Mel Birnkrant's
All Original Written and Photographic content is Copyright MEL BIRNKRANT

“Bashful Baby” was all about embarrassment. Years later, I am embarrassed to admit that I ever thought this dumb idea up. The premise that a baby is embarrassed, and feels compelled to blush, when she wets her diaper is ridiculous! Having two daughters of my own, I should have known better. The concept is clearly a projection of how I would feel if I wet my diaper, now. I suppose that I’d be blushing too, especially, if someone had to help me change it. If I live long enough, no doubt, I will find out if that theory is true. Of course, that depends... on how cognizant I am by then.
Meanwhile, I’m blushing now, just posting this drawing on the internet. Common sense suggests that it would be better off remaining hidden. But dammit! I really like the styling of the baby. Each time I came up with a new idea, as an excuse to sculpt a doll, I tried to contrive a brand new look, so it wouldn’t be so glaringly apparent that I did it. This, in retrospect, was a mistake. I realize now that my efforts at creating dolls, might have been more successful if I adopted a recognizable style, stuck with it, and repeated it, again and again. This sort of happened anyway, as later on, the look of one doll, often inspired a manufacturer to want another, based on it. Thus, "Tiny Tots," led from “Best Friends" to "Color Me Cuties," and finally, "Friendz n’ Family," which turned into the "Play Along Club Dolls," in the end.
This diagram explains what Bashful Baby does, and how she does it. She’s basically a drink and wet doll who blushes when you change her diaper. There are two LEDs in her cheeks, that operate on a timer, so they glow and dim automatically, when triggered by a light sensor in her tummy.
The final touch that pushed this idea over the edge, was one that I had used previously in another of the most disgusting items I ever thought up, “PT Puppies,” in which a hidden layer, colored yellow, made the white covering, when wet, look like wee-wee!