has her tag. She is large about 15 inches tall, with plastic baby hands and head. Her hair is fur and she kind of reminds me of those Japan made elf knee huggers, you can find easily for the holidays. If you just add a Santa hat on her, she could be an elf or baby, displayed under your Christmas tree this year. There was a larger one to her, about 18 inches tall, but I didn't want to bid on that one. Mostly because of shipping costs and her being so large!! Her hair is a light blue fur, and she wears a red onesie with white pom poms. So unique, I have offered her on my instagram page, and then I will list her on my Etsy shop if there is no interest.

Last, the lot of retro fabric with cute kitsch ceramic figurines on it. I happened upon it through Etsy, but it is actually sold on a different website. Still, I love the kitschy look of the fabric. I will make some pillows perhaps... There were also swatches you could buy, just look at the few I got below!

I don't think I could choose a fave, they are all cute! They all arrived safely, now to work on them!! Have a great weekend everyone. I hope you all are staying safe and well!

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls

Making Bodies for my Bag Tags, Etc.

 Okay, since making bodies for my bag tag rattles, squeaks and tingaling sounders, they are getting adopted!! Thank you so much guys!! I will try my best to make more soon. Sorry, but the fur I get takes time to come in from my supplier. Well at least the kind I like. My supplier has health concerns, when it comes to mailing and takes time for her to get to her PO. Still in the end it is so worth it. Haha!

The last post you saw I updated the cat bag tag. This time I updated the pink and purple Happy Bear face!! And later that night, I updated her listing, she sold in just a few minutes!! I basically, added a squeak sounder to her left paw, and she has the adorable bird sounder or tingaling sound inside her already. I trimmed her fur and she is in a lovely bubble gum pink and purple color combination. She is a smaller Happy Face bear. I hope she makes her new owner just as happy?!

Then, I received these lovely ceramic figurines of sexy girl angels on pillows. I've seen them once before and they are just adorable. In orange and blue, I acquired them via an Etsy shop called, "LemonChiffonVintage" owned by Stevie-Lynn. She was so easy to work with and ship these cuties super fast too!! They are made in Canada, as shown in the sticker of the orange gal. They will live with me for a bit... Thank you again Stevie-Lynn!!

Next, these vintage 1950s iron-on animal patches!! So cute! I got this lot of three, a cat, elephant, and bunny. Titled, "Appli-Kay" cut outs. They are just the bees knees in kitschy cute too! I was also able to snatch this two bear iron-ons as well. Same maker too! I fell in love with the bears first, then bought the Lot. So funny though, cuz the Lot came in faster then the one. LOL

Last for today, I used 'Buy it Now' via Ebay and got these cute little dolls by Perfekta. They look a lot like a miniature version of Uneeda's, 'Little Sophisticates'. Just look at their bodies!! Their bodies are like tear drops, with a wider torso with small necks, and a bulb the end. Their hands, legs and feet are just like Little Sophisticates, in their stance and pose. The other difference besides their size is their face paint, with eyes opened and no lashes. They have a simple look to them, with things like their hat or panties glued to them. Made in Hong Kong. Even their little shoes are slip ons and they are so tiny! I don't recall seeing these cuties before? Wild!! Because, I generally see most dolls at least once during my usual searches... Haha! I cleaned them up since the first pic I took above. The Blonde girl just needed her dress resewn, the middle gal, a bubble cut, needed a good washing, and the red head, sadly, still has glue residue on her head. Perhaps to hold a hat in place, but is now missing. One is missing shoes, but lucky I was able to find a replacement. She could fit Barbie's sister Kelly's shoes.

Their fashions seem generic, and all three are in felt, with some applique flowers, rik rak, and frills. Definitely keepers. They will stay with me for a time... They are also very hard to find clothes for. Because of their tear shaped bodies. Ugh! Oh well...

We are out of the full lock down, but not out of the woods... ugh. Stay safe you all and many virtual hugs from Guam!!

Thank you for stopping by! ~ ggsdolls

Toei Animation Festival Photos!!

 I recently was lucky enough to happen upon an auction for Toei's Animation of The Little Mermaid. I was able to bid and win the auction, and the rare items arrived to me via DHL yesterday. Upon inspection, these are Toei Animation Festival Theatre black and white photo prints that were released during the actual movie event opening, back in 1975 in Japan, according to the seller. A collector decided to let go his copies of the photos. In the Lot, there are a total of 6 photos. One 8x10 and five 4x6 prints.

These are amazing and for them to be original prints from that time frame, even more so. I will keep one or two and list the rest for sale in my Etsy shop. Truly a piece of animation history! Next, I found this Hi Fashion Lina via my usual website. Sadly, she needed major cleaning, etc. Thus, why I got her. These days Lina goes for a lot more then I recall, from back in my early collecting days. I have since sold off many of my Lina dolls, but I figured, I could restore this one and maybe resell...

She had really dirty dingy hair, and dust covered arms and body. When I removed her panty and stockings, the elastic had left markings because it fuzed with her skin. Sadly, one of the stockings ripped as I was removing it from her body. Ugh. I first, shampooed her hair and washed her body. Afterwards, I used magic eraser to clean up the areas with markings or stains. Her pearl necklace was used as a hair tie, when I took it off, that broke too. Ugh. But, I saved it and fixed it. In the end, she turned out nicely. I styled her hair in banana curls, and she has a natural part to one side. Lovely full brown hair too. Sadly, she doesn't have any shoes, so I will have to locate some. I dressed her for now in a borrowed fashion below, only the necklace is original to her...

Now, I recall why I fell in love with her and wrote a reference book! Haha! Below, her black dress, when I took it off her, it was already bit faded from black. I had to resew on her pearl brooch, because it was hanging by a thread. Along with her original stockings shown. In the same box as the Mermaid prints, I got three tin Chocoholic retro coasters, with fancy deer and flowers. I will keep these for now. The tin is rusting, but still cute!

Finally, as I mentioned in my last post, I was going to add bodies to my Bag Tag plushies, and so I worked on my cute kitty plush. I gave her a pink and black roly poly body! She also has a bendable tail!! I added chenille wire and made it so that her tail can be posed. No feet for her, as she can still be hung. She is still a rattle, and I think the colors are lovely on her. I've already updated my Etsy listing. She stands now, at 7 inches tall. I love her cute face!

Thank you again for looking! ~ ggsdolls