Before and Afters - Share Yours!

[tackygoods]

Please post your before and afters on this thread.  Big or small, whole rehab or just a refreshing....and tell us how you did it!

I will start.  Here is Ideal 14" Sonja Henie doll before and after.  The crochet ensemble is "Bare Back Rider" by Mary Hoyer.....

Here is Before:

[klhayes62]

Delicious!!! 🙂  Love it!!  You are very creative and certainly talented!  Are the dolls you like a certain style and size in particular?  I have one that looks a bit like yours but she has short hair.  Reminds me a bit of Twiggy in the 1960's.  Like a Barbie Doll figure with small waist, breasts, etc. only probably 3 or more times bigger than Barbie.  Fashion shoes....

Let me know because you might be able to save mine!

Thanks for showing and telling--made my day!

Kari

[goldiegirl500]

For some reason I don't see the bar that should be right under "Rich Text", "HTML" and "Preview" that allows me to insert photos. Here is my 1956 Cissy after I hosed her down. I will try to add the photo as an attachment. Not sure it will work. I cleaned my cache and rebooted my computer, but still no bar...

[klhayes62]

She is stunning!! When you want to add photos to a post you have to sign in on the Forums page. Right before you click to enter a message it's up towards the top left. I learned that a long time ago from someone else when I mentioned that. Sometimes I had the bars and sometimes I didn't. :). How do you curl the hair? Obviously not a curling iron. 🙂 And for the dresses do you add the skirt layers? BEAUTIFUL WORK! Thank you so much for sharing--it is so neat to see people resurrect a doll to former glory and actually even beyond that! Way beyond.... 🙂 Kari

[goldiegirl500]

Well, now the tree is here and I didn't do anything different....I am beginning to think it might be eBay screwing around because I cleaned my cache and rebooted and it still wasn't there last night......

OK, on a Cissy doll, on the casual style (not an up-do), I start at the top and take about a 1/2"  section of hair and using a little spray bottle (don't want to spray anything but her hair), I spritz on a mixture of water with a little bit of conditioner in it...just a dab or so).  Then I hold the hair at the top and comb out the section of hair starting at the the bottom.   Then I put a teeny dab of that gel stuff on the very end of the section. Then I use the smallest sponge rollers I can find and curl the hair under.  I also use end papers sometimes.   I wrap the hair tight to the head with tulle and let the doll sit for days and days.  

Then I gently remove the curlers and trying not to comb it out and, not disturbing the curls, and style it. For this style, before I arrange the curls I put a rubber on the doll to make the hair stay close to the head and then I arrange the curls, securing with hair pins and bobby pins.  Than I tie tulle back on to hold the curls tight to the head (without squashing them).   I let the doll sit for days and days and then I cut out the rubber band and remove the bobby pins.

The doll in the photo wearing the polka dot dress was .....perfect.  She has never been restored nor had her hair combed.  So she required no work...I did finger-comb her bangs.

The dress was yellowed, so I washed it in lukewarm water, dish soap and a tiny bit of Oxy.  I didn't let it soak.  It probably would have been whiter, but I didn't want to lose the polka-dots.  I stuffed the bodice and sleeves with that pillow stuffing stuff & let it dry.  The dress has a tear in the back and I used iron-on Pellon to reinforce the entire back and to mend the tear at the same time.  I had to use a tiny little iron I got at the fabric store for that repair.

Cissy dresses are swishy and full and I buy slips from various eBay seamstresses that are full.  The hat is the hat that came with the dress when Madame Alexander released this doll in 1956.   I had to put new veiling on it because the old veiling was torn up.

Hope this Helps!

[goldiegirl500]

Oh my gosh....I meant to say I put a rubber BAND around the doll's head.......The rubber band goes around her head and holds the hair of the crown tight to the head. The curls come out from under the rubber band around the bottom of Cissy's head.Every Cissy is different, but you want the rubber band to hit just under her nose.

Next time I do this I will take a photo of the doll's head to show you.

