Froggy Duds is a family business.  The Etsy store combines the work of sisters Vicki and Brenda, and Vicki’s daughter Leah. Vicki, who is a seamstress, re-awakened her love for dolls when she was searching for a gift for a grandchild.  She became interested in various types of dolls and began to sew for them.  Soon she began to receive requests from friends and acquaintances for custom doll clothing. At the urging of a friend. Vicki eventually bought her first BJD, an Orientdoll Jeong Cheong and soon began to create BJD clothing.

After Vicki began to collect BJDs, Leah became interested in the dolls as well. She planned to buy only one. Her first doll was an Orientdoll So Ye. Several dolls later, Leah was looking for ways to create something for dolls as well. With her training in graphic design and printing, she started making miniature books.  Soon Leah wanted to do even more, and she began crocheting clothing and learning to create custom face ups.

Brenda was eventually brought into the hobby, even though she “held out a bit longer (thinking both Vicki and Leah were a bit crazy), before really ‘wanting’ to be involved.” Brenda, who is a talented knitter, was asked by Vicki to make knitted items for her. Brenda deveoped a knack for making small items and eventually became more involved in creating doll fashions and in collecting as well. (her first doll was a vinyl BJD, Goodreau Whisper).

FroggyDuds was Leah’s idea. She “was traveling with her family late one night when (it) occurred to her that the three could have a lot of fun pooling their talents into one place…over the next few days, FroggyDuds was born.”  The group decided that  Etsy was the perfect venue to display their work, and they have been working together ever since.  The fact that each of them lives in a different state has never been a problem.  All items ordered at Froggy Duds are shipped for free, and the person who made each item ordered ships it out.

Everyone at FroggyDuds has worked on commissions. Vicki has made everything from a pair of jeans to complete outfits. Brenda has done several commissions for tops and other knitted items. Leah has done faceup commissions and crocheted items. Kim Lasher of Kimberly Lasher Originals has commissioned work on many occasions. For the Lasher dolls, Brenda has made sweater and hat sets, Leah has done a face-ups and made dresses and hats, and Vicki has created complete dress outfits, jeans, hoodies, and onesie outfits for her ooak babies. For anyone interested in requesting face-ups, Leah can be contacted through the Etsy store, but she also can be reached through her Flickr site leahlilly’s photostream, where examples of her work can be seen.

FroggyDuds has a special charity section in the store. According to the group, “Brenda wanted to increase her own personal charitable giving. She thought about just donating a portion of her earnings on her own and unknown. But she noticed another seller on Etsy that listed donations that had been made to various charities with proceeds of sales from the store. She started thinking that people like to know they are contributing in some way…and so the Charity section was born.”

The group likes the Etsy environment. “It’s a friendly community, and things seem to move fairly well there. They have reasonable fees as well.” FroggyDuds customers are welcome to post their dolls wearing their new items on the flickr site Show Me Your FroggyDuds. The Froggduds women agree that, ”The feeling of sisterhood and family unity have made each project even more rewarding. Each project has its own way of coming to life whether it be a moment of personal inspiration or a vision passed from a customer for a commissioned item.”

Photo above: Fairyland Puki Cupid, Faceup – Leah Lilly, Dress – Leah Lilly

Unoa Quluts Sist, Faceup - Ange, Froggy outfit - Vicki Berens

Ainsley by Kimberly Lasher, Faceup - Leah Lilly, frog crop top and jeans - Vicki Berens

Bobobie light tan Mei, Faceup - Leah Lilly, Crocheted Top - Leah Lilly, Jeans - Vicki Berens

Unoa Sist, Faceup - Leah Lilly, Vintage Dress - Leah Lilly and Vicki Berens

Light tan Bobobie Isabella, Faceup - Leah Lilly, Outfit - Vicki Berens and Brenda Rankin

When we wrote our original article on Connie Lowe of Marbled Halls, we planned to create a video to accompany the story. Due to scheduling problems, the idea was temporarily abandoned. Instead we decided to visit her this summer and make a video that would include some of Connie’s newest work which she was designing for the United Federation of Doll Clubs Convention. The latest costumes were just unveiled at the Convention last week and were extremely well received.

From Connie:

“My new collection is called “La Vie Est Une Mascarade” (Life is a Masquerade). It features a whimsical mix of Elizabethan, theatre, and vintage-inspired costumes. I previewed the line with a few samples at the United Federation of Doll Collectors convention in Atlanta this past week, offering the costumes with dolls as a full-set. Much to my surpirise…I sold most of what I took. Even better, they were sold to antique doll collectors…not BJD collectors for the most part. The mix of antique styes with the BJDs was very well received in this venue. I am now working on several more costumes for this line and will be offering them sometime in August. They will be offered first on my website, and then on my forums Debbies Doll Town, Zone of Zen, Himstedt Doll Forum, and Den of Angels. I will be selling full-sets (including the doll) as well as stand-alone costumes. My response at the show has encouraged me to finish my OOAK paperclay dolls as well as sculpt a doll for resin production in the near future.”

“Also in the works are several new lines that I will be producing with a well-known doll clothing company. I hope to have these ready for ordering by IDEX this year. The new lines will consist of some works similar to my OOAK dolls with an antique flair, one of which will be called “By the Sea”, but I will also be producing a funky and fun new line for slim MSDs and YoSDs!!!”

