Himmies Galore:
Celebrate the release of Annette Himstedts final ever Himstedt collection with us in our monthly themed himmie section. We'll have news, reviews and lots more on this amazing collection.
If you're expecting one or more of them we'd love to hear from you.
We have a new section in Himstedts Galore covering all aspects of maintenance in our Repairs Department offering dolly hospitals, step by step guides to fixing limbs and of course it will cover all issues on the vinyl dot problems. If you are interested in all aspects of repairing himmies and maintaining them we'd love to hear from you too.
BJDs:
Check out the summer fun our members BJDs will be up to this month including outdoor photo shoots,summer outfits and lots more. While a way a rainy summer afternoon with a story or two with our BJD story section.
If you're a BJD lover and have some ideas to improve the BJD section then we'd love to hear from you.

Events this month:

Kelham Hall Double
Sunday 5th July
Kelham Hall, Newark,
Notts. NG23 5QX
Open 10.30am-4.00pm
Info Organiser: Dollys Daydreams

Browsers Collectors Fayre
Sunday 5th July
The Marriott Hotel,
St, Michaels Road, West Cliff,
Bournemouth. BH2 5DU.
Open 10.30am-4.00pm
Info: Organiser: Browsers Collectors Fayres

National Doll Festival
Saturday 11th July - Wednesday 15th July.
Atlanta, Georgia. U.S.A
Holiday Inn, Select Hotel.
Info: http://dollshow.com/natldoll/index.html

Dollys Daydreams Doll Fair
Sunday 12th July
Hotel Elizabeth,
London Road, Copdock, nr Ipswich,
Suffolk. IP8 3JD.
Open 10.30am - 4.00pm
Info: Organiser: Dollys Daydreams

Browsers Collectors Fayre
Sunday 12th July
De Vere Hotel,
Shaw Ridge Leisure Park, Swindon. SN5 7DW.
Open 10.30am - 4.00pm
Info: Organiser: Browsers Collectors Fayres

Dollys Daydreams Doll Fair
Sunday July 19th
Hingham Sports Hall,
Watton Road, Hingham, nr Norwich.
Norfolk. NR7 4HB
Open 10.00am - 3.00pm
Info: Organiser: Dollys Daydreams

Browsers Collectors Fayre
Sunday 19th July
The Novotel Hotel,
Plymouth. PL6 8NH
Open 10.30am- 4.00pm.
Info: Organiser: Browsers Collectors Fayres

Annual Dolls in Summer
July 19th 2009
10am - 3.30pm
Mermaid Event Center.
2200 County Rd 10
Mounds View MN 55112
Just off 35 W at county roads 10 and H.
Adults $5 Children under 12 $1
Info: car4ann@msn.com

Lyndseys Fair
Sunday 26th July
Woodland Suite, Petwood Hotel,
Stixwold Road, Woodhall Spa.LN10 6QG
Open 10.00am - 4.00pm
Info: Organiser: Lyndsey Fairs

Julys Blog:

