A bag of plastic dolls

 

A bag of sad dolls has arrived to see if they are salvagable.

They are a variety of 1950's dolls.

First out of the bag is Betsy Wetsy.

She has a hard plastic head on a vinyl body.

This doll was made so you could put a bottle of water in her mouth. The water came out of holes near her eyes and near her bottom making her look like she was crying and wetting.

Her main issue is her eyes. That white stuff is reaching plasticizer.

Off comes her head....this is the head's inside view.

There is rust everywhere.

This is not too surprising given the doll was made to have water flowing around inside her now and then.

Besty Wetsy ads often show the doll getting bathed.....another water source to start rust formation.

Rust weakens metal. The spring that holds the eyes steady has already weakened and is non-functional. If I pry the metal clamp off it's mount to fix the eye mechanism I could cause more damage.

So let's leave the eyes in and see what can be done without removing them.

Here is Betsy with a new set of eyelashes.

The eylashes help hold her eyes in a better position and she looks much better.

Next out of the bag is this doll.

Her body is shaped like the magic skin bodies of the 1950's but this one is vinyl.

She needs some eye work too.

Off with her head. It is stuffed.

The inside of her head after the stuffing is removed.

To get her eyes out, I fill her head with boiling water to heat the vinyl, pour out the water and then push the eyeballs out of their sockets by pushing on those blobs in the picture. 

One eye is missing it's lashes and both need tweaks in their pivots but they are in decent shape. No leached plasticizer!

She looks better once her eyes are back in and she is reheaded.