#18 inch dolls

[tj-crochets]

A black cat to wear this dress! I’m not sure what I should name her

[desertdollranch]

Dolls brands I never thought I'd own, part 4: Global PenPals

Meet Amity Anderson!

This doll was a tough cookie to track down. I first stumbled across her last year while searching for a completely different doll on eBay. I thought she was adorable, but priced way too high, so I let someone else have her. When I saw her come up again recently for a lot cheaper, I lost the bidding war. When she popped up unexpectedly a third time, I managed to snap her up right away.

The first time I saw her, I was curious about her origin, since the listing said nothing about the brand, Global PenPals. I figured it was someone's small business, because it's an unfortunate truth that many, many 18 inch doll companies produce beautiful and quality dolls for a few short years and then go out of business. Because she certainly didn't look poorly made or low quality; she obviously had a lot of love put into her production. I could tell she had a really nice wig and a carefully sculpted, realistic face mold. She was meant to be more than just a toy, but a little friend as well. That's what I liked about her. She was special, rare, obscure, and unique. And as much as I love my American Girl dolls, I also love the rare and obscure 18 inch dolls that have fallen into my lap over the years through pure luck. That has turned me into a connoisseur of obscure dolls. The rarer, the better.

So for that reason I couldn't get her off my mind. I became very fixated on finding one. I did a Google search that brought up nothing but the listing for her, plus a few dolls with similar brand names, or sites for finding an actual human pen pal. But I noticed the listing photo included a picture of her box, which had the URL of the brand's website. It was defunct, so I plugged into the Wayback Machine at archive.org to see what I could find.

Keep reading for a deep dive into The Global PenPals.

(Hello to anyone in the future who might be doing a web search about this doll! I'm sure you've found little to no information. I've put everything right here for your convenience!)

...

The site's first snapshot was taken in February 2011. It has a very short intro:

"This site is dedicated to children everywhere. Autumn Woods and Amity Anderson will begin pen pal corresponding with children in other parts of the world. They will learn about different living conditions and diverse cultural traditions. Will they discover that children are the same worldwide? Come along with us and see!"

None of the links on the sidebar were archived by the Wayback machine, so I looked at the next three snapshots, taken in July 2013, January 2014, and December 2014 (the final snapshot).

Now this snapshot displays a lot more content, although once again most of the site didn't get archived. The intro is more or less the same. But now we can see illustrations of the two main characters, Autumn Woods and Amity Anderson.

Clicking through the "Meet and learn more about Autumn" graphic linked to a page that had biographies for both characters.

Autumn Woods introduces herself first. She was born in October, hence her name, but she loves Christmas more. She lives in Kennewick, Washington with her parents and younger sister, and likes her school. She's athletic and loves to do cartwheels. Her best friend Amity lives in Basin City, near the farm where her grandparents live. She doesn't know a whole lot about the world outside of Kennewick, so she's looking forward to making pen pals all around the world.

Amity Anderson introduces herself next. She loves living on a farm in Basin City, and most of the other kids at her school are also from farming families, or live in the area seasonally, which has made her curious about the lives of other children of different background. Her family grows cherries, and sometimes the crops fail due to weather conditions. They also have lots of animals including dogs, cats, and cows. She has a secret hideout in the hay loft.

The next page linked at the top contains all of the pen pal letters to and from Autumn and Amity.

There are 10 pages of these letters. The first letter is dated June 11th of 2011, and the final one is dated August 14th of 2013.

Next link is Marcia's Dolls.

To sum it up, Global PenPals was started by Marcia Elovich in 2010. She had always sewn doll clothes for her granddaughter, and her husband built doll furniture. She used dolls to help schoolchildren learn more about the lives and perspectives of children all over the world. She modeled the dolls' faces on her granddaughter and niece, and hopes to introduce more dolls to the brand.

The next link is to the shop.

Only the Amity doll is being sold here. All the images are broken, but I can see that Amity cost $59.00.

The next tab, Media, is pretty much empty.

That's all that I can access with the Wayback Machine, but I didn't stop there.

I Googled Marcia Elovich and found the three Global PenPals books she has published.

These are current, no need to use the Wayback Machine. Here's the link to the list if you're curious about the books. You can click through and read summaries of each.

