The
Gebrüder Heubach made this type of pouty face in a number of
different mould numbers. It is very appealing. The original head
has one side of his face badly damaged and the other in fair condition.
I am not certain yet how I might restore it. Someone has repaired
the porcelain loop for stringing using a two-part resin like Milliput
which means if I re-fire it the result will be uncertain (well -
the resin will certainly be destroyed). In addition while I was
cleaning it I noticed a green mark on the base of the neck which
I have to admit in my ignorance I tried uncessfully to remove. In
fact it is a genuine Gebrüder Heubach marking (they were either
red or green) which is not fired paint and thus it would also be
destroyed in the kiln.
In
the meantime I decided to make my first head mould in order to make
a reproduction, which I did, with a lot of advice and assistance
from my teacher Anne Lim. It was very
successful and I have discovered since (having made 2 other head
moulds) that I was very lucky with this first attempt. The original
doll, illustrated in the Heubach book, is shown as a baby with bonnet,
but to me he seems more readily to be a child doll. The straight-legged
toddler body mould (which was poured in porcelain) is intended for
an SFBJ pouty, and seems to suit him very well.
The
shirt and trouser pattern is from the Brown
House Doll pattern range, adapted to fit the body. My partner
thinks the shirt is too 'girly' for him, and I am not sure that
I don't agree. The shoes are made from the blue moleskin trouser
fabric with navy cord trim and cardboard soles, using a German slipper
pattern from Goody Twoshoes workbooks
for doll shoes. The socks are hand knitted in stripes of navy and
red using soft cotton 4-ply which I separated into single strands
to achieve the thickness I wanted. I would not recommend this technique;
wool is plied to give it strength, and using the single strands
was like trying to knit with cobweb.
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