Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Doll-A-Day 2018 #253: Turtle Mark Baby

  We had a really busy day today. I am so tired! The good news is that my poor Monte Carlo,which was given to me by my dad,has been hauled away to be possibly repaired. The thing eats gas like crazy,but has a wonderful heater and air conditioner,and only a little over 80,000 miles on the odometer. And most people think it looks pretty sharp too. The other good news is, I thought of a great present for Lori. I got the supplies to make it tonight,even though my butt was dragging by the time I got to go get them. I'll show you the finished product when I get it finished. The bad news is we got a parking ticket,right here on our own street, in front of our house. I told Ken he parked too close to the turn in to our street. I know he was trying to put the van out of the way,and the other cars too,so that they weren't in the way when they came to get the Monte Carlo. But Ken,when will you ever learn to listen to me?
  Today's doll is another cute baby.


She's a Turtlemark doll.



Turtle Mark is the American name for the German company Rheinische Gummi. They are mostly known for their celluloid dolls.


UPDATE: Here's a picture I found a while back. There is this doll, at the top left and right.




The wording, in German here, translates to: Turtle- Dolls really to love!

This doll is about 18 inches tall.


Ok, here's the thing about this doll. I got her in an auction lot. I didn't buy her on purpose. Before I took these pictures I thought she was kind of cute, BUT. I was going to get rid of her because she's in such bad shape. Her hair is crispy.

 


I hadn't even tried to comb it before I took the pictures yesterday. She has damage to her face paint.


The big circle is a sunspot.
She is missing eyelashes and her eyes stuck. 
 

  When I was trying to clean her face and eyelids, her left eye wouldn't open, and her right eye wouldn't close. I finally got the right eye to close so I could clean her eyelid, and then it wouldn't open again! The left eye was stuck closed, and she lost a good few eyelashes while I was trying to open it! I finally got them both open, and they work sometimes now.
 

But now she has paper towel fibers in her eyelashes! (Those paper towels are the worst. I was cleaning the new car the other day, and the paper towels left more fiber on the dashboard than there was dust to begin with!)
  But the worst part was that her body is a horrible dirty mess.

Aaaaaaand her eye is stuck again!
It has water marks and dirt. It's disgusting. I haven't tried to clean her. She has such thick, solid cotton stuffing that I think I'd have to remove it all and wash her and restuff her with something else, which wouldn't have the nice weight she has now. I was just going to get rid of her, but I didn't have the heart to throw her away, and who would want her like she is?


She didn't even have any clothes. I had to figure out something to photograph her in to feature her on Doll-A-Day. I wanted to though, because she is cute, has her own charm, and she's not something you see often. So I sorted out this vintage real baby dress.



Well, she turned out to be so cute, and have such personality and amazing eyes.

 




Now I'm in love! What do I do?! The kid needs cleaned.





She has also now appropriated this baby dress as her own! I can't just reclaim my dress! It looks too good on her!


So anyway, she has the soft, stuffed body, which is a thick cotton fabric. It's almost like a thin canvas. And of course, she has vinyl arms legs, and head.

Cute little baby toes.


Her beautiful, realistic eyes are sleep eyes.



She must be half asleep...
  If you Google Turtle Mark, or Reinische dolls you'll see a lot of dolls with striking blue eyes and gorgeous, warm brown eyes. I only saw one doll that looked like this one though. Her hair was much longer, down on her shoulders. That could be because my doll has dry, crispy hair,(kind of like Chatty Baby or Thumbelina),that breaks off when it's combed. The doll was on Ebay and the seller didn't know her name either. She had also been redressed, so I don't know what she originally came dressed in. From the looks of my doll, and the picture on the box shown in the update above, I would guess her as a 60's or early 70's doll.
That's today's doll.



  See you tomorrow for another one. 

8 comments:

  1. Again, worth the effort to fix up. Is she the type that can be put in a pillowcase and then tossed in the washing machine? If so then maybe you could try that.

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  2. I've cleaned dolls like this before. Wash her hair gently with baby shampoo. Use an old, clean toothbrush and liquid dish soap to clean her face, ears, fingers & toes. The toothbrush gets into the crevices well. I use an old Dobie pad (teflon-safe dish scrubbing sponge) to clean arms, legs and vinyl bodies. Then fill a sink or dishpan with warm, soapy water - can use laundry detergent or dish soap. Submerge her body in the water and using your hands, squeeze and rub the cloth part. May have to drain the water and do this several times. You can let her soak too, but keep her head out of the water so her eyes don't get damaged. Then rinse well and squeeze & towel her dry as much as you can. Her stuffing will hold water so I hang them from a plastic clothes hanger over the tub. Only problem is as water drains, it will most likely leave a brownish ring but she will be clean. She's too cute to toss.

    Teresa F.

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  3. Oh my goodness, she is adorable! She has such an expressive face. Please try to clean her up. I love the photos of her in the sunlight. She just needs a bit of love.

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  4. I'd say to fix her up...a nice project for the coming winter months perhaps? She is cute and I think you sound like you've decided that she's not going anywhere so you might as well give her a good clean up and be done with it!! :)
    x

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  5. Replies
    1. Not some of my best, so thank you very much!

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  6. I found one like her today. I am having a hard time finding much information non her also

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    Replies
    1. I did find something! I have added the picture and what info there is in the post here, so have another look.

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Thanks in advance for your comments.