Ethidolls Makeda, Queen of Sheba
lizziewriter home | lizziewriter events | events 2 new | Nekkid Doll Comparison Stuff | Dolls for Sale | Kish Scheherezade | Ethidolls Makeda, Queen of Sheba | Previews and Mysteries | jewelry 1 | fashion dolls and action figures | CED Stories | CED Stories 2 | CED Stories 3 | Cissy, BJD, &c. | jewelry 2 | jewelry 3 | gems and critters | family fun | flora and fauna | Strictly Lit 
Here is Makeda, meant to be a portrayal of the Queen of Sheba by
Ethidolls. I love the backstory. In the Old Testament, the
great Queen of Sheba went to visit King Solomon. When she
returned to her own country, she had a son. From that ancient
tradition comes the lineage of Haile Selassie, and the Rastafarian
religion. It is very a very colorful and romantic story, and can
be approached through many avenues. The doll comes with a cute
picture booklet and a CD which I believe is an audio version of the
story. You can see the story and at least some of the
illustrations on the Ethidolls website here:
http://www.ethidolls.com/heritage.html .
The doll herself is by Madame Alexander, possibly the Sofia Cruz doll.
She has a nice figure with good articulation, and has been
customized such that her neck has permanent lines which do not seem to
be discussed in the accompanying booklet. Her hair is a little
past shoulder length, and has been prettily braided in front, but seems
a bit modern/boring in the back because it is so short. I would
like her a lot better if she had long, thick hair, past her backside,
either coarse and curly or straight (after all, Ethiopia is so diverse,
I don't know what is more authentic).
The fabric of her costume is very fine, and the colorful borders are
appropriate and pretty. I take issue with the gown style however;
the gathered waist seems very modern/European, and the attached layers
of crinoline are ridiculous! Her sandals are pretty, but they are
very tight on her feet; as you can see they bend when put all the way
on, and then when one goes to put her on the stand, they slide right
off again.
The stand is another issue. It is a clear acrylic stand in four
pieces, with an instruction sheet. Supposedly, if assembled a
certain way, it will fit flat shoes. Unfortunately, her feet do
not touch the base even so, and she is very "tippy."
I have heard that if I ignore the directions, and leave one part
of the stand off entirely, that she will be able to stand OK, but I
haven't tried that yet. I like the
toe joints, but the ankle joints look a bit klunky. I do like the
idea of her being able to move her ankles and feet much the way a
person does, to fit different kinds of shoes and poses, though.
Here she is "nekkid" to show her pretty construction, and then holding
her gown to show the attached layers of crinoline. It adds insult
to injury that that affair is all attached! The gown would have
been much lovelier and more appropriate in the same fabric and trim, in
a different (straight) style, with maybe a plain linen shift
underneath. Or if they absolutely had to have the silly
anachronistic underthings, at least have them as removable layers!
This
doll is for sale, also, for $100 plus shipping. One reason that I
want to sell her is that Ethidolls has been completely
unresponsive to emails and any other customer service contacts, which I
find unacceptable. Also, they offer enhanced ship options, but
since it took them several days to process my order at all I basically
paid a lot of extra ship costs for nothing and I find that very
aggravating. So I
get kind of irked every time I look at her.
I do still love the story of Sheba and Solomon, and the colors and textures of her outermost
layer, and might make or have made a proper gown for a Sheba portrayed by Tonner's Esme or CED Colin.
DOLL LINKS:
Ethidolls
Madame Alexander Doll Company
Some Websites about Ethiopian Culture:
Wikipedia's entry: Culture of Ethiopia
Selamta
BBC Profile for Ethiopia
Africaguide entry for Ethiopia
Oxfam's Cool Planet for Kids page on Ethiopia
Imperial Ethiopia
Ethiopia in the Bible at ethiopianhistory.com
Updated 29 August 2007
Return to top
Lizziewriter home