To save, or not to save a Barbie doll. That was my dilemma.

During a doll hunting trip I had a couple of months ago, I found this... How can I say it? Terrifying situation with a doll. On one hand, she was a vintage 1961 Barbie Doll #5, yes, I had finally found a vintage doll older than any other I had. On the other hand she was in a very scary stage. I felt so bad for her, so very bad. I wanted to save her so bad, but the price was not very convincing for the stage the doll was in. I mean, she was bitten by a dog in different parts of her body. Fingers in one hand were cut separate and not very straight. Pocked holes in different parts of her face and body. (Almost like if someone had been doing voo-doo to someone) Her eyebrows were erase. I don´t know if someone tried to restore her at any point in stage. Parts of her body were cut off like with a razor knife. Her original hair was cut off, and she was wearing an old wig (you could tell by the color and texture of the wig), but which was also in very bad shape, and was only attached by some pins. Some pores of the hair plugs were ripped, she was very filthy, and some of the face paint was faded. OMG! It was a scary scene for a doll lover, specially a Barbie lover. "Should I take her, should I leave her?" My thoughts were: "If someone decides to get her without noticing the damage, she is going to end up in the trash, I could see it happening for sure."

So I decided to jump in and save her. I felt like just because she was an antique, and because she was BARBIE, she deserved to be saved. But geese, it was going to take a lot of patience to make her, less scary if you know what I mean.

So I took her home, looked at the damage, and after finding the closest wall to meet with my forehead for a while, I decided to take it as a challenge. Now don´t take me wrong. I know that there are a lot of people out there that restore dolls and are probably thinking: "No big deal!" Well, the problem is that I am not a doll restorer. However I do have some skills that I thought that if I put together, I might come out with something.

I do know how to sew, basic skills, but I think that for doll clothes it will be fine. I know how to add embellishment to clothes such as beads and sequins, so that helps in case I mess up the fabric somehow. Hey, it can happen! I was in industrial design for 2 semesters and believe me, you don´t want to make me use glues, and things that spill with other material. It can get nasty. Lol. 

As an illustrator, I thought I could be able to recreate the doll´s facial makeup. In the past I have never been much successful in painting. My skill is drawing with pencils, and then I jump to digital painting just because as I said. If it spills, it will be scary.

So first thing was to clean the doll very well. That helped me go through the little detailed damages around her body. I thought I could fix it with cold porcelain, but that didn´t work. Plan B was to make a dress that would cover those dog bites, and other marks.

I cut back all the hair and carefully removed it from the inside of the head. I noticed all the damage to the pores. It did help me however to practice the re-rooting techniques that I have been learning online, though this was going to be my first full work, since the one first I started is still half way. (I got sore finger tips after that first one and decided to leave her for a rainy day. Hint, it rains about twice a year in Escondido, California) 

I took pictures to remember what was going on before I removed the original paint, and after a deep breath started with the re-rooting. That was fun. It took me about 3-4 days considering that I did it in bits and not straight like more than 8 hrs per day. It was more like, 3-4 hours per day. When I was done, I was excited about it, because she looked like a Byron Lars doll that I have been craving for, for some time now. She was obviously not going to look like her, but at least that made me happy and I was done with the re-rooting of the hair.

The next step was to paint her face. I wanted to make something different, or a bit different than the original paint, and I wanted her makeup to match her outfit. So I had to see what bits and pieces of fabric I had bought and placed a side for these types of projects, and found a nice set of colors that I thought I could match the makeup with.

So with a lot of patience and long deep breaths, focused motions, and a bit of cleverness, I was able to repaint her successfully! I was even able to disguise a small hole with a beauty mark so it looked better. I was very happy with the results. After all, I had only done this twice before, but never removing the whole thing. At the end you can be the judge, but I was happy with what I did.

So the doll was almost done. One third left, which was the outfit and embellishment of it. Though I don´t understand patterns AT ALL, I was able to use part of a pattern and then just a bit of cleverness here and there and voalá. I was done with my first fully OOAK doll. For the love of Barbie, I was able to rescue a doll who was very, very much in terrible shape, and make her a very decent collectible barbie. At least for me, because I know I can´t really sell her, since her body is still in bad shape underneath those clothes. But it is true that it makes a beautiful addition to my Barbie doll collection, and though I do have some vintage barbie dolls, this is the oldest one I have now.

The most fun I had working with this doll was with the jewelry, since I learned a bit about it when I was 21 years old and trying to pay college. I feel it looks great.

So what do you think? Would you dare buy an expensive doll who is in deplorable conditions and take the time to restore as much as can be saved?

I can surely tell you that this is a great hobby that I intend to practice more with to be able to share with my daughter if one day I get to have one. I´ve always loved dolls, and for a while I have been wanting to learn how to make my own from scratch either from paper clay, cold porcelain, paper-maché, or fabric. As I have mentioned before in a previous post. Dolls are truly a work of art, and they should be treated as such.

And shame on those who use dolls in an unintended way! It is just sad when that happens, but good for us, we can try to fix it.

I hope you enjoyed this story of my recent experience with this "trendy" hobby (Restoring dolls).

Much Love

Missha