Doll Activity/Maintenance
Tips and instructions for routine doll care and more...
When it’s time for a little doll TLC, we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find just about all the information you need to give your dolls a spa rejuvenation session, and more!
- General doll care for most vinyl play-line dolls (ball-jointed and resin collector dolls require specialized treatment)
- Techniques and supplies recommended for washing dolls and accessories
- Restyling tips
- Safe and easy dressing methods
- Safe display and storage of your dolls
- Ideas for inventory storage and tracking
- Suggestions on standard equipment and techniques for successful doll photography
- Plus a list of resources including video tutorials
Click on the tab links below to get started!
Time for a Day at the Doll Spa? Start Here... ↓
General Doll Care and Maintenance
ROUTINE CARE
Most dolls shouldn’t pose problems when maintained using routine safe practices and precautions. Under normal circumstances, with regular dusting and proper storage, your dolls should not require special cleaning or bathing very often, if ever. Of course, not every situation is perfect, and sometimes routine care issues may arise and require:
- Removing dirt and dust. Special cleaning will be required if a doll has been displayed for a long time without dust protection, or has suffered some mishap or spill that requires cleaning.
- Cleaning secondhand dolls. A doll procured secondhand with a questionable or unknown background – comes from a yard sale, thrift store, EBAY, etc. – requires a good wash before being played with, displayed, or stored with other dolls.
- Avoiding UV exposure. Dolls should never be placed in direct sunlight or be exposed to UV lighting (fluorescent, halogen, or LED) for long periods of time.
- Avoiding contact stains. All clothing and accessories that come in contact with the doll should be tested for colorfastness and metal corrosion to prevent contact-transfer stains and chemical vinyl deterioration.
- Removal from retail packaging. Sometimes dolls need to be removed from their original retail boxes/packaging and treated to prevent or remove staining and other issues listed above.
Refer to the following detailed procedure for thoroughly cleaning of your dolls and their accessories.
A DAY AT THE SPA
Bath time preparations. When it’s time to give your doll a bath – and by “bath” we mean giving the doll a good wash with soap and water, not immersing in water – the first step is to remove all the doll’s clothing and accessories that are removable, so those can be washed too. No sense giving your doll a bath if you’re just going to dress her up again in dirty clothes. If you have more than one doll who needs a bath, for the sake of efficiency, schedule a “group spa day” and bathe all your dirty dolls at the same time. Typical items you might need for the spa treatment would include:
- Sink or tub to hold water for soaking clothing and accessories
- Dish soap (not electric dishwasher soap, but soap intended for washing dishes by hand)
- Liquid fabric softener or cheap hair conditioner
- Color-catcher sheets
- Baking soda
- Towels for drying the dolls and laying out wet clothes to air-dry
- Toothbrush to scrub small intricate areas
- Hairbrush or comb for grooming doll rooted hair
- Tools like screwdrivers to remove batteries or other electrical devices from doll to prevent them from getting wet
Washing the doll face and body. Make sure the doll does not have any sound vents or battery compartments. If so, remove batteries and avoid getting compartments or speaker areas wet. Also remove any metallic earrings to avoid the metal reacting with the doll’s vinyl ear area. It’s best to wash the doll at the kitchen or bathroom sink. Wet the doll under running lukewarm water, taking care not to allow water to get into loose joints. Water inside a doll’s body can cause it to mold. Place a nickel-size amount of dish soap in the palm of your hand and dip toothbrush bristles into the soap, then proceed to wash the doll by running your soapy hands over it and using the toothbrush to lightly scour all surfaces and crevices. Avoid getting water inside doll joints or the head.
Washing rooted hair. If the doll has rooted hair that needs to be washed, or you wish to wash styling product out of the hair, soap up the hair and gently massage it with your fingers to thoroughly wash it. After rinsing all the soap off the doll and out of its hair, apply enough conditioner or fabric softener to the hair to massage it in thoroughly, then gently comb the hair smooth. When the hair is smooth, rinse out any softener or hair product, and use a clean comb to once again comb through and smooth the hair. Once the doll is finished, set it aside to dry.
See HAIR CARE page. Hair can make or break the look of a doll. For more information about specific doll hair care including advanced techniques for makeovers and customizations, see our separate sections on HAIR CARE for any of the following:
- Caring for and repairing flocked hair
- Cleaning and restyling intricately coiffed or braided hair
- Reconditioning hair that is severely matted or tangled
- Boil-washing damaged or curly doll hair to straighten it
- Boil-perming doll hair to create (or recreate) curls or waves
- Using a curling iron, flat iron, or crimper on doll hair
- Hair fiber guide (how to identify hair fiber)
- Advanced hair modification – restyling, cutting, dying, rerooting, wig-making
OTHER RESOURCES
While there are literally hundreds of resources available to provide information on caring for your dolls, we’ve listed a single resource below as a place to start looking for more detailed and in-depth doll-care tutorials. We are not endorsing this source as the best, but because this YouTuber already has compiled a curated list of doll care and repair videos, we’ve provided the link below so you can check out this and other resources.
Click on the link below to watch this curated video list in a new browser window.
More to come, but that’s all for now!
As always, any aggregated information we present on this site comes from our own experience and general research of experiences of other hobbyists, and is offered with no guarantee that suggested activities will work as expected or desired. Follow any crafting advice or suggestion at your own risk.
General Care and Maintenance of Clothing and Accessories
ROUTINE CARE
Doll clothing and accessories can be fairly easy to take care of if common problems like dirt and spills are avoided. However, with display or active play, accidents can happen. If you find yourself in a situation where you must clean your doll accessories, here are some common tips and procedures.
CLEANING CONSIDERATIONS
Laundry checklist. Washing doll clothes is not a simple task of throwing them all together and letting them soak. Here are some items you’ll need, plus considerations and precautions to take to ensure laundry day is a success – especially if you’re trying to rejuvenate delicate, fragile, or vintage items without ruining them.
- Sink or tub to hold water for soaking clothing and accessories
- Dish soap (not electric dishwasher soap, but soap intended for washing dishes by hand)
- Towels for patting dry and laying out wet clothes to air-dry
- Repair items with rips or loose threads
- Check for colorfastness
- Spot-treat stubborn stains
- Hand-wash, don’t machine-wash
Hand-wash rather than machine-wash doll clothes. Washing doll clothes in a washing machine is not recommended, due to the small size of doll clothing with delicate threads and small seam allowances. The vigorous action of machine agitation and spin cycles could rip clothing or damage appliques, decals, or glitter layers. Washing doll clothes by hand is the preferred method because it is gentler and allows personal attention to items that may require stain removal or repairs.
Repairing doll clothes. Doll clothing with ripped seams, missing buttons/snaps, frayed edges, or loose threads should be repaired before being laundered to avoid further damaging the items. If the items are super dirty, then it’s best to launder them to avoid contaminating the work area before attempting any repairs. Look for the following typical damage to repair:
- Loose threads or torn seams. If seam threads have come loose, snip them off as close to the seam as possible. If seam appears to be unraveling or is actually torn open, a simple stitch job may fix it. Try to use color-matched thread and make stitches similar to existing stitches. Knot all threads to prevent seams from coming loose again.
- Frayed edges. Depending on the type of material and where the fraying has occurred, frayed edges could possibly be repaired without causing further damage to the garment. For instance, if satiny material has frayed and pulled loose from a seam, a new seam could be sewn over to rejoin the material in an adjacent area not frayed. Using fray-check glue on the raw material edges inside the seam can help prevent further damage. The resulting repair might make the clothing too small to fit the designated doll, so considerations such as that should be made before attempting repair. For frayed garment edges – hems, sleeve cuffs, etc., it might be possible to use a fabric glue to remake the edge. The type of glue used is important. Some glues darken the fabric or make it hard. It’s best to test the glue on a hidden piece of the garment like an inner seam before using it to make a repair that will show on a garment edge. If the construction and style of the garment allows, ribbon or trim might be added to the edge and reinforced with fray-check glue to prevent further fraying.
- Garment decorations. For decorative trims and accessories like buttons that are partially missing or damaged, a full replacement of the decorative items might be required, or the removal of the remaining decorations might be a better alternative.
- Broken or missing fasteners. Missing snaps or hook-and-loop closures will require necessary supplies like tiny snaps and hooks for replacement. To make all fasteners match the fasteners that remain on the garment, it may be necessary to replace all the fasteners with whatever style is on hand. Broken zippers can be removed and replaced with new zippers, or with snaps or hooks, depending on the garment construction.
- When to salvage or let go. When clothing items are too stained or faded to warrant saving, salvaging pieces to use on other garments might be in order. If a garment is in tatters and is beyond repair, it’s best just to toss or recycle it.
Is it colorfast? Before throwing every item of doll clothing together in a tub of warm soapy water, it’s best to avoid potential laundry problems by taking some precautions:
- Separate light-colored garments from dark or brightly-colored garments. If you have a large batch of clothes, it’s best to separate white and light colors from dark colors so they can be washed separately, and dark/bright colors can be washed in a separate batch. For dark or bright colors, it’s advisable to test for colorfastness to avoid dye bleeding.
- Test garments for colorfastness. Dampen a clean white cloth with water and rub it on the garment. If the white cloth is stained by the garment, it is not colorfast. Another test is to let a single garment sit in a small container of warm water. If the water changes color, the item is not colorfast. Items that tend to bleed dye should be separated from light-colored garments or treated in some way before washing them with light-colored items.
- Set garment dyes. Items that are not colorfast can be soaked in a ratio-solution of one gallon (16 cups) of clean water with one cup of white vinegar and 1/4 cup of table salt to help set the color and keep it from bleeding. Half the mix ratio would be 8 cups water to 1/2 cup vinegar to 1/8 cup (or 2 tablespoons) salt. One-fourth the mix ratio would be 4 cups water to 1/4 cup vinegar to 1/16 cup (or one tablespoon) salt. The vinegar and salt work together to set or lock the color into the fabric fibers. Always thoroughly rinse fabric items with clear water to remove vinegar and/or bleach residue.
- Color catchers and stain-removal products. If you choose to throw all dark and light clothes together without checking or setting colorfastness, add a color-catcher sheet to help prevent bleeding colors from staining lighter items. Commercially produced color-catcher sheets can be purchased anywhere laundry products are sold. Washing or soaking stained garments with oxygen-based bleach (like OxiClean or similar products) or non-chlorine color-safe bleach may help remove previous dye stains as well as dinginess and other types of stains. Spot-removers like Tide bleach sticks, red wine stain removers, etc., might help in treating especially tough stains.
Laundry time. When repairs are finished and colorfastness is taken care of, it’s time to do the laundry. Gather the necessary supplies – tub and soap and water – and other required items together.