[klhayes62]

Oh, too funny!  I knew you meant rubber band--I didn't even miss a beat... :).  Amazing, just absolutely amazing!  Well any time you want to post pictures and have someone drool, I am your woman! 

I always think about those people that look at things like this and just think it seems impossible.  For the beginning collector, or perhaps a long time doll collector with no restoration experience, this is great stuff!

I really appreciate the help from everyone on getting the glue off my doll's head.  Nice that the wig came off virtually intact so as someone said--it could be sold as it was originally.

Thanks so much for posting and I hope to see more!!

Kari

[almostheavendolls]

Goldie--you do a wonderful job with your Cissys and your photography is just outstanding!

I have a few Cissys but nothing mint and most of their outfits are homemade.

Here is a sister to your polka-dot Cissy in a look-a-like repro dress:

[goldiegirl500]

almostheavendolls, this Cissy is beautiful.  She look minty to me and I love the repro of her dress and the little accessories you put on her.   Also, brunette Cissy dolls are my favorite.   I love most dolls, but I had to limit my collecting, so I only collect vintage Cissy dolls.  I have many in lovely repro outfits or new originals.   Just about anything looks good on a Cissy doll (I wish it was the same for me, lol).

Goldie

[me_merc60]

Oh, my goodness! Every time I see your nudist Patsy family I cannot help but to crack up...LOVE them!

I wish I had a Patsy...boo hoo!

Anyhow, I have a few dollies I've recently finished and wanted to share them.

This 1960s Hungarian Baba Matyo Doll features exquisite embroidery but literally had no face! I used Games Workshop primer, acrylic paints, and matte varnish to bring her back to life. These are high pigment modeling paints used to paint Warhammer Citadel figures. Here's the before and after:

This better than expected little love is a 1975 General Mills Kenner Baby Bundles. She is a very beautiful and heavy dolly...A real keeper! A little soap & water went a long way on this one. Her hair is spectacular and all her curls fell right into place once her hair was washed.

I don't know who this little love is. If you do, please let me know. She has a stuffed vinyl Softina-type body, real dolly eyes with hand painted whites and lashes (I've never seen that before!), and has a capital letter A at the top of her tushy. Oh, and her head squeeks! She's a super soft squeeze toy. Who is she?????

1950s Mexican Composition Doll - Just cosmetic cleanup.

And this little early 1950s Japan celluloid boy got a new (old) rocking musical horsy - It plays Toyland...how very appropriate. It's these finishing touches that make the entire journey worthwhile:

Shhh...I recently acquired a rare Judy Ann USA...1930s NASB...Mammy #83 at a steal of a price, which I won't disclose. That photo is top secret because the doll is worth a bundle.

Happy hunting & revamping everyone!!

[mapadittysstuff]

some babies iI rescued

[me_merc60]

Nice job...Please share how you got the pen off. Some say to use alcohol but that has never worked for me. I think it has a lot to do with the material the doll is made of...Ink seems to penetrate vinyl very deeply. I've used 10% benzoyl peroxide (acne cream) and that works fairly well.

[mapadittysstuff]

yes I ues a acne cream that iI got at the 99cent store. and I live in the hot , very hot high Desert in California . cream + over 100degree weather seems to do the trick in about 5 hours

[me_merc60]

Yes. it works very well on age darkened vinyl dolly fingertips, too. The one I use is a very inexpensive one sold here on eBay: Dr. Sheffield's Clear-Zit Maximum Strength 10% Benzoyl Peroxide - Great stuff.

[goldiegirl500]

I found a photo of one of my dolls getting her hair done.   It shows what I was trying to describe when setting a vintage Cissy doll's casual hair-style.

Hope this helps!

Goldie

[klhayes62]

Very much so! 🙂  I bought the Dr. Sheffield's Clear Zip formula too--thanks so much for the tips!  This is wonderful!

I wanted to ask--can anyone give me Cissy's size--height?   And maybe waist size?  I bought some vintage dresses that may fit her but it's hard to tell from pictures as far as her size.

Thanks!

Kari