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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Composition Doll Restorations - for a change! Happy New Year 2016!

I have spoken about these dolls before, but want to recount my journey with them, as they seem to keep popping up!  People bring me their broken old dolls, because they know I am a dollmaker.  They don;t care that I only make cloth dolls.  So the challenge to me is to make something of their treasures and try to bring them back to life.
This was the first one I made - from just a head!  I used Kezi Mathews toddler doll pattern to make the body, and she sits in her owners home now with pride of place - her childhood doll!

This one I got off an auction site. Her owner hoped I would make something of her as it was her childhood doll.  The dolls mouth was smashed in, so I had to make a new mouth and replace the teeth. This one and the next one were made in New Zealand.  The bodies are cloth and the arms and legs seem too small for the rest of it.  I copied the wrecked body shape of this one and put it back together, but hated the startled look and inflexibility of the body, so I undid it all and made a body of wool, but while it is softer, the body shape was not good, so at present she is waiting for a better body before she is presented again!  It's all about the process!

This wee one has had boots made and a straw hat was remodeled for it!

This is one of those mass produced porcelain dolls that I hated, but hate to waste anything too, so I gave her a complete makeover and kind of modernised it!

This is the result!

This is Barbara - a 1940's hard plastic 16 inch walker that I re dressed and touched up for a friend.  She's a sweetie!

This poor 25 inch porcelaine doll was given to me broken and reglued all over her face!
I cleaned the face and restored the neck with Kneedit clay, which worked really well!

I repainted all the body parts, except for the original stamp on the back!  Mended all the broken bits and even made new fingers!  She has been restrung and is awaiting her new clothes.  Will update soon!

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