- Examine and spot-treat clothing with stubborn stains. Examine clothing carefully and spot-treat any items with visible stains. Dampen the stained area and apply dish soap, then gently scrub by rubbing the material against itself. If the stain persists, try treating the area with spot-removers. Get as much of the stain out as possible before putting garments in soapy water to soak.
- Sort, pre-soak, and wash doll clothes by hand. Sort garments by light and dark colors if dye staining is a possibility. Soak the batched doll clothes in a tub or sink of warm soapy water (dish soap). If clothes are especially dirty, let them soak for half an hour or longer. Gently agitate clothes by swirling your hand around in the tub water. Use extra soap or spot-treat any persistent stains by rubbing fabric together to release the stains. Rinse items thoroughly in lukewarm water.
- Dry and touch-up. Gently squeeze dry all garments then lay flat to dry on a folded towel covering a surface that won’t be damaged by moisture. Some touch-up pressing may be needed after clothing is dry. When pressing a doll garment, make sure to use an iron temperature compatible with the type of fabric. For delicate fabrics, a steamer may work. Remember, non-removable plastic or vinyl accessories and adornments attached to a garment could melt or become deformed if exposed to direct contact with the heated surface of a clothes iron.
- Wash doll accessories. Plastic shoes and purses and other non-fabric or non-paper accessories can be cleaned in the same manner as washing a doll, or can be soaked with fabric clothing. A bit of baking soda can be used to scrub plastic items that are really dirty, which helps deodorize as well. Cardboard-based accessories can only be surface-cleaned by wiping or dabbing with a damp rag. A cloth dampened with isopropyl alcohol can be used to wipe down musty-smelling accessories. After wiping off these types of articles, let them air-dry. If items are flat, like posters or booklets, it’s best to lay them flat under a weight like a book to air-dry flat. This will help keep the items from curling or wrinkling.
OTHER RESOURCES
While there are literally hundreds of resources available to provide information on caring for your dolls, we’ve listed a single resource below as a place to start looking for more detailed and in-depth doll-care tutorials. We are by no means endorsing this source as the best, but because this YouTuber already has compiled a curated list of doll care and repair videos, we’ve provided the link below so you can check out this and other resources.
Click the link below to watch the YouTube video playlist in a new browser tab:
As always, any aggregated information we present on this site comes from our own experience and general research of experiences of other hobbyists, and is offered with no guarantee that suggested activities will work as expected or desired. Follow any crafting advice or suggestion at your own risk.
Tips for Dressing Dolls
THE RIGHT TOOLS CAN HELP
Sometimes dressing fashion dolls can be a challenge, especially if the clothing is tight-fitting or has long sleeves. Many doll enthusiasts keep a variety of tools on hand to aid in dressing dolls. Items you may already have on hand could become very useful in the doll-dressing ordeal. Artist paintbrush handles, wooden dowels, or pencils with erasers can be used to push fabric layers through long-sleeve clothing or to turn sleeves right-side-out. Crochet hooks can be used to grab clothing edges or components with elastic, and tweezers or needle-nose pliers are great for picking up or holding small items in place, especially when manipulating pearl and loop fasteners or lace-ups too tiny for most people to manage by hand. Sometimes all it takes is a little imagination to find just the right tool for the job.
DEALING WITH LONG-SLEEVE CLOTHING
Lined jackets with narrow long sleeves and knitted apparel with long sleeves are some of the most challenging clothing articles to put on a doll. If your doll has removable hands – great, no problem. But if not, then you need to get creative, because sometimes strong fingernails are just not enough to get the job done without shredding your doll’s wardrobe.
Dressing dolls with non-removable hands. If your doll does not have removable hands, you can wrap a small piece of paper towel or tissue paper over the fingers to help prevent them from catching in the cuffs and inside the sleeves of garments that are knitted, made of netting, or are just really tight. This will help keep the material from getting snagged or torn by the doll’s tiny fingers. When the hands have cleared the sleeves, the paper can be pulled out and discarded or reused for other dressing dilemmas.
Layering long-sleeve clothing. If you’re trying to put a jacket over a long-sleeve blouse, you can tuck the sleeves of the blouse inside the sleeves of the jacket before attempting to slide the doll’s arms inside. This will help prevent the sleeves of the blouse from bunching up inside the jacket sleeves. You can use the eraser-end of a pencil or a blunt wooden stick (dowel rod or paint brush handle) to push the blouse sleeves into the jacket sleeves and wiggle the stick around inside to straighten the layered sleeves.
HOSIERY AND SOFT VINYL DON’T PLAY WELL TOGETHER
Soft vinyl dolls like Paradise dolls, GIRL Force dolls, and “Cyberskin” Phicen action figures can present unique clothing challenges for collectors. The rubbery nature of the doll makes dressing difficult if clothing is tight or has long sleeves or pant legs.
Powdering the body with cornstarch before dressing. A common practice for dressing dolls with Cyberskin is to lightly dust the doll with cornstarch.*(1) The operative word is “lightly” because the powdery residue can get all over everything, including the clothing and the doll’s hair – a real mess, especially for dark colors. Best practice is to dust your palms with cornstarch, gently run your hands over the doll’s body, then take a clean soft cloth to carefully wipe off any loose residue before attempting to dress the doll. CAUTION: Do not breathe the dust – it can be harmful to your health.*(1)
Putting hosiery on dolls with soft vinyl legs. Putting on stockings or pantyhose can be especially difficult if your doll has soft or rubbery vinyl legs instead of a hard smooth surface. It’s best to start at the feet and bunch up the leg portion of the garment over the foot, then carefully ease up the bunched fabric over the legs a little at a time until the waist is reached. Smoothing the fabric upward as you go will help distribute and stretch the fabric more evenly.
AVOID STAINING
Many fabrics – even those used in manufacturing doll clothing – can stain dolls if left on an unprotected body for any length of time. Dark or deeply colored fabrics are often prone to staining. In fact, a newly purchased boxed doll can become stained if left dressed inside the box for any length of time. Many high-end dolls will have protective layers of tissue or cloth underneath clothing to protect them from staining. However, it’s in the best interest of the doll to remove all clothing – including shoes – to check for staining. If the doll is already stained, a bleach stick or saran-wrapped layer of acne cream (with active ingredient benzoyl peroxide) applied to the affected area can help remove dye stains if left for a day or two. Thoroughly wash away treatment after application to avoid bleaching clothing that comes in contact with a stain-treated doll.
It is always good practice to store dolls unclothed and individually wrapped in acid-free tissue or cloth, and not leave dolls clothed on display for long periods of time unless proper precautions are taken to avoid contact staining. Testing clothing for dye-fastness and warm-water soaking clothing with color-catchers, or soaking in a vinegar-water mix to help set the dye may help prevent the clothing from staining. See our sections on DOLL DISPLAY/STORAGE and REFURBISHING TIPS for more information.
DO YOU KNOW OTHER DOLL-DRESSING TIPS?
If you have developed additional methods to make dressing dolls a breeze rather than a chore, be sure to let us know so we can include them here.
More to come, but that’s all for now!
As always, any aggregated information we present on this site comes from our own experience and general research of experiences of other hobbyists, and is offered with no guarantee that suggested activities will work as expected or desired. Follow any crafting advice or suggestion at your own risk.
Tips for Displaying Dolls
TO DEBOX OR NOT DEBOX – THAT IS THE QUESTION
Many doll collectors are strictly NRFB (never-removed-from-box) collectors, meaning they leave their dolls in the original factory boxes and never remove them. Some collectors do this for archival or personal reasons to maintain the value and integrity of what they consider to be investments. Many doll enthusiasts buy secondhand dolls already out of the box, and debox new dolls they procure. We at Doll-World are mostly deboxers because we love playing with our dolls – dressing them, customizing them, photographing them … well, you get the picture.
Potential damage warning. We are not here to tell anyone how to curate or enjoy their doll collection. The only warning we offer is that sometimes leaving a doll undisturbed inside its original factory box can, over time, lead to damage to the doll. Some dyes used in fabric for doll clothes, especially dark colors, can stain the doll. Accessories can transfer unwanted color to the doll. Metal accessories (like earrings) can cause detrimental chemical reactions with doll vinyl, especially on older and vintage dolls. If you don’t intend to ever remove a doll from its box, then this may not be an issue for you. But for those who may want to display a doll outside the box or redress it, staining can be a huge problem. Moisture and heat can also cause issues, such as mold.
For the reasons listed, we issue a standard warning NOT to leave your dolls stored or displayed undisturbed in their original boxes. In fact, we issue a similar warning for unboxed dressed dolls. Any doll left for long periods of time wearing clothing and/or jewelry can suffer unwanted damage such as staining or corrosion. We advise removing your doll from its original box and clothing to thoroughly inspect the doll for passive damage. This will give you the opportunity to assess any damage that has occurred and decide whether it is advisable to correct or lessen any damage, or to simply attempt to prevent further progression. With careful unboxing, you can always return the doll to its box for display purposes after taking some precautionary measures to lessen the likelihood of damage to the doll. We also recommend periodically inspecting all your dolls for any potential damage while on display or in storage.
This recommendation to remove a doll from its box may not apply if the doll is vintage, and its “box status” influences its perceived or estimated worth. Still, it’s important to weigh the disadvantage of a ruined doll against the advantage of maintaining it as a NRFB item. Sometimes NRFB status makes absolutely no difference if the doll has serious damage or has contracted a terminal case of “Green Ear.”
See our separate section on REFURBISHING TIPS for more information about Green Ear, Glue Head, mold, staining, and other doll issues.
Ways to protect dressed dolls from staining. For any doll, we recommend undressing the doll completely and removing all jewelry and accessories. For dolls whose clothing is sewed on or molded on, Removal of clothing and accessories may be difficult or impossible. A choice must be made whether to deconstruct the outfit to remove it, or leave the doll as is. If you never intend to redress or do anything different with the doll, then for those few dolls with non-removable clothing and accessories, it is probably best to leave them undisturbed. For dolls that you wish to modify or otherwise interact with, here are some suggested precautions to help prevent staining and other damage from contact with non-colorfast clothing and other potentially damaging accessories:
- Use clean white cotton gloves to handle prized dolls and prevent transfer of body oils to the doll’s surfaces.
- Remove all clothing and accessories to inspect the doll for contact-staining or other damage.
- Perform restorative treatments to mitigate damage that is present. (See our REFURBISHING TIPS.)
- Check clothing for colorfastness by dampening then allowing fabric to make contact with clean white cotton cloth. If the white cloth gets stained, the clothing is not colorfast. Another colorfast check is to dip the clothing in a bowl of warm to hot water. If the water takes on a tint of color, the clothing is not colorfast and is likely to stain your doll, if it hasn’t already.
- Try setting the fabric dye. If clothing is not color-fast, try immersing the item in a mix of water, vinegar, and salt. See our HAIR STYLING GUIDE for tips on setting fabric dye. Retest item for colorfastness.
