Sunday, August 31, 2014

A Behind The Scenes Look At Antique Doll Restoration



 Meeting people in the dolly world has been an amazing part of having this blog and one of the perks of these meetings is coming to learn about and see how antique dolls are preserved for the next generation of doll lovers.


When I was a young teen I worked at a corner store in my neighborhood while the family attended church. 
The best part of my job was when it was slow I could read the beautiful doll magazines. I loved looking at the china dolls and reading about doll events and auctions. Funny how somethings stick with you.
Through my blog I have met Angel Poet and she has been an enormous support and sharing her beautiful doll collection with me in photos. Today she is allowing me to share with you  some of her recent restoration photos.  
She has also agreed to shared a bit about what it is like to restore dolls, not just every day dolls, antique dolls!
 
Tell me about how you got started restoring dolls.

"How I got started was a need to fix my dolls when I got less than perfect dolls that were a great deal and work,  so I set out to figure out how they were put together. Though failure and trials I learned, when putting the Antiques back together the one thing to remember is NOT to restring them to tight they are very fragile!"


"You can and will bust the only thing in side. The only thing holding the strings is an dowel rod the bodies can turn to powder in your hands."


 "I love the faces and workman ship, how they came to be. What is of putting to many is that they are hard to string without destroying them. One string just to tight and you can destroy an whole doll it's not just that they are worth $1000.00 of dollars it just that they are priceless to me."


"I really don't know how old these are but I would say these are the oldest dolls I have ever worked on. The easiest doll I have worked on is a Dollikin when they are restrung you can put a little more tension on them . These Antiques took me a total of 2 days to restring because of having to be so gentle with them. I usually string a doll in a couple or hours."


" Antiques like these it's best left up to some one that knows what they are doing." 
 I am in complete awe of Angel's work and dedication to preserving antique dolls. I agree that restorations like these of antique dolls are best left to the professionals but wow can you imagine having this talent?
I get anxious when the thought restoring a vinyl American Girl doll crosses my mind. I am so thrilled that Angel has allowed me to share this behind the scenes look  with all of you today. I am just in awe.
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

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