Welcome to my website!  It is meant to be fun and informative and I hope you will come back time and time again. 

     By way of introduction, my name is Joe Kowalski; I have been a costume designer for theatre, film, TV.  I have degrees in costume design and construction from the University of Southern California, the University of Nevada, Los Vegas and the New York State University at Geneseo. 

     I have been privileged to work with such stars as Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Dolly Parton, Brooke Shields and Forest Whitaker and many more.  I have also taught at major Universities across the country teaching costume design, costume construction, pattern drafting and makeup. 

     In 2003, I was forced into retirement by a bad back.  In 2006, I found my first Tonner doll; it was from the Harry Potter series and I fell in love with his craftsmanship.  This led me to collect other dolls made by Mr. Tonner such as Tyler, Brenda, Matt and Basil then on to Ashton Drake’s Gene, Trent, and Madra and then Madame Alexander’s Alex series.

     I love these dolls but was a bit disappointed by the limited costumes available for them.  I began working on dressing some of them in costumes and outfits that I had designed for major theatrical productions.  I found the scale of these dolls; Tyler and Gene with their perfect “10” body and Matt and Trent with their great masculine form; are easy to pattern for.

     Having worked in theatres across the country designing and making costumes with hats, shoes, and all types of accessories for actors of the humankind (plus some actors of the animal kind) I have now created my own reparatory theatre of dolls that I can costume any way I like. I have created doll patterns that can be used to create these characters. Examples of my work include: Tyler as Camille, Matt as The Student Prince, Gene, Trent, Jac, and Emme as The Chorus In The Merry Widow, Sean as “The Pirate King” in The Pirates of Penzance, Matt as “Captain Hook” in Peter Pan.        

     This hobby of mine has become a major production and I seem to be working on it all the time.  I hope to share in this website some of my expertise in doll clothing construction, hat making and other tricks of the trade. I am constantly experimenting with new materials and I will pass on my findings to you.   I will also include a section on supplies and suppliers for all things miniature.  I hope to include some fun costume history facts and some movie and literature trivia like: Did You Know...? That in the original book of The Wizard Of Oz the Ruby Slippers were actually Silver Slippers.  The reason for changing them to Ruby in the movie was that the director wanted to take full advantage of filming in the new Technicolor of the 1930s. 

     I hope you enjoy this website and find it useful.  If you enjoy working with these fashion dolls as much as I do this could be a fun and ever expanding place to check into from time to time.

Why the name "Sister Mary Joseph’s Doll Bazaar"? 

    This is quite a story.  When I was a kid going to a Catholic school, the nuns always had a Bazaar at the convent next to my school.  My favorite booth at the Bazaar was always the doll booth run by Sister Mary Joseph.  Well, forty years later, I was recovering from a back surgery and ended up living at a handicap accessible apartment built on the site of the old convent. 

    I always felt secure at that apartment but at times late at night I could hear the distinct “click” of nun’s shoes and the jangle of beads the nuns always wore.  I always felt this was Sister Mary Joseph watching over me while I was recovering.  When I started doing my patterns I named them and my EBay store for that dear old nun.  I have now moved but I can still hear her, I think she came with me “I think she likes the cats”.  I still have not made a doll in her honor but it is on my “to do” list. 

Good News

I have found a new source for swords, guns and other miniature items that are in scale for our 15-17” dolls. I have been working with the Circle X Ranch. They make reproductions (from original molds) of the Johnny West Series 12” Action figure from the 1960’s. These figures have accessories that are a bit bigger in scale than most other 12” figures which make them more adaptable to our purposes Check them out at www.circlexranch.com