Jamie saves more dollies from the dust bin

Once again my friend Jamie has been saving dollies from the dustbin! But this time it is Dollies times Four! 

She found these sad little dollies on Ebay and decided they needed to be saved. Would you have invited them to live in one of your dollhouses? No, neither would I. But I don't have the wonderful skills of rehabiltation that Jamie does.

You can see that these dollies were loved and survived after many hours of happy play.

 

       

I asked Jamie how she had the patience to work on such small items....the dolls range in size of 2½-3¾". She shared that she just takes her time, and found it best to do a little at a time while also taking a lot of breaks. Jamie finds it relaxing to work on these tiny people, and at the same time it helps her to come up with ideas on how to fix them.

Jamie said the little girl was her biggest challenge because of her small size and her outfit had more components. 

       

YES! It's the same dollie!

Now here are some suggestions Jamie shared that may help you if you are inclined to save some of your dollies from the dustbin. The little boy had broken wires in both legs and was unable to stand properly. Jamie bound each leg with embroidery floss that matched his arms, stabilizing them from being weak. She then used white embroidery floss to make his knee-high socks with green toppers, giving his legs even more stability. Jamie says he won't be able to bend his knees, but at least he can stand. His sister has matching socks with that same method. And here is Jamie's magic....

         

 

Jamie said the rest of the gang was much easier....that means mom and dad....and here they are.

                    

   Papa cleaned up nicely!

Mom is very happy with her new outfit!

Jamie asked me, "Remember  when I said I wasn't  going to make their Tyrolean hats? The joke was on me. I decided I had to finish their outfits with each one wearing one."

 And here's the happy family in their lovely new clothes!

Don't you love Jamie's new creations!!

Jamie's little dolls telling us goodbye 

from the balcony of their Karlheinz Klein home. 

Home Alone....in a 1936 Rich Toys Tudor

This is "The Kent", produced by Rich Toys in 1936. According to Rich Toys Dollhouses 1935-1962, it has all the features which define a group of 1936 Rich dollhouses, including stenciled shrubbery, paper shutters, wooden porch lights, black diamond-paned windows 

and metal reinforcements on the corners and roof. 

"The Kent" is one on the few Rich dollhouses with an opening side door, 

complete with its own roof. 

I had fun with the interior of this little house, adding timbering

 to match the timbering on the exterior of the house. 

 The first floor exterior doesn't have timbering, but my interior does....owner's prerogative!

  The floors were an off-white....I used a thin wash of brown acrylic, 

and then inked in floorboards. 

A lot of the furniture is Barton Tudor....one of my favorites.

This is the home of Francis and Catherine Cavendish 

and their daughters Marian and Bridget.  

I hope the person who made the lovely clothes for Catherine and Francis 

sees them here and knows they found the perfect home!

"Catherine, are you positive it will be OK for Marian and Bridget to be home alone?"

"Gee whiz, Pops, of course it will. Duh!"

"Marian and Bridget, your dinner is in the casserole on the table. 

We will be home late....to bed early and NO shenanigans!" 

"Come, my lovely Catherine, 

I've ordered a carriage to take us to the ball."

"I hope my American Express wasn't maxed out. 

Those Yankees can be difficult at times."

"Wonder what mother left us for dinner?"

"GRUEL!"

"I think this cinnamon cake will make a much better dinner!"

"If I jump anymore, I will throw up! Let's go "mountain climbing"!"

 

"I shinnied up the post, you can at least stretch higher."

"Wonder what mon keeps in these jars?"

"Our little angels!"

This is one of my favorite dollhouses. 

With just four rooms, it was easy to furnish.

I tried to make the furniture as era appropriate as possible.

A Tudor house with running water!

Must add a chamber pot.

Polar bear rug?

Time-traveling dolls....

Time travelers in the toy box also!

 

Some of the furniture identified: 

A small Biedermeier dresser and a Triang Queen Anne wing chair with foot stool. 

You can see a complete collection of this lovely Queen Anne furniture 

on Zoe Handy's Truly Madly Tiny blog. 

Zoe Handy is the editor of Dolls' Houses Past and Present, a great E-mag venue 

for information on dollhouses and dollhouse furniture world wide. 

If you are not familiar with it, check it out....free to join! 

This sofa was unfinished when I purchased it on Ebay.  The design with the nail head tacks, indicting a tufted seat, would put it being produced mid 1920-30s....possibly made in Germany. 

There is a sticker underneath indicating 

it was sold at The White House in San Francisco.

 

The beds are German, circa 1910-20.

