Here's some emails about hard plastic dolls.
Recently, I purchased a Toni with a broken foot. When she arrived, not only was her foot broken, but she had a terrible odor that did not wash away. She is also very pale. She looks almost white, and yet she still has pink blush on her knees and hands. I have never seen anything like it.
Could you please tell me the best glue to use to fix the foot. Is there any way to get rid of the odor and bring back some color? Enclosed are some pictures. Two of the pictures she the pale leg next to my Toni's leg. Thank you for your time.
P.S. What do you use for clamps when glueing?
Thanks again,
Patricia
Dear Patricia,
Sounds like you have quite a project there. The plastic odor is something that can't be cured entirely. It's part of the early plastic - an unstable compound that's loosing its solvent. I've learned to live with it unless it's really bad. Then the doll goes into a transparent display case. Some have told me that it can be lessened by scrubbing with Fantastic, letting it dry outside, and putting drier sheets inside the doll.
As for the broken foot - is it a clean break? Do the pieces fit together well? If so, you can use a few drops of super glue and hold the pieces together tightly for two minutes. The best thing I've found for filling the fine crack that will still be there is Milliput. Mix the two parts together and roll it into a small crayon. Dip the crayon in water and scribble across the cracks. When it's cured (about 12 hours later) you can sand it perfectly smooth with a fine nail shaping sponge from most beauty supply shops. Finally you'll need an airbrush to paint the leg - making sure you match the exact color of the other leg.
I couldn't see your pictures, for some reason. The download was zipped into a large file that unzipped into text files. It's possible that your files were named with some extension other than jpg or gif and when they were zipped, you mail program thought they were text and zipped them in that format. If you would like to try again, please send only one file per email and make sure you have them saved as jpg files.
Hope this helps a little,
good luck!
Hi Michele I have a terri lee that has a seam coming loose on her neck. What kind of glue can I used to repair it.
Shirley
It depends on the severity of the seam split. If you can push it back together and hold it shut, Super Glue might to the job. Take the doll apart so you're only dealing with the piece that needs repaired.
The trick to using Super Glue is to hold the two pieces together very tightly and very still. Super Glue actually melts plastic a little to form a true bond. If you can almost get it closed with your hands but not hold it tightly enough to let the Super Glue make the bond, try a small cloth-covered vice. Apply the pressure gradually and stop as soon as the seam is truly closed. Too much pressure applied too quickly could crack the piece. Applying heat from a hair drier while tightening the vice might help.
If Super Glue doesn't hold or if you can't even force the two sides of the seam together, then it's time to decide if it's really bad enough to take more drastic measures. This will involve filling the split with plastic filler, sanding, and airbrushing. Generally, unless the split is so wide that it's distracting to the doll's appearance I'd leave it alone. The doll is about 50 years old and the plastic she's made of is from a time when plastic was state-of-the-art technology. These small flaws in the dolls are part of their charm!
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