A boudoir doll from the 1930's

 

This doll is a boudoir doll whose clothes were made in 1940 by the current owner's grandmother. She was stashed away for many years and emerged in a crumpled heap.

She arrives bald but with her costume.

What can be done with her smooshed face?

The face is made from molded cloth. She is missing some eyelashes. The little strip of cloth is all that remains of a wig.

A side view.

And a back view.

Her head is firmly stuffed with wood wool and trying to poke something through the wood wool to push out her facial dents is not working.

So I am going to pick apart the seams on the back of the head, remove the wood wool and see what to do next.

This is the back side of her face.

The base is buckram which is a loosely woven material stiffened by a sizing agent.

This limits what you can use to clean the face. Too much water and the buckram sizing will dissolve and lose it's shape.

But at least I have better access to push out dents.

The dents get pushed out and her head gets restuffed.......on to a wig.

Here is the wig she is getting. It is made of yarn. The yarn is sewn on to the remnant of her old wig and then gently glued to her head and styled.