Little Mimerle with us on Rügen

At the end of January we made a short trip to Rügen where we lived in the little town Lohme, up in the North of the Island in a lovely old redbrick house.

The appartment was cosy, lovely furnished and with a nice fireplace... just a lovely little nest to relax and slow down! But we also enjoyed the winterly nature and silence at the sea:

And because I wasn't in the mood to take a Blythe doll with me, I grabbed one of my Käthe Kruse Däumlinchens and made some nice pictures with her on the beach

She wore her original little Käthe Kruse coat and a tiny crochet bonnet I made for the dolls. She also snatched a scarf from the Blythe dolls. And it was so much easier to take pictures with her, because her body is so flexible.

I call her my little Mimerle because of her sweet vintage outfit with the blue dress and a little apron. This kind of outfit has always been "Mimerle" for the bigger dolls in any catalogue. 

Just the Däumlinchen in this outfit are called "Bettina" - weird?! I never understood the logic behind it and I really don't like the name Bettina! So here you see little Mimerle ;)

Unfortunatley my Blythe-mojo has totally left me since months and at the moment I am thinking about downsizing the Blythe collection and to focus more on vintage dolls, like Käthe Kruse and others... After a long time with these big eyed ones, with always the same size and somehow the same face mold, I feel a bit bored and unsatisfied. Even if the customized ones are special and more individual! At the end they are just modern plastic dolls. Not like the old ones wich always seem to have more soul... if a toy can have a soul...

Anyhow I am just thinking out loud and I am really not sure where this road will go to?! 

Maybe it is time for some changes in my toy-collector-life again?

Have a nice Valentine's week, yours Nicola

Käthe Kruse dollhouse dolls

When I started to work as a Fashion Designer for the dolls, at the well known Toys Company Käthe Kruse in 2003 & 2004, one of my first jobs was to dress up little Friedebald, you can see at the left of this picture. (*Argh* I though I would break my fingers, but after all I really like his little outfit!)

He was the second one of a series of dollhouse dolls Käthe Kruse makes exclusively as a present, for the club members of the Käthe Kruse Club: "The Käthe Kruse Family".

These both are small Thumbelinas/Däumlinchen - The one at the left is a tiny Linchen with a blue dress. And look at the cute little strawberry bag! It was a present from Schneewalski who I met at the 1:12 in Soest.

The most of them are replicas of special doll types in a smaller size (They are from 11,5 to 13 cm small). Except the young man in the sailor suit. He shows Max Kruse the youngest son of the seven children of Käthe Kruse & Max Kruse senior.

This is a tiny "Rumpumpel Baby", one of the dolls I would like in the original size, too :) Each of them came in the typical red Käthe Kruse box with a small blanket and a certificate!

If I´m really thruthful I didn't like these dollies at first... poor little things! I didn't like the BIG hands and the porcelain heads, because they are so very, very wrong for Käthe Kruse dolls! But after a while I began to like them :) They are nice to decorate because of the flexible bodies and they are very cute as a doll for a doll. How do you like them?

Have a nice weekend, Nicola

Käthe Kruse Puppenhauspuppen werden von der Firma Käthe Kruse exclusiv für die Mitglieder der Käthe Kruse Familie herausgegeben. Bisher erschienen: Ilsebill 2002/2003, Friedebald 2004/2005, Finerle 2005/2006, Max 2006/2007, Kathl 2007/2008, Linchen 2008/2009, Baby Rosalie 2009/2010 - to be continued!

Tiny & cute things from the fair:

Sabrina & Sabine are very happy with all the toys I brought from the 1:12... I adore the tiny-tiny „The Very Hungry Caterpillar“ /"Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt" book (it was my favorite book when I was small). It´s made like the really book - you can read every page!

The guy on the right isn´t Mr Lundby in cooler clothes - I found him on the fair too and he will live in the 1975 Lundby Gothenburg...

Petra and I planned to swap at the fair and she brought a bag full of treasures with her... aaaand I forgot mine at home! But I had to take Carry and Petra chose some of the furniture I once displayed at Furniture and Antiques. Thanks to the Internet it was no problem :)

Carry is a lovely old Caco doll and I first fell in love with her when I saw her at Petra´s blog! When I was small I always used my Mum´s old Caco dolls as dolls for the Käthe Kruse dolls, because to my mind they look like small K. Kruse dolls!

Perfect - isn´t it?! And because I don´t have a dollshouse in Carry´s size she now lives with all my Käthe Kruse dolls in my dolls showcase.

*Nicola

The Käthe Kruse Thumbelinas are both from 1977 - She´s called Margit & his name is Guido. The rocking chair is from Monchichi also from the 70s. The wooden bed is from my childhood. My parents once brought it along for me when they went for a hike without Andrea & me. The baby is from my childhood too and I think it´s ARI.

Käthe Kruse Däumlinchen Babies

the käthe kruse dolls i always loved the most! the cute little däumlinchen (thumbelina) babies.

just 25 cm small, with a soft body and dangling arms and legs. they were made with painted hair or wigs from real human hair. here you see bobbele from 1986

this sweet little guy is from my childhood, i called him phillip and i played a lot with him. in the catalogue he was wearing a yellow felt cap, but i never had one. i bought him without and crocheted him a yellow baby bonnet - but i like him more without :)

both are from the same catalogue from 1977/78 like louise. at the catalogue they are called fritzl und charlie. little charlie on the right was bought years later, but he likes to play with phillip since then.

you can also have sleeping däumlinchen like this one in the vintage carry bag. she is from the 80s and is wearing a little christening robe.

last not least: billy from the 1989 catalouge. he is one of a series of afro-american däumlinchen käthe kruse made since they were produced in the 50s. billy is named mohrle at our home and belongs to my daughter mara.

i hope you liked this little trip to the world of käthe kruse dolls? i´ll tell you soon more about christine and the lundbys... promised :)

*nicola

Hanne Kruses Däumlinchen

letzes jahr hat das däumlinchen seinen 50. geburtstag gefeiert. däumlinchen heißt das kleinste kruse-kind nicht umsonst, denn es ist nur 25 cm groß. aber obwohl es so klein ist, hat es schon großes vollbracht. als käthe kruses tochter hanne kruse damals dieses kleine persönchen schuf, stand es um die firma nicht gerade rosig... aber das däumlinchen schlug auf der spielwarenmesse 1957 ein, wie ein "mini-komet" und sorgte für guten umsatz. das däumlinchen war dank seines drahtskeletts und weichem mit trikot überzogenem schaumstoffkörperchens, sehr beweglich & knuddelig. aber wegen seiner "kleinheit" eben auch die echte "käthe kruse puppe", für den kleinen geldbeutel. das däumlinchen ist seitdem im kruse-katalog zu finden und immer noch genauso beliebt, wie im jahr seiner "geburt".

die firma käthe kruse hat im jubiläumsjahr 2007 einige der däumlinchen aus dem allerersten katalog, in der kleidung von damals und mit einer ähnlich zarten bemalung wie früher, wieder neu aufgelegt. eins dieser kleinen schätzchen, das "linchen" durfte zu meinem geburtstag im april, bei mir einziehen.

sie hat heute vorsichtshalber ihren schirm dabei - bei diesem wetter, man weiß ja nie?! auch püppchen bekommen nicht gerne nasse füßchen. ...und keine sorge, ich habe ihr gesagt, dass man diese hübschen roten pilze nicht essen darf - auch puppen nicht! :)

lg, eure nicola