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Topper Towers - Dawn's Virtual Apartment Building Online INFO: Restoring Dawn Dolls NEW! Dawn & Her Drive-in
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For many years I have thought about how much I loved a few select
childhood toys (namely my Dawn dolls). I can still remember the thrill of
opening the little cardboard box and pulling the cellophane off her
hair!
Top of Page - BACK to Collection - Home The Ultimate Maureen Transformation Here is some info from the newsgroup for restoring Dawn dolls: GENERAL CLEANING OF VINYL & HAIR: I would recommend Formula 2001, an automotive vinyl Protestant. I use it all the time in my cleaning and restoring of vinyl dolls like Dawn and Barbie. Since it is made specifically to condition vinyl and plastic, it should work on your colorforms as well. Just make sure the colorforms are clean before spraying them. Wipe any excess off and your pieces should be shiny and new looking. This product also make a good hair conditioner for dolls, I use about 7-10 squirts to a 2 quart pan of boiling water for setting curl or straightening tangled hair. You don't need much. It's also good for conditioning the dolls themselves, especially if you have a Dale that has that "dusty" look to her dark skin. Same here, be sure to wipe excess off of your doll, don't want her to look oily skinned. You can get Formula 2001 at any store that sells automotive supplies. I've found it at places from Wal-Mart to the the grocery store. It's in a bright green bottle. (Thanks to Dan Hayes for this great tip!) WARNING WHEN USING BOILING TECHNIQUE: I was looking through my collection and came across a Dinah that was a learning experience for me. I had purchased her with some body dirt and unbraided tangled hair. It was cheap and a good opportunity to play clean up. I used my usual technique for detangling hair and straightening it. I carefully comb it when dry and then dip it in the low boiling water/Formula 2000 mix. usually this works great at conditioning and straightening out frizzy hair. I had noticed that her hair seemed almost brittle as well, so I figured the conditioner would restore some of the sheen and pliability as well. Well, I got a surprise. Her hair did straighten and de-tangle, and regain it's sheen. Her hair also shrank about 3/4". It did not melt, it shrank. It can not be braided in it's original style. So, she's clean and her hair is shiny and hangs just below her shoulders. So, if you should find a Dinah in this condition, beware the hair in hot water. I have used this technique on all of my other Dawn family dolls and have never had this happen. I had this happen only once before with a 12" Farrah doll from Mego, but none of my other Mego dolls did it. Use your fingers, if a dolls hair feels different and brittle, be careful in your restoration. (Dan) STYLING LONG HAIR & RE-ROOTED HAIR: This is what I do for up do's. Get all of the hair in a ponytail on top of the head. Then I cut the hair a little, it is normally too long for my tastes with up do's. If the hair is already curly you should be able to put a little styling gel on and style. If the hair is straight I perm it. Take sections of the hair, add a little styling gel, wrap a perm paper around the section, use a bobby pin or coffee stirrer as a curler and roll it. Secure it with a straight pin into her head. (she does not feel this) You don't have to put the pin in very far. There will be many sections and rolling the hair is not the easiest thing to do, but have patience. Then stick the hair into boiling water for 15-20 seconds. Immediately take out and run cold water over her head for about a minute. Pat dry and leave until hair is completely dry. Once dry remove the rollers carefully. Trim any fly aways and style a little and your done. For curly hair that you want to get straight- use the boil method. I put my girl in a seated position and pour boiling water over her head, combing down as I go. Then run cold water over it. Comb down straight. Sometimes this will be enough to get it straight. Sometimes you may need to repeat this again, you'll know after it has dried if it is as straight as you want. When the hair is wet you can also put a cello on her head, this helps it lay flatter. I don't have any cellos so what I normally use is a sandwhich bag. I put it over the dolls head and upper body pushing down so it's real tight, rubber band it around her fairly tight. One band around her torso and one around the head. Make sure the one around her head isn't real tight or you will be left with a rubber band indentation in the hair. Hope this helps a little. (Michelle C.) GENERAL CLEANING OF VINYL:
My hubby works in a automotive store and suggested for me to use Liquid
luster( a car wax) Up til now it has been great but I don't use it in the
