All About Your Collectible Doll’s Porcelain, an Overview by Eyes of Texas Dolls by Brenda Mize
Did you know that the porcelain (aka bisque) used in making your collectible doll has been fired in a special kiln to a temperature greater than 2000 degrees?
Pflugerville, TX, September 02, 2020 --(PR.com)-- Eyes of Texas Dolls, an online collectible doll retail store specializing in hand-crafted one-of-a-kind (OOAK) porcelain artist dolls, would like to share their findings on the porcelain used for these special types of heirloom-quality collector dolls.
Porcelain dolls have quite a history. In ancient times, dolls have played a major role in both magic and religious rituals and have also been used to represent deities. More recently, dolls have been treasured by collectors and oftentimes given to children as toys.
China mastered the art of creating porcelain more than two thousand years ago, but it was not until the early 18th century that these manufacturing secrets were shared in Europe.
The first porcelain doll was manufactured in Germany in the year 1840. These were china dolls created from glazed porcelain with painted hair. (Chinese porcelain is known as china and was almost always glazed to produce a shiny look). This material was used from 1840 until 1880 to produce dolls. In the 1980’s porcelain dolls became extremely popular and collector interest was renewed throughout the United States, Australia and Europe.*
Beginning in the 1850’s though, both France and Germany began manufacturing bisque dolls which featured unglazed porcelain heads with a matte finish. No glaze was used in the process thus creating a smooth, skin-like texture. This is the process still used today to create more realistic looking dolls.
So what is the difference between bisque and porcelain dolls? Bisque is unglazed porcelain. Porcelain is created from a paste of clays and water which is placed in plaster molds, and then fired at extremely high temperatures after being removed from the molds. A ’parian’ doll is a doll whose porcelain has had no color added so it is left white and unglazed.
Although bisque dolls can be broken if not handled properly, they have an outstanding record of being able to withstand the test of time and last for centuries. With vinyl dolls, their longevity is unknown and oftentimes the vinyl changes color with time and can become brittle. And with resin ball-jointed dolls (bjd), the resin has a tendency to turn an undesirable yellow color after a period of time. This yellowing is due to UV light degrading the epoxy polymers which causes the ambering (a noticeable yellow discoloration). Porcelain dolls are the perfect type of dolls that can be passed down from generation to generation.
It is interesting to note that the most expensive porcelain doll ever sold was a rare German Kammer & Reinhardt character doll which sold for $395,750 on September 24, 2014. (There are no other known examples of this doll. She is thought to be made from an experimental mold.) In the doll world, dolls made before the 1930s in general, sell for much higher amounts because they are considered true antiques.
No doubt about it, porcelain dolls are here to stay for both collectors worldwide and little girls.
About Eyes of Texas Dolls
In business since 2015, Eyes of Texas Dolls by Brenda Mize are hand-crafted from the finest porcelain and have been fired to a temperature of more than 2000 degrees to ensure both durability and hardness. This award winning doll artist creates each doll using a face sculpt from the world famous doll artist, Dianna Effner.
Eyes of Texas Dolls is committed to offering customers a wide selection of OOAK collectible dolls, as well as superb customer service.
All major credit cards are accepted (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover), as well as Paypal, personal checks and money orders. Layaway plans are available, and this company is willing to work with customers on an individualized basis to find a plan that best suit their needs.
*Van Patten, Denise. Introduction to Bisque and Porcelain Dolls, [website] https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/bisque-and-porcelain-dolls-774692, September 2, 2019.
Porcelain dolls have quite a history. In ancient times, dolls have played a major role in both magic and religious rituals and have also been used to represent deities. More recently, dolls have been treasured by collectors and oftentimes given to children as toys.
China mastered the art of creating porcelain more than two thousand years ago, but it was not until the early 18th century that these manufacturing secrets were shared in Europe.
The first porcelain doll was manufactured in Germany in the year 1840. These were china dolls created from glazed porcelain with painted hair. (Chinese porcelain is known as china and was almost always glazed to produce a shiny look). This material was used from 1840 until 1880 to produce dolls. In the 1980’s porcelain dolls became extremely popular and collector interest was renewed throughout the United States, Australia and Europe.*
Beginning in the 1850’s though, both France and Germany began manufacturing bisque dolls which featured unglazed porcelain heads with a matte finish. No glaze was used in the process thus creating a smooth, skin-like texture. This is the process still used today to create more realistic looking dolls.
So what is the difference between bisque and porcelain dolls? Bisque is unglazed porcelain. Porcelain is created from a paste of clays and water which is placed in plaster molds, and then fired at extremely high temperatures after being removed from the molds. A ’parian’ doll is a doll whose porcelain has had no color added so it is left white and unglazed.
Although bisque dolls can be broken if not handled properly, they have an outstanding record of being able to withstand the test of time and last for centuries. With vinyl dolls, their longevity is unknown and oftentimes the vinyl changes color with time and can become brittle. And with resin ball-jointed dolls (bjd), the resin has a tendency to turn an undesirable yellow color after a period of time. This yellowing is due to UV light degrading the epoxy polymers which causes the ambering (a noticeable yellow discoloration). Porcelain dolls are the perfect type of dolls that can be passed down from generation to generation.
It is interesting to note that the most expensive porcelain doll ever sold was a rare German Kammer & Reinhardt character doll which sold for $395,750 on September 24, 2014. (There are no other known examples of this doll. She is thought to be made from an experimental mold.) In the doll world, dolls made before the 1930s in general, sell for much higher amounts because they are considered true antiques.
No doubt about it, porcelain dolls are here to stay for both collectors worldwide and little girls.
About Eyes of Texas Dolls
In business since 2015, Eyes of Texas Dolls by Brenda Mize are hand-crafted from the finest porcelain and have been fired to a temperature of more than 2000 degrees to ensure both durability and hardness. This award winning doll artist creates each doll using a face sculpt from the world famous doll artist, Dianna Effner.
Eyes of Texas Dolls is committed to offering customers a wide selection of OOAK collectible dolls, as well as superb customer service.
All major credit cards are accepted (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover), as well as Paypal, personal checks and money orders. Layaway plans are available, and this company is willing to work with customers on an individualized basis to find a plan that best suit their needs.
*Van Patten, Denise. Introduction to Bisque and Porcelain Dolls, [website] https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/bisque-and-porcelain-dolls-774692, September 2, 2019.
Contact
Eyes of Texas Dolls
Brenda Mize
512-552-0787
https://www.eyesoftexasdolls.com/
Brenda Mize
512-552-0787
https://www.eyesoftexasdolls.com/
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