Sometimes the postal system is not kind to your treasures.
This gorgeous porcelain ball-jointed artist's doll was sent from overseas.
She was very well packed in a wooden box but the box showed some hints of trouble.....the lid was separated at one corner.
Inside the box was this sight....
The doll has broken in the neck and upper chest area.
It is had to tell from the picture but the doll's porcelain neck and upper chest pieces have broken into many pieces.
Here are the bits of the upper torso piece after the doll was unstrung.
And this is the neck part.
It had broken into 8 pieces. The original bisque had been poured very thin which likely contributed to the breakage?
Here some pieces have already been glued together.
As this is a current artist's doll, could the artist make a replacement neck and upper torso piece? That would be much preferable to piecing the broken original pieces together and repainting them.
I will continue to repair the broken bits while we see if the artist can make new ones....maybe with a thicker neck piece?
Now we have the neck pieced back together, filled and sanded. It has also been reinforced internally with a layer of epoxy.
The torso has been pieced back together but not filled yet.
Relief!
I was not looking forward to the intricate paint work needed around the molded necklace of this doll.
The artist was able to make new pieces to replace the ones that broke. The new neck looks thicker and sturdier than the original which broke.
So now the doll can get restrung.
Here she is....wigless, but no longer a broken doll.
Your favorite childhood doll or toy has just been found stuffed away in a box in the basement? It is cracked and dirty and your family urges you to throw it out. But it is full of memories and despite its many flaws, you just cannot discard it. Doll doctors and restoration artists can help. Many of the saddest dolls and toys can be restored. I restore dolls from my home base in Ontario. Wintertime however, finds me packing up a few projects and fleeing to Florida to work in the sunshine!
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