"About the Author" on the second and third books:

Marcia Harvey Elovich has enjoyed interacting with children in family, at school and other community settings. When she began looking forward to retirement from the local school district, she set up a website around two fictional characters, Amity Anderson and Autumn Woods, using her granddaughter and her niece as visual models for the character images she draws. Through the website, Marcia continues to story-tell to youngsters and adults alike. Amity lives on the farm in Basin City where, in fact, Marcia was raised, and she pursues many of the same interests and activities Marcia did while growing up with her best friend Linda. Autumn lives in town and attends Amistad Elementary School, where Marcia formerly worked as a para-eductor, and earlier as a nurse in the Kennewick School District. This was the birthplace of her peaked interest in interacting with children and later-in-life interest in education. Marcia has recently begun manufacturing of the character dolls and is now converting the website stories into children's books. Also within the framework of her stories, Marcia has interactions from her personal pen pals with whom she is communicating around the globe. Through contrast and compare, she can better present awareness of how alike we are from country to country, culture to culture, religion to religion. "Perhaps the next generation will be more compassionate, not merely tolerating diversity but embracing it!" she adds. In their retirement, Marcia works with her husband and sidekick Bob, marketing her dolls and his woodworked doll furniture. She has one young adult son living at home and an older son living within the community. Her daughter and grandchildren live out of state, so she has to love them long-distance. Through Bob, she has acquired a second daughter who lives in the area and a step-son living out of state. Marcia specifically wants to thank her mother and father, Bob and Kay Harvey, for providing a childhood almost as colorful as the fictional one of which she writes. They gave to her, her three brothers and many childhood friends their mentoring in an era when the village actually did help raise the children.

I also found Marcia's Pinterest profile. She has pinned exactly four images.

The first two are the illustrations seen on the website. The other two are pictures of the dolls.

This picture's caption:

"Amity Anderson if one of the first two characters at www.theglobalpenpals.com and the first to be manufactured as a doll. She is vinyl with soft body and has beautiful peach complexion, with perfect detail down to tiny doll- scale freckles across her nose. She comes in clothes as seen, turquoise tennis shoes, and the matching elastic headband on her long, tangle-free auburn hair. I designed the doll after my own granddaughter. Lovely presentation box designed solely for The Global PenPals."

This confirms that the doll I have is indeed Amity, not Autumn as I had sort of guessed. Amity is illustrated with bangs, but it seems that changed at some point in the doll's design.

I guess that's Autumn on the left? I see no indication on the site or elsewhere that she was ever sold, so it's possible she never made it past the prototype stage.

There's very little else out there about the dolls. A few pictures on Worthpoint with captions stating what I've already put here.

Amity seems to be one of those ultra-rare dolls that only a few collectors know about. After losing out on two other listings, I know that at least two other people do have one and know what Amity is worth. But I have no idea exactly how many dolls were ever produced and sold before the brand disappeared, which probably happened within three years of their debut.

I wonder if their failure may have been due to the price point, $59, which seems very low for a doll with such a nice wig, sleep eyes, a cloth body, a beautifully designed box, and proprietary clothing.

[alittlebitbethany]

Hi everybody today is Addy Walker‘s birthday. Happy birthday Addy! Doesn’t Addy look adorable in this outfit? Image Description: a photo of an American Girl doll dressed in pink clothing, holding a pink cupcake .

[bayleaf-maria]

As powerful as her Irish gift may be, Princess Sorcha cannot stand alone in trying times. The price a Soul Healer pays for her gifts is that she often feels the pain of others.

This is why the Druid Healers often traveled in groups of three from village to village to share their gifts with those who are in need.

Often at first, Princess Sorcha has traveled with the elder women, lending her gift to theirs as needed. In time, Sorcha chose those she wished to travel with.

Her twin brother Conor's unique gift is a refreshing touch to the soul, enough to ease the strain on the other healers and keep soldiers' strength up in battle and as powerful as his sister in his own way.

His gift is a complement to his sister's deeper Soul Healing capabilities, bound to her in the same way as their souls.

Her handmaiden, Aìne, bears the gift of Mind Soothing. The ability to soothe away nightmares and hide memories one would rather forget, allowing peace for troubled minds.

The last in their group is not standing with them, but her name is Rìona and her gift is the weaving of bonds. Tying two souls together or untying them if need be, but also the healing of broken bonds.

The three women, with Conor alongside them, travel Ireland's villages to share their gifts with the people there who need them.

[sailor-rose-princess]

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Idk what happened, but now I'm missing posting on dollblr, so I'm back. Anyways, I have some new friends with me. For the first time since I was a child, I finally got a new doll straight from AG. I ended up having enough Christmas money to get a doll and her accessories (and at the time, there was a Christmas sale that helped me get her), so I went with Corrine. Only, I'm sorta remaking her into my own character, I'm renaming her Colleen. Still kinda thinking of a personality for her (I'm thinking of a creative type, but I feel like that describes many of my dolls lol). All I know is she looks beautiful in anything I dress her in.

