Lesley Ewing Nolan Fine Art
Colorado Springs · Colorado
Listed by the Doll Doctors Association. That is a membership, not a qualification. The association says itself that it makes no assurances about any member’s training or experience, and every member is an independent business. It does mean somebody other than us knows they exist.
A doll restorer who writes up every job she does, in detail, with the reasoning. She sculpts missing porcelain in Apoxie two-part putty, then sands and airbrushes it; she built a whole new cloth body around a family's heirloom doll head; and she says plainly that gluing on a wig is far cheaper than re-rooting hair. Also takes mohair Steiff, which she warns is fragile enough that pulling a needle too hard puts a hole in it.
Getting hold of them
- Their own site
- You can walk in at Colorado Springs
They work from their own form, so start there.
If it gets lost
Not stated
This is a blank on their page, not an answer from them. We have never asked anybody in this trade the question. Of the 185 businesses we have read, 4 have written anything down about losing an item: 2 say it is insured, 2 say the risk is yours. The other 181 are silent, and silence is not a policy either way.
If you would rather not have to phrase it
“Before I send it, can I ask what happens if it gets lost or damaged while it’s with you? I’m not trying to catch you out, it just can’t be replaced. Whatever the answer is, could you put it in an email so I’ve got it in writing?”
“No, we don’t cover it” is a fine answer to get. It tells you to insure the mail yourself for the full amount, both ways.
If it is lost or damaged
Their website does not say what happens if your item is lost or damaged while they have it.
Ask before you post anything you could not replace. Only four of the businesses we hold publish an answer to this.
What they take on
- Full restoration and rebuilds
- Mending and seams
- Restuffing
- Cleaning on its own
- Fur restoration, de-matting and pile lifting
- Eyes and noses
- Joints
- Valuations
Works in mohair.
What they won’t do
The part every other directory leaves out. None of this is a criticism. It is how you avoid three wasted weeks.
- Doesn't say whether they take work by mail
Their exact words on what they refuse
Quoted from their own pages, unedited, because a paraphrase of a refusal is the kind of thing you find out was wrong three weeks in.
- “Never wash these wigs, use a good leave in de tangler and blot with paper towels, cleaning a section at a time and very carefully fluff/comb. Never pull the hair or it will come out!”
Getting it there
- Doesn't say whether they take work by mail
- You can bring it in
Money
- Fixed menu of prices, so you know before you send it
Anything else they say
- Apoxie sculpt is a two part hardening putty most doll drs. rely on.
- The family brought me a doll head and we built up a doll to replicate the family heirloom brought to Nebraska in the previous century.
- It is far cheaper to cut off damaged synthetic hair and glue on a wig than re root hair.
- Started out restoring German bird cage automatons before moving to dolls.