Composition Baby Dimples

Description of Repair

This is a composition Baby Dimples I worked on. The head had a lot of damage as can be seen in the animation to the right. The hands and feet also had significant breaks and holes. There was some minor paint loss and crazing to the finish of the hands and feet. The body was soiled and had some holes and separations where it was joined to the composition parts. One of these separations can be seen around the neck in the animation.

The Transformation

I filled the loss on the head and recreated the texture of the molded hair. (see animation) I filled and rebuilt the missing fingers and toes and did a general cleaning and touch-up of the overall finish of the body. The cloth body also had some minor damage mainly around the joints to the body parts and head. I repaired these and reinforce the joints to prevent future problems.

In repairs like this I try to preserve as much of the original paint as possible.  In all cases if the undamaged areas still have good paint I preserve them.  I just match and blend the paint from the filled areas into the original paint on the pieces.  Some restorers find it easier to just strip the original paint and spay on a new coat of flesh and add the highlights.  To me this results in a new doll.  Not the doll your mother or grandmother played with and not a doll to be passed on the the great grandkids.  I prefer to spend the time to restore the doll so you have an antique doll that looks presentable for today and the future. 

The owner was thrilled and amazed by the transformation. Such a major restoration is normally not justified if you want to sell a doll like this. As can be seen the repair is important if the doll has sentimental value or you want to keep is as part of a collection or pass it down to future generations..