Auction Surprises: Can This Doll Be Saved?

Do you ever go to an auction and bid on something you didn't look at ahead of time?   When they hold the dolls up and you're looking across the room from 30 feet away they look kind of cute.   So you make your (very, very low) bid and then the box gets delivered to you....

If you want to see cool things I bought on purpose, click here.  

I had them out in the garage, but someone told me that's the worst (???) place for them.

So I brought them inside and let them warm up by the new (antique/vintage) cast iron woodstove. 

She's kind of endearing, as long as she isn't hiding a little weapon. 

I know some of you know about these old compo dolls, 

so if you have any opinions, please share.   

Can This Doll Be Saved?

Antique dolls should usually be left alone to wear their stories without help from us.  But sometimes a doll has seen a hard life, or has been repainted badly, and needs some help to continue on his or her journey.   Fran Renner has such a doll.  And so, this will be the first of a series here on Maida Today called, "Can This Doll Be Saved?"

I've been "listening in" to an email correspondence between Fran Renner, the owner of this early papier mache who needs help, and Edyth O'Neill, who has helped many such dolls when it was clear they needed help.

Fran says, 

"These are the original pictures when I bought the doll. She needs a lot of help. I have stabilized her head and glued her cracks. Trying to find an eye.I've washed and repaired the undergarments and have repaired her arm. I will send more pictures as she moves along. She is a nice size 26 inches long."

Edyth says:

"Dear Fran -  Ah, the Voit child I was bidding on also for a little while.  <snip> The body looks good to me, the arms may have been hand stitched of cloth, not leather.  Some and some.   In those small areas needing filler, you may use the elmer’s wood filler.  Try a little bit in one crack and let it dry and sand it smooth with fine sand paper on the tip of your finger, to see if this is what you want to use.  Very small cracks can be filled with acrylic Gesso instead.  See which you prefer.  The eye missing needs to go in behind the face.  If you have any thing the right size, use it and paint the center with black fingernail paint.  It will be an oval eye likely.  <snip> The ceramcoat color I use is Dresden flesh, mixed with antique white or straight."

It will be fun to follow along with Fran's progress on this doll.  Here's a view of the full body:

Fran's early papier mache is worth saving.  If you have experience with repairing antique papier mache dolls, how would you approach this?