doll repair

From about 1990 to 1997, I did doll repair while living and working in San Diego.  I studied under a master - Georgia Millan.  When I moved back to Colorado, I sold almost all the dolls I had.  But I did keep all my tools!  About 3 months ago, a dear friend gave me 3 of her dolls to repair.  I just had a blast working on these little cuties!

This is a Patsy doll from the 40s.  She is made of composition and here hair was cracked and coming off in huge chunks.  I filled it up, sculpted "new" waves, then used my copic airbrush to add color back.  You can hardly tell that her hair was repaired!  Gotta love the creative genius and multitude of colors that copic has....that allows me to create a variegated color in the hair from pale to deep reds and browns!  Worth around $200 even in her restored condition.  I'd guess she's dated from 1925 - 1930.  For her age, she's in very good shape.  She has sleep eyes.

I completely fell in love with this little cutie.  When I first got her, her dress was on another doll and quite stained. Her wig was nearly hopeless and she had no left cheek.  Once again, I was able to identically match the cheek color using Copic markers.  Her wig came off and was washed and reset.  I just think she has the sweetest little face ever!  I've also used Creative Impressions silk ribbon in her hair (helped keep some of the curls in place!)

She is c1928,  E.I.H. Co. Inc Rosebud doll - books around $250!

This little porcelain bye-lo baby had a chip in the porcelain under her left eye.  Again....copic to the rescue!  Silk ribbons in her hair and I literally took a baby sized christening gown and tied it to this doll's body.  You know - a temporary fix until I have time to resize the dress.  But for now, she has turned into a complete cutie!  She's a tiny 1920's doll with blue sleep eyes, so her value is $200 and up - even in her restored state.

When I started working on these little treasures (my friend is 72 and these belonged to her mom), I wondered why on earth I ever quit working on dolls.  I love taking something that is "trashed" and bringing it back to life....why wouldn't I just continue to do something that gives me so much pleasure?

So I checked on craigslist just to see if there were any old dolls.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that there was a doll estate up for sale!  As it turned out, I missed the first 3 sales the gal had.  I can't begin to fathom what she sold!  But I emailed her and asked if she had anything left and she said "a house full!"  So we arranged to meet and I sort of went nuts picking out terribly distressed, broken down old dolls.

Well, hang on, as in the next few days, I will start sharing some of the repairs I've made.  The estate was from a woman who had done doll repair for years in Colorado Springs and had passed away.  Her daughter started setting aside items, tools, wigs, eyes, parts, that her mom had used to repair dolls.  I made a second trip and purchased boxes of product to repair dolls with.  And then, she told me that they had taken everything left to an auction house in Pueblo....and the auction was that Saturday.  Dare I share that I filled my car up at the auction as well???

I think we can safely say that I am now officially back into the doll repair business!  I really love working on dolls from the 40s to 70s, composition or hard plastic dolls.  I love restringing dolls that have fallen apart.  I enjoy cleaning and repairing clothes.  When I was in San Diego, I could take a photo of a dress and make it for the doll - no pattern needed!  Well, that's been a few years now, but I'm going to give that a try as well!

Isn't it amazing how many craft supplies that I didn't have years ago - I can put to use today to make doll repair even more fun!!!

Martha Stewart....step aside!!!

Oh Martha just thinks she knows how to do it all.....but there is no way she can keep up with Velta. Velta has a bed and breakfast in Julian CA,



makes dolls,



makes apple pies,



decorates the school play sets, volunteers her time to a zillion different entities, makes everything herself.....

are you tired yet just thinking about Velta? OK, she is almost EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG!!!!!






Take that Martha!

LOLOL!!!

I've known Velta for a few years and truly hate to go visit because I just know she is going to out-do herself....but I think this trip, I finally realized, no, this is just who Velta is! I mean.....we had fresh fruit with yogurt and white chocolate fondue to dip it in! We had frozen fruit balls in our fruit juice! We had hand made napkin rings and a fresh floral centerpiece with candles, a fresh egg souflee, butter that had been hand pressed into molds the shape of roses (and I'll bet money Velta made the molds!!!), home made biscuits, and hand pressed sausage patties.....for breakfast!!!




But perhaps the most noted symbol is the stained glass panel beside the front door to her house. Apples. I know Velta for her fresh baked apple pies. There is not a store, restaurant, deli....anything, anywhere on earth....that can beat Velta when it comes to her apple pies!!!



But guess what? This trip, she sent me home with a whole blackberry pie. Made with blackberries that Velta picked the day before, down the road, in a patch, wearing bright red gloves, boots and a hat!!! Now, how does she know that blackberries are my very favorite thing? Martha Stewart may be a "household" name.....but I'll take Miss Velta any day of the year!!!

And yes....expect to see and read more about our trip to Julian! It was quite an adventure!

Oprah said....

that we should reconnect with our spirit....the people, the things that make us who we are. I think she was mostly talking about our childhood. And I couldn't agree more.

But there is so much more that makes us who we are...not just our childhood....but the people we meet along the path of life. Yesterday, I reconnected with a very important part of my creative soul, my friend Liz. We probably haven't been in touch in at least 3 years, and it was sheer joy to hear her voice on the other end of the telephone! I don't think she has any idea what an impact she had on my creative life, so here's my story about Liz!

I need to go back a bit in time and explain that both of my sons were quite ill most of their childhood days. I worked full time and spent my free time taking them to doctors, taking care of their medical needs..and I just did not get to play for several years. OK, so I forgot how to play. In 1988, the doctors told me that my oldest son would be dead in 2 years. I refused to believe them, took him out of the hospital against medical advice and "ran away" to San Diego, and went to work full time at trying to get him into reasonable health. (It must have worked...he's almost 29 years old!!)

About 1991, Liz hired me to work for her. We were working in health care administration. Hey! It paid the bills! She made porcelain dolls. Wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous porcelain dolls. And the most exquisite costumes you can imagine! I wanted to be just like Liz!

She got me started in doll classes. It was my first venture into anything creative....for me. Oh, I did the usual mom/craft stuff with my kids....I even had a business where I made mohair teddy bears before the boys got so ill.




But this was the first time that I was creating something that I loved, for me, just because I wanted to do it. What joy! What sheer joy!!!

The first doll that I ever made is the second to the right.

Once I started making dolls, I started repairing and restoring dolls (another topic, another day) but here's a photo of a couple of dolls that I restored. Just love them!



From making porcelain dolls, to repairing dolls, to selling rubber stamps in my antique shop, to scrapbooking, stamping, metal repoussee.....and then to art clay silver and dichroic glass....wow! I guess we can say that once the creative door was opened, I sort of went crazy!

The moment I heard Liz's voice on the phone yesterday, a flood of memories came back to me. I guess I should tell her that it's all her fault that I play the way I do today! It's all her fault that I got my creative juices flowing again after years of nothing. I guess it's all her fault.....oh! It's so good to have friends you can blame yourself on! LOLOL!!!

Thanks Liz!!! - by the way....it's all our fault!!!