First Finish in Quite Awhile

Last week, I did something I haven’t done in awhile. Aside from wrecking my middle finger for awhile, I also randomly walked into my craft room, grabbed one of my antique doll projects and started working on her. I don’t know why I did it, but I did…and aside from the pain, it reignited my antique doll habit.

Don’t worry, it won’t last long. My old doll habit has been with me since I was in 4th grade or so. But it wasn’t until about ten years ago that I got into antique dolls. I don’t even remember what the initial reason was. At the time, the earliest dolls I had were from the 40s. I picked up one from the 30s at a thrift store. Then, another from the 20s at a flea market.

And then I went to a doll show. While most of the dolls were modern and completely uninteresting to me, I got to come face to face with dolls from 1910 back to about 1860 or so. I was utterly mesmerized. They were so different back then. Yeah, I’d seen china dolls before, but not the bisque ones with glass eyes, not the ones with heads made of wax, papier mache, celluloid, even metal. They were a whole new world…

Then, there was this place called eBay…where I could buy antique dolls at a fraction of their price if they were incomplete or broken. I could even buy piece by piece until I got a whole doll–some assembly required.

This unintentionally led to a bizarre doll parts collection much like the kind a doll hospital would need to have on hand for repairs except that I am far from a professional doll doctor. I just assemble dolls as I get the parts. Yeah, I’ve got a list of necessary parts and work for each doll I’ve collected, but I never focus on just one. I guess I’m more into the spontaneity, I don’t really know for sure.

Anyway, last week after the finger incident, I went back in my craft room and started looking at all the girls laying there in various states of disarray. I found one that needed eyes, wig and dress. The eyes were in a little plastic cup sitting inside a wig right next to her. Did she really only need a dress? Didn’t I just get a bunch of dresses from eBay? I started looking and sure enough, while it wasn’t the best for her, it fit and didn’t look horribly wrong.

So, before dinner, I busted out the plaster and did a little eye-setting job. This morning, I cleaned up a few rough spots, patched a tiny hole I found on her leg, dressed her and voila! Project no more.

On the note I’d written probably two years ago that was sitting next to her, I wrote that she was a Kestner 141? Yeah, question mark. I don’t know what led me to believe that she is a Kestner 141. She’s only marked 14/0 in a circle on her back. Maybe whoever I bought her from thought she is a Kestner 141. I suppose I could look her up in one of my doll identification guides. It really doesn’t matter too much to me anyway. I just think she’s a great addition to my collection.

And who knows, maybe altering her appearance might wake up an old ghost or two in her. I haven’t tried to get EVPs with her yet. I suppose I’ll try when I work my way through my collection. I’ll be busy for quite awhile!

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