Passing of the Guard Part II: The Doll Makers
Doll makers are incredibly gifted at their craft, and I am always in awe when I meet them. I've been privileged enough to meet with several here in California and learn how they started their businesses and where it is now. They are eager to pass their knowledge to the next generation, only adapting that knowledge is more difficult than I thought.
These women (now in their 80's and 90's) have amazing collections, and while I've seen many antique dolls at surrounding booths at doll shows, it's even more special when they tell me that all the dolls on display they made themselves. That's right, from scratch. Now I know that porcelain/bisque is not popular today, but when you consider that a doll maker made a sculpt, made a mold from that sculpt, poured into that mold and created the doll's head, body, arms and legs, assembled it, painted it, and then made clothes for it - it is so vastly different from what modern doll hospitals are doing. It takes tremendous skill and patience, and I marvel at the finished products. Many doll makers entered their dolls in contests to win on craftsmanship and level of detail (I.e. how historically accurate the Doll is). Those ribbons are gold to a doll maker, as well as the high profile clients who purchased one of their dolls back in the day.
But in a room filled with doll molds and porcelain show dolls - can the modern hospital actually take the torch? Can the doll molds be used with different materials like popular choices of resin? Can vinyl be cast out of the mold? Can anything be discovered for the modern doll using the mold that would be of benefit to collectors today? Likewise, is there any value to the dolls that were made from scratch by a local doll maker in a market that now rejects porcelain dolls?
The answers are more difficult to discover. While most doll makers have molds, most of the ones I have met never documented their process - an Instructions sheet, materials to use, what they learned along the way, etc. So that knowledge leaves with them even if you have the mold. I believe the molds can definitely be made using different materials, but they are set up for a porcelain doll design which means the tops of the heads are open ready for partial wig cap application, something that is not common for modern day dolls. And the showpiece dolls are a hard sell even if they won a prize for craftsmanship because it needs to find it's way to an antique doll seller at a doll show, or a very unique buyer still collecting from this era.
Nevertheless, I still have a great respect for the talent and expertise that these doll makers possess. It reminds me to never stop learning, and how adapting is always key to moving forward. A piece of doll history that becomes part of doll suppliers legacy.
If you know someone who would find doll casting molds useful or is still collecting local artist handmade pieces, please let me know. It is my ongoing effort to help those in the Doll community find homes for their dolls and doll supplies when they are ready to move on.
Comments