The dark stain on these Barton Tudor pieces indicates they are from 

the earlier period of production. 

Barton produced dolls house furniture from 1945 through 1984. 

This information is from Marion Osborne's Bartons "Model Homes":

"the dying process was a nasty job, trying to get the antique look

 and Bartons experimented with various dyes to get the effect.

 Originally they had girls dipping each item into a mixture of dark oak naptha stain,

 which took ages to dry and got everywhere. 

So it's probably a case of not working to exact amounts each time, 

or variations to the dye itself and the result is the difference in colour."

 

Three fireplaces in this Tudor home....far left is Barton Tudor.

It took me a long time to find a stove from the right period that was also the right size....but a great excuse to surf Ebay!  The listing noted that it was purchased in England in 1992 but there is no maker's mark.  The sink is an English production....unsure of who produced it. 

Hope you enjoyed the trip through one of my favorite little houses!

A Keystone of Boston dollhouse from 1938-39

Say hello to the Jurgensons....

Jerry, Janice and their little daughter Jezebel.

This is their home, a two story, five room house

with side chimney and attached kitchen.

It was manufactured by Keystone of Boston 

and appeared in their catalog of 1938-39. 

Jerry and Janice saw it, liked it and ordered it immediately.

Janice insisted I wallpaper every room, 

not my favorite thing to do.

         Here we find Jerry and Janice sitting quietly in the living room.

Pick one:

1) not on speaking terms.

2) waiting for the other one to fix dinner.

3) hoping the other one will tend to the demanding  Jezebel upstairs. 

4) stoned.

No one has set the table for dinner! Janice must think that is a job for me. 
But she is very happy with her modern dining room furniture.

I hate cooking. (That's me talking, but I think Janice must feel the same.)

She needs to figure out a way to get out of cooking. 

(I did, but that's my secret.)

Hopefully he lifted the lid. At least the blinds are shut.

HELP! I'm stuck in a bamboo prison! 

WAAAH! Get me out of here!

Often Janice sits in front of her mirror and thinks

"Beauty is in more than the eye of the beholder."

 Yes, this is the original color of the modern dining room set.

The lace curtain was decoration on a dress I bought in 1967. 

Anyone else a hoarder?

The appliances and table and chairs set are Strombecker. 
It seems like I use this floor paper in all of my houses.

 Some little critters found the floors in this house

to be tasty, so the floors had to be covered. 

Nothing like a pink and blue bedroom for adults. 
The spreads, pillows and curtain 
all came from different Ebay sellers. 

I was not feeling crafty when I set up this house. 

More Strombecker furniture in the bath. 

The first, and probably the last, time I attempt to make a shade. 

Hung it anyway.

I tried very hard not to over-decorate. 

More successful this time!

One of the unique features of this dollhouse

 is the side chimney.

 As far as I am aware, this is 

the only Keystone house with a side chimney.

This is the only cupola appearing on a Keystone dollhouse 

until Keystone produced a dollhouse 

sold exclusively at FAO Schwarz in the 1960s. 

It was modeled after their largest dollhouse, #510, produced in 1955.

The kitchen window has a curtain printed on the interior side. Keystone printed shades on the interior sides of their earlier 1935 dollhouses. 

This dollhouse (lower right) was shown
 in Keystone's 1938-39 catalog.

 I am assuming it came in two different color designs....

red roof with white quoins and the combination

 on mine, green roof with red quions. 

This is a nice little Keystone of Boston five-room dollhouse. 

It came from the collection of Geraldine Scott.

 The Strombecker chairs, sofa and end tables were introduced in 1942, while the grandfather clock as early as 1934. The fireplace is a remodeled Nancy Forbes, the coffee table, missing the mirrored top, is also Nancy Forbes circa 1940, and the lamps are Dolly Dear.

Strombecker produced this Modern Colonial Dining Room  in 1938.

This style kitchen table and chairs set was produced by Strombecker as early as 1933. The three appliances were part of the New Modern Furniture sold in 1938.

The bedroom set was sold by Strombecker starting in 1942. The lamps

 are Dolly Dear and the "bamboo prison" is a Japanese import.

Strombecker introduced the bath set in 1942. The clothes hamper is Nancy Forbes.

                                                

The Jurgenson adults are small scale German Caco dolls produced probably in 1950-60s. Jezebel is a larger scale Caco and produced later when the dolls still had metal feet. The best information on Caco dolls can be found on https://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/.

Now this post is ending and we must bid adieu to the Jurgensons. 

Wave goodbye to Jezebel!