THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601230106
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
JEANNETTE JOHNSON'S dolls are like her children. She invests time and money in them. She clothes them. And sometimes she even creates them.
She figures she has about 1,000 of them. They fill the couches and chairs in the lower rooms of her rural Isle of Wight home.
Some are antiques valued at thousands of dollars. Others are collectibles, but worth little money.
``Each doll has its own personality,'' Johnson insists. ``It's just like people. There are some blah people in the world, and there are blah dolls.''
Her collection began years ago, when she was unpacking her daughter's old dolls for a grandchild that was supposed to be a girl.
``It turned out to be a little boy,'' she says with a laugh, ``and by that time, I wouldn't give those dolls up. I just kept them.''
Then Johnson became interested in making her own dolls and collecting others. As a result, she recently opened Jeannette's Dolls and sells from her home.
Johnson's favorite part of her collection is the Himstedt Doll. In their 10th year, the dolls are made by a German woman and produced in Spain. They're known for their smooth skin and calm expressions, Johnson says.
``Nobody has been able to make a doll that compares to hers. The faces are all different. No doll has the same face. They're all works of art.''
The uniqueness of dolls like the Himstedts aside, Johnson laments the state of modern doll-making.
``Dolls have changed over the years. They're not the playthings they used to be. Everybody wants a doll that does something or makes something.
``But you know, the magic is lost with that,'' she says, moving around one of her rooms stuffed with dolls, their eyes trained on her. Bending down to pick one up, Johnson bumps into a sleeping baby.
``Oh, I'm so sorry,'' she says, patting the doll.
Then she returns to the interview.
``Some of this is supposed to be in your mind. Dolls let you fantasize. You talk to them, and you fantasize about how they feel or how they should feel.
``After I make one, I don't want to sell it. It's like a baby - you see them from the beginning to the end.
``They're your creation.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page 6 of The Citizen for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Doll parts cover a table in Jeannette Johnson's home where she
collects, makes and sells the toys.
This lifelike little boy doll is wearing clothes that used to belong
to Jeannette Johnson's son.
by CNB