- Use preventive measures when dressing dolls in clothing or accessories that may stain. Wrap white tissue paper around doll’s body anywhere clothing might make contact, then put on clothing over tissue paper.
- Apply a protective coating to the doll if wrapping in tissue paper is not practical. Apply multiple layers of transparent water-soluble all-purpose glue to the doll’s body and allow the glue to dry before dressing the doll. Glue can be removed anytime with water and mild scrubbing with a toothbrush.
- Apply a protective sealant coating inside/on shoes and accessories, such as metal earrings and certain red-colored vinyl accessories prone to staining. Coat all areas that may contact doll with multiple layers of water-soluble all-purpose glue or a clear acrylic varnish and allow to dry before dressing the doll with these accessories. Do not use acetone-based clear coatings such as fingernail polish to coat accessories that may come in contact with the doll’s vinyl body. Acetone may seep out as the coating breaks down and interact with the doll’s vinyl body.
- Make sure doll and hair is dry before applying clothing and accessories. This will help prevent mold growth and contact-staining or corrosion.
- Periodically check dressed dolls for staining and take additional measures to prevent damage. Use self-seal plastic baggies to quarantine clothing and accessories that are known to stain and can’t be fixed.
TIPS FOR MAINTAINING DOLLS ON DISPLAY
In addition to the precautions listed above, make sure when displaying your dolls that you put them in the best possible conditions for display. Most dolls removed from original factory packaging can be displayed safely without any problems by observing a few precautions:
- Regularly remove dirt and dust from displayed dolls or keep them enclosed in display cases. To dust, use a soft clean cloth or clean feather duster or Swifter duster, and gently go over hair and clothing surfaces. Gently blow on complicated hairdos and intricate clothing that can’t be surface-dusted to help dislodge embedded dust.
- Avoid placing dolls in direct sunlight or subjecting them to prolonged UV exposure under fluorescent, halogen, or LED lighting. Dolls made of vinyl or resin, and many fabrics, can become discolored or deteriorate with age and/or exposure to ultra-violet light.
- Avoid display settings with high moisture and stagnant air, to prevent mold growth.
- Avoid subjecting dolls to excessive temperatures and sudden drastic temperature changes.
- Do not display dolls in areas accessible by small children or pets. Inquisitive hands can be swift and destructive. Small accessories may present a choking hazard for a young child prone to putting things inside their mouths. Animals love to chew on soft vinyl fingers and toes and other accessories. It’s better to take precautions rather than allow your collection to be mauled and decimated.
More to come, but that’s all for now!
As always, any aggregated information we present on this site comes from our own experience and general research of experiences of other hobbyists, and is offered with no guarantee that suggested activities will work as expected or desired. Follow any crafting advice or suggestion at your own risk.
Tips for Photographing Dolls
WHY PHOTOGRAPH DOLLS?
Most if not all doll enthusiasts enjoy looking at beautiful, interesting, and thought-provoking photos of dolls, and the majority of them are obsessed with photographing their dolls and sharing their pictures. Pinterest, Flickr, and Instagram are a testament to this growing trend of doll photography, and appreciating beautiful doll photos can be personally satisfying – especially if you’re the person who created them. Doll photography can be fun, but it’s not for everyone.
There are many different reasons to photograph dolls, but the way it’s done will have a huge influence on how successful and satisfying the process and results are. Many doll collectors photograph their dolls and accessories for enjoyment, social media posts, to market products for sale, and other reasons too numerous to list. Prepping dolls for photography – styling them, dressing them, and setting the stage – can be a great opportunity to interact with your dolls on a personal and meaningful level. Photos can capture and memorialize images of dolls at their best while featuring details that are difficult to maintain on a doll – perfectly coiffed hair, an outfit matched for the scene, and so forth. A well staged photo can be a source of pride and enjoyment to look at again and again and share with others, as well as provide a time capsule of the photography event. It’s like going on a vacation and looking at your photos later to vicariously relive all the fun you had during that excursion. And sometimes taking photos of your dolls is a little bit like taking photos of your pets or children. You like to have mementos of the things you love so you can revisit them.
If you’re setting up to take some photos of your dolls, why you are taking the photos will drive just about everything else you do to take the pictures. For instance, someone who is making a doll dress may want to take a quick snapshot of the dress on a doll to see how it looks. They might simply pull out their smart phone and snap a few pictures while holding the doll in front of the camera. The purpose of the photo is on-the-fly casual to have a quick look-see, and maybe share in a text to a friend. On the other hand, someone who is designing doll couture may want to document the various steps of creating the garment for the purpose of posting pictures on a blog tutorial. That person will want the lighting to be good enough to show the details of the garment from various angles in their work area, and will want the camera focus to be keen on minute details. Additionally, someone who is making dresses to sell will want to photograph their finished products modeled on attractive dolls that make the clothes look good. For product photos, a minimized background with no clutter and a generic complementary color scheme will help maintain focus on the product. Lighting should be balanced to show details and color of the product without washout from extreme lighting or overexposure. Setting and preparation for the photos will be important for the successful outcome of the photo session.
If you plan to take photos you want to share on Instagram or elsewhere on social media, a little planning and preparation may be necessary to help ensure the photos are the best they can be before you throw them out there for the world to judge. Creating awesome and beautiful pictures is not as easy as just pointing a camera and clicking. A rudimentary understanding of photography is required, as well as decent tools, preparation, and setup. But sometimes even the best preparation doesn’t give you the quality photos you want, and a little help from digital photo-editing software comes in handy. Below, we’ll discuss basic tools, setup, and procedures to help you make the most of your doll photography experiences.
TOP OF PHOTOGRAPHING DOLLS PAGE
CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB
The equipment you use will depend on a variety of factors, including your general purpose for photographing your dolls, your skill level, and your resources. If you don’t plan on getting super-involved in doll photography but just want to take the occasional photograph on a whim, then a cell phone may be sufficient to satisfy your photographic needs. However, if you plan to do a lot of photography, a digital camera will give you more functionality and control over your photos.
Camera equipment can be quite expensive and complicated to use. A rudimentary understanding of how photographic equipment works will be necessary in order to use the controls available on a camera that’s more sophisticated than a point-and-shoot auto-focus camera typically found in cell phones or tablets. To create a well-equipped photography setup, you could end up investing in many of the items on the equipment list below. Because we are not photography experts, we will not be suggesting particular brands or kinds of equipment to purchase. There are literally hundreds of sources online for specifics about photography equipment and techniques. This is just a starter list of basic items and considerations involved in doll photography.
DSLR Camera. DSLR stands for Digital Single-Lens Reflex. A Single-Lens Reflex camera has one lens through which light travels to “expose” the film – which in this case is a digital sensor that mimics the behavior and aspects of actual photographic film. A DSLR camera with decent features will allow interchange of different lenses and have additional settings for night shots, panorama shots, high-speed action shots, multi-frame shots, remote shots, timed shots, etc. Some camera features and capabilities may not be necessary in photographing dolls, but could come in handy when photographing other subjects besides dolls, like pets, children, scenery, etc. Here are some camera features and capabilities you may need for doll photography:
- Video capability. Many doll enthusiasts branch into social media and vlogging to create video tutorials or stop-motion movies with their dolls. If you think you might want to do that, it would be good to invest in a camera capable of video filming.
- Lenses and filters. A DSLR camera with decent features will accommodate separate removable lenses for various focusing lengths to achieve special effects like telephoto (zoom), micro-closeups, and blurred backgrounds. Some single-lens cameras may come with built-in features that mimic some of the capabilities of separate lenses, but the range and quality may be limited. Filters for the lenses can produce special lighting and other effects. A camera with separate lenses will be more expensive and more complicated to operate successfully, but it will offer greater capability to control effects and achieve desired photo results.
Optional/additional photography accessories. A camera and lenses will take your photos, but in order to facilitate the process of taking photos, you may want to invest in additional equipment. Listed below are some optional items you may want to consider getting.
- Plug-in adapter for your camera, and spare rechargeable batteries. An electrical adapter allows you to operate your camera with stationary electrical power and to recharge batteries. This helps avoid situations where your camera goes dead in the middle of a photo or video shoot. Use direct adapter power when it is accessible and convenient, to help conserve battery power and save it for situations where mobility is necessary.
- Tripod. A tripod is necessary for still photography to avoid shaking the camera and blurring the pictures. A camera can be propped up on a chair or a cardboard box, but using a makeshift camera stand is not advisable. First, it’s difficult to access the controls and get the right angles with a homemade stand. Second, a flimsy makeshift stand increases the risk of damaging an expensive camera in a fall. It’s better to get the right equipment in the first place. Tripods come in many sizes and configurations and price ranges. Sometimes a cheap tripod can offer features similar to a specialized tripod costing hundreds of dollars more, so it’s not necessary to buy the most expensive equipment to get the functionality you need and want. A good tripod will be lightweight yet sturdy, with locking telescoping capability for portability and height adjustment, and pivot capability to adjust the aim and angle of the camera. Depending on the configuration of the tripod, different brackets can be attached to hold a cell phone or even a tablet. Quick-change brackets allow easy removal of the camera from the tripod.
- Selfie stick. A “selfie” stick allows photography on the go using a cell phone. The telescoping stick or pole allows more control over angle of photos while increasing the distance from the subject (self) and lessening over-exposure when a flash is used.
- Wired and Bluetooth remotes. Most selfie sticks are equipped with remote buttons that allow a photo to be taken without touching the phone. Depending on the selfie stick, the button may be wired to the stick and plug into the phone, or may be controlled through Bluetooth wireless connection with the phone. The same remote functionality is available with certain tripod accessories that may include brackets for cell phones, and remote functionality that will also work with Bluetooth-capable cameras. Make sure your tripod and accessories are compatible with your camera equipment.
- Photo tent (light box), or photo reflective screen. For indoor photography, a translucent box or screen is often used to diffuse and soften the bright photo lights set up to illuminate the object being photographed. The material of the box or tent acts like a lampshade to spread the light softly so it doesn’t glare on the object placed inside. This more evenly illuminates the object and helps minimize shadows. Photo tents are usually used for small objects, while portable screens are used for large objects. A reflective screen may also be used to bounce light and provide additional illumination. (A photo tent light box should not be confused with an actual light box which is literally a box with lights mounted inside to shine through a translucent glass or plastic surface. This type of light box is used to view film negatives or to assist in tracing pictures or objects.)
- Specialized photographic backdrops. Some doll artists like to use specialized oversize photographic backdrops that are designed to create a realistic background behind the doll being photographed. These specially made backdrops usually bend at the bottom portion or are flexible enough to curve and create a continuous background image behind and under the doll. Images can be literally anything such as city or market scenes, space landscapes, enchanted forests, etc. A cheap precursor to this was to use calendar photos taped up on a background board to use as a photo backdrop behind the doll being photographed, although the bottom portion was not a continuous image due to the size and shape of most calendar pictures.
