Discover Dolls

2011-07-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

Discover Dolls Online!

Did you know you can read Discover Dolls Magazine online at www.discoverdollsonline.co.uk
The page turning software acts just like the real thing, you can turn the pages, add your own notes and bookmarks, and furthermore you can click through the links within the magazine to visit advertiser websites, for direct email contacts and many more advanced features!

Subscription rates to our online magazine are just £10 per year, and during your subscription period you will have full access to our uploaded back catalogue. We currently have 9 magazines available online, issues 19 - 27. We will continue to add more editions as they are published.

Subscribe today!

Painting Classes in Whittlesey

2011-07-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

We are kick starting our regular painting classes by offering a fantastic reduction on the price of our very first one day painting class at out headquarters in Whittlesey just outside Peterborough in the UK. The first class, to be held on Sunday July 31st will cost just £150, a saving of £45 on our usual cost.
The class will start at 9.30 on a Sunday morning, and will begin with a short introduction to the class, and a guide to the tools and materials you have been provided with. You will receive a doll kit and a body, a set of genesis paints (sample size) and a set of brushes and sponges in your gift bag. You will also reveive the filling materials required to complete your reborn doll at home. Other tools such as paint pallets, cloths etc will be provided for use on the day.
The class will take you though all the stages you need to create multi layered and realistic skintones over the whole of your kit, and at the end of the painting class you will have a completely painted set of vinyl parts ready for weighting and assembly. The class will finish with a demonstration of how to weight and assemble a kit, so you can go home and complete your baby in your own time.
You will also be provided with a full colour, illustrated tutorial guidebook which will guide you step by step back through the painting class so that you can repeat what you have learned at home. The guide will also continue to cover weighting and assembly, and will guide you to the completion of your reborn baby doll.
We estimate the class will finish at 6.30, and all the class work will be finished by this time.
Drinks and snacks will be provided throughout the day, and lunch can be pre ordered and will be delivered to the class on the day (subject to avaiability)
Please book now, as this special price will not be repeated, and class numbers are limited.
To book please email cathy@discoverdolls.co.uk for a booking form.

Discover Dolls Issue 27

2011-04-11T13:36:00.001-07:00

Issue 27 has now been shipped to subscribers in the UK and Europe. US subscriptions are on their way to Madavor Media and will be dispatched early next week.
This issue features the very talented reborn artist Carmen Sommer, who also runs Once So Real in Germany. Carmen's beautiful photography and outstanding work has made for an amazing cover and feature article. We have been very lucky in the current issue to have been supplied with so many amazing pictures, we have some really stunning layouts as a result.
We have more amazing reborns from Debbie Henshaw, and OOAK features on Andrea Arcello and UK artist Abigail Jones. We bring you stunning pictures of the cloth dolls from Sally Hutson of Stitchywoowoo who exhibits her fabulous dolls at the Peterborough doll show, and also the final part of the ethnic skin tutorial written by Lisa Pybus.
In this issue we bring you news of new kits coming out, from both companies and independent artists, as well as show dates and reviews.
We take a sneaky peek of some of the amazing babies Maribel Villanova will be displaying at Peterborough, and also showcase the new 2011 dolls from Masterpiece including DOTY award winners. We also introduce new dolls for 2011 from Heart and Soul, and Dolls by Berenguer.
We have a lovely short story by Christine Derry, and we are thrilled to introduce you to The Norfolk Broads, a group of like minded ladies who meet up regularly for dolly making, tea and chatting! In amongst ALL this, you will also find news, reviews, and a wonderful flower power knitting pattern, just perfect for the change in the weather! Issue 27 is available now, and is not one to be missed!!

Simply Reborn Live day 2

2011-04-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well this post is late for many reasons, the last few weeks have been a blur of magazine mailing, admin and sick children!
However, the memory of day 2 of the reborning class is fresh in my mind because it was so much fun and highly memorable.
Sunday was the day the kits started to come together, and really take shape. As soon as the painting was complete they looked almost alive.
I was fascinated by the adding of the tiny details, from the eyelashes and eyebrows to the little milk spots placed in just the right places, and even small capillaries, for those who dared!!
It was great for me to see the dolls assembled too as I always miss this part when popping in and out of classes! Each student carefully weighted and assembled their beautifully painted parts, and then dressed the baby!
The class was finished at a leisurely pace, and at the end, there was a demonstration of hair painting. The talent displayed at the class was amazing, and all the students were eager to get home with their supplies and get reborning. For my part I WISH I had taken part in the class, as the ladies put their babies together I really felt like I was missing out. I will be taking a class in the future, although 5 years out of the game, I can't guarantee the results!
We will be releasing the dates of our new classes shortly.

