Before I begin this post, I'd like to mention that some dumb bimbo keeps posting links to sex sites on my posts. She is not a follower that I know of, but if she happens to read this, she can just knock her nonsense off. I am a straight-leaning asexual female and thus have no use for nasty online pictures, and I doubt any men see my blog so they won't come hunting either. Furthermore, spam posts die in limbo, because I moderate every comment that comes through. So my dear, if you're reading this, give your silly behavior up. I know I'm not the only one to fall victim to this, by the way. Debbie Behan Garrett had to disable commenting on her blog due to too much spam, which I hate because I love Miss Debbie's blog. Oh sure, I can still read her posts, but it's nice to tell her every now and then that I appreciate her blog and its historical and cultural value.
Okay, now that I've said what I feel needs to be said, let's readdress one of my old bisque friends. Despite the title of my post Elfriede is not the queen of my dollies, but with her jaunty black ribbon she maintains an edge of class not often seen by a doll so old. Today I'll be able to give her back a bit more of her dignity, in the form of a jerry-rigged pate and a wig. For a refresher, here's Elfriede, whom I semi-assembled earlier in the month...
...here are her wig...
...and her pate, formerly known as a Styrofoam ball. It has been cut a lot and squashed a little to fit Elfriede's head, and it's held on with a very light skim of tacky glue.
Again, I promise that the glue is water-soluable. Getting the pate to fit onto her head was the hardest part, as I didn't want to use too much glue, the way I did when I attached her body to her head. I also was afraid that I'd trim too much and make the pate too small, or not trim enough and make it too big. Indeed, the pate is a little bit big around the front, but it should do for now. The back doesn't fit very well, but that's actually a good thing as I can pry the Styrofoam off if need be.
Mama jokingly called her "Pope Elfriede" because the pate looks a little like the skullcap that members of the Catholic clergy wear (popes wear white ones). To me "Pope Elfriede" sounds like a Warholian reference, as one of Andy Warhol's nutty friends went by the nickname "Pope Ondine." Now the wig. The wig is not really what I had in mind for Elfriede, but I love the simple style and the lack of bows and frippery. Usually I'd want a bow on the wig, but since Elfriede already has a scarf I thought another bow would be superfluous. According to the eBay listing the color is dark brown, and there's a single braid running across the right forehead.
The rest of it hangs in loose curls, like so.
The wig came from China, which filled me with trepidation due to the coronavirus being such a problem, and due to customs regulations being tight because of the aforementioned virus. Indeed, the wait was a bit lengthier than I'm used to when I order from China, but to misquote my childhood pediatrician, "Wig here. Everything be okey-dokey." Replace "wig" with "baby" and you have the exact quote that he said to my dad on the day my sister was born (and come to think of it, he said that to Daddy when I was born too, LOL). Okay, the moment of truth: did I get the right size (it's a size 7)?
Well, I had to tug on the front edge a little to get the hairline low enough, but thank God, this time I measured the doll's head correctly. Mabel's new wig is a bit too big and likes to slide down over her eyes, even though I measured her head and glued her wig in place. Thus getting the size correct this time is kind of a big deal for me. In Elfriede's case I did it right, and the color choice turned out to be a wise one as well. See how well her wig matches her eyebrows?
I admit that I did that on purpose, LOL. Dark eyebrows mean dark hair.
I have a dress coming for Elfriede, but it's not here yet and I'm not even sure if it'll fit. It won't be a huge travesty if it doesn't fit since some other doll can probably wear it...but I want it to fit Elfriede!!! The measurements all match up, so surely the dress will work out! I won't know for at least another week, but I'm at least glad that Elfriede is wigged. Now I...need to find her some arms, actually! Jeez, no one ever said piecemealing an old doll together was easy, but Elfriede is at least in better shape than Eva is. Nope, no body for Eva yet, but I'm not giving up!
See y'all soon,
RagingMoon1987
Oh man I keep getting the porn bots too and they absolutely crack me up. One of them ws all "your pants, they annoy me, take them off" and I absolutely lost it laughing. I wonder if they trawl and find the words "body" and "bust" or something and it sets them on us doll people. It's bloody irritating though, but i'm pretty sure they're actually robots.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think you're right. Telling a bot to go screw itself won't do an iota of good, but I had to vent. It makes sense that said bots would look for keywords (I use the term "boobies" a lot) to pick their targets. LOL, I've got to admit that your bot's message is funny, though!
DeleteI'm upset about Debbie having to turn off comments, too! The best part of the online dollyverse is talking to each other, even if it is seldom and brief!
ReplyDeleteI agree. That was the one pitfall about the doll magazines I used to get. Knowing other collectors were out there was great, but not being able to talk to them stunk. Poor Miss Debbie, I hope she can figure out some sort of alternative solution!
DeleteI have had that problem a couple of times lately too. At least one of them was pretty disgusting. I don't think mine were robots,because of what they said, and they didn't leave links. At least, as far as i know. i couldn't bring myself to read the messages in their entirety. I deleted them.
ReplyDeleteI just got the one that Monkfish referred to. That one was admittedly funny, but it sure as heck won't make me click on the link, especially if/when I'm at work!
DeleteI had to go to moderating all my comments too because last year I had loads of porn links in my comments. I've not had so many lately, I guess they just got bored with me. I wondered too if it was to do with the fact that as doll collectors we'll mention body parts and nudity/naked dolls!
ReplyDeleteElfriede looks good with her new wig, and as you say, it matches her eyebrows perfectly. I like her little teeth. Hopefully you'll be able to find her some arms soon or how on earth is the poor girl going to be able to style her hair ;)
Hugs x
LOL, Elfriede doesn't have any teeth, actually! She has an open mouth and a hollow head, and the counterweight on her eye mechanism is visible through her open mouth. I need to find some way to hide that, and if I find any arms for her I'll let y'all know. So glad you like her wig!
DeleteMaybe if I don't acknowledge the bots they'll leave me alone too! Yeah, I guess the folks running those bots look for keywords or certain pictures. That would make sense.
Oh my goodness poor girl, I thought they were little teeth she had there. I suppose she doesn't really need any teeth if she hasn't any arms to get food up to her mouth, poor thing!!!! ;)
DeleteLOL, you're not the only one who thinks she's got teeth! Lots of my friends on FB have talked about "how cute her teeth are," LOL.
DeleteI'm sure Elfriede is feeling better with hair. You can always make some tubes and put filling in them to make "arms" if her new dress fits. Can't wait to see how the dress works out for her.
ReplyDeleteOh, Elfriede does have arms of sorts, in the form of leather tubes that attach to her shoulders. I'm just hoping for bisque lower arms so she'll be a little more authentic to her time. Cross your fingers on that dress; it's not here yet so I can't tell how it's gonna work!
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