- Green screen backdrop. A green screen is a specially colored non-reflective cloth backdrop that is designed to minimize shadows and background color differences while providing a continuous uniform color that can be replaced with a different background using photo or video editing software. A common example of this is weather reporters who stand in front of a giant green screen to project weather tracking maps behind them. Some photo software maybe able to similarly edit out other colors besides green, but green is the industry standard for replacing backgrounds in a photo or video.
- Portable photo lighting. When photographing indoors, portable LED or other types of bright photo lights on stands can be moved around to suit the lighting needs in a photographic setting. Small tabletop lights are usually used in conjunction with a photo tent, while larger lights on stands are used with a portable screen that diffuses or reflects light to better illuminate large objects being photographed.
- Editing software. At some point you will probably want to transfer your digital photos to a computer to ready them for printing, storage in photo albums, or upload to venues of your choice. With proper editing software, you can enhance, alter, or fix photos that didn’t turn out just the way you wanted. Editing software, depending on its capabilities, can allow you to incrementally rotate the photo to help straighten photo subjects, flip a photo, crop the background, enlarge or reduce photos for various needs, add color enhancements to change the color scheme, lighten or darken photos, sharpen or blur photos for special effects, and add specialized filters to change color photos to black-and-white or sepia color schemes. There a some free software packages that have many of these features, and other packages with more sophisticated capabilities. Adobe Photoshop is one of the most powerful photo editing software packages, but it also has a very steep learning curve and is one of the most expensive packages available. Depending on your needs and financial resources, you may want to opt for a low cost or free software package to edit your photos. There are many YouTube videos available that review specific software brands and packages to help you decide what fits your budget and is right for your needs. Make sure you download software from legitimate sites. Otherwise you might get “free” software bundled with bloatware, adware, malware, and hijack viruses that are extremely hard to get rid of. NEVER download from sites such as CNET, Tucows, Softonic, public torrent, file upload hosting sites, warez exchange forums, pirate sites featuring code-cracked software, and similar sites. Even the Windows Store, not supported well by Microsoft anymore, may have malware and virus problems. Always do a google search on the safety of a site before downloading from them.
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PLANNING AND SETUP WILL HELP MAKE BETTER PICTURES
Sometimes a quick casual shot with a phone or camera can turn out to be a terrific picture. But it’s rare that happens. Most of the time, doll photography turns out better when there’s some planning and setup involved. The character and atmosphere of a photographic setting can affect the quality and overall success of your photos. There is no single background or lighting effect or other feature that will fulfill the needs of every photographic situation, so be prepared to adjust your setting to suit the nature and purpose of your photos. Below are some considerations and suggestions to ensure your photos turn out the way you want them to.
Showcase your doll in the best circumstances. One of the worst things to do when photographing a doll is to have a perfect setup but forget to make sure your doll is clean with appropriately styled hair, and is properly dressed for the photo shoot. The eye of a camera can pick up details the human eye tends to overlook – dust particles on the doll’s face, stray hair strands, clothing that’s askew, mismatched shoes, a bunch of irrelevant junk stacked behind the doll, etc. To ensure your doll looks her best when being photographed, keep on hand a water spritz bottle, a comb, a clean lint-free cloth, and a doll stand. And pay attention to your photo setup.
Background considerations. Have you ever looked at a picture and been confused about what to focus on because there was so much going on in the picture? Confusion is not a reaction you want for your photos. Cluttered, disorganized backgrounds that contain incongruous objects piled haphazardly, or a dirty work area with work tools lying around on a worn or shabby tabletop can quickly destroy the ambiance of your photos and detract from the subject you’re trying to photograph. Sometimes a background can be cropped to delete unwanted objects, but a little forethought and preparation can make the background work with rather than against your photo vision. As a general rule, only include in your photo setting what you want the viewer to see.
If you’re photographing an object to show product detail, it’s best to use a bland or neutral background that does not obscure or compete with the object. Sometimes a high-contrast background is good to showcase the object – a dark background for a light-colored object, or vice-versa. In other instances, you may want to show your subject in a setting that looks natural for the subject. For example, if you’re shooting photos of a bowl you made for sale, you might want to show it sitting on a table next to complimentary items in a pleasant room setting, to help viewers visualize how nice the bowl would look in their home, and subliminally increase your chances of a sale. Likewise, putting your dolls in natural environments can enhance the overall feel of the photos.
Many doll collectors like to photograph their dolls outside. The natural lighting as well as live plants and colors and textures of outdoor scenes in the background gives a realistic feeling to doll photos. A doll photographed in a bathing suit with a real in-ground pool in the background can give a genuine poolside feel to the photo. Dolls can be photographed against real city backdrops by positioning the doll with a featured building directly in the background at a height that creates the optical illusion that the doll is human-size standing in front of the building. MY FROGGY STUFF has a YouTube video with photo tips explaining how to do this. Likewise, dioramas with properly scaled realistic objects can enhance your photos by presenting the doll in a believable environment. The possibilities are endless, limited only by your resources and imagination.
Color and pattern considerations. A discordant photo – one where none of the colors in a photo compliment each other, can seem confusing or disjointed and actually elicit an unpleasant reaction. For example, a photo featuring a doll wearing a gold evening gown needs to have the appropriate color scheme to enhance the gown’s gold color. Placing the doll in a casually haphazard living room diorama with a pink plastic couch next to a purple printed cardboard end table with one wall striped in pink and white, and the other wall patterned with green polka-dots, and the floor covered with an orange and yellow paisley rug, creates a horrendous photo setting. First, there are too many colors and patterns going on that all clash, and nothing matches anything else, and certainly nothing in the setting complements the doll in the gold gown. With cheap plastic and cardboard furniture, and stripes and polka-dots on the walls, the diorama is not realistic and does nothing to provide a suitable backdrop for the doll. A haphazard setup of incongruous props in a color-discordant setting might be okay for an ice cream parlor diorama or for casual doll play, but if the objective is to create doll photos that are pleasant to look at, this kind of backdrop is not the way to go.
Likewise, background colors too dark or too close in shade and hue to the doll being featured in a photo might actually obscure the subject and make it hard to see any details in the photo. For example, a doll with black hair and black dress photographed against a black background can blend in with the background and make it hard to see the details, especially the outline or silhouette of the main object. If the objective is to showcase the dress, then the photo would be a fail. But if the objective was to create a dark and spooky look, then the photo might be a success. It all depends on the look you want to achieve in your photos.
As a general rule, the background color and pattern should make the object of the photo easy to distinguish, and play into the overall color scheme to create a cohesive and visually appealing look. Sheets of colored cloth or poster board can be used to create a quick and easy color background with very little detail. For a background with a uniform pattern or mix of colors, a sheet of cardboard can painted with appropriate blended or splattered colors, or covered with scrapbook paper or shelf paper, resulting in a custom photographic background requiring very little expense or effort.
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Lighting. Lighting can make or break a photo. Depending on the purpose of the photo, you may want to adjust or tailor lighting to the purpose you have in mind. Working in concert with color and background, lighting can enhance or detract from a photographic subject. A poorly lit photo is hard to see and makes it difficult to distinguish details. This would not be the best choice for showcasing an object for sale. A sales product picture should show the product in lighting that allows the viewer to distinguish details without high contrast white-out or murky shadows. Product photos should help the viewer make a purchase decision rather than obscuring details and making the decision process more difficult.
Photo lighting can also influence emotions elicited from the viewer. A dark photo with lots of shadows would come off as mysterious or scary, while a bright and sunny photo would most probably be viewed with happy feelings. Lighting situations should enhance whatever purpose you have for making the photo.
Many doll collectors like to photograph their dolls outdoors because of the flattering lighting. Daylight looks more realistic and has better saturation to show crisp detail. However, conditions that are too-sunny, rainy, or cloudy can hamper successful photography. Due to the limited lighting aspects of outdoor photography, many photographers opt for indoor photography, especially for objects that are used inside and would look odd if photographed outdoors. To counteract the low light levels of interiors and the yellowish shadowy effects of indoor nighttime incandescent lights, some photographers use daylight fluorescent lighting, which can mimic real outdoor daylight but sometimes gives a bluish tinge to photos. Sometimes camera settings can be used to alter lighting effects. Additionally, some photo-editing software features can change the overall hue for the picture, as well as lighting level. There are other accessories that can make lighting in photos an asset rather than a detraction.
Establishing the mood. A photo can elicit certain feelings and responses from the viewer if staged properly. Setting a mood in a photo can be accomplished with adjustments to lighting, color, and general background setup. Putting thought into your photo setup can help ensure viewers find your photos appropriately staged and enjoyable to look at.
For mood photos, the background should enhance the overall ambiance of the photo by playing into the dark or light scheme. Dark lighting is usually moodier while bright or sunny lighting is happier and more upbeat. Color also plays into mood. Blues and other cool colors will generally elicit calm or melancholy, while warm colors like red, orange, or yellow elicit happiness or comfort. Black background photos can be very dramatic. White background photos can come off as light and airy or cloud-like. Of course extremes in either direction can elicit discomfort or alarm, which can work to your advantage if that’s the feeling you’re after. Ultimately, choose light and color schemes that enhance the feel of the photos you want to create.
Theme. Theme refers to a specific topic or idea. Mood and ambiance play into the overall setup of a theme. For example, a goth theme might have a dark setting with black or very dark colors and low lighting to give the general feel of a depressed or spooky mood. The specific topic of goth might be reflected in the outfit of the doll being photographed, with a few chains and spikes on the outfit, or a backdrop with a haunted house or dead trees might be used to reinforce the idea of a goth setting. A steampunk theme would have similar ambient attributes, but with some gears or bolts or other industrial-looking objects included in the outfit or background. A pioneer theme might lean toward a bygone antique feel, so the color scheme might be muted or feature a lot of browns or gingham and flowered prints. Whatever your theme – pirate, glam, industrial, dystopian – your overall mood and ambiance for the photo should match. Background color and lighting, as well as details in the photo should all coordinate to enhance the overall intended theme.
Theme plays a lesser part in photographing products for sale, with a neutral or generic background preferred to keep your photo simple and easy for the viewer to focus on the featured object. However, you may want to turn on the mood or play up the theme when photographing high-dollar items or dolls to enhance their overall look. Whatever your objective, you can use theme and mood to build a successful photo that serves whatever purpose you desire. It’s always helpful to see what others have accomplished with doll photography. Photo sites like Flickr and Pinterest have thousands of photos to view for free, and most are curated by subject or group interest. When you find photos you like or admire, study them to determine how various aspects of photography were used to achieve the end result.
