#cleaning dolls

[rosebud-doodles]

Been sick with some sort of stomach problems, sucks, never had these before.

But trying to find enjoyment between pain I started cleaning my childhood dolls

[doctorbeth]

80s flashback

It's 80s flashback week here at the hospital, where a Cabbage Patch Kid came in for a spa and fashion fix, and a pot belly bear who was rescued from the trash came in for a spa, eye transplant, rhinoplasty and general rejuvenation.

Here is the Cabbage Patch Kid, Wanda, upon arrival.  She smelled very musty, and her clothes were worse.

And here she is, all clean (wish there was scratch and sniff) and in her clean clothes:

The pot belly bear is an all visual transformation.  Here he is on arrival:

And here he is ready to go home:

And, just to date myself, here's my pot belly bear, a koala. :-)

[doctorbeth]

You can hug them and squeeze them and kiss them and cry on them, but please don't put your stuffed animals in the washing machine!

You can hug them and squeeze them, carry them and drag them, even give them a gentle bath but PLEASE PLEASE don’t put your cloth dolls or stuffed animals in the washing machine!

It’s time to make this plea public.  It isn’t a way of drumming up customers for my gentle spa for stuffed animals, I promise.  I’ve just had so many patients come into the hospital after a terrifying ride in the washing machine, or a scary trip to the dry cleaners, and their injuries are frequently worse than those who were chewed by the family pet.  Many older dolls, like Raggedy Anns, have stuffing which is NOT meant to be washed.  When it is, it hardens, and sticks to the doll’s skin fabric, so not only is Ann no longer mushably huggable, but her fabric skin is in danger too.  The agitators in washing machines toss the teddy bears around so much, that they get numerous little holes in their fur.  If a stuffed dog is unlucky, and has a limb stuck in the agitator, it can tear right off.  And while I can fix the tears, I can’t always remove the scars. 

Another danger is due to the need for the dolls to be washed in the first place.  Fur and fabric is porous, and if Teddy needs a bath, his stuffing is probably gray too.  That gray is dirt, and it can leave stains on Teddy’s fur as it washes out.  This is why when I clean dolls and stuffed animals, I always remove the stuffing first.  And while stains on brown teddy bear fur may not be obvious, if this happens with a cloth doll, she will end up with water stains.  It’s one thing to have well earned water stains on Raggedy Andy’s face because someone cried on his shoulder.  It’s quite another to have large water stains from an attempted cleaning.  And I can’t do anything to help.  The stains never come all the way out, and frequently the doll’s fabric is just too fragile to even try (cloth dolls, especially Raggedies, tend to be overstuffed, which weakens their fabric).

So please, please, please, please a million times over, don’t put your favorite stuffed animal or cloth doll in the laundry, even if they survived it in the past.  It just isn’t worth the risk!  And I promise, a gentle spa visit at the hospital costs less than trying to put your favorite Humpty Dumpty back together again after that one wrong trip in the machine.

P.S. Here are my most recent post washing machine patients, Pooh and Raggedy Ann, when they arrived at the hospital:

    And here they are after they were repaired... 

    As you can see, Raggedy Ann still has some scars, but she’s sturdy again and ready to go play with generation #2.  Her original person said, ” Beth, thanks so much for your loving care & repair of Pooh & Raggedy.  I'm so glad we made the effort to bring them back from their run-in with the washer. Now my childhood Raggedy & my husband's Pooh (which was purchased at Harrods in London) will be loved by our little girl (gently of course).”  She send a perfect photo of Pooh and Raggedy sitting next to the baby, who’s actually holding Raggedy Ann’s hand.  They’re all about the same size!