Klein's Doll Restoration

Visitors stepping into Teresa Klein’s shop in Milford have one of two reactions. They’ll either be totally charmed or, as she puts it, “totally creeped out.”
The latter reaction might come from a quick glance at the 20 or so disembodied heads lined up in rows, looking down from the dolly-covered top shelf of a wooden cabinet along one wall.
Or it might come from seeing half-dozen packages of eyeballs casually staring at you from a little wicker basket on the floor.
But the odds are far better for being charmed by the dozens of meticulously restored dolls that spill from nearly every corner.
Klein is a doll restorer, and she takes delight in bringing back to life what many would have long ago written off – damaged dolls from the past two centuries.
Porcelain dolls with broken limbs and smashed faces. Vinyl dolls with bodies covered with cracked paint and leaky sawdust stuffing. Dolls with ratty hair, no eyes, torn and stained dresses or, even worse, no clothing at all.
At one time or another, Klein has worked on them all – and when she has a few spare hours, she retreats to her workshop and creates one-of-kind porcelain dolls and costumes them in outfits she designs and sews herself.
Her creativity has not gone unrecognized. Recently, she won a first and second place in the 2006 Doll Doctors’ Association biennial restoration contest – the equivalent of the Oscars of the antique doll world.
The international contest is every two years, and this is the third time she has placed.
“The main focus is to keep the doll as original as possible, and, if you have to do restoration, to make the dolls look like they did originally,” says JoAnn Mathias of Virginia Beach, Va., past president and co-founder of the association, which has about 200 member.
“If you’re doing costuming, the costuming needs to be done to the period of the doll using fabrics at that time.”
Klein says she finds many of the dolls she restores – as well as her fabrics – at sale and auctions. “It can take research to find out what they wore,” she says. “But that’s what the judges look for.”
I’m wondering how you got started. I’m told that, in some ways, doll repair is a dying art.
“That really was kind of it. How I got stared was my mom gave me her old doll, and it needed some fixing up, and my mother-in-law always collected dolls. There was this older lady we would always take our dolls to, to get them fixed. Well, when my oldest daughter was young, (the old lady) was in probably her 90’s then, and there was a dying art. … I thought to myself, ‘Who is going to do this when these older ladies retire or pass away?’ “
And then?
“I always did artwork and liked drawing and painting, and when I took a painting class, my teacher told me a lot of people would come to her with dolls to paint. And she thought I’d be good at it. So I started painting porcelain dolls. Then I started taking courses and seminars. Anywhere I could learn more, I would. I’ve had the shop (Klein’s Dolls and Restoration at 1408 W. Allen County Road 1240 N.) now for 11 years.”
You’re winning awards for costuming. So you make the clothing yourself, too?
“Yes, but I only started sewing seven years ago. …In school, I hated it! I sat with my mother to learn how to sew. …She taught me all these things about a sewing machine that I couldn’t comprehend at a junior high age … every doll is different, and sometimes you have to stand the doll on a stand and fit it, like you would a person. You make a pattern out of muslin …

JULY DOLL Rx EXTRA
More winners of the Doll Doctors’ Association
Doll Restoration Competition

Buddy Lee Composition Repair
Teresa Klein – First Place Naked Composition – Professional Class

Buddy Lee: Before and After

Buddy Lee was in bad shape when he came to be fixed up!

The first step was to clean and glue the body together. I used Gorilla Glue on the seams and sides. I used it carefully so it would not enlarge outside of the seams as it sometimes does.

I used Goo Gone to remove as much of the tape residue as possible. I also used fine grit sandpaper to sand where the tape had been.

With two-part epoxy, I started building up the leg, feet and head areas. It took a few times and I sanded in-between. I used a flesh colored sizer on top of the epoxy; sanded again filling in any missed areas.

The head needed the hair grooves put in like it originally had. I did that on the last coat of epoxy, sanding was done; I sprayed on a clear coating to get the doll ready for paint. I used black to fix the shoes.

I mixed the colors and stated airbrushing layers of color, letting in dry in-between and used clear coat in-between to prevent bubbling.

The arms needed sanding and painting.

I did all the detail work on the face, eyes, mouth, and brows; airbrushed the hair in 3 shades to make it more natural.

At last, he’s ready to go home to his happy owner!

PERIOD COSTUMING
Teresa Klein- Professional Class

This doll is a 16” turned head Armand Marseille with a nice kid body. I thought she would look nice dressed as a lady from the late 1880’s. I chose blue silk to set off her eyes and ecru antique laces.

I made her a blue silk garter belt with garters to attach her stockings. The stockings were made of antique lace. Bloomers go over the garter belt. Her slip has a train in the back to match the dress. The antique lace has some body to it. This helps the dress to be “poofier”.

The jacket has a lace overlay on the sleeves and a back drape or polonaise. I made ribbon roses to accent the lace and ribbon trim on the polonaise. The skirt has a lace in the front. I used antique laces for the entire skirt. Seed pearls and an appliqué decorate the jacket. Pearl buttons and tatted hooks close the jacket. The doll is wearing an antique lace dickey, gathered for her neck area. A nice bluestone brooch (large earring) completes the neckline. The dickey makes the jacket fit better than if she were wearing a blouse.

I began making her straw hat on a hat frame. I used strips of a hat material and blue/pinned as I went along. Then using a thin blue hat stain, I colored the hat. I had two small brown features to complete the hat. I made fingerless gloves for the doll to dress her up even further.

Shoes were made from heavier patterned silk fabric; trimmed in ribbon and lace.

I thought she needed a parasol to take on her walk. I made one out of lace and metal hook.

The lady is ready to go out on the town!

SIDE NOTE

An Armand Marseille bisque doll from the 1890s received second place for costuming in the 2006 Doll Doctors’ Association biennial restoration contest.

On Yakkityyakdolls.com, We got listed for doll repair and restoration. This is a copy of what infor we have on their site:

Klein’s Dolls & Restoration
www.kleinsdollrestoration.com
Teresa Klein, Doll Doctor: specializes in the restoration and repair of all types of dolls including Bisque, Composition, Metal Vinyl. Has repaired some wax and paper mache also
1408 W 1250 N
Milford, IN 46542
Phone: 574-658-9718
Email: teresa@kleinsdollrestoration.com

I specialize in the restoration and repair of all types of dolls including Bisque, Composition, Metal, Hard Plastic, Celluloid, Wood, and Vinyl. I have repaired some wax and paper mache also, as well as some puppets and other toys. I know dolls are sentimental to us and I like to help people when they think their project may be a “basket case” and could never be repaired. We have wigs, shoes, socks, missing parts, etc. I also do custom doll clothing, and custom made porcelain dolls. We clean clothes, wigs, set hair, restoring, do spot or whole body repair, eye repair, certain porcelain repairs, compo cracks, face painting, just about anything you would need. For clothing I like to use my antique & Vintage fabrics. References of my work are available.