A flea market find....

Today is my hubby Brian's birthday and I suggested we go to Fuengirola to the big flea market there (I certainly know how to treat a Birthday Boy, don't I ;) ), well it's technically in a place called Los Boliches, and takes part every Saturday.  You have to get there early as parking is a nightmare, plus the Danish restaurant where we like to have breakfast only serves it until 11am.  I've shown the breakfast from this restaurant on here in the past but here it is again......a lovely feast to set us up for the market!!!

So after our breakfast and coffee, we started on the stalls!  I always look out for dolls and anything dolly sized that I could use as props, but usually come home empty handed.  That NP Sasha for €10 wasn't there again today.....just the usual biro covered Barbies, ugly footless Bratz and hollow plastic Nancys!!  However, on one stall an unusual but cute 'fellow' caught my eye so I haggled with the seller who told me the doll was 'special' (yeah right!!) and got the price down to €12 which I thought was reasonable.  I thought the doll was a boy but when I got back to the car and had a look, I realised it's supposed to be a girl as she has two plaits pulled up the sides of her head and tied with a bow under her headscarf.

The doll is approx 20 inches tall and made completely of felt but has a wire aperature inside.  She is nice and clean without any odours, thank goodness!  The hair is made of faux fur and stuck on and the face is painted or maybe printed on, I'm not sure which.  The clothes are not removable and are quite well made with all the seams finished that I can see.  The backpack straps and the belt are made of leatherette.  The only thing missing seems to be the belt buckle.  There aren't any labels or tags on the doll or her clothing, so I have no idea where she comes from or whether she is from a company or handmade by an individual.  She stands up on her own really well.  I have no idea where she will fit into my doll collection, she is completely different from anything else I have, but I thought it would be nice to bring her home!!!

So here she is, I hope someone might be able to enlighten me about her, any information would be greatly appreciated!  I thought she looked sort of Austrian or German, maybe Swiss?  But really she could be just a home-made Spanish doll!  Who knows!

Full length view:

Close up:

Full length back view:

 Choco seemed quite interested.....

The second doll I found is currently still damp after having her hair washed so I will show you her another time!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

The flea-market find makeover...

A couple of weeks ago I showed a little Paola Reina doll that I got for 10 euros at the Saturday flea-market in Los Boliches, Fuengirola.  I had given her a wash and she was wearing a sock on her head (and whole body!!) to flatten her hair down.  Well she ended up wearing the sock for days, then when that didn't work she progressed to a hat.  Finally, when I removed the hat after a week....her hair was still sticking up in the air and looking awful.  It was nice and soft at the back but the front was cut exactly to accommodate the headress that she came with.  So I cut the lot off.  I know....incredibly destructive but I was so mad that I couldn't do a thing with it.  And because I'd done that, I thought I might as well remove her spidery eyelashes and her plastic eyes and give her the full works.

She now has a revamped wig, more realistic glass eyes and new eyelashes.   I just noticed that her eyes are a bit wonky though!  I will try to fix that.  The funny thing is, the eye holes have to be softened with heat from the outside and pushed in from the front, they sit in a sort of 'pocket' and are not accessible through the inside of the head!!

Not a great photo, her face is a little bit out of focus!!

 

She looks like she's got incredibly long arms in this photo!!!  (She hasn't!)

 

I like this one, she looks young and baby-faced!

Here is a before and after comparison, I should really have taken both photos in similar lighting so that a 'true' comparison could be seen as I've not changed her lips or blush but it appears that way in the 'after' photo:

I was thinking that perhaps I could reroot her back to brunette as her head is quite soft so it might be nice and easy and not take very long.  We shall see!

A flea-market find!

This morning we went to the big flea-market in Los Boliches, Fuengirola.  We made the effort and got up earlier...and let me tell you it was an effort, as Kara, our littlest Chihuahua had one of her epileptic fits late last night and she had me up and down nearly all night long!!!  Anyway, that aside, we were fortunate enough to actually find a parking space this week having arrived quite early! 

First, we headed for a little Danish restaurant for some breakfast.  They do a lovely Danish breakfast for just 4,95 euros, consisting of all Danish products, including crusty roll covered in poppy seeds, butter, ham, cheese, cucumber, green peppers, tomato, a very dark bread, half a Danish pastry, home-made strawberry jam, a slice of fresh orange and a cup of coffee!!!  Delicious and just the perfect way to start the day!!!

And with nicely full stomaches, it was on to the market!  As usual a lot of the stalls are full of junk....I've thrown better stuff away!!!  But today I found a little treasure, a 12 inch tall Paola Reina doll for just 10 euros!  She was wearing her full original outfit, which is her 1st Holy Communion dress, including underwear, socks and shoes, as well as head-dress and little matching bag.  She smelled dusty but she wasn't really dirty at all.  In fact, I believe that her outfit had never been removed.  I have since removed her clothes and given her a wash, she has no damage and is in perfect condition.  Her hair was very dusty and I've washed and conditioned it, she's now wearing a very attractive sock on her head, poor girl!   I've also washed her outfit, the dress has come up quite clean but her socks and knickers are a bit yellowed from age.  I will put the outfit away because I intend making her something more suitable when we go home.

These are some 'before' photos, I will take some 'after' ones tomorrow when her hair has dried.  She will look very cute with my little Asian girl from Imaginarium, that I showed on here a couple of weeks ago.

So all in all, well worth missing that little bit extra time in bed this morning!!!