Isabella Van Rensselaer

Sometimes I find an antique doll which I can’t resist. When I saw this wax over paper mache antique doll with big, bright blue glass eyes, I knew she had to be mine. She was missing an arm, but she had wooden legs, turned on a lathe. Her wooden body seemed unusual. All the other wax-over paper mache dolls that I had seen had cloth bodies. Plus, the shape of her body reminded me a lot of Hitty’s. Lucky for me, I won the ebay auction and put her aside until I had time to restore her.

Her big, blue eyes and curly brown hair reminded me of eight-year-old Isabella Van Rensselaer, one of Hitty’s owners in the book, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years.

[Isabella] had such pink cheeks and bright eyes and thick chestnut curls that I was enchanted. Her clothes, too, were handsomer than any other child’s I had ever seen…

In the book, Miss Pinch found Hitty in the attic of a house on Washington Square in New York City. This was in 1867, two years after the Civil War. The dressmaker had come to stay with the Van Rensselaer family in order to sew for them. Miss Pinch decided to dress Hitty in fashionable clothing to show off her skills. When Isabella found Hitty in Miss Pinch’s room, the young girl persuaded her father to purchase Hitty. Later that year, Isabella and her father encountered Mr. Charles Dickens on a cold night in December. This scene was the inspiration for my book, A Tale of Two Hittys (read a sample).

My antique doll was a little larger than Hitty at 8” tall. She arrived in a sorry state. Someone had hot-glued her arm and legs onto her body. Hot glue also attached the sparse mohair wig to her head. Both of the legs and the body appeared to be carved from pine, but the arm and head were made of paper mache composition. All of her parts had been dipped with plaster gesso and painted. The head had a covering of dirty wax, but the other body parts were sealed with a layer of yellowed shellac.

I carefully peeled off the dried glue and removed her original knit socks and black leather shoes. It is lucky the shoes were such a tight fit, or she would have lost them a long time ago. I removed the wig in order to clean the head. The top of the head had holes and a wire holding it onto the wooden body. I decided to leave this intact, because I didn’t want to risk damaging the head by removing it. I started cleaning the surface of her head with distilled water and a Q-tip, but soon realized that removing the dirty wax would require something stronger.

Wax can be difficult to remove completely. I placed a damp cloth over the face, then heated it carefully with a craft embossing tool (made to emboss fabric). I tried to wipe off the wax but ended up having to scrape off the wax with my fingernail while it was still warm. Even that didn’t completely remove everything. I tried applying a little bit of mineral spirts with a Q-tip to a spot on the back of her head (which would be covered by the wig). The mineral spirits removed the wax and didn’t remove any of her skin color! I suspect that’s because the color was actually tinted gesso. I finished removing the rest of the wax from her head with mineral spirits.

*Removing the wax with a heated craft tool and a damp cloth*

The doll had some damage to her nose and mouth that needed repair. To fix it, I used a tiny bit of Apoxi-Sculpt, the same material I used to repair other dolls (see Georgina’s Makeover and Restoring Kitty). I also created a new arm from Apoxi-Sculpt. It had to match the size and shape of the left arm, but in mirror image. While the new arm was drying overnight, I continued to work on her other parts.

The left arm and leg had damaged areas where the gesso had flaked off. I filled all of these areas with Apoxi-Scuplt. After it dried, I sanded all the limbs to prepare them for a new layer of gesso. The original gesso must have had a lot of gypsum in it, because it sanded beautifully. I did not touch any of the finish on her wooden body. Although there were a few areas where the gesso had come off, I left them alone to show the doll’s history and age.

*Isabella after repairs were made with Apoxi-Sculpt*

PAINTING THE DOLL

Instead of trying to match the current color of the face, and risk having it look patchy, I decided to repaint everything. I covered the limbs and head with two layers of acylic gesso. After it dried, I sanded it lightly with steel wool. I decided to use oil paints for her. Oil paints take longer to dry, but they are thinner and more appropriate for an antique doll. This would be my first time using oil paints on a doll!

