Vintage 1920's Doll Restoration! - Part 5 - Face and Eyes

Welcome back!
This is the 5th chapter in the story of this vintage doll's restoration.
It's time to restore the face and eyes - the fun part!

As you can see, her face mold is exquisite.  I was also lucky in that the bisque of her head was not broken or cracked in any way.  Even the delicate paint was nearly perfect.

However, there were some scratches on her cheeks and nose, and the paint on her lips and teeth was a little dull.

Most "glaringly," of course, her eyes were missing.

It took a while to mix acrylic paints into the correct shade to match her cheeks.  This was mostly because I did not realize that her skin has a very translucent, grey undertone.  Once I realized that I needed to add a little black to the mix, it didn't take long.  In the end, I used white, black, a light orange color, and a pinkish peach.











It was also somewhat difficult to blend the paint into her cheeks and keep it from looking patchy.  I had to dilute the paint very heavily and stack on many layers to get this result.



I mixed a lighter shade to fix her nose, and then used Tuscan red mixed with orange to touch up her lips.  A little white brightened her teeth as well.

To seal the face and keep it safe, I misted it with a thin layer of Mister Super Clear (MSC) matte spray sealant.


The finished face paint.  I think it turned out rather well.  On a side note, it was fortunate that I didn't have to mess with her eyebrows or lashes, because the paint strokes there are so incredibly thin it would have been really difficult!





Now it's time for the eyes!

 Here you can see what kind of shape they were in.  Both of the glass globes had broken off of the weighting mechanism, causing the whole apparatus to fall out of the head.  Both eyes were dirty and caked with grime and glue, and the eyelid paint was badly chipped.

 To begin, I washed both eyes in hot soapy water and used the flat side of an old X-Acto knife to scrape off all the old glue and dirt.

<-- Before

<--After













Here's the weighting mechanism.  The two wires you see on either side were what held the eyes in place.  The (probably lead) ball hanging off the bottom is what moves the eyes up and down when the doll is tilted.









I figured out which eye went on which side by looking at the broken edges.  Then, I lined up the right eye and hot-glued it back in place.

(It looked really funny.)

As a primer, I added a fresh coat of peach paint onto the assembly...

...and onto the other eye.  (I couldn't glue it on at that stage because I needed to put the assembly into the head first).











Next, I put the assembly, with its one attached eye, into the head.  You can see how well it fits - the eyes are actually their own hinges.













This is what it looked like from the front.  The right eye is angled to the side because I didn't have the other one in there at that point.

Next, I pushed the assembly to one side, slipped the left eye into position, lined up the broken edges, and hot-glued it into place.

At this stage I added a second coat of darker peach paint to the assembly and eyelids to closer match the original color.







Front view.  She looked so much better with eyes in!
















Once I got the other eye in, the assembly could stay in the head and rock up and down.  Her sleepy eyes were working again!










Originally, there had been some pieces of cork glued inside her head to keep the lead weight and the top of the eye mechanism from knocking against the inside of her head.  The cork was really dry, though, and it had broken out too.

To make new pads, I took a regular yellow kitchen sponge...

















...and cut out two quarter-sized circles to make the new pads.













I glued one pad inside the head where the lead weight hits the ceramic.  (This is when the doll is sitting up.)

The other one went inside the forehead, to prevent knocking when the doll tips back.

Her eyelids still looked a little rough, so I added more coats of paint until they were smooth.  Finally, I sealed the eyelids and the mechanism with matte-finish Mod Podge to protect the paint and prevent chipping.

As a finishing touch, I swabbed a tiny bit of sewing-machine oil onto her glass eyes to clean and lubricate them and add a little shine.  This step is optional.




Here's her finished face!  I was really pleased how cleanly it turned out. Plus, with eyes in, she was a lot less spooky looking!

The next step is the final one - restringing the doll and adding a new wig!  Stay tuned!