Setting the scene. In setting up your photo shoot, the main consideration should be the setting itself. Along with lighting and color schemes to establish theme and ambiance, overall setting and featured details are important to reinforce the theme desired in your photos. Depending on your overall vision for the photo shoot, this may involve simply choosing a colored backdrop and lighting scheme, or creating a detailed setup that showcases your intended theme. This is where background detail items like room features, props, and costuming can play an important part. Some doll photographers go to great lengths to create lifelike themed dioramas and costuming for their doll photos. Your intent and purpose for your photos, as well as your time and skill to devote to setting up the photo shoot, will dictate how far you go in creating a desired look in your photos. It is worthwhile to study the photos of others to see how believable details are achieved and how they affect the overall success of the photos. Flickr and Pinterest are great sources for studying photos.
Dioramas. If you intend to showcase a theme for your doll photos, a diorama can be very helpful in achieving the look you want. There are many videos by My Froggy Stuff on YouTube showing how to build photographic backdrops, corner rooms, or detailed dollhouse rooms to achieve the perfect look for your photos. Some are basic and fairly easy while others can be highly involved. If you choose to go this route, your success will depend in part on your resources and skill level in creating believable and useful backdrops for your photos (or doll videos). If you’ve never done anything like build a backdrop, it might be a fun experience. We suggest viewing plenty of videos to help you determine what tools and supplies you’ll need, and to what extent you may want to go in order to achieve the setting you want for your photos. Sometimes just looking at magazine photos or pictures online can give you all the inspiration you need. You’re limited only by your resources and imagination.
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Props. “Props” is an abbreviated term for “properties” – items used in movies or photography to lend believability to a scene or setting. Props for a dressing area would include accessories like a dressing table, tiny bottles of perfume, jewelry, and other items typically found in a bedroom or boudoir. The appearance of the props should be to scale and match the mood and time period intended for the photo. For instance, a modern clean-line black dresser would look out of place in a Victorian setting, as would a Victorian table lamp with a pink fringed shade look out of place in a mod 60’s living room setting. Doll collectors often go to great pains to collect or create props that match the look they’re after. There are many videos available on YouTube showing how you can use everyday things for props, how to make your own props, or where to buy them. Some doll collectors and enthusiasts make props and sell them on cooperative marketplaces like Ebay and Etsy.
Clothing and costumes. Clothing you plan to feature on your dolls will impact your choice of theme, setting, and props. If you’re featuring the clothing itself for sales purposes, your best choice may be a simple neutral backdrop with good ambient lighting. However, if you want to feature the versatile looks of a particular doll, you may want to choose a couple of different outfits with accessories that enhance the doll. In that case you could use a generic plain backdrop in appropriate colors and add a few key props that will coordinate with each outfit so you can change outfits and props quickly to fit each desired look you want to photograph.
For photo shoots where the theme and scene are the objective, dolls can be appropriately costumed and situated with the perfect backdrop and props to create the scene. For instance, a Halloween scene might have a dead tree prop in front of a spooky sky background, with cut-out fall leaves scattered around a few pumpkins. Your doll, dressed in a classic witch outfit with tall black hat and broom completes the scene.
Posing is attitude. One of the most important considerations in doll photography is the pose and placement of your doll. This includes a variety of factors like angle of camera in relation to the doll, distance of camera from the doll, lighting and shadow patterns, and the stance of the doll itself. Setting up the camera so you can get a full shot of the doll and surrounding background will require camera settings different from those used for a closeup shot of part of the doll, such as the head and shoulders. It’s important to set the camera level with the doll so that doesn’t distort the doll’s features. For instance, setting the camera slightly higher than the doll could make the legs appear short and stubby. An undercut shot (placing the camera at a level lower than the doll) can miss a lot of the doll’s facial and hair features. Of course off-center and extreme angles can be used to advantage to create unique photos. There are several well known types of angles, such as the chopped or bird’s eye view (from above), the low angle shot or undercut (from below), aerial (completely above the subject), or centered at eye level, among others. A closeup shot of the doll’s face or hands or other minute features may require micro-settings on the camera if you get the camera closer than 12 inches from your subject. Some advanced cameras with auto-focus settings may focus for you without engaging a micro setting, but it depends on the camera and placement of the doll.
The pose or stance of the doll is extremely important in establishing a mood for the photo. Dolls that are articulated (limbs can be bent to assume various poses) will offer more options for posing. A pose can mimic an attitude and enhance the overall mood of your photo. For instance, a doll with its head tilted downward can seem demure or mysterious, while a doll staged to look off to the side can seem distant or thoughtful. Posture and the angles of arms and legs can make a doll seem proud or casual or defiant, depending on poses that mimic human behavior. Poses with proper lighting and background and props can help you achieve almost any look you want in your photos.
Oftentimes a doll can be propped against a piece of doll furniture or wall of a diorama or seated to take a photo. Dolls can even be laid down and placed on a flat background, then posed to imitate hair blowing in the wind, or running. Posed while lying flat, the doll won’t fall over.
If the doll you’re trying to photograph needs to be posed upright and cannot hold a pose or stand on her own, you may have to resort to using a doll stand. You can sometimes disguise the fact that you’re using a stand by clipping it around the doll under clothing, or draping the doll’s clothing over the stand when possible, and positioning the doll in relation to the camera so the stand remains hidden behind the doll’s legs or outfit.
IN SUMMARY
These are just a few considerations and suggestions to help you have fun photographing your dolls. Again, for more complete information on camera equipment and function, as well as ideas or sources for photo staging, we advise you to do further research and view videos on subjects you may need more help with. Here are some videos to get you started with basic concepts and tips for doll and toy photography…
Click on the links below to watch the videos in a new browser window:
- Foreveranddollways – Doll photography tips
- MyFroggyStuff – Doll photography in the city with cell phone Google Pixel 3
- MyFroggyStuff – Doll photography in the city with cell phone and low light
- MyFroggyStuff – Doll photography outside at the beach
- MyFroggyStuff – Doll photography outside at Six Flags with PRYNT
- MyFroggyStuff – Toy photography outside
- DelightfulDolls – Doll photography tips
- Red Squid Co – Doll photography, outside lighting and angle tips
- Red Squid Co – Doll photography outside, light, aperture (depth of field), and pose
- Toy Chat – Doll and toy photography tips and techniques (lighting and background)
- Adam Savage’s Tested – Toy photography with Johnny Wu (SgtBananas)
- Adam Savage’s Tested – Toy photography explosion effects with Johnny Wu (SgtBananas)
- Jared Middleton – Toy photography step by step
More to come, but that’s all for now!
As always, any aggregated information we present on this site comes from our own experience and general research of experiences of other hobbyists, and is offered with no guarantee that suggested activities will work as expected or desired. Follow any crafting advice or suggestion at your own risk.
Tips for Storing Dolls
POTENTIAL DAMAGE WARNING
As discussed in our DISPLAYING DOLLS section, leaving dolls undisturbed in their original boxes or in their original clothing can, over time, lead to damage to the doll. Some dyes used in fabric for doll clothes, especially dark colors, can stain the doll. Accessories can transfer unwanted color to the doll. Metal accessories (like earrings) can cause detrimental chemical reactions with doll vinyl, especially on older and vintage dolls. If you don’t intend to ever remove a doll from its box, then this may not be an issue for you. But for those who may want to display a doll outside the box or redress it, staining can be a huge problem. Moisture and heat can also cause issues, such as mold.
For the reasons listed, we issue a standard warning NOT to leave your dolls stored or displayed undisturbed in their original boxes. In fact, we issue a similar warning for unboxed (NRFB- Never Removed From Box) dressed dolls. Any doll left for long periods of time wearing clothing and/or jewelry can suffer unwanted damage such as staining or corrosion. We advise removing your doll from its original box and clothing to thoroughly inspect the doll for passive damage. This will give you the opportunity to assess any damage that has occurred and decide whether it is advisable to correct or lessen any damage, or to simply attempt to prevent further progression. With careful unboxing, you can always return the doll to its box for display purposes after taking some precautionary measures to lessen the likelihood of damage to the doll. We also recommend periodically inspecting all your dolls for any potential damage while on display or in storage.
This recommendation to remove a doll from its box may not apply if the doll is vintage, and its “box status” influences its perceived or estimated worth. Still, it’s important to weigh the disadvantage of a ruined doll against the advantage of maintaining it as a NRFB item. Sometimes NRFB status makes absolutely no difference if the doll has serious damage or has contracted a terminal case of “Green Ear.”
See our separate section on REFURBISHING TIPS for more information about Green Ear, Glue Head, mold, staining, and other doll issues. See our DISPLAYING DOLLS section for ways to protect dolls from staining and other issues.
PROPERLY STORING YOUR DOLLS
Plan ahead. If you intend to leave dolls in storage for any length of time, you should take steps to ensure your dolls are stored properly and safely to avoid accidental damage. Collector dolls may require more attention than play-line dolls, but whatever kinds of dolls you plan to store, decide on a storage method before beginning to pack your dolls for storage. The configuration of your storage area may dictate what kinds of containers you’ll have to use. It’s best to have a plan in place rather than start the storage process then have to stop before finishing and redo everything because the chosen storage method is inadequate or inappropriate. Here are some general suggestions that will help decide the best way to store your dolls and keep them in good shape while in storage:
- Assess how many dolls you need to store. This will help you figure out how many containers you’ll need, the size of the storage area you’ll need, and whether you’ll need to maintain a storage list to easily track and locate dolls you have in storage.
- Decide whether to store dolls separately from clothing. Several factors may influence the decision whether to store clothing and accessories in the same containers as the dolls to which the clothing belongs, or to store clothing in separate containers. Some collectors prefer to keep clothing and accessories with the original doll, while others would rather add individual clothing and accessory pieces to a general wardrobe inventory so items can be mixed and matched to redress a variety of different dolls. What you decide early on will affect what you can do with clothing items later. More on this in the section below dealing with clothing and accessory storage.
- Decide whether you need/want to maintain a storage list. (See our for INVENTORY/STORAGE LISTS section for more information.) If you have a lot of dolls and clothing, or if you’re planning to sell some dolls and will need to access them quickly, a storage list can help you keep track of the location for each doll in your collection. It’s best to start the list and build it as you’re packing your dolls for storage. This will help you avoid having to unpack all your dolls later to create your list or to go through all your dolls in search of one particular doll.
- Incorporate a labeling system with your storage list. Labeling each doll and each set of clothing and the containers in which they’re stored will help you match a doll to a storage container for later retrieval. Even if your list and labels are handwritten, it’s better than no system at all. This of course is dependent on your specific storage needs. If you don’t have a lot of dolls to store and don’t need to find a particular doll or set of clothing quickly, then the list and labels may be overkill for you.
- Choose an appropriate area for storage. The area should be large enough to accommodate the number of dolls you plan to store. If you have a lot of dolls, you may have to store them in a couple different areas. A moderate temperature-controlled environment is preferred. DO NOT store dolls in a non-temperature-controlled area like an attic because temperatures can reach 130-140 F – way too hot to store your dolls. Basement storage requires dehumidifying the air to discourage mold growth.