*Isabella primed with gesso and ready for painting*

I purchased a set of inexpensive oil paints from Hobby Lobby. The colors I used for her skin-tone were Titanium White, Yellow Medium and Scarlet. It took three thin layers to cover up the white gesso with her new skin tone. Although it took over a week to fully dry, I was happy with the oil paints and plan to use them again on dolls in the future.

I used a bit of Black and Burnt Umber thinned with mineral spirits for her eyebrows and eyelashes. Her cheeks and lips were painted with a coral color mixed from Titanium White, Yellow Medium and Scarlet. I deliberately made the skin a bit too pink, to compensate for the yellowish tint of shellac, which would be added in the final top coat. When all her paint had dried, I applied a sealer of clear Minwax Polycrylic Utra Flat.

*Painting finished and ready for antiquing*

Antiquing came next: my goal was to match the look of her body. I mixed “Americana Gel Stains – Oak” craft paint with a little bit of yellow acrylic paint and matte medium. I brushed the stain over a small area. Within a few seconds, I wiped it off with a cotton rag. I did this over all the painted parts. After the antiquing coat dried, I applied another layer of clear Minwax Polycrylic.

For the final top coat, I decided to use shellac for its authentic look and glossy sheen. The trick with using shellac is to dilute it 50/50 with denatured alcohol. That makes it go on a lot smoother. Frequent stirring is also necessary. I applied two layers of shellac to all her parts using a disposable foam brush. Now she was ready for stringing.

STRINGING THE DOLL

I used 1/4” diameter elastic cord for stringing. Toothpicks glued into the hole acted as reinforcement to keep the elastic in place. I pegged one arm and one leg with Aleene’s Tacky Glue and allowed that to dry. Then I broke off the toothpicks and cut off the extra cord with a craft knife.

*Stringing Isabella with pegged elastic cord*

I pulled the elastic tight and pegged the elastic on the other side of the body. After all the glue had dried, I finished off any rough edges with a needle file. Then I made her a necklace from coral-colored glass seed beads to cover up the gap between her head and neck. She was starting to look like a doll again!

Of course, I kept her original socks and black leather slippers. The socks looked better after soaking them in a little Oxi-Clean.

NEW WIG AND CLOTHING

Because the old wig was covered in hot glue, I could not salvage it. Instead, I found some new mohair in a similar color. The mohair’s natural curl works well for small dolls. I sewed strips of mohair together to make wefts of hair. Then I attached the wefts to a felt base. An upswept hair style looked most becoming on her. I made her a new outfit, and now she is all ready for her dancing lesson at Monsieur Pettoe’s salon across Washington Square in New York City.

Here she is with my Hitty Myrtle, designed by Judy Brown for “Collectible Concepts Corp.” in 1998 and repainted by me. I love the way Isabella turned out and think it’s very appropriate that she is made from wood, just like the real Hitty!

*Isabella and Hitty Myrtle practice dancing*

Monsieur Pettoe’s ballroom with its polished floor, the square piano and violin playing while all the feet wove in and out in the intricate steps of the lately imported dances from Paris, filled me with amazement. Isabella usually left me with Annie, her mother’s maid, who brought us here each Friday, but once I remember she set me up on top of the piano. I have never forgotten how it felt to have the music going on directly under me. I seemed to be part of it and as I watched the children waltzing I determined that I, too, would acquire this graceful new accomplishment. But it was not so easy to do as to see, I discovered that night when I practiced in the privacy of the nursery after everyone was in bed. My spirit was willing enough but my pegs were not. It was the old difficulty of my legs’ being each in one piece and not made to move separately. So though I could remember the music of the “Roses and Mignonette” waltz they had played that afternoon, and though I knew the steps my feet ought to take, still I was powerless to lift them in more than a clumsy thump or two.