Friday, August 24, 2018

A well-loved vintage baby doll

This is a vinyl and cloth doll made by Horsman who needs a new body, a few new eyelashes, a bath and something done with her hair.



































Under the tape on the arms is torn fabric. Her arms are almost off.

















Inside her body are the remnants of her voicebox. This style of voicebox, when new, looked much like a whooopie cushion. When the doll was squeezed, the red rubber bladder forced air through the little reed you can see in the picture. The sound was an indignant squawk.
The rubber bladder has stiffened with time and has broken into many pieces.





All dismantled, bathed and ready to get a new body sewn.

















Ok.....now we have a new body.
But what about that squawker.....it would be nice to bring back her voice.















The old squawker gets dismantled more and analysed. It's reed that makes the actual sound is intact. The red rubber bulb that pushed air through the reed is disintegrated.
What can the bulb be replaced with?

Dog owners might know....how about doggie chew toys that squeak? Many of them contain a similar apparatus.
So, off to the local pet store to peruse the clearance section. Lo and behold is a doggie chew toy that contains 10 squeakers. It gets dragged home and one of it's squeakers gets harvested.
The doggie squeaker gets removed from it's bulb and the doll's squawker gets inserted in it's place so we get this....





One original doll squawking reed with a new functional bulb.
Sure enough, it produces an indignant squawk.











Here she is.
New body, a bath, repaired eyelashes, a new 'do and a functioning squawker.


























4 comments:

  1. I can't believe how quickly and how nicely Dr. Darci has given new life to this much loved doll. It has reached into a third generation and the current owner has named it after her great grandma, my mother! She is Baby Gen. She belonged to my sister and then my daughter and now her daughter! Such a nice fix! Thank you Dr. Darci!!!

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    1. You are welcome :-) Baby Gen is on her way home now.

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  2. A work of love, or a love of work! Beautiful little doll! I envy your obvious talents! I have a doll in a box in the basement that belonged to my father when he was little, maybe I should take a closer look at her!

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    1. Thank you and for sure take another look at your fathers doll :-)

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