Mad Doll Doctor

I am off work today and in the mood to do something tedious and annoying. Not really, but it has to be done, so today I’m going to put the rocker eyes that I built, into the dolly’s head.

I begin by gathering my supplies; plaster of paris, a bowl of water, a tiny spoon–a baby spoon works well, or for very tiny bisque heads, you can use one of those smoothy-type drinking straws with the flared ends. You’ll also need a disposable bowl–a cottage cheese type container works well, a small amount of mineral oil, a paint brush and towels, some napkins or paper towels, a steak knife.

Begin by positioning the bisque head between two towels so that it won’t roll away. Then mix the plaster in the disposable bowl. Mix three parts plaster to one part water. Set it aside until it is the right consistency–like a very thick milkshake, a DQ Blizzard consistency. Wipe off the spoon you used to stir the plaster with a paper towel before it dries, or it will be harden and become impossible to remove. And unless you are looking forward to tearing out your plumbing pipes, do not allow any plaster to go down your drain.

Now dip your paint brush into the water and wet the area inside the doll’s head where you will be applying the plaster blops. Next use the paint brush to apply a small amount of mineral oil to the outer sides of the glass eyeballs, this will keep the plaster from sticking to the glass eye and allow the eyes to rock more smoothly. Position the eyes in the head, with the weight facing downward and contacting the cork. If you were beneath the doll’s face you would see that her eyes are open in this position.

Once the plaster is thickened enough, take a spoonful and let it flow down a bit, lava-like beside the outer side of the eye. It should not run out the eyeholes. If this happens, your plaster is too thin and needs to sit longer. You will get the hang of this after doing it a few times and you’ll know exactly what the right consistency looks like. In the meantime you may have to clean the plaster mess out of the doll’s head, and start all over…practice makes perfect.

Once you have poured both sides to your satisfaction, place a knife or other utensil (I find that a steak knife works very well) under the bridge part of the rocker (area between the eyes). *Here is a highly technical diagram which you might find helpful, and no, I never worked for NASA.

With the knife in place, the eyes should lift ever so slightly, this will allow them to open and close with ease later. If the eyes lift too much slide the knife forward a bit. The slight lifting will keep the eyes from setting too tightly causing them to NOT open and close smoothly.

Now I leave the room, go check your emails, paint your toenails or rearrange your collection of rare movie posters.

This will keep you from getting overly antsy and testing the rocker too soon. In about ten minutes you can return, look at the plaster left in the bowl to see if it’s drying. It should feel like very hard ice cream…you can still push it down, but it’s very stiff. Now remove the steak knife and try pulling back the eye weight a bit, does it move without any cracking to the drying plaster? If it does, very gently keep working the stem until the weight is standing up, if you could see the doll’s face in this position, the eyes would now be closed.

Actually, now is a good time to carefully lift the head and take a look at the doll’s face to make sure the eyes are set right. If all seems well, put the head back down, leaving the weight stem standing straight up, and go away again. I return every so often and move the rocker up and down, just to make sure it isn’t freezing up. About thirty minutes from first pouring the plaster (depending on the thickness of your plaster, general humidity, etc) you should be able to turn the face upright and the eyes should open and close freely. Now you can use a clean wet paint brush to clean up any plaster on the lashes or face. I generally check back several times over the next few hours and test the eyes. But then I’m a little OCD.