Doll Sketches August 31st 2013

Hi everyone.
So today we got a note about saving energy from the electrical company, so I am running against time to post this blog post, lol. Basically you can save some money by using the least of electrical appliances as possible. So today I am going to do nothing but sketch, maybe sew a little and hang out with my husband. We will limit the use to only his laptop, were we can watch the gardening videos he has been browsing through youtube, and I can also see them while I do something more like hands on craft. In the past couple of days I have been working on a pattern for a fabric doll. And I was also working on some sketches for maybe fashion doll dresses. I don´t know, sometimes I sketch it and later someone comes up with the idea and creates it. I really don´t mind. The world is connected somehow, so this means that sometimes two people in different parts of the world can have the same idea at the same time. And that is a way of intercommunicating marketing too.

Anyways, here I´m sharing two of my sketching designs, maybe I could work on them at some point, and also a rough sketch of the fabric doll I have in mind. Originally it was bigger, but I don´t want a very big doll, otherwise it won´t fit in my doll cabinet. So let´s see what happens.

Much Love
Missha (@agelessdolls)

Amazing find, Doll rescued August 30th 2013

Wow, nice doll to close with this month´s rescues.
So with what I could scavenge around the house, a quarter there, a nickle there, lots of dimes and pennies, and I gathered enough money to afford rescuing a doll. There were three set, but someone jumped on two as I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of them. More than the rescue itself, I was really curious about the type of doll. I know the other person really didn´t care about what the dolls look like, he was mostly in it for the money he could make out of it. Which is fine, this world revolves around money, and I won´t say I haven´t sold some dolls myself just to be able to have enough money to rescue some more and make my collection bigger. There are some dolls I really don´t care for in terms of adding into my collection, so I make them available for other collectors of such dolls, and that way I also know they are going to a home where they will be taken care of. Unfortunately sometimes some dolls might be mistaken for something else lowering their price to the point that they get bought for little girls to play with. I am alright with that too, but it is true that the values at this day in time, have changed. Kids are used to disposing, breaking, not caring for their toys anymore. At least I feel I am one of the last generations to see the value in toys and dolls, because as I have mentioned before, I still have most of my dolls and toys even if I am 33 years old. My mom believed in passing on loved dolls to her daughter, which she did, and I believe that I will do the same with my daughter once I have one, and so on. It really hurts when I see dolls that are broken, not because of an accident, as they may happen, but because the girl or boy didn´t care and broke it. There are many kids out there in the world that have not 1 toy to play with, and sometimes they even have to make their own out of sticks and rocks. I don´t mind either, creativity is the best playmate. The thing is I love collecting dolls, and looking at the work that artist put on their master-pieces which are these beautiful creatures made of porcelain, vinyl, plastic, fabric and other materials. There is magic into creating such beautiful things out of common material, and that´s what I like.

Anyways, back to my find of today. So yes, I got lucky to get my hands on one of the three. I opened the box to see what I had, and at first I wasn´t really amazed. I mean I loved the detail on the doll, and well, it was made out of vinyl which meant it was going to last a long time and it was harder for it to break. I wasn´t sure if I wanted to keep it, I also wasn´t sure if I wanted to re-sell it. I felt for the other guy, and chased him to see if he still wanted this one and at least be able to sell the whole set together. He walked so fast into securing the other two dolls. I think he thought I was going to try to take them from him. That was funny, I am not that desperate! Still, he was too fast for me, and then I thought: "Well, whenever I bump into this person at this place and I smile or say Good Morning, just because I am polite and in a way when you see the same people over and over, it is a good thing to be nice and polite. But he never says hi back, nor anything." Now thinking about that I thought; "Why do I have to do something nice like this? For him it is just business, for me it is more than that. It is appreciation, and maybe at some point finding a good home for the doll." So I changed my mind, I returned an adorable, gigantic stuffed Koala Bear that I was about to buy, and took all the change out of my pockets, and got the doll.
Mission accomplished. I had rescued a doll that though not the type of doll I buy for myself, I decided that he could be saved and welcomed into my collection. Yes, I said he.

Doll lovers from all ages, let me introduce you to one of Jeckle and Jansen´s vinyl doll from their first collection of 1992. His name is Mathew. The box says Christian, as I supposed the person that got them, got them confused. The collection that was for sale when I found Mathew, consisted of Mathew, Christian and another doll I really couldn´t get a glimpse of it´s name as it was written outside the box with a marker.
It was made in Spain by this two twin German sisters by the name of Petra Jeckle and Andrea Jansen.

Name of the Doll: Mathew Limited Edition 1992
Size: 17 - 19 inches
Material: Vinyl, with soft body, and a mohair wig.
Artist: Design and Modeled by Petra Jeckle
Company: Jeckle-Jansen Künstlerpuppen
Markings: Behind the head it says "1992 Andrea Jansen".
Approx Retail Original Value: $350 - $450 USD
Approx Retail Value as of Aug 30th 2013: $100-$450 USD
Status: Rescued. Keeping this doll in my collection.

I hope you enjoyed these photos and you can use them for reference in case one day you also bump into one of these cute little friends.
With much love.