Simply Reborn Live day 1

2011-04-03T01:35:00.000-07:00

I am cheating a litte, updating the blog early on day two, but while the students are busy applying layers of paint, heat setting, chatting and drinking tea, I have snuck out for a bit of social networking!
Yesterday was the very first day of the very first class to be held in our classroom and I think I can safely say it was a roaring success.
The students have made amazing progress, and had a whole lot of fun at the same time. Much tea has been drunk, and I have to admit, a few biccies have gone down too! Lunch was provided by our friendly sandwich bar Charlies, and delivered to the door! Perfect!
The students are reborning the sold out First Love kit, sculpted by Ruth Annette, it is lovely for students to be able to start off with such a saught after kit, and also to be able to reborn a kit which was originally sculpted by the tutor.
I am amazed to see how well the kits are coming to life, and am eagerly awaiting the finished babies! Now I need to get to the shop to aquire more tea! It is amazing how much one group of ladies can get through over a weekend!

All ready to teach!!

2011-04-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend, 2nd and 3rd of April we will be holding our very first classes in our desgnated teaching area!
Ruth Annette from Simply Reborn will be our tutor and over the two days our lucky students will paint, fill, assemble and dress a beautiful First Love kit, sculpted by Ruth herself, and now sold out worldwide.
The weekend promises to be a lot of fun, and we will keep the blog updated with how we are all getting on!
All I have left to do now, and surely the most important part of the weekend... is to nip out shopping for treats and snacks to keep us going!

Doll and Teddy Fair, MCM Birmingham

2011-03-21T15:01:00.001-07:00

The Doll and Teddy Fair at the national Motorcycle Museum was held yesterday, 20th March 2011, on a beautiful spring day!
Doll collectors and artists flocked to this popular venue where Discover Dolls has been a regular exhibitor for many years. This show is always a pleasure, to see so many faces so familiar that they have become friends, and the show has a really friendly welcoming atmosphere.
Organiser Debbie Woodhouse specialises in antique dolls, and the variety at this show is second to none. There is also an abundance of teddy bears (one of whom returned home from the show with me!) and of course modern and reborn dolls. Both doll and bear making supplies are available at this show, which caters for both the artist and collector.

2011 Calendar Competition

2010-11-03T14:17:00.001-07:00

In the coming Discover Dolls Magazine we will be featuring a 2011 calendar in the middle pages of the magazine due out in December 2010.

We are looking for beautiful pictures of doll art to showcase as part of the calendar and your baby could be one of those!

Entries need to be high quality (300dpi) unedited digital images. Email your submissions to

Cathy@discoverdolls.co.uk

Please remember to include your name and your nursery name with your submitted photograph so that we can give an appropriate credit in the magazine.

Entries need to be received by 15th November 2010 at the very latest, entries received after this date will not be considered for inclusion in the calendar.

The price of ink!

2010-07-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

My working day did not go to plan today, when the morning was to be spent printing off shipping labels, stamps, letters and floor plans and my printer ran out of ink!

I headed to Tesco, with child #2 in tow, to pick up some new ink and of course a load of other bits we had conveniently run out of, only to find that the price of a HP78 cartridge had effectively doubled since last time I bought one. That, combined with the fact that all the printers were half price sent my mind into a spin as I realised for the price of two new cartridges for my 5 year old printer, I could actually get a new, wireless, printer-scanner-copier machine! However, it is very hard to thing about things like that with "she who should have been left at home" complaining about wanting Smarties, wanting a drink and eventually wanting to go home. So in the end I returned with no printer and no ink, sometime in the early afternoon! Not the most successful trip ever!

Conceding defeat I spent the rest of the afternoon at the park!

This evening has been more productive, I have managed to send off all my web changes to Searchlight, and they should all be implemented in the next few days.

I have decided no to be up until gone midnight tonight, as the last two mornings I have woken up with a pounding head. So once I have written an email to my factory in China, an email to the Manchester venue about the floor plan, and had a quick peek on the forums, it will be off to bed!

A working weekend

2010-07-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

I did get a lie in this morning, but I woke with a terrible headache. Still, a few paracetamol later and I was hard at work.

Its always hard working at the weekend, Andrew does his best with the kids but doesn't seem to grasp that they are not really interested in the set up of his new carp fishing thingie, and actually they can't help being noisy, messy and demanding! Still, I can't complain because from just after 9am until just after 3pm (when he really couldn't take any more,) I was able to get some work done. Of course work on a weekend is punctuated with tiny visitors to my office in need of paper and pens, and hugs and cuddles, and three under 5's dashing round the house can be a bit distracting.

