Handmade, High Quality Dolls: The Lucky Pebble
By: Keith
I don’t do many product endorsements. I believe it’s best to keep them to a minimum, else risk diluting the message. Therefore, I save my endorsements for items or services that really spark my interest and give me reason to shout. I have two boys so neither of them is particularly interested in Dolls. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions about them. For the most part I think dolls are cheap mass marketed piles of plastic crap. There are a few that I find acceptable but none that have made me say to myself, “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Well, the day has come that I have found a doll that has sparked my interest and given me hope in our American cottage industries. There is, apparently, and to my relief, still a market for high quality, hand crafted products for kids. The Lucky Pebble produces dolls that are designed and constructed by a single artist (no outside help or patterns) with great attention to detail and a rock solid guarantee of craftsmanship. I’m impressed.
The Scoop:
As far as I know, I’ve got the scoop on these Dolls for the Christmas season. I asked the artist specifically about the construction method for these dolls because I want to be able to report with authority that these things are, indeed, superior quality. Her response was complete.
Exterior: Constructed with high quality quilter cotton fabric, soft cotton knit doll skin fabric, thick plush cotton velour, cotton socks (new) and sometimes cotton blend socks. She never uses buttons or paints on the dolls’ faces. They are all hand embroidered.
Interior: All dolls are stuffed with hypoallergenic polyfill unless specified otherwise. She does get special requests for wool, and she fulfills those requests by using Eco Wool from Joy’s Waldorf Shop. It’s wool taken from sheep that graze on untreated fields. It’s much more expensive than polyfill and thus adds another 10 dollars to the cost of the doll.
Basic Construction: She offers many price points for people who need to save money and for folks who just want to go all out. Either way, she puts her heart, and quality guarantee, into each doll. The dolls’ faces, accessories and all detailing are done by hand with a good old thread and needle (no machine). All stress points are double or triple reinforced.
She is offering a 15% discount to any of my readers until December 17th. Just mention you read about the dolls from me and she will apply that discount. She lives and creates her dolls in Hawaii and she cannot be certain that they can reach the mainland by Christmas if ordered after the 17th. The dolls are certainly a valuable gift any time of the year, not just for Christmas.
Her best seller is the Little Girl Friend, a doll with hair covering one of her eyes (it’s quite cute). It was created by accident one day when she sewed an eye on a doll unevenly and corrected the problem by draping the fabric hair over the imperfection. Someone showed great interest in the design, and it took off from there. She has many other creative dolls such as Bunny Girl and Bear Girl which take their inspiration from the animal world.
Disclosure: There’s nothing to disclose. I did not recieve compensation or solicitation for this endorsement.
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cool. thanks keith! I have the same problem with all the baby dolls in stores.. EWWW!! plastic crap! I hope to get Zoey into nice handmade ones JUST like this when she’s a little older.. that’s IF she decides dolls have a place in her busy little truck filled life!! Anyway, thanks so much for the tip! We’ll have to remember this one next year!
Cool Tammy! We were actually thinking once of these dolls would make a perfect gift for Zoey
These aren’t scary looking like Talking Tina in the Twilight Zone and I assume they’re washable. Very cute and the biggest selling point is they’re not made in China with who knows what!
No kidding, Mom. When Mely saw these dolls the first thing she said was “ohhh, how CUTE!” Definitely no lead or sawdust in these things! 100% American.
Those do sound like well built dolls. They look great too. Sadly, my kids will find a way to destroy them too.
.-= Daddy Forever´s last blog ..Rated I for Immature =-.
Well, Ken. I guess nothing is absolutely indestructible.
Those are adorable! Seriously! Handmade anything is the way to go…I would do all my shopping on Etsy if I could…
.-= Caryn Bailey´s last blog ..Shopping? Red Carpet? I’m SO THERE! =-.
Oooh. I love handmade things. But…I won’t be buying. Our girls are actually not very interested in dolls of any kind. They much prefer bike riding, baking, painting, reading books, playing outside, and jumping on the bed. Well, our 3-year-old prefers those things anyway. Our 9-month-old is just along for the ride at this point, but she smiles as she watches her big sister do it all.
.-= Stephanie´s last blog ..Which Airline is the Most Family-Friendly? =-.
Yeah, Sephanie, I guess some girls just aren’t the doll loving sort. My twin sister is such a Tom Boy, also when she was a kid. Yet, she still had this doll side to her that I found curious. Maybe your 9 month old will be the exception in your family
These dolls are really cute and look like they are quite safe for smaller children! Thank you for sharing this informative article.
.-= Baby Annabell Prams´s last blog ..More Accessories Than Just the Baby Annabell Pram =-.