dolls hair I will call my hubby and tell him to bring the formula STAINS ON VINYL: If it is a stain, try some Oxy10 crème and let it dry on the dolls nose for a few days. This acne crème acts as a safe bleach on vinyl dolls. You could also try the Removzit (sp) product advertised in many doll magazines. I have never had dramatic results with it but many people say they have. If it is a fading of the vinyl itself, I have not found a good way to re-color it. I have tried the dye method mentioned in some doll magazines but it is not necessarily a permanent solution. I have used design type markers as blushers on my restored B*rbies and they create a nice soft color when blended with some nail polish remover on a cotton swab. Maybe a marker in an appropriate skin tone could work on the nose as well. Since the nose is bluish, select an orangey flesh tone as this will act as a balancing color, negating the blue. When I do the blush, I wet the area with a bit of nail polish remover (non acetone type) and then draw on a circle of blush. Quickly, I then take the cotton swab, wet with remover, and carefully blend the blush outward as you would with real make-up. This has worked really well for me and so far, after several years, has not faded. This approach could work with your problem, though I have not tried it. Also, placing your doll in sunlight is a natural bleaching process and sometimes can remove light ink stains. (Also from Dan) RE-COLORING VINYL: I have a suggestion for faded/washed-out vinyl doll faces: oil pastels. I've only used it on one doll face, a Longlocks that I had whose face was as white as a ghost, but it worked pretty well. It has to be an oil pastel and usually the orange colored ones work best for Dawn. I don't think it would cover up any imperfections but it would work to re-color. I also think that an under-eye cover makeup stick would probably work--you know how some of the "less expensive" brands have an orange tint to them. I used a wet q-tip and just blended away. It did take some time to blend evenly but it worked pretty well. It definitely looks better than the ghastly white color her face was. (Bethany) FACE PAINTING: Most people use acrylics for lip touchups, but I have never had any luck getting a smooth texture. So I tried something else... fine-tipped artists' marker. It worked beautifully! I have been warned that some types of markers bleed on vinyl, so test it out on someplace like under the hairline first. It is MUCH easier to control than a number 00 paintbrush! (Allie) I like to use acrylic paints, regular artists acrylic. I have several reds, pinks, and oranges. I also have burnt umber and yellow ochre. I have purchased some water based modeler's enamels but they are very shiny and really is only good for creating slick wet looks. Mixing the colors just takes practice. I wish I could give formulas but it's just trial and error. It seems that every Barbie I have done has slight differences in color. Dawn tends to be a bit more uniform but you will still see variations. One secret is that most lip colors need just a touch, the very least bit, of black. I just get a bit on the tip of my brush and mix it in. This really does help keep the colors from being too garish and bright. As for the texture of the paint, it should be about the same as finger nail polish (fluid but not runny). I have found that a clear matte medium helps this a lot. A clear medium will make the color thinner and you may need 2-3 coats. The result is a a smooth finish without brush strokes. You just mix in a brush load of matte medium with your color and add water till it's thin enough. With the medium you need less water and this keeps the color more coherent. Water will just break down the color. Dawns are much harder to paint than Barbie, because of the size, but it can be done. I have repainted a few of my Starr dolls and it turned out pretty good. I even managed to give one of them lip liner! (Dan) BLUSH: I use design marker as a blusher. I have a Berol PRISMACOLOR marker PM-10 blush. I use non acetone nail polish remover to blend it into the cheek, just use a cotton swab and make certain NOT to get any remover on any painted area, it will remove the face paint. I clean the area with the remover, draw a small circle where the blush should be, then quickly take the damp swab (dipped in the remover, but not dripping) and blend out the color. Usually, this first blushing is not enough, so I do another, smaller dot and dab that until blended. The second dot should be in the center of the blushed area, you know so you get that rosy pink glow fading out into the face. Basically this is my preferred medium because it is a transparent color whereas paint is opaque and may have to be mixed upon every application. This blush marker is wonderful on most caucasian vinyl skin tones. They make such a wide variety of color, you could get a good shade for darker skin tones as well. It takes just a bit of practice to have it