Our wonderful worldwide hobby

Awhile back I discovered that Breyer has started producing their dolls with a larger head. I am not sure what possed them to do this but they have done it. At first I thought it was just the dressage doll. Then I found photo proof that it was also the show jumper doll and I knew we had a problem. On March 17th I wrote a blog post entitled Trouble that illustrated (with pictures) my fears. I have recently found out that not only is it the dressage doll and the show jumper doll but also the vet doll and soon the cowgirl doll that will have those big heads. I find that news very sad.
   Not only does it make my job as a doll maker harder but it leaves us showers in the hobby with limited options. We can deal with the large, unrealistic heads, we can make due with older dolls until they just can't be found anymore or we can use sculpted heads. Not everyone can sculpt and not everyone has access to someone who can sculpt for them. I am not an awesome sculptor but with the face push molds I can make a decent head that is properly in scale. With practice I imagine I will get better. I don't really enjoy doing it though. If I could find an in-scale face that I really liked perhaps I would find more joy in producing my own doll heads. I still wish I didn't have to.
   There may be a new option soon. A fairly new company, Zica toys, is now producing a 1:9 scale female doll and I am hoping to get mine in soon. I ordered awhile ago but the company is just the one man (he isn't doing the manufacturing) so I might have a bit of a wait until he gets caught up with all the initial orders. Once I get the doll I can test her out and see how she is as a hobby doll. I really hope she won't need much work as she is pricier than the Breyer dolls. But the Breyer dolls need A LOT of work to be really user friendly. I have high hopes that Yvonne will be the doll of the future. There is also rumor that individual doll parts may become available. If I could just buy some heads that might not be a bad option. Unfortunately it may also force me to raise my prices a little bit.
   Anyway, the part of this post that has to do with our wonderful worldwide hobby has been the support I have been receiving from different parts of the world. I did that post about the trouble with the new big heads on the Breyer dolls and have gotten comments and emails from many people that all agree, this is not a good idea and this is not something we want in a LSQ doll. Just today I got a message from a woman in Germany and then several hours later from a woman in Poland. It's so great to hear from people all over the world and to hear that people are reading my blog! It makes me want to come up with something to say.
   For whatever reason Breyer is convinced these bigger heads on the dolls are a good idea. I don't agree and I have not heard anyone else say that they agree. Perhaps people will stop buying them and Breyer will go back to smaller heads. Perhaps they don't care because they know people will keep on buying from them as they have for years. I don't really know for sure. I do know that I love the model horse hobby and I love being able to make dolls for the collectors. And I really appreciate the support of fellow hobbyists from all over the world.