Missha

A surprise for my husband.

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share with you guys a doll that I rescued over the weekend. I got it for my husband since he likes gnomes and elves. I thought it was adorable, and plus we have the believe that the more fantastic figurines you have at home, the more chances of the real creature of hanging out in your house there is. Might sound silly, but before I married, at my house in Mexico, I had fairies, gnomes, elves and more all over the house. Mostly in my room and living room. When I got married and moved, my mom started noticing things that I had already mentioned but she really didn´t payed attention to back then. Hearing little chattering while being alone at home. Figurines moving in different places, things falling out of the blue, keys and other jewelry dissapearing, etc. Someone told me that when you have all of these things around, the creatures feel like it is a safe place to be, because since you believe in them, they know that if you bump into them you won´t freak out. Well, let me tell you that when you bump into them, you still freak out, but it is a nice feeling anyways. So, while those stayed back at my mom´s house, I am trying to invite new ones in our home here in California. It is always a good thing, specially if you are into gardening. They will bless your garden, and help you have good crops. I respect those who don´t believe in these things, but once I said: "Until no see, no believe." And sometimes I wished I had never said that.
Anyways, here is the doll. He is a cute vinyl doll, that was apparently sold at Toys R Us, and was about $10.00 dollars. His name is "Rafairn" and he is part of the "Elfs, The great Elven Forest Collection."
A very nice addition to our fantasy figurines.

This is Rafairn

This is his story

 Aint him adorable?

This is the back of the box.

Have a beautiful day.
Much Love

Missha

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

Doll Rescued August 22nd 2013

A beautiful, extraordinary Ashton-Drake Porcelain Doll

When I saw this doll, without knowing who she was or brand, I just fell in love with her delicate face features, detailed and long beautiful dress, and hair-due. I usually don´t buy porcelain dolls, unless they really stand out, because I really don´t have the space for them. Maybe one day, when we get our own house, I can arrange my dolls and then give into my weakness, which are the porcelain dolls. I suppose that since my grandma was the one who would give us these type of dolls, it just makes me feel like she is close.

So as I appreciated her at home, I found out that she´s an "Ashton-Drake" Porcelain doll by the name of "Beth´s 1960s wedding dress" and is supposed to be part of a collection of 3 generations. Her mom and grandmother. What really makes this doll a collectible, is that the mold for her face was programmed to be destroyed in 1996, and apparently it happened in 1995. So all the dolls from this mold are from 1994 and t his set. It really makes it special. It is estimated that the retail value of this doll was from $185 - $280.00 usd. Depending on where you were buying her. I obviously didn´t pay that much, even if I wanted to, I just couldn´t afford it. But that is when my treasure hunting surprises come out.  She is missing an earring, and I had to fix her necklace before it fell, since it was only held together with a very thin thread. All I can say is that I am very proud of this find.
I hope you enjoy some of the photos I took.

Much love
Missha

Doll Rescued August 21st 2013

A beautiful 22 inch Vinyl Toddler doll from Duck House by the name of "Dawn"
I think she is 2004, not sure, but what I am sure is that she is a Limited Edition, and she is more than beautiful. I hope you enjoy her, as much as I do.

All photos copyrighted by Laura Vara (Missha) for https://agelessdoll.blogspot.com

Welcome to my doll rescue blog!

