Mysterious layer on a Schoenhut doll

This doll has arrived so she can be improved upon.

She has had a total repaint of her head.

 

The repaint layer comes off easily enough but underneath is a white layer. I have never met this product on a Schoenhut doll. I usually remove every non-original layer on these dolls as they tend to obscure the carved contours. But, this white stuff is not coming off no matter what solvent I try.

Here she is minus all the paint and a bit of epoxy putty that had been put around her mouth.

This white layer is hard, smooth and stuck securely to the underlying wood. It seems to have been sprayed on as it has conformed to the underlying wood contours pretty well. 

I have had a few suggestions what this white is. Plaster? No......plaster has a different feel and would come off with minimal difficulty. Epoxy putty such as Miliput? No......there is no way you can apply epoxy putty into all the contours of a head like this so smoothly. Also epoxy putty will soften with acetone and this white stuff did nothing with acetone.

My best current guess is that this is a spray on gesso.

 

 

              

Bernadette, the composition doll.

This is Bernadette, a family doll who has had much loving! She ha s arrived to fix her eyes and get beautified.

There is something very wrong with that right eye. Those eyebrows could use some work too!

After the usual decapitation I can extract her eyes. They are constructed by glueing celluloid caps onto wood globes. The right eye cap had come loose and had rotated backwards. An inventive person had drawn a replacement eye onto the bare wood globe. This makes an easy fix as I can just reglue the cap and re-insert the eyes.

Now that her eyes are done, I can contemplate what to do with her very sparse mohair wig. There is not enough left to style so one option is a bonnet.

Another option is a full new wig. Bernadette is a big doll. Large mohair wigs are hard to find and expensive. Synthetic wigs are cheaper but less appropriate for her age.

Yet another option is hair extensions. 

Her owners are consulted and extensions are decided on. Mohair can be obtained in wefts and sewn into her existing wig. That is what she gets.

 

She goes home like this.