GOOD NEWS! Rubie is now doing restoration seminars!
The doll restoration seminars are to learn professional, museum quality doll restoration.
If you are looking for a doll repair and restoration seminar, Rubie is the only one I refer to because I know her work, her honestly and expertise.
I do NOT recommend anyone else for learning— there are plenty out there advertising seminars, be sure to ask EXACTLY WHAT THEY GUARANTEE YOU WILL FINISH IN CLASS. Some say you will finish certain things when in fact they have short hours and if you are slow you won’t get to do half what they advertise. Be sure to ask a potential teacher if they guarantee you will take home FINISHED DOLLS in a given amount. If they say ” it depends” it means that if you aren’t fast enough, too bad, they won’t extend the hours of class time to allow you to finish with the proper supervision.
When I gave seminars we would work from 10-12 hours a day– and sometimes longer– to be sure each student had completely finished work to take home, so I knew they could do it on their own– and so did they. Telling you you can “go home and finish them” is not what you are paying thousands of dollars for. That time you pay for should be dedicated to you! Don’t be fooled by photos of luxurious “free” accommodations— remember if you just want that, you could probably have more fun on a cruise that would cost you half as much! Rubie will also furnish you a bed and meals to a point but you will be getting training for your money, not a meal or fancy room. Some places furnish accomodations outside the house so you will be completely out of the house as soon as you have had dinner– not bugging the “teacher” with questions after she is done with you for the day. The money you pay for a seminar should go towards your class time and nothing else. If you don’t learn what you came to learn, you have wasted your time and money.
Nancy Ring, at http://www.nancysdollrestoration.com/ — Specializes in composition dolls, but also does fine work on your hard plastic and vinyl dolls. I don’t think she is taking in work at this time.
On this page you see a Toni doll restored by me, JoAnn Morgan. Go to Rubie’s site http://forgetmenotdollrepair.com/ to view dolls restored by her,you can see a samples of her work.
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- Do invisible bisque and china repair, including rebuilding shoulder plates and fill in missing pieces.* (If you take the full seminar)
- Fully restore composition dolls, from just repairing cracks to completely stripping them to bare composition and making them like new.
- Completely restore hard plastic dolls.(See before and after picture of the Toni Doll) Restring dolls. Set sleep and stationery eyes Do iris transplants to restore crazed eyes in old composition dolls.
- How to clean dolls without damaging them.
- Repair leather bodies.
- Mend cloth bodies.
- Add colors to cheeks.
- Minimize crazing with craze control
- Rebuild fingers, toes and other parts including entire feet
- And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
This is CAREER TRAINING, something you can make a living at. If you are seriously interested, you may call or email Rubie for a free complete information packet.The packet will include information on what you need to bring, about accommodations,and a sample contract.The phone number is 214-403-7077.
You can email Rubie at
Seminars are scheduled at the convenience of the students.
Below are a lot of large, clear photos so you can see the details of the repairs, please wait for them to load and then scroll down to see before and after shots of dolls restored by the seminar instructor, JoAnn Morgan.
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This very rare doll, a KPM, was brought to me for restoration.Even though she was badly damaged, she still has considerable value because she is not only rare but this one is quite a large size. Someone had rebuilt the shoulder plate, and filled in broken areas, with a material that resembled bread dough that had hardened. It had then been painted over with paint in strange colors, though I stripped off most of it you can still see some of it in these “before” shots. I had to chip away all this strange material and rebuild the shoulder plate in front and then refill all the cracks and holes front and back.When the owner of this doll passed away, her collection was sold at auction, and any doll that had restoration work done was so tagged. This doll sold as a restored doll for nearly $1,100. She was a nice large size, about 22″. |
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This very rare doll, a KPM, was brought to me for restoration.Even though she was badly damaged, she still has considerable value because she is not only rare but this one is quite a large size. Someone had rebuilt the shoulder plate, and filled in broken areas, with a material that resembled bread dough that had hardened. It had then been painted over with paint in strange colors, though I stripped off most of it you can still see some of it in these “before” shots. I had to chip away all this strange material and rebuild the shoulder plate in front and then refill all the cracks and holes front and back.
Below you see photos of an 18″ French Fashion doll that was brought to me for repair. As you can see , the front of her face had been broken off and glued back on. I soaked it apart and took photos of it before I put it back together and did an invisible repair.
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Seminar Page 3
During the seminar you will actually restore several dolls from start to finish.
The Toni doll pictured on page one of our seminar information , and the dolls shown on page two of Seminars, were all restored by JoAnn Morgan the instructor. The dolls on,shown below in various stages of repairs, are dolls actually restored in class by a student. There are a number of pictures showing the progress of the work. Pictured are before and after pictures of actual work done by a student during a seminar.
The before pictures show the dolls/heads as they appeared when brought to class. The second photos are of the dolls in the second stage of repair. The last photos show the finished dolls after the restoration is complete.
Please note that the work shown on page three is actual student work.
Stages of a seminar repair:
Margarette, a pre-1920’s composition doll brought to the seminar by a student:
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| Margarette before | Margarette before close up of head |
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| Margaret stage 2 | Margaret fully restored |
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| China doll’s head before repair, shoulder plate missing | China doll’s head after shoulder plate rebuilt and finished |
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| Stage two of reconstruction |
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| Group of dolls at the beginning of seminar | Group of dolls after student reconstruction completed |
