You've provided us with a wonderful report, Melissa. Thanks. Juan's work is amazing, isn't it? That kind of talent makes me envious; gonna have to do five hail marrys to repent. I love his work on the BB dolls, he really improved them and I thought they were good to start with. I emailed the company ages ago to ask if they would come with a warddrobe and was disappointed when they replied no, so I haven't made up my mind yet whether to get one. Glad you had such a nice day and thanks again for reporting on it.

Hi, all!

I was at the Doll & Teddy Bear Expo in DC yesterday. I went to the table to view the Big Beautiful Dolls & was mentioning to a friend that an internet friend of mine had repainted one. The lady at the table hollered out "Juan" & poured forth a wonderful description of Juan Albuerne's Aretha doll. (You can see her at http://www.juanalbuerne.com .) She was indeed impressed! The dolls are very nice in person. I admit that I liked the Dasia doll best; she's the AA one. The Hispanic, Dena, was an odd shade & the Caucasian, Dawn, seemed so "pasty" next to the others. They seem to all have the same face. The current models are in a very nice outfit-black gown with boa like Juan has on his. They will soon be offering the dolls in Lingerie & other gown styles. I asked the lady if they would be doing separate outfits, but she said "No" just different dressed dolls.

Brief review-Franklin Mint was NOT represented this year; nor Ashton-Drake. Madame Alexander has a tiny booth & did NOT have the new Judy Garland, Greta Garbo, etc. dolls which I was dying to see. Alex & her crew really do nothing for me. Susan Wakeen was also NOT represented.

Doug James & Laura Meisner were there with their lovely new dolls. They are really nice! And the detail... the shoes are really leather with insoles & supports! The dolls have many points of articulation & yet are not ugly. Kind of like the joints on Madra that swivel. And, the biggest surprise was a new member of the group called Colin. She is STUNNING! If I had $350, I would get her. She is AA with short rooted curly hair; not flocked. The only one, I didn't particularly like was Claire who looked so pale & waxy. They do have a website at http://www.didintldoll.com . (It was fun talking to Doug James as he created the Gene outfit that is my very favorite, USO.)

The other booth I spent a bit of time at was the Tonner one. Of the Tyler family, only Mei Li really attracts me, but the outfits are just STUNNING, though so pricey! Some might be interested in knowing that Tonner is producing 3 Tyler Dolls in Theatre de La Mode style fashions. Very elegant! And, I saw the new Emme doll. She is very nicely done! A lovely "plus-size" woman; very elegant in her own right! AND, Tom Courtney who works for Tonner, confirmed to me that there will be a 12" Emme doll produced for the mass market, TRU, for example, with extra clothing. He said that the prototype is almost done & they are working on the package design. He couldn't tell me the ETA, but he did say that I could spread the news to collectors. Juan, he even said that he couldn't wait to see what some of the doll artists would do with her... I'm so excited! (He also said that she is well proportioned even in that size, unlike the blocky Rosie doll by Mattel.)

Sorry to rave on, but I really enjoyed my day!

Melissa