From Times Online
May 21, 2009

Collecting doll house miniatures: it's all about control
Rhoda Buchanan

“Rubber gloves! Beautiful. I’ve been looking for a pair of these for nearly two years.”
Penny Whitehouse hasn’t just spotted a pair of marigolds – these rubber gloves are exactly an inch long.
“I’ve found others that come close to being right, but they’re always too bulky. Rubber is thick and hard to shape so getting the fingers this delicate is really hard.”
Every year over 3,000 collectors flock to the Kensington Dolls' House Festival to adorn their dolls’ houses with miniature books, chandeliers, wheelbarrows, ordinance survey maps, cabbages, brandy, monopoly sets and just about anything else you can think of, in miniature.
And there isn’t a child in sight. In the sea of blue-rinsed pensioners, the youngest collector in the room is probably pushing 50.
Next to a stall selling tiny pseudo-Victorian portraits is a stall selling miniature copies of Hello magazine for £7.50 and miniature pots of Vaseline. After a special request, Platt’s Mini Packages started selling tiny packets of sliced bread: “I already sell non-sliced, but this customer wanted sliced,” said stall owner Liza Lawrence.
It is hard to see what difference a single word on the outside of the 1cm high packet of ‘Hovis’ could possibly make, considering it’s stuffed with toilet roll anyway, but miniature collectors like perfection.
“It’s all about control,” says Charlotte Stokoe, organiser of this year’s Kensington Dolls’ House Exhibition. “It’s about a house with no dirty dishes, that you can control completely, with no kids to mess it up. It’s really appealing to a lot of people.”
The Kensington Dolls' House Festival, which was held on the 16th, 17th and 18th of May this year, is celebrating its 25th birthday and claims to be the most high profile exhibition of its nature in Europe. The festival takes place in Kensington Town Hall because, as the brochure says, it is a "civilised venue" with "decent loos".
The idea of perfection dominates each tiny product at the exhibition. Pointing to a tiny Victorian portrait, the stall holder assures customers it has been hand painted on vellum. What is vellum? “The skin of an unborn calf” comes the answer.
Terry Neville started selling miniature books four years ago when he realised there was a healthy market. His trademark is that each book actually contains all, or a healthy chunk, of the actual text.
Recently his company managed to get copyright to reprint the full set of Ian Fleming James Bond novels, 1/12th of the actual scale.
Do they sell? Yes: but not as well as Bibles. The miniature Bibles each contain 17 chapters of Revelation. Revelation was chosen because the market is primarily interested in the “hell fire and damnation” aspect of their miniature Bibles, says Neville.
Each small book is cut by hand, stitched, and takes about two days to make. Dateman books sells over 200 titles and has been experimenting with producing books in 1/24th scale. Although there is a demand, the 1cm high books, each with real pages, have too high a failure rate to be profitable.
There is even a market for 1 inch high Bibles in French. One copy was recently returned to Mr. Neville for having the accents in the wrong place. The collector had been reading, for leisure, the 1mm high characters.
John Hodgson, who has been in the business for 30 years, says dolls' house collecting isn't all about kitchens and bathrooms. A German lady once asked if he sold miniature torture instruments, presumably to furnish her dolls’ house dungeon.
Acquiring the tools of espionage for your dolls' house is not as hard as you might imagine. Put a secret drawer in a piece of furniture and it will sell. "If the customer is undecided - you've shown them the diamond glasses and the tortoise shell lid and they’re still not sure - you just pop open the secret drawer and they'll take it," says John Hodgson, whose Dutch tea caddy complete with a hidden pop-out drawer retails at around £500.
Collecting miniatures is not cheap. Mr Hodgson’s four poster bed, circa 1770 but about the size of a shoebox, will sell for £675. Mr Hodgson describes his American collectors as like “children with money”.
The general feeling is that sales and customers have increased this year. Along with thermos flasks and British holidays, collecting miniatures is yet another hobby that looks like it could be thriving in the recession.
As one collector tells me: "I can't afford a house in Tuscany or a medieval castle in real life, so I buy them in miniature. It’s a total, total substitute.”
But that doesn't explain the motives of The Sultan. The Sultan is a legend amongst those who sell miniatures. There are whispers of him over by the tiny flower pots (1cm high, £2.50) and the meat carcasses (6cm long, looks vaguely like a cow, £14).
Simon Walker sells tiny things made of silver and explains: "He walks through the stalls with his entourage and just points at things he wants - and the minions just buy them for him."
Mr Walker must be secretly hoping that The Sultan will walk past his stall and point at his prized product, a miniature silver car costing £4,500.
John Hodgson knows more about The Sultan. Rumour has it he is a very wealthy royal from Qatar who is "quiet, kind and reserved" and turns up at exhibitions with “suitcases full of money”. The Sultan, although an avid miniatures collector, doesn't seem to have made an appearance today.
Facts about Dolls’ Houses:
• The earliest known miniature houses are nearly 5000 years old and were found in Egyptian tombs
• Dolls’ house collectors in England use two scales: 1/12th and 1/24th. The former is more popular.
• One of the most famous dolls’ houses is Queen Mary’s dolls house which was built in 1924 and is on display at Windsor Castle
• Judy Dench is a known collector
• For information about the Kensington Dolls’ House Christmas Show go to www.dollshousefestival.com