- Choose appropriate storage containers. If you plan to store some dolls under your bed or in a closet, you may have to use small or flat containers. If you have a lot of dolls, you’ll probably want to store large lots together. While cardboard boxes may be OK to store a few dolls, if you plan to stack your containers full of dolls, cardboard is not an appropriate choice because the sidewalls cannot hold up to the weight of several vertically stacked boxes full of dolls. Colored Sterlite and similar containers are usually made of a softer plastic and will deform under stacked weight, so they are not the best choice for storing many dolls per container or stacking very high with multiple weighted containers. You’ll need to consider the overall weight of each container and whether or not it can be lifted easily. Standard-size clear hard plastic containers designed for stacking are the best choice. They may be somewhat expensive to buy, but the cost of the container is directly proportional to your need for structural integrity when storing many dolls. Also most clear plastic containers have snap-lock lids with built-in handles, making it easier to grip and handle these storage receptacles.
Preparing dolls for storage. Below are some standard common-sense tips for safely storing your dolls and keeping track of clothing and accessories.
- Remove clothing and accessories from doll. It’s best to remove all clothing and accessories from the doll and store these items in a bag separate from the doll to prevent direct contact with the doll. Hard plastic accessories that come in direct contact with a doll under pressurized storage situations (like when multiple layers of dolls are stacked inside a container) can puncture or dent the doll’s vinyl face or body.
- Wrap individual items in tissue paper. Ensemble clothing and accessories that will be packaged together for storage can suffer from cross-color staining of dark and light items. To help avoid this, wrap individual pieces in tissue paper to avoid contact when staining is a possibility. If large clothing items like full-skirt ballroom gowns need to be folded for storage, smooth the skirt out flat to prevent wrinkling, then cover or wrap the entire skirt with layers of tissue paper before folding to prevent creases in the item.
- Store items in appropriately sized bags. Resealable clear plastic storage food bags come in a variety of sizes and are transparent to show what’s stored inside. Large items like ball gowns will require gallon-size bags if the storage container capacity allows. To prevent misplacing or losing very small accessories such as earrings and necklaces and shoes, place them inside a self-sealing sandwich baggie and then place the baggie inside the larger baggies holding the rest of the ensemble.
- Label all clothing so you can remember what doll it goes to. If you plan to store clothing separately from dolls, but want to remember what doll the clothing goes with, it’s best to label the baggie containing the outfit. If you don’t care which outfit goes with which doll but instead want to store clothing separately from dolls to use later in redressing other dolls, see our section below on MANAGING CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES.
- Remove batteries or metal accessories for separate storage. If your doll has a battery compartment, remove the battery to prevent eventual corrosion inside the compartment that can permanently damage the doll. Do the same with metal accessories like metal-post earrings and similar jewelry. Separately package these items and label them as needed. Store these items in a safe place away from your dolls to prevent acid leaks and corrosion from damaging your dolls.
- Make sure doll is clean and dry before preparing for storage. If you’ve washed or conditioned your doll’s hair, or washed clothing, make sure everything is completely dry before packing for storage. This will help prevent mold growth.
- Wrap dolls individually in tissue paper or white cloth. If using cloth, natural-fiber acid-free cloth is preferred. This will keep the doll from accidentally coming into contact with anything that might potentially stain the doll, as well as provide a layer of cushion to protect the doll’s features. Articulated dolls should have knee, elbow, wrist, and ankle joints individually wrapped with an inner layer of tissue paper, and an outer layer of cling wrap or other material for additional support and protection. (See section below for more information about storing soft vinyl dolls like those made with Cyberskin.)
- Place appropriately wrapped doll inside a self-sealing plastic baggie large enough to accommodate the doll. The folded over sealed baggie will add an extra layer of protective cushion for the doll. Alternatively, the tissue-wrapped doll can be placed in the bottom of a plastic 4-gallon trash bag, and the bag wrapped around the doll will provide extra cushion and protection. A plastic grocery bag can also be used to wrap around the tissue-protected doll, but be aware that grocery bags with printed logos may create ink stains if the tissue wrap shifts to allow the bag print to come in direct contact with the doll.
- Affix identification labels to baggies containing non-transparent doll wraps. This will help to avoid having to unwrap all the dolls just to locate and identify one particular doll in the storage container.
- Stack dolls safely in storage containers. Wrapped dolls can be stacked in alternating head-to-toe rows inside appropriate containers. Doll wraps should provide sufficient cushion from weight or pressure of adjacent dolls to prevent contact deformation. DO NOT store dolls upright long-term, as their legs can become deformed from the weight of the doll pressing the legs down against the bottom of the container. If dolls are to be stored vertically, they should be stored head-first and only one layer deep. Keep in mind that pressure on the neck area of older dolls can break the plastic/vinyl. Dolls stored either horizontally or vertically should be stored so that they do not shift inside the container, but there should be sufficient cushion all around to prevent uneven pressure points.
- Label containers for easy identification of contents. If you’re using a storage list, make sure to choose a label numbering system that is expandable and makes sense list-wise. (See our INVENTORY/STORAGE LISTS section for suggestions on how to label and keep track of your dolls and their accessories.) The labels you use should be typed and taped onto the container with clear packing tape, or use handwritten labels that are affixed securely to the container. Make sure labels are easy to read. Use dark thick markers if writing labels by hand.
- Regularly check dolls in storage to maintain optimum environment. If dolls in storage are exposed to adverse conditions, they should be examined and repacked to ensure safety and integrity while stored.
Storing dolls made of very soft vinyl. Special storage considerations apply to dolls with very soft vinyl parts, like vinyl twist-torso Barbie dolls, or dolls made of soft vinyl, like Paradise dolls, GIRL Force dolls, “Cyberskin” Phicen, and similar action figures. These dolls are prone to stress-tear damage, puncture damage, as well as pressure deformation especially when stored in high heat areas. They are also susceptible to contact-staining and should never be stored wearing clothing and accessories. Before wrapping for storage, the doll body may need to be dusted with a thin powder coating to keep parts from sticking together. Individually wrapping the body parts in tissue may help keep the parts from sticking together, but even wrappings like textured cloths can create pressure deformation. The best way to store “Cyberskin” vinyl is to return the doll to its original molded inner packaging that conforms to the doll’s general body shape. If the original box is available, it should be used to protect the doll in storage to prevent pressure damage or deformation from surrounding items. If original packaging is not available, Cyberskin dolls should be wrapped loosely in tissue inside a white paperboard tube that will cushion individual parts of the doll from deformation due to pressure contact with other items.
Some collectors dust talcum powder or similar fine powder on the doll body when dressing, to make the clothing slide across the skin surface more easily, and when preparing the doll for storage. However, there may be drawbacks inherent in using powders. Powder may leave visible residue, especially on dark clothing, and be difficult to remove. Also there may be health considerations when using talcum-based powders. While no definitive scientific evidence supports the claim that talcum powder causes ovarian cancer, it is possible some people could be allergic to talc and similar powders. Therefore cornstarch is the recommended powder to use. Also, breathing in large amounts of powder dust may be detrimental to lung health. Always observe safety warnings when using any product, and research possible health concerns before electing to use any powders, chemicals, sprays, etc., of any kind. *(1)
MANAGING DOLL CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES
Depending on the size of your doll collection and whether or not you obtained most of your dolls new, you could end up with a lot of clothing and accessories to deal with. Keeping track of small items like jewelry or shoes can quickly become overwhelming if you fail to anticipate proper storage needs. There are many ways to store and keep track of doll clothing. As mentioned previously, the method of choice will depend in part on how much clothing you have, how organized you want to be, how much time and effort you want to devote to organizing your doll clothing, and what you plan to do with your doll clothing.
Choosing the best clothing/accessory storage solution for your needs. Most doll enthusiasts grow their collections over a long period of time. When they first start collecting, the need for storage management is not obviously apparent. However, as the collection evolves, so does the need to manage storage and maintenance requirements. When the time comes to decide on a storage system, making a prudent choice depends on a variety of factors. Below is a detailed checklist (with some repeats from above) that may help you decide what storage aspects will be most important for your situation.
- Decide whether to store clothing and accessories with dolls or separately from dolls. Several factors may influence the decision whether to store clothing and accessories with the dolls to which the clothing belongs, or to store clothing elsewhere in separate containers. If you know you want to display dolls only in their original outfits and accessories, then its best to store clothing accessories with the doll or cross-label dolls and clothing if you need to store them separately. Tagging stored clothing to properly identify the source doll will make it easier to locate accessories in the event you decide to sell complete outfits or dolls with their complete outfits. Many collectors look to secondary market sources for dolls they may wish to acquire, and dolls complete with original accessories usually add to secondhand value of the doll. Some collectors may give little upfront thought to maintaining the complete integrity of a doll once it’s unboxed and prefer instead to organize all their doll clothing in such a way that individual pieces can be mixed and matched to outfit a variety of different dolls. Most collectors with a large clothing inventory will sort out similar pieces by dolls size, style, color palette, or type of clothing piece in order to facilitate redressing their dolls. A separate storage system for clothing and accessories could help make the effort of choosing items for redressing dolls an easier and more organized process. Depending on individual needs and goals, a combination of both storage options could prove beneficial.
- Assess the volume of clothing and accessories you need to manage and store. Knowing the extent of your storage needs will help you figure out how many containers (drawers or bags or other types of storage containers) you will need, and the size and configuration of the storage area you’ll need. If you have a lot of doll clothes and accessories and want to put your hands on specific items very quickly without having to sort through large piles of stuff, you will probably want a fairly sophisticated management system to handle the bulk of clothing and accessories. If you don’t have that much loose clothing to deal with, then a very simple storage system will probably work.
- Assess your resources. Creating a sophisticated storage system for a collection of doll clothing and accessories can quickly become expensive and time-consuming, depending on the type of storage containers and tracking/management system you choose to employ. Be realistic about what you can afford to spend to get the kind of storage system you want and need. Also be mindful of the time and effort it will take to organize and manage your storage system.
- Choose appropriate storage solution and containers. After assessing your storage needs based on volume of doll items and how you plan to use them, you should decide on a storage system. For more information on specific storage methods, see our section on IDEAS FOR STORAGE SYSTEMS.
- Decide whether you need and want to maintain a storage list. A storage inventory list with labeled storage containers can make finding things easier, but creating an inventory list for a large volume of clothing and accessories can be time-consuming and involve a lot of work. Creating and maintaining an inventory list is much easier with a printer and computer equipped with spreadsheet software. The decision to create a list depends on whether that list will serve a useful purpose for you. No list is useful if it doesn’t tell you what you have, and doesn’t help you find where you’ve put your stuff. If you know you can’t create a computerized list or won’t keep up with details as you add and subtract items from your inventory, then there’s no reason to start the list, because doing so would be a complete waste of time if it’s not maintained. For more detailed information on creating and maintaining inventory lists, see our section on INVENTORY/STORAGE LISTS.