Marbled Halls Website

Marbled Halls Photo Album of New Fashions

Article on Marbled Halls

BJD Fashions by Marbled Halls Video at our Youtube Channel

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D1Pb3zMqYU

Dolls in Video ~ in Order of Appearance
Bandi Dollstown SD Wearing “Butterflies are not Free” from Elizabethan Eclectic Hysterically Incorrect” series
Elysia Dollstown Sd wearing “Let them eat cake’ from Elizabethan Eclectic Hysterically Incorrect” series
Seola Dollstown MSD 7yr wearing an OOAK version of one of the to be produced “By the Sea” costumes
Pip by Kaye Wiggs on Dollstown 7 yr body wearing an OOAK version of one of the to-be-produced “By the Sea” costumes
Pip Elf by Kaye Wiggs on Dollstown 7 yr body wearing an OOAK version of one of the to-be-produced “By-the-Sea” costumes
Momo 5 yr Dollstown and then Ganga 5 yr Dollstown wearing costumes from the new series “La vie Est Une Mascarade”
Ainsley Elf by Kim Lasher (costume designed by Marbled Halls)
various French antique bisque dolls
Ganga 5yr Dollstown (again) wearing a costume from the new series “La vie Est Une Mascarade”
Lucille Dollstown Sd wearing a costume from the new series “La vie Est Une Mascarade”
Yeondu Dollstown Sd wearing a costume called “Reflection”
Anya by Kim Lasher dressed in vintage clothing
Sia Dollstown Msd wearing a costume from the new series “La vie Est Une Mascarade”

Kimberly Lasher is in constant creative mode. As long as she can remember, she was always drawing, painting, knitting, sewing, sculpting, and designing. Kim’s formal art training was as a graphic designer and illustrator. Her interests changed, however,  when she saw her first original artist doll made of polymer clay. Soon she began to make her own one-of-a-kind creations. An artist representative discovered Kim’s work and introduced her dolls at a New York toy fair in 1990. At the show her dolls quickly sold out.

Over the years, Kim Lasher’s reputation grew and her work was published in numerous doll magazines. Her dolls have been shown in galleries and stores, and purchased by celebrities. In the late ’90’s Kim took a break from doll making to work in advertising and web design. Then, after having her first child, she wanted to sculpt again. Working on dolls turned out to be  compatible with raising her family, and Kim has been creating new dolls ever since.

In 2008 Kim was introduced to BJDs. “I was fascinated to see all the detail in the jointing and the pose-ability was amazing. It was something I always missed doing with my one-of-a-kind dolls. When I was done sculpting them I always wanted to play with their pose, to hold a doll, or seat them on a chair. So I purchased my first BJD for that very same reason… to “play” with her. I was thrilled to have a doll that I could dress, buy different outfits, shoes, hats for.” Inevitably, Kim wanted to make her own BJDs.

Kim has primarily designed girl dolls in the 30 cm and 40 cm. size.  The smaller dolls were originally designed to fit on Custom House bodies, but recently Kim produced her own 30 cm doll body. Her latest doll, Olive, is the first release with the new body.  Kim still makes OOAK dolls as well.  Some  are sold through the Hellman Gallery which shows unique dolls by artists internationally.   While Kim’s BJDs are not OOAK, they are all limited editions. She states “ I sculpt and design my BJDs exactly the same as I would do an OOAK. I think of my BJDs more as art dolls that you can play with!”  Her dolls are cast in different facilities. “Some of my dolls are cast in Hong Kong and some heads are done here in the states. It depends on the edition size; the smaller editions I usually do here in the U.S.”

In addition, Kim produces some special versions of her BJDs. “I do some exclusive versions of dolls for The Toy Shoppe. We have a great working relationship and come up with ideas and then pick to see which ones excite me the most. We currently have plans for a few new ones just for them.”   All of Kim’s dolls are finished dolls with costumes and face-up. “(My dolls) are sold dressed with eyes and wigs, etc…  I want people to be able to buy a complete doll without the problems of then trying to find outfits and wigs, which is especially hard for people who are new to the BJD world. The costumes are made by different people, Vicki Berens of froggyduds.com does quite a bit for me, and Darla of Darla’s Delights Doll Clothes Designs did my YoSD Alice outfits. I do some sewing too. I did Olive’s costume, but I would rather spend my time sculpting or coming up with new ideas.”  Kim has also worked with Connie Lowe of Marbled Halls. “I met Connie on Zone of Zen. I first saw her beautiful creations there and immediately fell in love. Her funky vintage style is exactly what I pictured for my dolls, so I asked her if we could do a trade for IDEX; I could give her one of my BJDs (Lindsey) to dress and show at her booth, and she would design a costume for Ainsley so I could have her at my booth! It was so much fun, I love working with Connie and hope to do more things with her in the future.”

Currently, Kim plans to release new dolls at IDEX next winter. “I will have three new MSD girls to present at IDEX in 2010, and two smaller 30 cm Yo-Sd size girls, as well as a few surprises! When asked about any other plans she added  ”I’d love to do a very large BJD someday and I did do a tiny last year for my Christmas doll (20 cm Chelsea~Noel) that I donated part of the proceeds to a local charity. I hope to do another Christmas doll this year. I’d consider doing different (resin) colors, probably white, we’ll see how the rest of the year goes!” Beyond that ?  ”Future plans…. that’s so hard! I have a million ideas floating around in my head!”

Above (from top) Chelsea-Noel 20 cm Christmas doll and Special Edition Lindsey.

Kimberly Lasher BJDs Website
Kimberly Lasher Gallery Album

MSD Anya in Frog Outfit

OOAK Kaitlin & Kitty

Olive 30 cm Doll

Special edition Caroline as Alice

MSD Ainsley in Marbled Halls Outfit