THE BARBIE BULLETIN 6ST

THE BARBIE BULLETIN
August 2002
Sandi Little, R.J.Douglass
DELPHINE™
THE FIRST SILKSTONE ™
MATTEL LAUNCHES NEW
BARBIE® BODY SCULPT
& MATERIAL
El Segundo, Ca February 14, 2000
Mattel is excited to announce the
unveiling of a new body material for
Barbie® doll. Made of an innovative
Silkstone™ material that was developed
exclusively for Mattel. This doll body
will be featured in the new Barbie®
Fashion Model Collection that will be
launching at retail in fall 2000. A private
showing of this Limited Ed ition
collection will be held during NY Toy
Fair at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on
February 14/02. In development for
three years, the Silkstone™ Barbie®
doll body was designed with the
preferences of the serious collector in
mind. Strong and durable, Silkstone™
has the silky smooth touch and heavy
feel of fine bisque porcelain.
Additionally, every Silkstone™ Barbie ®
Doll features delicate, lifelike sculpting
that poses Barbie doll. Like a real
supermodel!
"We're thrilled that we were able to
perfect the Silkstone™ Barbie® Doll
body, and equally pleased that one of our
most talented fashion Designers, Robert
Best, is able to showcase his genius in
this Extraordinary collection," says Ron
Longsdorf, Senior Vice President of
Design.
DELPHINE ™ BARBIE DOLL
FASHION MODEL
COLLECTION
MATTEL #26929, 2000
Lingerie #26930
Lingerie #26931
The Barbie® Fashion Model
Collection consists of a Blonde and
Brunette Lingerie Barbie doll as well as
the Delphine™ Barbie doll. The
Lingerie Barbie dolls are dressed in
white satin bra and panty ensembles
trimmed in white lace and have pale
pink bow accents. White stockings,
garters and a wrist tag accompany each
Lingerie #29651
doll. The Delphine™ Barbie doll is
dressed in a pale turquoise taffeta,
strapless evening gown with a side
draped train and bow in the back. Pink
floral accents at the hip and back
complete the gown's details. The doll is
accessorized with faux pearl drop
earrings and bracelet, a white faux fur
stole lined in pink satin.
Also included in the collection are two
beautifully detailed fashions, Lunc h at
the Club™ and Garden Party™. These
fashions add flair and fun to the
collection while answering collectors'
requests for fashions that are sold
separately from the doll.
Mattel Inc. with $4.8 billion in annual
revenue is the worldwide leader in the
design, manufacture and marketing of
children's toys with headquarters in El
Segundo, CA. Mattel has offices and
facilities in 36 foreign countries and sells
its products in more than 150 nations
throughout the world.
.
Limited Edition
Barbie may not be known as the Plastic
Princess for much longer, now that
Mattel has developed a new amazing
material called Silkstone™. According
to Mattel, its "strong and durable and has
the silky smooth touch and heavy feel of
fine bisque porcelain. The Fashion
Model Collection will be the first to use
the Silkstone™ material. The line was
introduced this past February at the New
York Toy Fair. My first impression was
that the doll appeared to be made of a
high- grade vinyl (if such a thing even
exists). Upon closer inspection it indeed
has a porcelain- like appearance and yes,
Mattel is world famous for their
innovative technology, especially with
Barbie®. Many of the early vintage dolls
are collectable solely for a patented
design that made them unique, such as
Miss Barbie®, Color Magic Barbie®
and how about Growing Up Skipper®.
Each year Barbie has become more
techno logically advanced which is one
of the reasons her popularity has
continued to soar with both children and
collectors alike. This year Mattel has
announced two exciting new designs that
collectors will want.
it's definitely heavier tha n your average
Barbie doll. I liked the feel of the new
material and substantial weight. I don't
know, maybe psychology I feel that I'm
getting more for my money, but it felt
good. Silkstone™ has been in
development for three years and is a
proprietary material, not a new vinyl
product. Barbie's head is still made of
vinyl in order to root the hair. While
more expensive to produce right now,
price points of the introductory line is
very low. I suspect that Silkstone™ will
be used only on particular collector lines
in the future and will not replace vinyl
completely, but only time will tell.
The Limited Edition Fashion Model Collection was designed with the serious collector
in mind and will have a very small production run. Mattel chose to use the nostalgic face
mould, which they have updated with soft pastel "make-up". The first doll in the series,
Lingerie Barbie is available in both blonde and brunette and is dressed in a delicate bra,
panties and garter set. Two fashions, Garden Party #26933 and Lunch At The Club, #
26932 will be sold separately. The highlight of the collection is Delphine™ Barbie,
dressed in a blue evening gown. Delphine™ has attitude with a bend arm that enables
her uniquely sculptured hand to sit on her hip in supermodel- like pose this collection will
be sold only through specialty and is packaged in elegant white boxes with gold lettering.
Preordered sales to date indicate that this will probably be the best new line of 2000.
Garden Party #26933
Lunch At The Club #26932
DUSK TO DAWN GIFTSET 2000
#29654
CONTINENTAL HOLIDAY BARBIE GIFTSET 2001
# 55497
Lingerie # 55498
FAO Schwarz # 53864
These SILKSTONES ™ came out in 2001.
Lingerie # 56120
Provencale Barbie 2001
#50829
FAO Schwarz # 53864
2001
.
The First Alert:
Green Ear Alert for the Fashion Models
Silkstone Aug. 12/02 this news comes in
from Madison! Please remove earrings
from your deboxed silkstones.
Madison removed the earrings from his
deboxed Fashion Models only to find
that the tips of the earrings are already
turning green.
Instructions for removing the earrings
are as follows
Take a pair of pliers...grip earring and
pull straight out with some force. Don't
bend it downwards as you are pulling or
you could damage the ear lobe. Be brave
but be careful.
