SWF, Mid-30s, Collecting Barbies, Breaking China

There’s something exhilarating about buying Barbie dolls at this point in my life. I think I had the ubiquitous Barbie with a butch hair cut and permanent marker colored blue hair, but I scorned pink and pretty during those years. Maybe that’s why I’ve embraced them so now.

Barbie collectors are a little nutty. Porcelain dolls from the late 80s run as high as $799 on eBay. Honestly, I’m a little concerned about the Barbie collector with this kind of money to burn. I envision a Barbie room, lovingly showcasing their coveted dolls. Creepy. And a little pricey for my kind of Barbie Bash. I did however find a rather nice collection of vintage Barbie replica figurines who will be lovingly showcased in pieces on my lamp.

Here are BarbieFight ladies who aspire to be in the Altered Barbie show:



We have Busy Gal Barbie with her fashion art tablet. So cute!














And Sugarplum Barbie, with ballet slippers:

The Original Swimsuite Barbie is dressed in a black and white knit maillot which was the attire of the late 1959 Barbie doll.

Barbie as Nightclub Singer. Solo in the Spotlight Barbie truly receats the glamorous 1960-1964 fashion.

And finally Barbie as Fabulous Forties Lady. Fabulous Forties Barbie is ready for an evening of dancing to the sounds of the Big Bands.





Add to this two identical Barbie's "Here Comes the Bride" 1966 Porcelain Plates and I thought I was ready to shop for a lamp base. My hunt for a lamp led me to Bed, Bath & Beyond, Marshalls, and finally Target (after a little online shopping of course). Target had a lamp that was just the right shape and, lucky for me, a little damaged so I scored a discount at checkout. I also picked up a frilly pink lampshade and some chicken wire. Since the lamp base was faux wicker I thought I'd need something to get the tile adhesive to stick to it so I picked up some chicken wire and coarse sandpaper to rough it up.



The chicken wire turned out to be a bigger nightmare than I could have imagined. I didn't need it and probably should have tested the adhesive on the plastic before spending 2 hours wrapping my lamp base in the wire and drilling holes in the base to tuck in the wire's edges. But then I did get to use my drill and any time spent with power tools is fun. So it all worked out fine.




After applying the pieces you see above I decided I didn't want to work with the wire. And so the fun began.

I picked off the bits of china, getting tile adhesive all over myself, pulled off the wire, more adhesive all over the place, and tossed the wire. Ick. I washed the china pieces in Mrs. Meyers because they should smell as pretty as they look, and then baked them in the oven to dry them completely. The learning process is always such an adventure.

While the china was drying, I worked on breaking up a large serving platter and suffered my first real mosaic injury: a short but rather deep cut from a flying shard of plate -- bad plate! I'm sure you'll be pleased to know I’m healing nicely. The plate didn't do as well healing wise and you'll find bits of it around the lamp base in my next installment.

I am presently challenged by how I will affix these vintage Barbie figurines to the lamp base. Suggestions are welcome.

To see last year's pieces or details on the show, go to www.alteredbarbie.com

Oh Barbie...