Momma and I have become increasingly interested in Carpatina Dolls since Ana Ming arrived, so we asked her to tell us more about herself and the Carpatina line.
Founder Mikaela Hinkle was born in Romania and immigrated to the United States in 1993. By 1996 she was working for Childhood Companions (which made doll lines including Stardust Classics, and Little Sisters) using her degree in Textile and Apparel Engineering.
Carpatina Renaissance, a line of fine apparel for adults was founded by Hinkle in 1998 and named after her beloved Carpathian Mountains.
Incorporated in 2002, Carpatina LLC introduced a line of 18 inch vinyl-bodied dolls called Fantasy Adventures® in July 2002.
The Girlfriends Collection® was launched a year later. Clothing from the Girlfriends Collection fits 18 inch cloth-bodied dolls, such as American Girl.
One of the things I like about Carpatina (other than the quality!) is the imagination.
According to the story, Great-Aunt Cordelia once gave cousins Ana Ming, Julia, and Kohanna each a Magical Moonstone Necklace which transports the wearer back in time.
The ancient Orient fascinates Ana Ming; the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and fairy tales fascinate Julia; while Kohanna likes to transport herself into the books she adores.
And steampunk! Don't forget their Steampunk Adventures!
Northern war strategy
In wintertime 150 years ago in the Civil War, speculation arose in the North about the road ahead to the long conflict. The New York Times, in a dispatch Jan. 13, 1864, noted that the North would need to "bisect" the Confederacy if the Union were to prevail. "But there is much to do — indeed, there is much being done — which is all-important and highly essential to future operations." The paper noted that the spring warm-up comes first to the South and a key to the Union war strategy would be laying down new supply and communications lines by rail and other means to eastern Tennessee. The paper noted that the Union's recent victories in eastern Tennessee would make that one base for launching further strikes into the Deep South. And the paper exhorted Lincoln's government to supply Grant with sufficient troops for the fight ahead. "Let the Government not fail to see to it that Gen. Grant has an army in numbers sufficient for his work ... the last fatal blow to the rebellion is to be struck by Gen. Grant."
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| fashionfriendsdolls.com |
Momma was interested to learn today about a line of dolls that looks remarkably like dolls from her childhood.
Faithful Readers might recall Momma and I welcomed both Velvet and Chrissy into our Vinyl American family back in November 2012.
So today, when we learned about Fashion Friends, we went to take a look and were immediately struck by the facial similarities.
They seem to be the same size as Momma's Velvet (16 inches) and wear groovy '60s and '70s fashions, but do not have the same adjustable hair as the vintage dolls.
What do you think?
