Welcome back to Acacia Lane Dolls! Today, I’m thrilled to share a very special project that recently spent some time on my worktable: restoring Singing Dove, a striking doll from the Götz Starshine line. 📜 A Quick History Lesson: The Starshine Doll Line Before diving into the restoration details, her back story deserves a spotlight—because…… Continue reading Restoring Singing Dove: A Götz Starshine History & Spa Day
Wilson Kirsten took a long time to restore! I removed her eyes to bleach the face, but it removed the original face paint (as expected), so she got all new face paint and was sealed. Her eyes were carefully repainted to match her original eye color. Stains were also removed and her body was mended…… Continue reading Wilson Kirsten AFTER
When I saw this beat up Kirsten, I could see that underneath that dye transfer was a beautiful doll, ready to shine. She is, after all, a 1989 Kirsten doll with the white body version of tinsel hair (a bit less coarse than the 1991/92 cousin), and seafoam blue eyes. Not only does poor Kirsten…… Continue reading Yes, I bought this… Wilson Kirsten BEFORE
Hey everyone! I made this video to show you how to restring an older American Girl doll made by Pleasant Company. You can still use these steps to restring a newer doll, but there is also another way to do that too (tutorial coming!). This is an ’88 white body Samantha doll that will eventually…… Continue reading How to Restring a Pleasant Company American Girl Doll Tutorial
I’m not totally a great photographer. I don’t know much about composition, light values, whatever, but I want to make great pictures of my dolls without spending a fortune. I found some very inexpensive 3′ x 5′ photography backdrops on eBay that I thought would be perfect for taking pictures of my dolls, making them…… Continue reading DIY Doll Photo Backdrop Stand
I only recently decided what I wanted my collection to look like, and I have been collecting for about 5 years. I went through periods where I bought the most prized dolls, according to other people, and I felt empty. I didn’t have any connection to them, even if they were beautiful or I was…… Continue reading Collection Goals
If you have never heard of a Dreamer doll, these are the rare few that were made in late 1987 with white bodies. The only dolls from 1987 like this were Molly and Kirsten. They have the sweetest upward glance and truly some of my favorites in my collection! About a year ago I…… Continue reading Dreamer Molly – Late 1987
I had so much fun with this Samantha doll! This doll needed a lot of work, from her cracked and broken eyes, to her mangled dry hair and faded face paint. She got a complete overhaul with brand new eyes (of the same style and age), hair restoration and recurling, and face makeup. She turned…… Continue reading 1988 White Body Samantha
This really is one of my favorite Kirsten rehabs to date! This doll came to me in disarray with thinning hair, a giant stain on her cheek, and age spots on her cloth torso. Kirsten needed a lot of love, but I could tell that she would be beautiful by her very unusual turquoise eyes…… Continue reading 1989 White Body Kirsten Doll
I haven’t written a while, but I’ve been busy restoring! It took me a while to restore this next doll, she is a 1989 Samantha with the very hard to find slate eye color. When I received her, she was absolutely filthy, many of her lashes had either fallen out or broken off (which is…… Continue reading 1989 Slate Eyed Samantha Doll