- Incorporate a meaningful labeling system with your storage list. If you choose to create and maintain an inventory list for clothing and accessories, it’s important to label each item listed and organize the stored items for easy retrieval. Storage containers should also be labeled and logged in the list to cross-reference where items are stored. Labels can be printed from a spreadsheet or handwritten. Whichever method is chosen, the labels should be legible. Container labels should be easy to read from a distance, so large bold lettering is necessary – either heavy dark type, or broad permanent markers if labels are handwritten. If you don’t have a lot of doll clothing and accessories to store, then the sophisticated inventory list and labeling system may be overkill for you.
- Choose an appropriate area for storage. The area should be large enough to accommodate the amount of doll items you plan to store. If you have a lot of different kinds of items, like large volume dresses and tiny jewelry accessories, you may want to store different types of items in different areas or storage systems. Assess your needs and make the best choice considering what you have to work with. Storage of clothing is not as critical as doll storage when it comes to temperature and other factors, but it is important to keep fabric and plastic items dry and protected from rodents that may chew up items to create nesting material, or silverfish and other insects that may burrow and nest in stored items that remain undisturbed for long periods. A dry, moderate temperature-controlled environment in a living area protected from pests and mold growth is preferred.
- Make sure clothing is clean and dry before preparing for storage. This will help prevent mold growth.
- Sort clothing and accessories per storage method selected. The most basic way to sort and store clothing and accessories is by type of item. You can group clothing by tops, pants, skirts, dresses, gowns, suits, jackets, coats, intimate apparel, jewelry, shoes, etc., or choose a category system that makes sense according to your needs. For shoes, one of the easiest method is to sort by style so that boots are in one category, and heels are in another. Further sort by color if you want to select appropriate accessories according to color to match specific outfits. If you have different types of dolls that require different sizes of shoes, it might make sense to sort clothing and accessories by type of doll these items fit.
- Use self-sealing clear bags to store and label individual items wrapped in tissue paper. Use appropriate size bags for items. lUse tissue or cloth to prevent clothing creases and wrinkling. If large clothing items like full-skirt ballroom gowns need to be folded for storage, smooth the skirt out flat to prevent wrinkling, then cover or wrap the entire skirt with layers of tissue paper or colorfast cloth before folding, to prevent creases forming at the folds. Bag small items separately inside a self-sealing sandwich baggie to prevent misplacing or losing them. If storing ensembles together, place the small accessories baggie inside the larger baggies holding the rest of the ensemble. If storing accessories by type rather than ensemble, storing individual items in separate baggies will help keep them from getting tangled, especially if they have strings or chains attached.
IDEAS FOR STORAGE SYSTEMS
Once you have your items categorized by type or whatever system you prefer, you will need to decide the best method to store grouped items. You may want to employ a couple different systems for storing clothing and accessories, especially if you plan to store small accessories like shoes and jewelry using a system tailored for smaller items. The storage systems you use will depend on availability and cost of storage supplies. Specialized supplies are not necessary. You can make just about anything from cardboard boxes to grocery bags work for your storage needs. A lot of office supplies can be used for doll storage as well. Listed below are some typical supplies and items that can be adapted for storage systems, to give you an idea where to start in designing a storage system that works best for your particular needs.
Self-sealing baggies and clear plastic pouches. Self-sealing storage bags (like Ziploc Baggies) and tiny self-sealing pouches can be used to store and protect a variety of doll clothing and accessories from ballgowns to earrings, necklaces, and shoes. A combination of these may be all you require to store your entire collection of dolls and clothing and accessories. In this discussion, all measurements are US-based.
- Small baggies for doll jewelry, shoes, and more. Self-sealing baggies in small rectangular sizes suitable for doll jewelry and shoes can be purchased at craft stores or ordered online. Baggies come in various sizes from 1×2 to 3×5 inches, with other variations possibly available. Pricing can vary for a box of baggies of a particular size. If you expect to use many, shop wisely and stock up when prices are low to keep down your costs. These baggies will take up less room than the typical snack or sandwich baggies available in grocery stores. Baggies that take up less space will require less overall storage area and will be perfectly suited for separating individual jewelry pieces or ensemble jewelry pieces like a matching necklace and earrings, or a necklace and bracelet that are part of a set. Bagging individual accessories of this type will help keep ensembles together and prevent items with small chains from getting tangled with similar items as they would if stored together loose in one container. Baggies are especially helpful to keep paired shoes together. Anyone who has dealt with Barbie shoes knows that heels in similar shades of pink can be a nightmare to match if thirty-some shoes are all mixed up together. It’s best to sort them once into pairs, then bag each pair individually to prevent having to take the time to compare shades to match shoes correctly every time you want to dress a doll. When shoe pairs are bagged, it’s less likely you’ll misplace or lose one of the pair.
- Larger size baggies. Snack bags, sandwich bags, quart bags, gallon bags, and two-gallon bags can store larger clothing items or larger groupings of small accessories. For large full-skirt dresses, gallon self-sealing baggies will probably work. Small groups of similar clothing items like doll pants can be stacked together and stored in a quart-size self-sealing baggie. Doll purses divided by color or type of material (fabric and leather versus plastic, for instance) can be bagged together in one bag for easy retrieval when you’re looking for accessories for a doll ensemble. The larger the bag, the more items can be stored inside – but the harder it will be to sort through large groups of items. When using baggies as a storage system, it’s best to limit the grouping size to a quart bag, and then store multiple quart bags in a larger bag to keep similar items together.
- Three-ring clear plastic sheet-protector pouches.The typical open-top sheet protector sized for 8.5×11-inch copy paper has a reinforced pre-drilled three-hole side so it can be placed in a three-ring binder. The full-sheet pocket works well for large doll clothing like full-skirt ballroom gowns, or multiple pre-bagged slim dresses stored vertically in the pocket.
- Specialized clear plastic three-ring pocket sheets. There are other three-ring specialized clear plastic sheets with built-in small storage compartments intended for storage of photos, business cards, collector cards, coins, or coupons. These types of storage sheets work very well for storing and organizing smaller doll clothing and accessories. The specialized sheets come in a variety of configurations such as two side slots per sheet, three top slots per sheet, four top slots per sheet, and nine or twelve open-top pockets per sheet. Some of these plastic sheets have pockets on both sides, doubling their storage capacity. They can be found at office supply stores or ordered online. It’s best to pre-bag and labeled individual clothing and accessory items before storing them in the pockets of these compartmentalized sheets. When you have your items pre-bagged, it’s easier to choose the number and type of pocket storage sheets you’ll need for your collection. Pre-bagging requires the use of more small baggies, but if items are not pre-bagged, they could easily fall out of the compartments. Placing a small strip of double-sided sticky tape on the back of each bagged item will help the bag not slip out of the page slot. The great advantage to this storage system is that it can be adjusted to fit your current collection and expanded as your collection grows, simply by adding as many new sheets as needed to your three-ring binders.
Containment storage options. Individual doll items contained in self-sealing baggies and clear plastic pouches can be grouped in a number of different ways. If you have individual purses, for instance, stored in baggies sized to fit each item, you can group similar bagged items together into broader categories to consolidate and make your items more manageable to find in storage. For instance, a large gallon baggie containing all your purses will keep those individual purses from getting scattered around your work room or prevent them from getting mixed up with loose shoes, etc. Having an organized system to contain your bagged and categorized items will help you contain your collection and find items more easily when you want them. There are several methods to contain grouped and bagged items.
- Three-ring binders. Three-ring binders in combination with clear plastic three-hole protector pouches and pocket sheets can be used to create an expandable storage system ideal for a growing collection of doll clothing and various accessories. This storage system is preferred by many doll collectors. Three-ring binders can be purchased from office-supply stores, and some are very economical. However, depending on the number of binders you need, the investment can be pricey. You’ll be much better off with used binders at reduced or no cost if available, such as discarded binders from an office where you work. Three-ring binders are usually all the same height and work best when stored on a 12-inch-deep shelving unit with shelf space at least 13 inches tall. Shelves should be sturdy enough to support the weight of multiple binders. Binders can also be lined up side-by-side on top of a cabinet or a tabletop and kept standing upright with sturdy non-slip bookends. Binders come in different spine widths to accommodate large or small collections of accessories. Spines can be labeled for easy identification of binder contents.
- Deep drawer, cardboard box, or plastic container/tub storage. Depending on the organizational style and volume of clothing and accessories you’re dealing with, a file cabinet drawer or storage tub may be all you need to store your doll clothes and accessories. Larger bags of grouped accessories can be kept in deep drawers like filing cabinet drawers, or in large stackable plastic containers with lids, or cardboard boxes with lift-off lids that contained copy paper sold in bulk (10 reams per box).
- Individual stackable storage containers. Storage containers come in many different sizes and configurations. You can create a stackable system of various sized containers to fit your collection storage needs without bagging individual items or groups of items. If you want to keep various clothing items stored loose without individual bagging, you can stack similar clothing items and store them directly in plastic stackable containers with removable lids. For instance, loose dresses can be stacked inside a shoe-box-size plastic lidded container. Pants can be stacked in another similar container. Blouses, and so on, can be organized and stored by container without the need for individually bagging each item. Small accessories that are pre-bagged can be kept in a separate stackable container. All the various containers can be stacked neatly and labeled on the front so contents can easily be identified. Stacked containers are portable, so you can move them to a work area, then stack them up again when you’re done working with them. If, however, you’re dealing with a multitude of clothing and want things more organized, you may want a more sophisticated method of managing everything, like the three-ring binder system.
- Small stackable plastic drawer cabinets. Depending on the volume of items you’re dealing with, small bagged items of similar types – like jewelry – can be stored in self-contained small-drawer cabinets. This will help keep necklaces separated from crowns, for instance, so that when you’re searching for just the right accessory for your doll’s outfit, you won’t be digging through an unorganized pile of stuff. Shallow self-contained drawers can also hold seed-bead containers and jewelry-making supplies to help keep them more organized for quick and easy access. Stackable containers can easily be picked up and moved to a work area, then returned to their storage area when the work is finished. That makes cleaning up your work area a lot faster and easier.
More to come, but that’s all for now!
As always, any aggregated information we present on this site comes from our own experience and general research of experiences of other hobbyists, and is offered with no guarantee that suggested activities will work as expected or desired. Follow any crafting advice or suggestion at your own risk.