A little about me

Hi Everyone. I am glad that you have stumbled into my doll rescuing blog. Let me tell you a little about me and what I do.
I have had dolls most of my life. When I was a baby, my first doll was a Strawberry short cake doll that blows strawberry scented kisses. I still have her, as I do most of the dolls I´ve gotten in my life. Some have been lost, or stolen, but only very few of them, and only three that my dad took to donate them at some point in my life, which I am not very happy about, since one of them was a vintage barbie doll which was my mom´s. Now don´t take me wrong. I do believe in donating dolls, but there are different types of dolls for this. Honestly I would rather buy a doll to donate, than donate one that I own, just because most of the ones I had as a kid were gifts, so they have that sentimental value to me. If it is a purchased doll it doesn´t because no-one gave it to me, and I didn´t play with her. It is that intention that changes the whole thing. This is how I see it, because for me, dolls are a work of art. There was once an artist that invested time working on a doll, sometimes they are hand-painted, other times hand-crafted, and other times it is just a one of a kind (OOAK) doll. For me if the doll is a gift, it becomes a OOAK even if there are thousands of the same. To me it will always remind me of the moment I got her, and I will always think of the person who gave it to me. Gifts are very important to me, very valuable and I treasure them very dearly.
My mom saw this, and she always got me beautiful dolls so I could add to my collection. My only worry as I grew older was: "What if I marry to someone who thinks that this is nuts?!"
Well, let me tell you that I was very lucky because my husband, though he doesn´t collect dolls, he loves them. Or better said, he loves that I have such beautiful dolls, because he knows that one day we would have a daughter who would probably enjoy them as much, and hopefully pass them on to her daughter and so on. It is truly like a piece of art that is passed on too.
I believe that dolls have the life energy of those who worked on them to create such details, and beautiful accessories, faces, dresses and so on. And this is not only a hobby for girls of all ages. I have met men that also collect dolls, and that is so very cool.
Most of the dolls I have and collect are Barbie dolls. I guess since it was my mom´s favorite doll, and the dolls I would get every birthday and for christmas, it became the main doll for me. I think her size also makes it easier to be collected. But to be honest, I don´t limit myself to Barbie dolls, because I love porcelain dolls to. I don´t have many, but I do love the ones I have, since they remind me of my grandma, whom would mainly get these types of dolls and give them to us, her grand-daughters.
I collect many other things aside of dolls. My family went through a very tough patch with economy, and my parents got divorced when I was young, making it really hard to buy expensive toys. I started working when I was 15 years old, and every now and then I would collect something like: Stamps, postcards, colors, pens, and things I could use for crafting or illustrating, since that is also another hobby of mine. Little things that would keep me entertained, and that I could afford and still help my mom get through stuff, pay for school and keep on with our lives.
I was lucky that when I was 23 I got a good job, that though didn´t allowed me to finish with college because of the time it required, it did provide me with enough means to help my mom and grandma, who by that time lived in our house for health reasons. I didn´t mind at all having grandma living with us, and us taking care of her. She was like a second mom to me, and I loved her dearly. This new experience taught me a lot about life, and to appreciate things we have when we do. I was able to collect things that I wanted for ages, like: Musical instruments (some that I do play, like the clarinet), books, lots of movies, comic books, trading cards, paintings, and many other things I wanted. It was 5 years of being able to enjoy again of these perks, and even spoiling my mom for a bit. It had been really hard the 10 years prior to that, and it was time for that to change. I was also lucky that I got to travel a bit and visit Ireland. Something I wanted to do since I was 17 years old.
I felt very happy, and lucky. The only thing that then worried me was: "How am I going to take all my collections with me when I marry?" This was a concern, because I was raised not to stay in my hometown in Northern Mexico. Though it is a beautiful town, and people are very friendly, most of the people there are raised to move out, make business, work, work and work, and then retire and come back.
So it did happen. I found my soulmate and married when I was 29. As expected, my husband was not native from my hometown and I did have to move to a different country. It was very sad to leave all my life behind, but I was opened to accept that there is always a reason for things to happen, and I really wasn´t going to wonder "What if?", if I hadn´t taken that leap of faith with my loving husband. Of course my mom wasn´t happy about it, lol, but she got over it.
It is unfortunate that sometimes when foreigners move into another country, finding work is hard, specially if you have different skills and talents that can´t be learned at school, but I am lucky that my husband can provide for me, and that I have everything I need.
I can´t really be greedy nor selfish in this matter, and just be patient. What I have learned is that when you have these special love for things that you enjoy collecting like dolls and so forth, they will come to you at some point, almost like magic.
I can´t really ask my husband for dolls, because they are not something that we need. But I do get special gifts on my birthday, Christmas, Valentine´s day, and sometimes as a surprise. So, since I don´t work, I have managed to keep my hobby up by saving a couple of bucks here and there and the law of attraction.
Since all of my collections were left behind at my hometown, I had to start all over again from scratch. That was not bad at all, it was like a challenge considering limitations. It even sounded like a lot of fun.
So I started hunting for dolls on garage sales, thrieft shops, the newspaper, online and so I found that I may not be able to buy new dolls all the time, but I am able to rescue some dolls once in a while, which may otherwise sometimes have an uncertain future.
I have been doing this for about 3 years, and I am very happy about how my collection has grown. I like that this is something I can share with my brother, because he also collects toys. Though most of the toys he collects are toys from the 80´s from when we were kids, and I used to do that too, he enjoys looking at my doll collection too, as I enjoy his collections.
I guess sometimes it also gets stuck in your genes. It may be true, as my mom collected things too as a little girl, and my grandma did too, and so on.
I do think that collecting things is a healthy hobby. I know some people may go crazy and buy very expensive things, but when you are able to do it, why not? Most of collectibles will become an investment, as most of their prices will inflate in some decades, and in the mean time you can enjoy the beauty of craftmanship that involved the creation of your precious object.

So this blog, is dedicated to all of the people who donate their loved and beloved dolls, because some of those later become part of my treasure. Hopefully one day I can have a small doll museum, and that way I can share some of my dolls, with dolls of all ages. I guess that is my ultimate goal. Rescuing dolls has brought me a lot of satisfaction, since I have learned to fix little details they may have to keep them better. I have learned to re-root doll´s hair, repaint them, and since I know how to sew, I think I can truly keep up with this very beautiful hobby of mine.

So thank you very much for reading my story, I hope you enjoy the dolls that I will share with you in this blog. My idea is to share photos of dolls I find, so that other people that may find the same doll somewhere else can also share, or have an idea of what it is. It also helps me keep track of what I find, and practice my internet research skills while trying to discover the doll´s identity. Hopefully in the future when I visit my hometown I can take some photos of my childhood dolls, and share with you guys.
Until my next find, I will leave you guys with this introduction of myself. And I hope we can all share a great experience.

With much love
I share my blog.

Missha