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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Dolly Doctoring

I found this Pedigree doll at the local op shop for just $8.
I am ever on the lookout for things for the cubbyhouse.
I'm not sure which eye style or mechanism she may have had but I decided to fit some
for want of a better description,
always open eyes (static?)
After a bit of research on the net, I have found out that glue is a pretty big no-no.
The best advice I found was wrapping a sausage of Tac (eg: BluTac) around the edge of the eye and then going up the neck and fitting it into the eye socket. Once I had the eye in place I also packed more tac in behind the eye socket.

Here is the finished result. The tac will get quite firm but it will be easily removed if need be.
Certainly dolly would not stand up to vigorous toddler eye gouges but I think that is a lesson we teach them very early on.
No biting and no eye gouging
sounds a bit like World Federation Wrestling.



I have this pattern for the clothes now and my $1 bag of vintage scrap fabric


So that is one of my next projects.
Does craft or do children's toys for that matter get any cheaper?
Doll $8
Tac $1
Pattern $8
Fabric probably not even 50cents worth from the stash!
This doll I picked up the Evandale market for $3 just last weekend.
I had to fight my 80year old mother-in-law for it!
She has one lazy eye but I am happy to leave it as I am not a collector.
There is no branding on her and she has a simple eye mechanism that works on a weight system and is all one enclosed piece that fits inside a closed eye socket (ie: if you look up into the head via the neck, you only see two flesh coloured mounds where the eyes would be)
You can easily purchase the eye piece but it takes a bit of work. The method is to heat the head with a hairdryer or craft heat gun which allows the plastic to become more pliable. The eye is removed by prying it out through the eye opening while pushing from behind also.
Then the piece has to be pushed back in with the help of some reverse opening pliers (bridge pliers) and four hands are also a good idea!

4 comments:

  1. Tanya what fun. There are lots and lots of vintage dolly knitting patterns around too, check them out on Etsy, the just send you a PDF of the pattern. The brown haired one is a bit like my Debbie and Colleen from my childhood but mine have ginger coloured hair ( my mum's favourite)

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  2. What a fun project. The little clothes look adorable.

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  3. Hey Tanya, you are a woman of many talents and I had a bit of a giggle imagining you and your MIL jostling to claim the doll.........

    I remember getting a doll for Christmas very much like the dark haired one and I loved my Barbies (well, actually they weren't real Barbies, just look alikes) I remember one year my sister made some knee high boots for my 'Barbie' using her old vinyl pencil case, now that's recycling. I thought they were wonderful.

    Blogger has been playing up not allowing me access to my account or commenting, mush frustration, but all seems well for the time being and I was playing nicely too, so don't know why he was picking on me.

    Enjoy your weekend,

    Claire :}

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  4. What a great deal, $8 for a pedigree doll wow! She has such a cute face. A lovely little dolls clothes pattern, should look just right on the dolly's.

    xTania

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