Tips for Maintaining Doll Inventory/Storage Lists
MANAGING A DOLL COLLECTION WITH AN INVENTORY/STORAGE LIST AND LABELS
Is a storage/inventory list right for you? Some doll collectors like to keep a list of their acquisitions and purchases that includes the identification of each item, its source, when it was acquired, and the cost. Other collectors with large collections like to keep track of what they have by maintaining a list of what’s stored where, so they can find individual items quickly and easily. Still others like to keep a collection inventory list for sales purposes. No matter how detailed the information, a storage inventory list with labeled storage containers can make finding doll items a breeze rather than a headache. Your decision whether to create a collection inventory list depends on your answers to a couple basic questions:
- Do you have the motivation to create and maintain an inventory list? Depending on the size of your doll collection and the level of detailed information you want to incorporate, creating an inventory list of dolls, clothing, and accessories can be time-consuming and involve a lot of work. You may think you need to make a list, but if you don’t have a real interest in creating an inventory list or the time to devote to it, then you’re better off skipping it rather than allow it to become an exercise in futility and disappointment.
- Will an inventory list serve a useful purpose for you? If your doll collection is not very extensive, you may not want to invest a lot of time and effort in maintaining an inventory list. A simple handwritten list of your collection may be all you need. Keep in mind that no list is useful if it doesn’t tell you what you have, and doesn’t help you find where you’ve put your stuff. If you know you won’t keep up with a detailed list and maintain it as you add and subtract items from your collection inventory, then there’s no reason to start the list, because doing so would be a waste of time and effort if you’re not going to maintain it.
- Do you have the capability to create and maintain an inventory list? Lists can be handwritten, but they’re difficult to maintain long-term. Handwritten lists can be updated, but it’s messy, involving scissors and tape and possibly a copier. The best way to create and maintain an inventory list is to put your information in a spreadsheet. This requires a computer with appropriate software. To attempt this, you should be at least marginally computer-literate and have access to a printer and a computer with spreadsheet capability.
For those who want more information on creating and maintaining a collection inventory list and/or storage list, we’ve compiled some explanations, suggestions, and considerations. Below is a very basic discussion and explanation of spreadsheets. If you already know how to use spreadsheets, you should probably skip that section.
TOP OF MAINTAINING INVENTORY PAGE
INTRODUCTION TO SPREADSHEETS
What is a spreadsheet? A spreadsheet is an electronic document in which data (information) is arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns. The individual rectangular spaces created by the intersection of the columns and rows are called cells. Cells are the spaces where information is entered. In its simplest form, a spreadsheet can be used like a typewriter to create a list. But with a spreadsheet, that list can be stored to be printed and reprinted, or updated and printed again without having to retype everything. The information in the spreadsheet can be manipulated and used in calculations. It can be formatted in specific ways, and special functions built into the spreadsheet can search the information, sort it, or use it like a database to print labels. This feature comes in very handy if you want to label bagged dolls and clothing for storage or sale.
What kind of software is needed for a spreadsheet? The most well-known spreadsheet software is Microsoft Office Excel. MS Office can be very expensive if you can’t access a free or low-cost version through corporate or educational licensing, so we’ve listed some free alternatives below. Some are operating-system specific, so be sure to select a package that meets your needs. Also, be VERY careful where you download free software. Some disreputable sites will bundle shanghai software with downloads that will take over your browser and infect your computer with unwanted adware. For instance, CNET, ZDNET, and Download.com – all owned by CBS Interactive at the time of this writing – monetize downloads of “free” software with bundled adware and browser hijacks. Softonic, a Spanish company, is also guilty of this. We advise NEVER downloading anything from these sites. It’s always advisable to download free software directly from the website of the company that makes the software.
- MS Office Online (there is now a free version from Microsoft due to Google competition)
- G Suite (Google)
- Free Office (SoftMaker)
- Open Office (Apache)
- Libre Office (The Document Source)
- Apple Suite (for Apple/Mac computers)
- WPS Office (Kingsoft, advertisement-paid or $30 per year ad-free)
Determine the information and structure you need before creating a spreadsheet. Before you create a spreadsheet for your inventory list, you will need to determine what information you want to maintain in the list. That information can include anything you like, such as storage container reference numbers, doll stock numbers, or descriptions of each item on your list. Your spreadsheet list can have as many rows and columns as you want or need, but the information you enter must be structured and organized in a specific way to conform to spreadsheet rules.
Spreadsheet grid structure. Vertical columns are almost always treated as categories of information. Horizontal rows are almost always treated as individual entries. Each spreadsheet cell contains the categorized information for an individual item in the list. There are of course exceptions to this rule. You can switch the grid format and make the first cell in each row represent a category, with each cell at the top of each column representing names of individual entries. However, if you want to use your spreadsheet as a database, most programs require that the top row of the spreadsheet contain category identifiers. And this makes sense if you have a few categories and a lot of data. It’s easier to scroll down to view individual entries rather than scrolling sideways to view your input data.
When you enter information for a particular doll or doll item in your list, all the information for that item will be located in a single row. Each cell in that row, defined by its column placement in the row, will contain unique information about that item, such as date of manufacture in Column B, model description in Column C, original price in Column D, storage container number in Column E, and so forth. Information for every other item added to the list will be on a separate row, and every row will contain the same sequence of information in the same order as the row above or below. This means that all the dates of manufacture for all the items on the list will be contained in Column B or whatever column on your list is reserved for date of manufacture. To use a list as a database spreadsheet, the information in the spreadsheet must be arranged a specific way. Following is a description of the structural and functional basic rules for all spreadsheets.
- FIELD: Each vertical column in the spreadsheet grid is called a “field” and represents a specific kind of information, or a category, such as a date of manufacture, date of purchase, description of the item, etc. Let’s say, for example, your very first field (column) is going to indicate what kind of item you are going to enter information for in your spreadsheet. You may want to indicate what type of item every entry is, so if you wanted to sort the spreadsheet and see only dolls, or only clothing, what you enter in this field for every item on the spreadsheet would allow you to pick the kinds of items you want to look at. So, for one particular item in this first column you might type “doll”, or if it is clothing, you would type “clothing.”
- FIELD NAME: The “field name” is a descriptive title at the top of each field (column) used to identify the field and indicate what kind of information is found in that field. In the example described above, the very first column of your spreadsheet might be titled “ItemType” to identify what kind of item you are entering into your list. Field names can be any name you choose but must conform to a specific structure. Notice that the field name “ItemType” is two words combined into one without any spaces. Proper field names can be any combination of upper or lower case letters and numbers, but cannot contain spaces or special characters except hyphens and a few other allowed characters. The field name must be unique so that no other column in the spreadsheet has the same field name. Additionally, if you plan to use your spreadsheet as a database to print labels or otherwise feed the spreadsheet information into another program to create a report or other end product, you will need to make sure your field names occupy the very first cell and row of the spreadsheet. This is essential for mail-merge functions that are used to print lists and labels in formats other than raw data.
- RECORD: Each horizontal row in the spreadsheet grid that has information entered is called a “record” and represents a unique entry. For instance, the first doll you enter information for in your inventory list will have specific details entered in each column you set up for your spreadsheet, such as the model of the doll, the year it was manufactured, etc. Every other item you enter in the spreadsheet in successive rows will have the same type of information entered the same order in each column on a particular row for a particular item. For instance, if you enter information for three different dolls in your list, the date of manufacture for each doll must always be entered in the column reserved for date of manufacture. The row of cells containing various information about each doll is the record for that doll.
- KEY Every record in your spreadsheet database is unique because it has its own row. However, if you have two records that contain exactly the same information, you may run into problems. There’s no way to be sure whether one record was accidentally entered twice, or you have two identical items entered on the spreadsheet because you actually do have two identical items. To avoid this kind of confusion, you may want to set up a “key” – a field that must contain unique information for every record. Companies that produce products usually assign a unique stock number to each different product to be able to reference that product without getting it confused with other similar products. In the same way you can assign your own system of stock numbers to your items in your collection that you enter into your spreadsheet. The stock number can be simply numeric or have a letter code that signifies to you what kind of item it is – doll, clothing, or other type of accessory. That way you can label all your items and match them to your inventory spreadsheet. If you happen to have two identical items, you can choose either to enter a quantity column in your spreadsheet, or give each identical item its own stock number just so you can tell each one from another.
In summary, building a spreadsheet to manage your doll collection can be a very involved process. It’s important to think about the design of your spreadsheet before diving in to build it. How you plan to use your spreadsheet will impact how you design it. But the beauty of a spreadsheet is that you can change your mind and modify it. How you use and design your spreadsheet is entirely up to you! There’s no denying spreadsheets can be useful in certain situations, but never lose sight of why you have a doll collection. Enjoying your dolls is all that truly matters.
A quick note about labels. Labeling dolls, clothing, and accessories can be a time-consuming challenge. And let’s not forget about labeling storage containers for easy identification of contents. If you’re using a storage list, make sure to choose a label numbering system that is expandable and makes sense list-wise. The type of labels you use should be typed and taped onto the container with clear packing tape, or they can be handwritten self-stick labels – whatever works best for your needs. Labels should be affixed securely and easily readable. Include the information on each label that is most important for your needs. If you have assigned stock numbers to your individual items, be sure those are included on the labels you affix to your stored items. It’s worth mentioning that you should save storage bags with labels and return items to the properly labeled storage container. There’s nothing worse than finding you’ve misplaced an item somewhere because of a filing error. Again, the objective is not to create a filing and storage system, the objective is to make it easier to find and use your dolls and their accessories in a way that is satisfying and enjoyable.
More to come, but that’s all for now!
As always, any aggregated information we present on this site comes from our own experience and general research of experiences of other hobbyists, and is offered with no guarantee that suggested activities will work as expected or desired. Follow any crafting advice or suggestion at your own risk.
Special health cautions...
*(1) SPECIAL CAUTION: Talcum-based powder such as baby powder or shower powder has been reported to have a causal relationship with long-term health risks such as certain types of cancer due to asbestos contamination and other issues, so be advised and research this issue properly before using talc-based products. No known reports suggest that cornstarch poses similar potential health risks; however, with any fine-particle powder substance, special care should be taken to avoid inhaling particles.
*(2) SPECIAL CAUTION: Plasticizers (usually phthalates) used in the vinyl-making process have been reported to have a causal relationship with long-term health risks such as hormone disruption, asthma, cancer, and more. Vinyl is a prevalent component in many industrial and toy products, including the majority of play-line dolls, so precautions are advised. Extended enclosed exposure to vinyl products (coverings, etc.) in vehicles and living/working interior areas can create adverse reactions. Use precautions (gloves, ventilation masks, etc.) when repeatedly handling older vinyl products, especially those that show evidence of plasticizer leakage. There is no known treatment that will “cure” plasticizer seepage in a doll. Certain treatments or precautions can lessen the damage to items due to this condition, but will not stop the deterioration. Properly discard unwanted deteriorating vinyl dolls rather than allow children to play with these items and possibly expose them to health risks.