About 2 years ago, a customer who saw my products for American Girl Dolls sent me a message asking me if I would create wigs for My Twinn. My who? I had never heard of the doll line and I had my hands full with making things for American Girl. There was not really the time or energy for it so I politely told the customer I was not able to move forward with that at this time. Some time passed and then I got another message from someone different asking about My Twinn. No, I said, I can't get into another doll right now. More time passed and then another person started asking about My Twinn. What is this doll? I went onto eBay and looked at some listings and nothing I saw really jumped out and said, WOW. so again I shelved it.

But it seems that the My Twinn customers were very persistent because more messages kept coming and so then I finally bought my first My Twinn doll to study what all the hype was. She was a Rosemary non-poseable doll with green eyes and a relatively 80's 80s-looking knit dress and no shoes. Her wig was sad and made of cheap synthetic fiber material and I struggled to see the potential or the hype. I designed a few wigs and suddenly saw how one could be transformed, but I was stuck on this sitting almost baby doll pose that the doll had. I joined a few doll groups and as I sat and watched pictures being shared my eyes lit up. What is that? I had discovered that My Twinn had made poseable standing dolls, and then I was obsessed. I bought my next doll, still sticking with the Rosemary mold but this time as a poseable standing doll and set it next to an American Girl doll. It towered over her but also I saw how much more child-like the doll was and how much more detail was put in the sculpting. The body was so much more large and I instantly thought that sewing would be 100% easier on this body. But also the arms and legs bent into poses which was my absolute favorite.

The floodgate was open and I started to collect more of the face molds. It was tough because it seemed that there were no good pictures of how this doll translates in real life. The angles collectors take on eBay listings are sometimes so strange and the doll is almost always in a poor state, yet $100 is the goal to fetch for one because as I learned My Twinn is out of business and so that contributes to their dying fan base. What's more, is that many of the companies that supported the My Twinn doll have also gone out of business. So I discovered that very little is available for this doll in terms of wigs, clothes, and shoes.

As a member of some of the fan doll groups, I listened to the collectors and this is where the love began to grow, because those who collect these dolls, really love them. And it is an obsession with them to where they are collecting upwards of 100 of these dolls in their homes. They want all the face molds, they want all the skin colors, and the artists are creating beautiful custom dolls though on a very very small scale. But it is fading, because supplies are running thin and collectors are fighting for what's left. As well, it floods the eBay marketplace with truly sad-looking dolls that have no means of upgrading, fixing, or being re-loved. Many collectors are rescuing these dolls to give them homes, and some are just sitting. In talking with several other doll collectors who do not purchase My Twinn dolls, the remark was always the same. I've seen those dolls on eBay and none of them look appealing to me. Ah, so this issue is now making the world not want to collect these sad dolls and the collecting groups are getting smaller and smaller.

Over the next few weeks, I collected 13 of these dolls in different molds and skin tones, and the more I worked with them, the more I enjoyed them. No, they aren't like American Girl, they are different and can be enjoyed for their differences. Each time a new one came in, I felt joy as I opened the box and looked at a new mold or a new skin color and my head started spinning with "what these dolls need". As a collector myself, sometimes I start with what I'd like for the doll I am working with. Then I look at what vendors are currently supplying - because if it's not broken, there's no need to fix it. This doll needs a nice selection of eyes, clothes, shoes, and wigs. It also needs artists that will repair them both on the west and East Coast for those who don't diy themselves. And then we need to get some truly beautiful custom dolls out there to make this doll line shine. I took apart a doll, I got familiar with eye swaps on them, do's and don'ts, cleaning, and now I'm up to speed.

My grandmother was a "doll saver" and I think that a part of that is in me as well. Because down in my heart, I truly love dolls, I love to see them at their best. So it was an easy decision for me to go forward and become a supplier for these dolls and spread the love. So I will now be a west coast supplier serving the My Twinn doll collectors as of Spring 2024.