April Fool’s Day was early for me

So, I had literally a couple minutes before I needed to leave for yoga class. Earlier in the day, I’d embarked upon a sort of odd project. I’d gotten a messed up antique doll on ebay probably a year or more ago. This particular doll had been the victim of a bad eye-setting job…and whoever’d done it used some sort of permanent, hard goop. Usually, you get the head a little wet and the plaster falls right out. Not this time. (I forgot to take a “before” pic. Darnit.)

I soaked this one in lacquer thinner and it sort of made a difference, but not really. The goop got a slightly mushy…enough that I was able to scrape out most of the trouble and only one of the eyes broke, but it wasn’t catastrophic. I can glue the eye back together and the seam probably won’t even show once that eye is installed.

Aside from the crooked eyes that I absolutely will not tolerate in my collection unless they were set crookedly at the factory back in the 1890s, this doll head had already been glued together once. I pulled that poor repair of her shoulders and part of the back of her head apart so I could get at the eyes a little easier. While I scraped, I discovered another two hairline cracks in her forehead…the hard way. Oh well. What’s done is done.

Okay, now here we are back to the initial paragraph… Two minutes before I was to leave for yoga class, I went back out to the garage to do a little more scraping for good measure while the mystery goop was still a tiny bit mushy. I got off a couple big chunks and was about to pick up my mat and head out.

But, just one more scrape…

OUCH!!!!!

I took the following pic two days later… after Krazy Gluing my finger back together. Notice the nice sharp point of the bisque porcelain? That was a hard stop against my knuckle. There’s a dime-size patch where I can’t feel anything and I’m of the opinion that’s a damn good thing. The joint and bone still hurt like crazy. The whole finger is swollen and won’t bend all the way, but at least the gash has sealed back up thanks to the Krazy Glue. It turned a little purple and green for a few days, but now aside from the lack of full bending ability, the dull pain is at a minimum. I haven’t tried to get my ring off, though. I shudder just thinking about it!

Why do I go through the torture? Well, honestly it has been quite a long time since last I really hurt myself. My husband and various friends hate me for that, too. I’m always so careful. When I worked in the scene shop, co-workers were amazed how I could wallow in paint, dirt, glue and sawdust all day but still manage to go home without wrecking my clothes. I’ve had close calls with the table saw, radial arm saw and did a nice manicure with the band saw once. I’m just like that. Somehow I stay out of trouble. So when something like this happens, I take it like karma and simply pay my dues.

Also, though, this doll is a mold #154, supposedly made by JD Kestner, one of the finest German manufacturers of the day. There aren’t a whole lot of these girls running around and dog gone it, I think she’s pretty.

Plus, she’ll be a great bigger sister to another project 154 I have if I ever get her finished. This little cutie just needs a body, wig and dress. But you see why the broken 154 is worth it. She’s gorgeous.

The broken one needs gluing, resetting the eyes, patching the body, reattaching the arms and a dress if I don’t already have one laying around, but she’s actually closer to being done than the little one. I tend to only put antique heads on antique bodies, so sometimes it takes awhile to find just the right body. I’ve had the small head for almost ten years now. I haven’t actively looked for another body, but still that’s an awful long time to sit on my shelf.

So my April Fool’s Day foolish stunt happened a little early this year, but that’s okay. I was able to go to yoga class and managed not to bleed everywhere, so that was good. I have also reactivated my interest in working on my collection–which I think was the real ‘reason’ I was given this karmaic injury.

I’ve got plenty to work on. These are the ones unfit to display:

Some are closer to done than others. Some were solely purchased very cheaply for a challenge and practice. This can be an expensive hobby, so I tend to stick to the girls who’ve been heavily played with or otherwise damaged. I’d hate to see their history be forgotten just because they’re cracked up or paint is flaking off. These were all toys at one point and in many cases, they were probably the ONLY toy a little girl had. That’s kind of neat to me.

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