Posted 11 years ago
myoldkyhome
(22 items)
This is a doll trunk that I recently restored. It's actually the first trunk that I have completely restored. The last two pictures show what it looked like when I bought it. Someone had stripped almost all of the paper off of it. At some point it had been painted red and had some green on it, too. It also had a large knot hole in the back and the wood had black stains on it. Fortunately, I didn't pay a lot for it - $12. Needless to say, it was a little bit of a challenge to restore it.
You did a great job on it -- it looks fabulous! Lovely little doll trunk. Unique to have the barrel top shape on such a small trunk. Great find and great restoration!
nicely done!!!! -- bet is gave you a lot of satisfaction when completed
That is just lovely!. Can you tell what you did with the knot hole and how did you restore the metal? Id like to get that same effect on one that I am doing.
Also , is the lithograph original? if so, how did you treat it in the restoration?
Thanks so much trunkingforfun. I used wood filler on the knot hole. I taped a piece of cardboard on the inside and then filled the hole from the outside. I left the cardboard there to support the filler while it dried. Some filler doesn't take stain as well as others. I did a test with this before I used it. Then I sanded and stained it. I then applied a little black magic marker and wiped it with my finger to give it more of a true dark knot hole look. I posted a new picture showing the finished knot hole. I hope this helps.
I used a dremel tool and polished off the old paint on the metal. It had a little rust on it, too. I was careful not to polish off all of the old patina. Then I applied polyurethane to the entire outside of the trunk.
Let me know if you need any more info. Thanks.
Thanks for thast detailed explanation. Very clever. how about the lithograph? Is it one you have seen before on other than doll trunks?
The lithograph isn't original. I made a copy of a lithograph that I have that's part of a late 1800s block puzzle. I reduced the size. I have preserved other lithographs in other trunks by spraying them with lacquer paint that comes in a spray can. When it's wet it looks like it has dark spots on it from the spray but after it dries it looks good and preserves the lithograph.
Very nice indeed!! I have a doll (or toy trunk if you will) trunk very similar to this one, that is paper covered. The little girl who owned it at one time, had written her name inside of the trunk. Thought that was cool. You did an amazing job on this!!
That is neat that she wrote her name in it, jscott. I ended up giving this one to my mom. At least I get to visit it occasionally.