look good and it really makes the doll so much better. Any questions, just email me. (Dan) GREEN KNEE: I tried something this weekend to cover the green knee problem. It had never really bothered me until I finally got a curio cabinet to display my dolls. So, after hearing here that Topper had produced dolls with painted body parts I had the idea that this would be a solution or at least a cover up for green knees. I usually use acrylic paints for makeup on vinyl dolls. However, it would not be ideal as a total leg cover up since it could peel off or crack if the legs were bent. They are great paints for details and small areas but not larger areas. So, I thought I would try that vinyl repair stuff in the automotive department....not good. It was too thick and needs to be heat set. It also flaked off easily before you could even put a blow dryer on it and heat set it. Then I remembered that I had purchased some Testors brand model paints...acrylic enamel (you can't use any oil based paint on vinyl, it reacts and never, EVER dries). I had used this acrylic enamel to repaint hair on some of the princes from the JPI fairytale series ( I wanted a redhead). It worked great and adhered to the vinyl very well, no cracking or flaking ( I squished his head to test it!). Anyway, I used that paint on the legs this weekend and it looks really good. I wish I could give you a formula but it was just trial and error to get the color right. I can tell you which colors I used, flat white, gloss red, yellow, and brown. I used more yellow and red than brown. I poured the whole bottle of white into a cup and added color a drop at a time. Dawn's legs are very peachy so that is why I used so much yellow and red (orange). The mixture of the gloss colors with the flat white creates a nice satin finish which is perfect for legs. The texture of the paint is perfect as well, it spreads on smooth and dries with no brush strokes. I did two coats from hip to toe. All these colors are in the set which you will find in the area of the toy department that has the model kits. I guess you can buy the colors individually as well. Any questions, let me know. I hope to post a pic somewhere of before and after, so keep an eye out. (Dan) Ever run into white Dawn dresses - the sheer fabrics are the worst - that aren't dirty, just gray with time? Washing them is no help. And in cases like Gold Go Round, it can seriously damage the metallic part of the fabric. I even tried taking one Dawn mini apart and soaking the skirt part in bleach, with no results! Then I tried an old Barbie collector's tip - Efferdent denture cleaner. Now my old gray minis are as white as the minty one! Even the thread, which was so yellow I wasn't sure it was white to begin with, is white. I don't have a Gold Go Round to test it on, but I bet it would whiten the white without hurting the metal. And it didn't bleach the colored parts of the minis at all. You need effervescing denture tablets (I used Efferdent) and hot water. Put about three tablets into very hot water with the outfit, wait ten minutes, and there you have it. (Allie) Eyelashes... Re-Rooting Lashes: This is the method I use to replace eyelashes. I have received beautiful Dawn dolls with little or no eyelashes. One night when I received in the mail a " lot" of Dawns with no eyelashes it bothered me that it was not mentioned in the auction that they were missing. I was frustrated that the eye lashes were missing..every one of them! I picked up a pair, 1box of human false eyelashes. The thickest and strongest black pair I could find. I paid .99cents for the pack. I used super glue. I used a straight pin and a Q-tip with touch of water on it. I opened the lashes and stacked one on top of the other. Then I pressed them together real hard with my fingers. They had sticky stuff on them already. With the needle I cut opened the area where the eyelashes go. I measured the length I needed and cut the double layered lashes to that length. With the needle I touched a tad of super glue to the straight pin tip. I put that super glue on with the tip of the straight pin. Then I squeezed the Dawn head to open the eye lid. I gently, with a clean straight pin tip, pushed the eye lashes into place with the flair of the hair swishing upward. I quickly close the eyelid to seal it into place. I have a matter of seconds to arrange the eyelashes into the correct place. I did do it too, it can be done. I allow it to dry and it then looks like the eyelashes are about 1 inch long! Do not clip the lashes until they are dry and in place. Then with scissors I clip the eyelashes down to the the length I want! It works so well. I asked my husband to tell me which ones I did and he could not tell which ones I did and which ones were factory! If you have any questions about this I'd be happy to help! I fixed 5 dolls with one set of false eyelashes from the drug store! (Victoria) THICKER