Liberating A Little Doll From Piotrków

Left, is the doll before her new torso is wrapped around the wire armature.
Right is her finished figure.

 

      I purchased a small shoebox from resale full of broken dolls pre-pandemic. Inside of this box, was the doll you see above on the left. Her body was torn and mangled. Most folks wouldn't bother to repair tiny souvenir dolls, they aren't really worth much money among doll collectors. However, this afforded for me an opportunity to show my readers how a little clay doll is traditionally put together, plus how one might be repaired for a child to play with it.

       First, I needed to straighten the wires out with a pair of pliers in order to determine her height. The wires were still firmly glued inside of the doll's clay hand and legs. So I twisted these together tightly in order to preserve her torso.

       Next I layered white glue and soft unraveled cotton around the wire to create a 'fleshed-out' figure over the wire armature where a 'body' did not exist. 

       The hair braid needed to be reattached onto the scalp with tacky glue. I also wrapped a bit of cotton around this new hair style with glue because there was damage to the doll's head. Now she was ready for a costume. Instead of attempting to discover her original clothing, I decided to give her modern clothing. She would become a play, mini doll for our collection of dollhouse figures.

Piotrków, is a city in Poland.

       Piotrków is a city in Poland, as you can read here on the right, from the bottom of the stand included with my doll. I know that she originated from this city because her legs were formerly attached to this stand inside of the shoebox. It was very easy for me to remove parts of her armature from this base, even though her little boots suffered a bit of paint chipping. Now she will be played with freely by little ones; she will no longer be on display and forgotten in some dusty corner, not that anyone would have been interested in keeping her clay parts given that these where in such an estate...

       This little Polish girl doll will start a new life, a rebirth of sorts. She will become a part of a new, growing doll family and most important, be a part of a child's imagination, the very thing a little doll aught to be!

See our little doll's former relations:

• Tiny travel dolls at the Polish Art Center

Left, her hands and legs are made of clay. Center, her braid is still lovely. Right, her arms
 may be bent in any position because the wire is very strong and the cotton batting flexible.

Above, our doll is dressed in a modern jeans skirt and a striped 'sock' sweater. She
wears a white headband trimmed with tiny red stitching. Now that our little Polish
doll has been liberated, she is looking forward to playing with a real child! What
name do you think she would like? Our friends want to name her "Lena."

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