Plastic/vinyl repair

This is 'Strawberry'.

She has arrived to get some new fingers and to (maybe) get her hip fixed.

She is missing a few fingers.

Her hip has gone wonky at the top.

Unfortunately the problem is that the vinyl has partially torn and the torn section has warped out of it's usual spot.

Vinyl is a plastic. Aging plastics often stiffen and warp as part of their aging process. Trying to work this hip too much may well tear the hip right off.

So I start with the easier stuff and work on recreating fingers.

First a wire support gets epoxied into place.

Then finger number one gets built.

I do one finger at a time so it can harden and cure  before I start another one. Less chance of messing up a still maleable finger while I sculpt it's neighbour.

While the fingers are getting replaced I try a few things on the cracked and warped hip.

First I try heating the plastic and molding it back into shape. That seems to go well...... but within a couple hours the plastic has warped itself back to square one.

So, I repeat the process and clamp the plastic while it cools. So far so good? I even splint the leg. And keep things in place like this for a few days.

After removing the clamp and splint it looks like a normal hip.

1 hour later.....

The hip has returned itself to it's previously warped condition!

This is time to leave this hip alone. If the hip ever fully tears away and the leg detaches itself from the body, that would be the time to do more invasive work. For now, clothing will hide the odd contour.

But at least she has all 10 fingers now!

Who painted Sasha???

Here we have 'Sasha'.

She had been painted by a neighbouring child with nail polish. Lots of nail polish!

She has arrived for a clean-up.

Sasha is missing an iris. The artistic nail polish wielding child has managed to paint her empty socket too! 

Sasha starts her cleaning process.

Less nail polish is certainly an improvement.

Her unstuffed body has had a bath and is lying on the deck to dry.

Worried comments from the neighbours are anticipated!

Marks like this have not come off with her bath.

So all the remaining marks get coated with 10% benzoyl peroxide. It is sold as an acne treatment and is a good bleaching agent.

Sunlight helps the process so the basking on the deck continues......and the neighbours keep wondering.........

Then some new eyes are found.

She is cleaned, restuffed and ready to go home.

A Schoenhut doll with previous 'repairs'

This is 'Barbara'.

She was made by the Schoenhut company and is about 100 years old.

She has arrived for a complete renovation.

This is Schoenhut's 'Miss Dolly' model.

She is suffering from peeling/chipped paint. She has had a very thick repaint somewhere along the way. Both her original paint and the repaint are having issues.

UV light can show different details.

Here UV light shows the repainted areas as darker than the original paint and bare wood.

This is under UV light again and here some of the repaint has been removed from the middle of the torso.

Here are Barbara's legs after the overpaint has been removed. Happily that is a lot of her original paint that has been uncovered. The yellowish areas are patches where her original varnish has yellowed with age.

 Here is her face without the overpaint and wads of old wig glue. That is her original eye colour now and you can see remnants of her eyelashes and lip colour.

The nails in her head are the tacks that the factory used to tack on her wig. They can be re-used to secure her new wig. No more glue! Ever!

After all her repaint is removed she gets her bare wood parts sealed. I use a clear gesso for that.

Here Barbara is part way through getting her missing paint and gesso filled in.

I use a flesh toned epoxy putty for that.

Barbara has completed her paint job.

And here she is modelling an old human hair wig that suits her quite nicely.

She heads back to Arkansas like this.

Here is Barbara back in Arkansas with a lovely new dress and hair bow. 

The return of a Maplelea doll

This is 'Jenna'. She is a Maplelea doll who had her left hip repaired a couple years ago.

Now she has a total avulsion of her right hip.....ie the whole hip joint has torn off.