LASHES: I found an easy way to give your girls' monster lashes without spending a dime on mascara. I found some VERY fuzzy black lint. I compacted it into a tiny twisted length and used a pin to stick it in between the lashes. It really blended in and gave them a very heavy lash. Anyone else tried to thicken lashes? (Dana) Re-Rooting Hair #1: . I am always glad to share techniques with others. I think that everyone should do at least one re-root in their life. Then they can appreciate it so much more. I use a variety of different hair. I have bought it from beauty supply stores and craft stores. I also use hair from other dolls. First cut all the original hair down to stubs, then take out the remaining hair with tweezers. This will take a little time and be careful if there is a part. If you are pulling to hard you can end up with big holes. Once all the old hair is out, (clean it out from the inside too) you are ready to put new hair in. I use the needle knot method. Take some hair, thread it on a needle and put it in the hair plug hole. You can go down into the hole from the outside of the head or come up in the hole from the inside. It is a matter of choice as to which way you go. Going down into the hole is easiest. The hair that is left hanging down out of her neck hole is then knotted. Pull the hair from the outside so that the knot goes back into her head. You do this over and over again until you get the look you want or fill all of the plugs. Then cut and style as needed. You don't have to use all of the original hair plugs. You can make your own hair plug pattern too. The bubble haired dolls have the most hair plugs. If you are doing a part in her hair there are some more tips. Let me know if you are doing a part, it is a little trickier but not much. I hope this has helped some. If you need more info let me know. If you try this let me know how it turns out. (Michelle C.) REROOTING HAIR #2: Darning needles are the best to use. Another method of reroot is to push it in from the outside. Basically, you take a darning needle and cut it off halfway through the eye so it is in a U Shape. Then you get a small wooden dowl and insert the needle end into the end of the dowl so the needle has a handle... WALA...dangerous rerooter weapon tool! The you get longer hair and put it in the U shape in the middle of the hair length. Then just push it in the hole and pull the tool out. Hair stays! The hair gets tighter as you finish because the plugs are widened to hold the hair tight. This is a great method to insert curly hair so it doesn't go straight (works great for putting curly bangs back in vintage Barbies.) It also makes the hair thicker since Dawn has so little hair plugs anyway... ~Shannan PURSE CHAINS: I have one of those white purses with the gold chain handle and the chain is all tarnished and dark. Yucky looking. I took some Barkeeper's Friend to it and it cleaned up nicely. Anyone have anything else that works? Brasso...? It doesn't look new (were they ever shiny?), but it doesn't look tarnished and dirty. Just thought I'd share. ~Peggy H. MAJORETTE BOOTS: I was painting a t-shirt and
noticed the antique gold looks like the gold on the majorette boots.
So I took the boots I have without braid, traced a pattern from one
of my boots with braid and presto-instant braid. You can hardly tell
the difference. They look better then the majorette boots with big
holes in the side. Try it. LOL (Elaine)
A little Topper Co. History courtesy of Johnna - After the recent research i have done on the Topper Toy Company & their CEO, the late Henry Orenstein. The toy company was originally called Deluxe Reading Company until 1964 when a successful line of toys called Toppers moved them into the big time toy business. (Hence they changed the name from Deluxe Reading into Topper Toy Company.) Up till then they had made toys excessively for grocery stores... ( those el' cheapo toys) but with the success of the Suzy Homemaker, Johnny Lightening cars & Dawn dolls, Topper became a cash rich company. And with success & power came corruptness. When inventory was done in 1971 it was found that the inventory was not want it should have been... In simple terms there was money gone for product, but no product on the shelves. It appeared that creative bookkeeping had happen... for all the toys Topper was selling they had no "real" cash... only numbers on a page.... Topper filed & went into Bankruptcy. When the auditors was finishing auditing the books for the bankruptcy court, it was found there had been fraud, embezzlement & mismanagement of funds. Mr. Henry Orenstein, CEO, was sued for the charges and the lawsuit went to court in 1975 & he was found guilty of all the charges. I have yet to find if he spent any quality time in the NJ prison system for all the missing money.
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2001 home so I can give it a try! (SJD1166)