Old glue-laden wigs

Here is another German bisque headed doll who has arrived for a spruce-up.
She needs something done to improve her wig and her right shoulder needs to be secured....it is hanging by just a few threads.

The mohair that makes her wig is very sparse. It is rock-hard on the top of her head. Someone used a very liberal amount of glue on this wig!
When you try to remove a glued on wig you moisten the edges with water and wait a bit and hope that the glue used was water soluble.
Patience and little dabs of water.....

and this was the result.
A glue-crusted creation that is not a traditional wefted wig.

This is the remnants of a top-knot wig where a clump of mohair was stuffed into a hole on top of the head and then glued down and styled. This particular wig had some DIY repairs that involved lots more glue and some interesting cotton lattice across the inside.
Once the glue gets soaked out and the mohair gets combed out there only a few small clumps of mohair to salvage.

This is the inside of a different top-knot wig.

It is almost identical to what this doll's original wig started as....but it is a bit too big for her and it does need some styling.

And, being a top-knot wig it is also laden with glue.
It really cannot be worked on without getting rid of the glue. So, into the bowl of water it goes.....
And out of the bowl of water comes several clumps of mohair that can be remade into a topknot wig that fits.

Here is her 'new' wig getting curled.
The mohair from her original wig was incorporated into this one and her original cardboard pate was used again.

German bisque head doll troubles

Here is a nice big German doll marked 'Queen Louise'.
She has arrived to get restrung and freshened up.

She has had work done before.

Her glass eyes must have broken at some point as her current eyes are 1950's plastic eyes that have been plastered into place.

One option is to leave them as is as part of her history.
Another option is to remove the 1950's eyes and give her replacement glass sleep eyes.

Pretty well every joint has been taped up. The joints seem sturdy as is so there are no structural issues to fix.

Do you keep the tape in place or remove it all and then fix all the paint that the tape has destroyed?

She is missing the bottom of one foot.









After reviewing the options, her owner decided to keep the current eyes and tape jobs but get the foot fixed. After restringing, a nice hairdo and some clothes, she will look very nice.

The damaged foot is made of cardboard so to fix it, a piece of cardboard gets glued on to the bottom.

While the foot gets fixed, I can focus on one finger that has issues.

A bit of epoxy clay and it already looks better.

And then she is done.
Her missing sole of the foot is repaired and blends in to the rest of her body finish.
Her missing finger is rebuilt and she is restrung.

Restringing Schoenhut animals

This is a whole tutorial on how to restring Schoenhut animals.

First, of course, you need an animal who has all his bits. This particular one is a donkey.

You need a few tools.....I like a fine pair of hemostats (clamping tool) and a bigger pair.
Needle nosed pliers and scissors too.

You need the right type and size of elastic.

One usually starts with a limb that still has old elastic stuck in it.
The elastic is secured by a nail going through the upper leg.

You could dig out the head of the nail and pull it out with pliers but that will damage the paint around the nail head.
So I like extracting the nail from the inside.
Here I have cut and yanked the old elastic out enough to see the nail inside.

Now you need a tool to grab the nail inside the leg. This is where I like my fine hemostats. Any other fine grabbing tool would work.

Grab the nail and start pushing it out.

Once the head of the nail gets out a bit you can grab it with pliers and pull it fully out..
You have not touched the paint surface with any tool yet.

Now you have to empty out the rest of the hole where the elastic sits. Sometimes the old elastic hardens up and is troublesome to remove. A drill bit of the right size can be used to manually ream out the old elastic.
This leg still has old elastic plugging up the hole.

Here is a leg with all the old elastic reamed out.

Now you put an end of elastic as far into the hole as it will go. Pushing the nail back in will secure the elastic.

Again, to save the paint surface, I pad the other side of the leg with something so the pliers do not do any damage.

Another view.

For front legs, the elastic goes into the body and right out of the other leg hole.

Pull the elastic to a nice tension plus a bit extra and clamp it against the body with hemostats.
Then cut the elastic about 1 inch.

Install the other leg on the end of the elastic just like the first leg.
Once you release the hemostats....

Front legs done.

The back leg elastic goes from one leg through the body...then through the neck (if it has a neck) and then back through the other leg hole. The heads have hooks to hook into that loop formed on the front.

Once you hook in the head you can pull the elastic to a good tension and then clamp and install the last leg.

One donkey restrung.

A whole new body for 'Lindy'

'Lindy' has arrived for restoration.
The only problem is....only her head arrived.
What happened to her body?

Around her neck are bits of melted and torn latex.
This means she once had a 'magic skin' body. Her body has disintegrated with time.

The only solution for Lindy is a whole body transplant. The options are another magic skin body (if one could be found), a cloth body with vinyl limbs or a totally vinyl body.

She needs a good cleaning including a full eyeball cleaning. I see rust and leached plasticizer in those eyeballs.

Out comes her head plug to reveal a head full of stuffing and a wad of original magic skin that was inside her head.

Out come her eyes. Lots of rust!
I will take the eyes apart and soak the rusty bits in vinegar for a while. The paint is bubbled with rust underneath so they will get new paint jobs too.

Here is one eyeball after restoration compared to 'before'

Success?
I just had to check out the local thrift shops when I went out of town to visit my Mom.
This was in thrift shop #2.
It is a vintage magic skin body of the right size and shape to be suitable for Lindy.

It has some issues with the magic skin and the head mount is a trifle too big but those things are all fixable and adjustable.

First, The head mount gets removed.

This is the head mount.
Most of these types of dolls have a circular metal opening at the back of their necks. That metal thingy is a reed that will squawk when air goes through it. It was not a good system as there is really no good way of squeezing air though it when it is in this type of doll!

To fix the tears in the donor body I am going to use the salvaged latex from inside Lindy's head.
That will get used as patches and secured inside the body with liquid latex. The patches will get coated with several layers of liquid latex.

And then Lindy has a successful body transplant.

Here she is with some clothes.

Sprucing up a Schoenhut

This is 'Dorothy'. She has arrived for a cleaning, a hairdo and some clothes.
She has a great start to her clothes as she retains her original socks and shoes.

Her wig is original but it was once a long curly wig that received a not too skilled haircut.
Original wigs add value to a doll like this so it is preferable to keep the wig and style it better. There is enough mohair left for a nice bobbed hairdo.

Schoenhut dolls are 100 year old painted wood objects. Many modern cleaners can damage the painted surfaces.
Here she is with one side of her face cleaned with a very mild cleanser.

And now she has had her face washed, her hair spruced and a new outfit put on.

She is ready to go home.