She has had some work done previously.
It is time to peel back the layers to reveal her true beauty.
Well, several layers have been peeled but she is no beauty yet.
She reveals a traumatic history....significant skull fractures. Apparently someone threw her down a flight of stairs many years ago! Composition was once advertised as 'unbreakable'. It is not unbreakable.....
Torso is cracked and almost in 2 pieces.
The full extent of the head damage is more visible here. The white material is an old repair compound that has gone soft and will have to be removed.
Maybe it does not look too different yet, but the old repair material has been removed and replaced by a good epoxy. Next will be the filling of defects and recontouring of the missing areas.
Looking a bit better?
Better now?
Flesh tone has been started. Her eyes have been rejuvenated and she will get new teeth.
These are the eyes before rejuvenation.
These are the eyes after rejuvenation.
You can see the teeth better too. Marjorie came toothless but originally had teeth. I am replacing them with one of the more typical arrangements of the time.....two upper teeth with a red felt backing.
Getting better?
She still needs eyelashes and eyebrows painted but progress is being made.....
Well, the eyes put up a fight! The mounting bar was rusted shut. It needs to expand across the inside of the head to hold the eyes in place. A couple days soaking in Liquid Wrench and a bit of muscle power made it functional again.
Next I need to recreate the internal head bar that the stringing elastic hooks into. It has gone missing somewhere during Marjorie's escapades!
Here is Marjorie back together.
She needs some clothing now!
Marjorie has come a long way.
Time for her to return home......
Wow what a transformation, how do you rejuvenate the eyes?
ReplyDeleteThese eyes were rejuvenated with acrylic paints and watercolor pencils. The eyelashes were in good shape so they stayed original.
DeleteThanks for reading my blog :-)
Amazing.
DeleteYou did an amazing job! I have a composition doll that is missing the head bar to restring her. I was wondering if you could explain how to make one. I'd greatly appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI knew I should have taken a picture. It was a steel rod from a hardware store that I cut to fit. There are grooves inside these heads that the mounting bar fits into. Then you need a hook on the bar for the elastic. To prevent the hook from sliding horizontally, I epoxied a wire wrap around the bar on each side of the hook.
Delete