Gypsy #2, 3 and 4: "A Band of Gypsies"

Click on any of the dolls in the picture below
for a detailed description of that doll
or
scroll down to read their story!

Hey! How you doin'? You don’t know me – personally that is – but maybe you know me by my rep.

My name – the one my mother and my daddy hung on me is Maurice Kaslofski – but I’m known on the street and in the business as “ Murray the K”. Or sometimes just the “Big K.” Look, the thing is, I’m in the entertainment business, as an agent. And I don’t mean no small time song-and-dance part of the business. I handle only the big ones. I’ve handled *Goulet, *Minelli, the *Osmonds, and better than half of the *Jackson family.

Anyway, the point is, I’ve found this great group of singers, dancers and what-nots. It sez here in my notes that they are a Gypsy band, they play only Gypsy music, and perform only in Gypsy Camps.

Hey, if you’re anything like me you’re saying “Huh?” So I had my personal assistant, Maxine, look it up and she found this ---

General: research has proven that the gypsy 'race' originated in India.
As the nomads from the Indian subcontinent migrated across Europe,
they both assimilated and influenced the cultures they passed through.
They are known to have exerted a heavy influence on the development
of the flamenco music and dance in Spain, among other things.

Hey, who knew, Huh? But I figure that’s gottta be a limited audience, you know, so, while I don’t represent them yet, as soon as I explain that I can open up new venuoous (that means places) they’ll sign right on the old dotted line, you know? There ain’t a Motel six, Ramada, or Red Roof Inn all the way from Maine to Rhode Island that I don’t know the Entertainment and Lounge director by name. They all take my calls, you know?

So, here’s what I can offer you guys looking to book this fine act in .... Wait a minute, I just got a note here from my other personal assistant, Roxie, that says “Murray, better stop pushing this act because they’re under the – and get this - the “EXCLUSIVE” artistic control of someone called “Barbara the H.”

Okay, is that the way it’s gonna be? Okay, “Barbara the H”, come into my territory at your own risk. But keep looking over your shoulder because “Murray the K” doesn’t forget.

*All right, already!
My lawyers tell me I gotta specify this in order to keep outta court.
Don’t get your legal shorts in an uproar and start calling the shysters.
For clarification, it was Tommy Goulet, Lester Minelli, Trixie and Tootsie
Osmond, and three Jacksons named Willie.

Well, now that that bit of unpleasantness is out of the way, this is Barbara, the one with complete, exclusive artistic control of every doll on this web site. Yes, I have a Gypsy band, and yes I am looking to break up this band and place them in new homes because I feel it’s better to spread the music around, rather than concentrate it in one spot (my home). But, you know me and the girls, we’re not just about music, we’re also about costuming and make-up, so I’m going to let each of the girls describe themselves and their outfits. (See my note at the bottom of the page regarding the origin of their outfits.) We will start with Zoya, then Neoma, and finally Tira, and then I’ve got to go and lock up. I don’t know what it is but I’ve had the strangest feeling that someone has been following me.

Please click on one of the pictures below for a detailed description of the doll!

My name is Zoya, which means "Life", and I play the violin.

I was one of the dolls featured in the BBM article! In a different dress, though. Barb got rid of the long red underdress and replaced it with a shorter white one with a silver net ruffle. She also removed the silver belt as it didn't hang properly and was 'too much' (don't you agree?).

My face, a Kira, is the first one Barb ever repainted after the "scary face" that gave her the confidence to enter the field of makeovers. My makup is simple, to match my sweet disposition! My hair was also Barb's very first boil perm.

Although I'm a very traditional gypsy and not really Barb's "style", I'll bet it will be hard for her to sell me because of her attachment to my head - I'm her first child!

If you'd like to know more about me, click on either of my pictures!

My name is Neoma, which means "New Moon", and I play finger cymbals. I was also featured in the BBM article but with a different head and hands!

While I liked my old head in itself (well I would, wouldn't I?!), it didn't look right with this outfit so I asked Barb to change it. In the process, she got boiling water on my vest (way to go, Barb) and ruined it! So, she made me another, identical, vest, laced it up with a more colorful cord, and gave me a new head with a totally different personality!

This head, again a Kira, is also one of Barb's early repaints and again, although simple, it's piercing stare suits the 'icyness' of my costume.

Barb changed the position of my hands to bend inwards rather than outwards because that is the proper way to play finger cymbals.

If you'd like to know more about me, click on either of my pictures!

My name is Tira, which means "Arrow" (as in "sharp"), and I play bells.

I was NOT featured in the BBM article and that Neoma will never let me forget it, will she! I just wasn't ready to be photographed - at the time, I too had a different head AND a different skirt. But, Barb didn't like either one so out they went!

My new head is a Fashion Royalty Adele Via Venetto whose facial screening Barb didn't touch because, she says, it's perfect for the look she was trying to create - haughty! (That's me, perfect!)

My outfit, unlike the others, has two removable pieces: the overskirt and a fringed belt. I couldn't decide which 'look' I liked the best so Barb constructed my overskirt to be optional. The belt looks wonderful with the underskirt but it's too fussy for the overskirt.

If you'd like to know more about me, click on any of my pictures!

P.S. It's Barb here again. If you haven't read the Barbie Bazaar article and would like to, press here . If you have read the article, you may think you've seen two of these girls already. But, look closer, any you'll see they aren't the same ...

The pictures in the magazine are the way the dolls looked when I had to send SOMETHING to the magazine to meet their publication deadline! I wasn't happy with the way they looked so, since then, I've changed them into the dolls you see here.

These dolls are the first in a series I'm calling "A Band of Gypsies" where each doll will be playing a musical instrument. I started out intending to make only the first doll in the series but I had too many ideas to incorporate into one outfit so, as I discovered variations I liked, I started a new doll and eventually ended up with three! All of them were designed to reflect their heritage (see Murray's comment at the top) - the jewelry is based on that worn by the nomads that originated in the Indian sub-continent, and the clothes have elements of both Indian and Spanish style. The violin and finger cymbals are more Spanish while the bells are more Indian.

Even though they use some of the same patterns and materials, they are very different from each other and, hopefully, will appeal to different people because of that.