If your dolls are in their boxes, don't
remove them.
Madison has no solution to that problem
yet. We hope that one is found as I
would be heartbroken to think that the
dolls are going to be ruined by green ear.
Some Questions.. Few Answers ..
JAN: The green on my MT's was very
evident. I also found green on the end of
the earrings. I hope someone answers
the our questions as I would like to know
also.
CAL: My experience with vintage dolls
and green ear is that the green seems to
stop once the offending earrings are
removed. It's the dolls that have been
stored with earrings in for years that
have the green that can cover most of the
doll's head. Mattel could easily make
earrings that have a little gold plate over
the earrings, I think, for the prices that
they charge for Silkies. What do you
think?
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO MY BARBIE FRIEND EILEEN G. FOR THE USE
OF HER PERSONAL SILKSTONE™ DOLLS, SO I COULD TAKE THE
PICTURES TO DO THE NEWSLETTER.
Here are the Minutes of the last two meeting to go with this Newsletter
Meeting Report – NS Barbie Doll
Club – October 5 2002
Present: Rebecca Douglass, Minnie
Mollins, Sandi Little, Val Smith and
Lyn Millward.
Was it a Barbie meeting or Barbie
playtime? We began by preparing an
elaborate Halloween diorama and taking
lots of photographs of the dolls and each
other. Minnie brought a Barbie-sized
dollhouse room a classroom complete
with little desks, costumed school
children, & their teachers. The children
were dressed as Robin Hood, a
bridegroom, Abe Lincoln, Little Red
Riding Hood, a ghost, a jester, a
skeleton, and a peasant girl, some
wearing masks handmade by Minnie.
The teachers were particularly scary,
dressed as an authentic Grim Reaper and
Green Witch. The schoolroom itself was
authentically outfitted, thanks to
Minnie’s very talented husband who
takes an active interest in her doll hobby.
Outside the classroom, in a gloomy
scene with mossy tree, headstones, and
pumpkins, were Val's Bewitched Barbie,
a witch dressed by Lyn in one of her
father's old black ties, and a
Masquerade" Skipper & Barbie, brought
by Rebecca. Rebecca also brought a
Miss Barbie dressed in long gown with
black top and yellow skirt with black net
overlay.
We had Show and Tell too! Since our
last meeting, Rebecca found some
treasures at the Sussex NB flea market: a
Francie dress, dots and stripes 1967, a
green sheath, a piece from "orange
blossom," a blue skirt, lace cover, a
ballet skirt which may be Tutti's, and a
real mink hat from Golden Glamour.
She also showed a red- haired Sindy
wearing a Barbie hat, pink vintage dress,
and tartan sash. Sandi has developed an
appreciation for vintage dolls since
joining the club, and indulges this
interest by collecting the new Silkstone
Barbie’s with vintage faces, as well as
the reproductions. She showed a new
Malibu Barbie with compact, and a
1965-fashion Gold 'n' Glamour repro.
Minnie brought Gene in White Hyacinth,
Dream Bride Barbie 1996, Fashion
Avenue Barbie 1995 (#15833), and
Peruvian Barbie 1998. She also brought
as a gift for each of us, a wonderful
Barbie Button Cover made by her son
(check zoogeeworld.com). Val brought
her major "Barbie Collectibles"
purchases for the year, Winter Concert
Barbie and Mlle Isabelle. As well we
saw Native American #3, Hollywood
Premiere # 1.
We drew for a door prize, and Val won a
1989 Barbie Lunch Box - perfect for
keeping accessories - which was
supplied by Sandi.
We were sorry to receive from Toby
Jodrey her resignation from the club.
We'll certainly miss you, Toby. We also
received the news that Danielle has lost
both her parents, and we send our
condolences and best wishes. This is a
very sad loss, Danielle, and our sincere
sympathy goes to you.
The next meeting was to be held at the
home of Lyn Millward, on Saturday
afternoon, December 7th. We have to
change this as Lynn is UNABLE to have
the Xmas party. Rebecca will have the
Christmas Meeting at her house DART,
NS what to bring? Desserts to share,
and a gift for the exchange, with a
value of $10-15. As usual at our
December meetings, we will be
packaging lots of Barbie dolls for
charity. Be sure to bring any play
Barbie’s you have collected for
donatio n- new or refurbished. Bring
extra outfits and accessories, including
shoes and brushes, and let's have fun
combing and dressing beautiful Barbie’s
and slipping them into colourful
Christmas bags. See you then!
Minutes DEC 7/02 Meeting
.
We were to have a Christmas Party, &
exchange of gifts and Desserts. The
program was to be Fix the Barbie’s up
for Sandi‘s food basket donations.
The event got cancelled as everyone was
busy that day in Dec.7, 2002.
Sandi did come over to the house Dec 7
and we fixed the Barbie’s that she had. I
got a few more of them from the Local
Second-hand shop. In good condition
and dressed. Also my Barbie Friend
Eileen gave us some new outfits that
could be used as extra clothes for the
Barbie’s.
Minutes from the previous meeting were
Ok and we ha ve the same bank balance.
We are still waiting for Sandi to finish
the Newsletter. Hope to see you all in
the New Year.
Meeting adjourned at 3:00PM.
Article from a Site from Sandi Little
As I mentioned,I hope the Club
members enjoy these pictures as
this gentleman has taken the
'Silkstone Barbie'and has
repainted them to resemble the
numerous Vintage Barbies. I hope
to hear what you all think of
his work and look forward to
hearing your comments on how you
think the Silkies are adaptable
to such 'repo-ing'.
Enjoy Rogers Haack Web site at
this URL:
http://members.aol.com/RH2Galler
y
Repro Looks Great!!
Repro Marilynn Manroe