Monica doll made by Mrs. Hansi Share of Monica Doll Studio of Hollywood, CA

MONICA

known for being the ONLY composition doll made with ROOTED human hair. 

I ordered this girl on Etsy.  When I saw her she had both legs and all her fingers and her bottom part was not so broken. Well something happened from there to here. She arrived missing the bottom on one leg and some fingers and her bottom area missing a big piece.  

I contacted the seller and she so nicely gave me a complete refund. This girl is too rare to toss and consign to a box somewhere as a curiosity. So I started to work on her. She had tape holding the body together. Missing three fingers on one hand and a tip on the other, part of the right leg hole and nearly all of the left. The left leg from lower thigh all the way to her foot. GONE.  My first step was to find out who she was. The company was in business 1941-1952 and the model with a 5 piece composition body was made from 1941-1948, in sizes 11" -24". This particular lovely doll is 17" tall. The human hair was rooted into a damp cement type of substance used to mold the heads. The body was standard composition. Strung together making her jointed at hips, shoulders and head. Her hair was too much like straw... dead human hair. She had lain with a weight on her for a time in dampness. When I started chipping away at her paint I found black mold beneath...dead black mold but still there. 

 the weight upon her when damp had caused the body to warp and the half leg to split at the seams. I glued the seams and bound the part tightly to dry overnight.  As long as she never gets microwaved she will be okay. I used two straws taped together and then covered with aluminum foil. Used an air dried clay to rebuild the leg. It is not perfect as I am not a sculptor. But I gave it the old school try. I rebuilt the lower parts too that had the leg openings...now THAT was fun.

 

Much sanding , carving, rebuilding later, she got painted, sealed and waxed.

 

 Once all those fun things were done, she was strung together. I need a bigger stiffer cord then what I used. But it was all I had. She she does not stand really tight right now. I had the curly red wig in my stash and to me it is perfect for her.

 had to mak her modest you know. The fabric is an all cotton 1930s reproduction print and the style was in my head. I have watched enough old moves to know they wore them very modest and tailored.  It is a style I really like.