Sunday, July 28, 2013

Unknown Arranbee Doll

Hopefully she will have a name before I am through with her.
 Too tall for a Mary Hoyer. Same type of body. Love those eyes. She will be beautiful.
Her elastic inside was shot. No stretch left.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Herman Steiner Doll made in Germany

I have already repaired one doll for the owner of this little girl.  My she is different. A bisque head on a paper Mache body. The arms and legs are rough and the body unfinished. Made very cheaply in her day. When new she might have sold for less then a dime.  But then my grand dad worked in a an orchard during the depression for 3 cents a day to feed his family. 




Needs cleaning, painting, repairing , wig and eyes and clothes. 
She measures about 12" or less

Viola!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Possible Madame Hendren Doll

Judging by her face and other factors, she appears to be a Madame Hendren Doll from the early 1930s. If there was a marking it would have been on the cloth body and has long since faded. I found this identical face and form on pictures of known MH. 
She is not in as bad a shape as some I have worked on. I like that she is proportioned well.
 Face cleaned, paint retouched and sealed. Wish i could get the yellow from the eyes. They might be tin eyes and someone suggested that they were baked on so they would not be as suseptible to cleaners as others I have encountered.


 Her clothes are all the same, just cleaned. What I thought was a mauve was dirt. It is a very pale lavender. the slip/onsie has restored elastic in the legs, I found old socks and some old hand made
shoes that were given to me.  Rather then spend hours I don't have on the old wig (will keep that for another time) I replaced it and styled the new one.  She is a adorable now.

 

Monday, June 24, 2013

Another Mary Hoyer

Found this little beauty on eBay for very little.  She is an unmarked Mary Hoyer. After I got her I checked her against the pictures I have and information and some Mary Hoyers were unmarked and did not have the characteristic eye shadow. This is one of them. She came with a wig replacement that has to go and an original dress that I will try to restore for her.
 Her eyes were yellow and sticking
 Washed and repaired her dress
 Gave her a new wig, touched up the face paint and filled in the crazing on the body and repainted
For lack of a better example, I do believe still she is a Mary Hoyer.  Here she is next to my MARKED Mary Hoyer. I think possibly she is one of the earlier ones as not all were marked.


Friday, May 24, 2013

Composition Character Doll - Snow White

When I saw her on eBay listed as a Patsy I knew it wasn't correct but I wanted her anyway. Something about her. After I got her here I did a search and I am pretty sure she is Snow White made about 1939.  Will be fun to get her back to that. 


cleaned some dirt off...
One side looks like it has been laid in something and the compo on that side suffered the worse damage.
The fingers are missing on one hand.



 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Sally by Delite Dolls

This is a Patsy wannabe. Using the same basic head as Patsy by Effanbee and the head on the Nancy by Arranbee.

The clothes are not original. Someone sewed them on her, even the "boots"  Leg was not attached.




She needed some work on various spots all over the body. I tried to remove as little as possible of the original compo and just blend in the colors of the repairs


Now compare her to Nancy by Arranbee
They are very much alike in ways.
 




 

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Unmarked Shirley Temple

Right now I am not even sure what size she is. I have her in pieces. The auction said 19". As you can see she has a bit of repair ahead.






I always wanted a Shirley Temple. I don't like to get dolls that are ready to display. I like to handle them and try to bring former beauty back to them.




One day I hope to afford a real Shirley Temple wig. This is the best I can do from right now.

You can't see them but she has a pink onsie and slip beneath the dress.
the shoes are handmade of felt with foam bottoms to them.
 She could not stand on her own when I got her. I like it when they don't need stands.