Heidi has been creating dolls with her magical touch reflecting childrens souls since 1980. She made her first doll out of cernit for her daughter Katja who was then 10 years old. One year later she found herself making her first porcelain dolls. To approach her own style and improve her skills she specialized on portrait dolls. Her love to children provides her with the gift of observation not only of the visible but also can she look into children's souls. Kids from the school and preschool right across Heidi´s house have inspired her to quite a number of dolls that collectors might treasure right now at their home. Ten years after the beginning of her life as a dollmaker Heidi visited the first Toy Fair in the US. It was quite an ordeal to find her way from the airport to her hotel without speaking hardly any English.

Years later at another Toy Fair she meets Mrs. Zapf from ZAPF CREATION and a very good and long cooperation followed during wich Heidi created her own vinyl collection. The difficulty was not only to transfer the porcelain models into vinyl but especially making an artist doll in line production. Through this way of producing the dolls their soul and personality often got lost what was literally painfull for Heidi. Her goal was to paint these dolls herself, put them together, pick their wardrobe and give them back their magic.

Small porcelain dolls first came out in 2002 and were a great success. Every year she spends two weeks in Indonesia with her longtime friend and designer Rosemarie Ionker to design new dresses and pick out the most beautiful fabrics to match Heidi's high expectations. She loves the contact to her collectors and visits a great number of retailers every year for signings.

Ring around the Rosie - The 2009 Collection

It's always an exciting challenge to create a new collection.
In the past collectors requested additional joints for more poses. This year I am able to present my dolls with more joints for more fun.

My theme for the new line of 2009 is "Ring around the Rosie" I make a connection between past and present through the game and unite different cultures, continents and religions ignoring barriers and prejudice. Once more my collection reflects the idea of peaceful coexistance.

I divided the collection into the following groups:
One group of children from the past around 1850 with beautiful antique like dresses.
The next group of dolls is dressed very romantic and they play "Ring around the Rosie" after church and another group plays in the schoolyard.
Another group is something very special. A Moroccan dancer called Aim - inspired by the princess Sheherazade with splendid baggy breeches and an embroidered lace overdress. Also 2 little Chinese girls of 12" in traditional Chinese silk clothing with chinese silk embroidery are in this group.

And finally - 3 tall dolls of 30", two caucasian girls and their hispanic friend round up the collection.

With 22 new dolls this is my largest collection ever. I wanted to meet the expectations of a vast range of collectors with a variety of different styles and sizes in one collection to make sure everyone finds the doll of her or his dreams.

Click on blocks below to go to full descriptions of dolls.

Tall Group

Romantic Group	Past Group
Dolls 'N Roses Group	Doll Treasurers Group

Contact us to purchase them. Laways can be arranged. We also accept PayPal as well as credit cards directly.

Arlene's Dolls & Collectibles 213 Oakland Avenue Butler PA 16001 Phone:(724-482-2583) Fax:(724)482-2890 E-mail: info@arlenesdolls.com