RivkahRosenfeld

Becky was inspired by a lady from Jerusalem.

She had approached me with a very important task:

restore her childhood baby doll.

It's easy to see why she has been so well loved!

Restoration

To restore the doll, I took the original cloth body apart and traced around it to redraw the pattern on paper. Much of it was decrepit, so there was guesswork and room for 'originality.' It is a very interesting pattern, and not easy to assemble. At one point when I was sewing the new body, I got scared that I would not be able to remember what to do again. I had to use the old pattern and match up needle holes in order to solve the "puzzle!" Here's a peek at what I was working with:

I fell in love with this doll. Therefore, I decided to make a new baby. While I already had the antique body pattern, I needed to recreate the whole doll in cloth- even the vinyl parts and the baby-shaped head. I chose to work in felt. The result: an exact duplicate.

I invented a special "joint" from paperclay so the cloth counterparts could be "inserted" into the body, like the original. They are actually held in place with wire. See how they actually weight the arms and legs down? Just like the real McCoy!

Last but not least, Becky's face was painted in Van Gogh oil paint. I took the liberty to paint her in my own way- antique style! And what a pleasure it is to paint in oil...it takes a long time to dry, but the result is beautiful and worth the wait.

Believe it or not, I could swear that I can't draw! Somehow the oil paint feels like magic... and my brush is a wand.

SIDE VIEW See the sweet curls created with a generous amount of paint!

Pattern

Would you like to create a Becky of your own? She is a treasure of a doll.

Check out http://www.dollstreetdreamers.com to register.

BECKY