Holiday gift ideas for doll collectors - Billy shelving from IKEA

Photo property of IKEA.

Affordable doll cabinets are hard to find. My fellow doll collector and friend, Kathie, introduced me to the Billy line of shelving from IKEA. These fantastically versatile shelves will fit in any decor and are versatile, easy to install and customizable for most doll sizes.

You choose the color (birch, black/brown or medium brown, and in some stores, the less expensive white and black are on clearance right now) and the shelf size. Height extensions are also available. You choose from a variety of doors, which is great to keep the dust off your collection.

The unit shown retails for $239.99, and measures 31.5" wide, 11" deep, and 93.25" tall. It's composed of a bookcase, a height extension unit, and glass doors.

Some things to consider first: these shelves are designed to be mounted to the wall for stability, and the center shelf in the tall units is not adjustable.

Lots of options, including a corner units, slimmer units for DVD storage, different door styles, glass shelves, and storage boxes are also available. Check out the entire line here. I can't imagine a better gift for a doll collector with open shelving!

Top 10 reasons doll trades are a good idea

I've been resorting to doll trading recently, instead of buying and selling. This works great, especially if you're a member of a doll group. Or, if you know a vintage Barbie dealer who lives in your area and is able to find any Barbie you want to your collection, and you might have been able to convince her she needs a cute little Berdine Creedy BJD or two in her own collection.

In my opinion, it's easiest to do trades in person. However, I've also completed successful trades online. It helps that I have a public blog from which I can establish myself as a real person. So be careful that you "know" your trading partner, and possibly have done business with this person before. On to the list:

1. No money has to change hands (if it's an even trade). This is the coolest part. Your dolly dollars stay intact!
2. Your collection becomes more streamlined and organized, if that's what you're trying to do.
3. Both trading partners get a new doll, and you both end up happy.
4. It's a green way to do business--think of it as recycling.
5. You can honestly say, "No, I did not buy a new doll."
6. This is often a great way to get a grail doll.
7. Somehow, traded dolls seem like extraordinarily good deals--especially when you were going to sell the traded-away doll anyway.
8. When you're pinching pennies and you're itching for something new, this is a great method.
9. Consider doing this with outfits, furniture and doll accessories, as well.
10. Your trash might be someone else's treasure--you never know what your stuff might be worth to someone else!

Narrowing your collection...

Simply Alice, originally uploaded by alington.

Once or twice a year, I go through my collection and get overwhelmed by my dolls. I realize that I, too, have hoarding tendencies and tend to buy on a whim. That's when I realize I have to give up some dolls for adoption and refocus my collection.

Refocusing my collection is usually the easy part. Right now, I have five lines in my collection:

• Historical dolls
• Peak's Woods BJDs (and similar looking dolls)
• Steffie sculpt Barbies
• 1980s Barbies from my childhood
• A few coveted vintage Barbies

I still like Alice in Wonderland, but that line is winding down. And it also leaves me with a few dolls that don't fit in anywhere. I need to decide what to do with them.

I've listed a few items on the Dollpage this week already. Another option is to redress a few of the dolls that don't fit in historical fashions. But I have a few BJDs who just won't fit in historically, including Jolly Plus Jise.

I've toyed with the idea of putting Simply Alice up for adoption, too, but I can't decide. She is adorable, but she just doesn't fit in with the rest of my collection. I'm pretty sure I'm leaning towards keeping her for now. I just like her face too much. Usually a photo shoot is enough to sway me one way or the other. Plus, she can do historical pretty well, too, crabby little thing.

Organize & Style!

I thought I'd do a little post on organizing and styling for your dolls.  This is my absolute favorite thing to do with my dolls other than photographing.  My doll room floor is always in disarray with bags of clothing, bins of accessories and bead containers full of jewelry all scattered on the floor.  Throw in several dolls in all states of undress and that's my doll room on any random day. 

So I want to share a little with you about organizing your dolly goodies so that you can style your dolls more easily.

Defining your collection v. having a fire sale

Cutie Angel, in outfit
Uploaded by alington

I have to admit, I've been more than a little convicted, after reading the thoughtful posts from Valerie and Milady Blue over the past weeks on defining their doll collections and the amount of thought, effort and planning that goes into doll purchases.

I will take this post to confess that I am a doll-shop-a-holic. I have been known to grab a [sometimes expensive] doll without thinking, planning or budgeting, solely based on a promotional photo or price, only to enjoy her for a few months, and often with the intent on passing her on to the next collector.

You know those limited edition dolls manufacturers release, with expensive outfits or over-the-top hair styles; outrageous costumes that are hard to find and are only available for a limited time? You find yourself wondering, "What kind of collector would waste her money on that over-priced junk?"

Well, here I am.

A small step to defining my collection

I had an epiphany of sorts the other day while sorting and organizing for IFDC. The thought that came to my mind was, “Why did I start collecting dolls in the first place?” Well, the answer to that was easy--assemble the Barbie collection I had as a child. So now I have managed to define a small aspect of my current collection, and this definition is two-fold.

1. Identify what to keep of my current vintage Barbie collection and 
2. Deciding what to add to the collection in the future. 

As for the first part of the definition, I will part with most of my vintage Barbie collection that does not relate back to what I had as a child.

Preparing for IFDC

The International Fashion Doll Convention (IFDC) is less than a month away. It’s running from July 7-10 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The wonderful part of doll conventions is that they usually have a time and place for sales tables and, for a fee, the attendees can have a table devoted to their dolly wares. I am currently sorting through my doll collection trying to determine which items I can part with.

Collecting dolls on a theme

This article is dedicated to CaliVali, to help her endeavor in defining her doll collection.

How do you deal with organizing your collection and your ever-growing wish list of dolls? I've developed the Theme Method.

Themes organize your dolls and narrow your collection. Themes can help you shop for items that fit your collection, and help justify those purchases more easily. For example, “This doll will fit in perfectly with my Alice in Wonderland collection. I need her."