[dollplantcatlady]

Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady was my favorite Dear America story when I was a kid, so when I came across the doll of her on eBay for cheap, I had to pick her up. Unfortunately, the original doll (by Madame Alexander) had a lot of problems that weren’t obvious in the listing, so I put her dress on Ruthie instead! (with an off-brand hair ribbon and tights) I always imagined Margaret to have dark hair anyway. I love this dress so much. It’s really well made. 

[cuutedoll]

Got a new AG doll! His hair is so nice. :D I basically only buy AG dolls from ohdeercustomdolls.com now lol. They have so many unique options. :3c

[abbieandbeanna]

I Bought EVERY American Girl Doll EVER

If you love AG dolls, check out this video. Hope just released on her channel.

[dollthirdplace]

(pretty much) 18" doll scale Goodwill bins finds! baskets are about 5.5" at their longest.

[tj-crochets]

Space pants!!!

I couldn’t leave Miss Beatrice Bear out of the bell bottoms fun, but I suspect she might like her fancy dress better lol

Space fabric is by @firesidetextiles and the bear pattern is one I designed. It’s supposed to be the same proportions as an 18” doll, but I failed to account for the fluffiness lol

[desertdollranch]

New 18 inch doll alert! My local Walmart is selling these gorgeous HBCYou dolls for $35. Right now there are only two different dolls available, one with brown eyes/black hair and one with green eyes/dark brown hair. I didn't get one this time, but likely will in the future.

HBCYou brand says it "shares the magic and legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities with children far and wide."

[alittlebitbethany]

Hi everybody I am taking part in @agrosehamada ‘s photo challenge AG Spring has Sprung 2024. Week 1’s theme is reading so I took a photo of my AG Cinderella doll reading her dressmaking book to find a new pattern to sew. Jaq and Gus are assisting her. I hope that you like my photo. I cannot wait to see everybody else’s photos. Image Description a photo of a Cinderella American Girl doll sitting down holding an open dressmaking book. Jaq and Gus are on her lap.

[living-history-lesson]

Oh my god she's a horse girl

[kittiesanddollpretties]

Hi!

I’m an adult doll collector, and this is my first post. So, hello, I guess. I’m not really sure how tumblr works, so I’ll probably make some mistakes. Currently I have two AG dolls - Emily Bennett, and a currently unnamed and wigless doll.

[the-dollfather]

Parker-Grace walks the plank

[bayleaf-maria]

When you think about an Irish wedding, you think of the handfasting. Ribbons tied around the hands of two lovers, a physical symbol of the union a wedding is creating between two people. But do you know where the handfasting originated? Would you believe it was the druids? Not just any Druids, mind you. The handfasting was a tradition upheld by the Bond Weavers. A physical representation of the bonding of two souls in a true Soul Tie. A Soul Healer can create a one sided bond that allows them to do their jobs without having to be in contact with a person and can even enhance that bond to a point. But a Bond Weaver can tie two souls together, allowing them to sense and aid one another from a distance and share emotion in a way that the healer's bond of a Soul Healer isn't able to allow. Soul Ties are precious and the skill is used rarely, saved for those who are absolutely certain they want their souls forever bound to one another. This is why the handfasting is commonly attributed to weddings and even legally considered marriage in some parts of modern Ireland and Scotland. Now, back in Old Ireland, the handfasting was a part of the soul tying ceremony performed by a Bond Weaver. It was used as a physical representation of the bond being woven, but it could be changed a bit if the situation warranted it. A traditional handfasting in which the bond weaver ties the cord around the hands of two people would simply be a soul tie between those two people. One in which the family of the two people in question take turns tying separate cords around the hands of two members from their respective families would be a binding of families together, two lines becoming one. For Princess Sorcha, in a time when the ceremony was not yet associated with marriage and merely symbolistic of the soul bond, the handfasting was a way she could show her devotion to Aìne. It would bind them in a way only their fellow druids would know and only if the nature of their gifts allowed them to know. So one summer eve, when Rìona had come to visit from the village where she lived, Sorcha stood with Aìne in the moonlight, their hands joined between them. As Rìona wrapped the braided cord they had agreed upon around their hands and tied it, she would ask if both women were certain about the bond she would be weaving for them, awaiting their replies before she continued the ritual. With her hands resting upon their joined ones, Rìona reached into her very soul, touching her gift and drawing it out, the physical connection to Sorcha and Aìne helping her to weave the threads of their two souls together. After Rìona had woven the soul tie between Sorcha and Aìne, they would never be apart even if the physical distance between them was great. Sorcha would keep the handfasting cord they had made together, carefully tucked into the satchel she carried for traveling, away from the prying eyes of those who had no need to know, and Aìne wore a single emerald in her headpiece, a gift from her Princess to symbolize that same bond. To the outside world, they still appeared as simply Princess and Handmaiden. To Rìona and the trusted few others who knew, they were tied at the soul, forever bound together.