Despite that however, I have managed to get a fair bit done. This morning I transferred the Manchester show plan into SmartDraw. It has still not had the OK from the hotel, but the design software for the brochures and the website is time consuming and tricky, so I really needed to get it done. I can always edit on Monday!

All the loose ends of the show have been sorted now, final balance requests will go off tomorrow, all stands are allocated and the show is looking brilliant!
This afternoon was mainly admin and invoicing. Not my most favourite thing to do, but I am glad it is out of the way now. Till next issue!

I will also be mailing each current magazine subscriber with details of their current subscription, and details of the changes we are making. There are some exciting times ahead. I have all the address stickers done, and writing hundreds of individual letters will begin in earnest tomorrow!

I spent a bit more time on the new forums this evening, activated some new accounts and corrected a few mistakes! I had hoped to get the doll show website updated, but it is 10.30 now and I am not sure I have the energy. I will probably go and make a start and finish in the morning!

Frantic friday!

2010-07-23T01:43:00.000-07:00

My kids are early risers, but today was a particularly early start with both the eldest being up at 5.30am! Still, it gave me plenty of time to get them all ready and out of the house by 8am to their various places of childcare.

I have managed to get a lot done today, I have not by any means reached the end of my long list, but I am getting closer to sorting out the many lose ends I have to tie up. I have managed to fix my smartstamp account, and prepare magazines for mailing overseas. I have also caught up a little on sending out the free doll and binder from my promotion ages ago, and have a few boxes here with the last ones to go out!

The details of my New Zealand distributor are now sorted out, and from the end of next week Robyn in NZ will have a stock of all the back issues and the current issue of Discover Dolls. I am really happy to be working with Robyn Leech and I am sure she will do a great job distributing the magazine for me.

I spent some time looking at the online magazine today. I have sorted all the details to have the archives transferred from my printers account and into my own account which will give me a lot more control over the content. There is so much I can do with the online magazine, it can be really interactive and there are so many ways to customise it. I have had a brief read through some tutorials but I think i will have to dedicate a day to it after the show when I have more time.

There was some good news from my new resin factory today, work has begun on my latest project at last! I will be progressing very slowly and carefully with this one, especially after the mess the other factory has made of my wonderful Tina Kewy minis. Still, I am hoping that they will eventually rise like a Phoenix from the ashes, after all they are such beautiful dolls and so nicely presented. I suppose I could be less fussy, but I like quality, and the mini babies have to be perfect. Still, another week has gone by with no news from the old factory of when the replacement parts will be sent. I am holding onto the hope that they will be here in time for the Manchester show.

I have all but finished the show preparation, still waiting to hear back from one or two people, but I think over the weekend I will be in a position to get the floor plans and the exhibitor lists onto the website.

Work on the next magazine is still ongoing, my deadline is Friday to go to press, which makes this weekend and the early part of next week key times for me.

I think my focus before Monday will be on getting the show plans finalised and online, and the final articles for the magazine edited and send for design.

However, it is 9pm on Friday night, and as I have been working since 8am, and up since 5.30, I think it is time to take the rest of the evening off and watch the last in the current series of The Mentalist!

New blog and forums today!

2010-07-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

Lots of things have happened for Discover Dolls today, which is surprising as it is the first day of the school holidays, and I have had all three kids here so haven't been officially working! However, the Reborn Angels forums which were set live last night, finally showed on the server early this morning and the community is already up and running! I have managed to get a few posts on there and I am already enjoying being back amongst old friends!
The other thing of course, is this, the first post on the new blog! I feel very socially networked now, with my forum, facebook and twitter accounts and now a blog! I can't guarantee how often I will be able to update, but I do hope to use it to keep everyone informed about the magazine, and all other areas of Discover Dolls so that there is an appreciation of what goes on here, and of all the behind the scenes work that goes on to bring your magazines, doll shows and reproduction dolls!
Despite spending the day at the farm with my three small children, I have been working this evening, and my plans took an unexpected turn. As I was posting on the new Reborn Angels forums with a brief history of the forums I got to thinking how I started out with reborns and how I got from there, to where I am today. As I wrote my forum post, the 8 year history of my career in the baby doll industry just began pouring out onto the paper. Well not paper, the computer screen if we are being particular!
I actually think it makes a really interesting read and it has got me thinking about the huge changes that have gone on in this industry. 10 years ago the reborn doll hadn't made it to the shores of the UK, and yet here we are now, with hundreds or artists, thousands of collectors and many thriving small businesses. The industry, like any other, has had its ups and downs, and now we are looking with interest at what the future will bring.
I hope to edit my brief history of time somewhat and work it into an article for the magazine.
Tomorrow all three of my little ones are in childcare all day, and I have a very busy day planned!