A Christmas Post From the Past

Taken from my old blog.  December 2015

December has been an eventful month!  With all the gift buying & decorating, it has been quite busy.
My sweet hubby bought me a little Polly Shorrock wooden doll for an early Christmas present.   She was still sealed in the package with everything to make her a dress and unders, as well as elastic for stringing her together. She dates from around 1960 & everything looked brand new except where the parts were taped to the card in the package, had turned yellow with age. Luckily the marks were not too deep and sanded off easily.

Here she is all finished.  The face was already painted as well as the hair, but I did embellish the hair with tiny curls and touched up her eyebrows a bit.   I sanded the cup-shaped hands and also shaped the feet and painted on slippers and socks.  I gave her an aged look because the wood looked too new.

If you look at the joints, you will see that I did not use the elastic to string her together.  Instead I went to the hardware store about bought the smallest eye-bolts I could find.  Some of the pre-drilled holes were not even so I filled them with putty.   I had to put her together differently anyway.  I used a small nail to carefully make pilot holes for the screw ends.  I had to plan out the direction of each little circle so the limbs would hang in the right way.  I also had to open four of the circles so I could slip on the others to attach them.  Then I carefully closed the circles with needle-nose pliers.  It may sound hard, but it really wasn’t.  These joints will last almost forever.
I named her Tess and love her.   A sweet friend has made her a dress and we are waiting for it’s arrival.
Last week, I was looking at one of the larger 12 inch Polly Shorrock dolls on ebay.   I have tried many times over the years to get one, but always got outbid.  This time, I had some help bidding.   At the end of the auction I won!   She is an extra special gift.   She arrived yesterday afternoon (on Sunday!).  We were so surprised to get a package on a Sunday.  Inside was my dream Polly Shorrock doll!   She is even prettier in person. There is something so special about wooden dolls.  They are among my favorites.   I decided to name her Hazel.

Doesn’t she have a sweet face?   She has a wooden bun on the back of her head, with some simple carving on it.    She came in some old clothes that are soaking.  The same friend who made a dress for Tess has also made one for Hazel.

Here are Hazel and Tess side by side.   I’m so glad I used the metal eye bolts for Tess.  Hazel was jointed the exact way many years ago.  I’m thrilled to have them both!
I will add new photos when their pretty dresses arrive.
I hope this entire month has been wonderful for all of you out there in Blogland.   All of us have so much to be thankful for, especially for the most precious gift of Jesus.   As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord…..and say Merry Christmas!

Blessings to one and all!