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weekender july 6 1985 p9 galore she fashions lifelike dolls with many hours of work and financial investment claire rainbow of markham turns gray unfired porcelain into lifelike dolls mrs rainbow has only been making porcelain dolls for about a year but has already won first second and fourth prizes for her work at a doll show in may at the international centred she became interested in the dolls after visiting a local ceramic store where the clerk was working on one she decided to try herself after the woman convinced her she could do it the dolls start out with porcelain poured into molds for faces hands and feet which are placed in a kiln and fired baked at a high temperature after the first firing the shapes are taken out of their mold to be sanded mold seams ruin the look of the finished product and must be smoothed out as much as possible thats the part that takes the longest time and you have to be very careful she explained its just like sand and it breaks very easily when dolls are being judged porcelain seams are acceptable as long as the judges cant feel them mrs rainbow uses a scalpel to scrape off the seam followed by a nylon stocking to smooth the surface you just rub the seam until you cant see it but after you fire it the second time you can see it again she applies blush to the cheeks lips hands and feet and color to fingernails and toenails before firing the porcelain again after the second firing eyelashes and brows are painted on the arms legs and body are stuffed with paper towel eyes are set and clothes are fitted hooks are set in the limbs with a kind of cement and elastics are strung from one hook to another to hold the body and limbs together mrs rainbow makes many of the doll outfits herself im just learning how to sew too she said she has made 14 dolls since she took up the hobby jacqueline the baby doll that placed first is willed to mrs rainbows granddaughter mrs rainbow hopes that granddaughter jacqueline can wear the crocheted outfit made for her doll name sake at her christening the creation of porcelain dolls is not for those short of cash mrs rainbow rhymed off a list of material costs that showed a serious committment to the finished pro duct the porcelain for a baby doll costs 35 in addition to 35 for firing mrs rainbow paid 30 for jacquelines eyes although they can be bought for less body and stuf fing cost 5 and 3 respectively clothing for them can be added on top of this total and for the child dolls wigs aver age about 25 or 30 because of the amount of money in vested in materials mrs rainbow said it would be difficult to sell her creations the basic price would be more than 100 with out taking into account the labor involved the satisfaction of seeing a project through from beginning to end offsets the cost in fact mrs rainbow has already decided on her next project anne of green gables quite a collection claire rainbow shows off her winning where they won from left first fourth creations baby jacqueline dana and and second prizes she took up the hobby michael mrs rainbows porcelain dolls a little more than a year ago and has 14 were recently judged at a doll show dolls in various stages of completion suits and sport coats by cambridge country squire ashbridhe hardy amies dress shirts by arrow mach ii hathaway wm cline slax by riviera nash sport shirts by hatahway arrow countess mara gant not ft golf shirts by hathaway arrow gant summer sportswear 6 jantzen christian dior gant expert alterations done on the premises save 1050 themansh0p markham shopping centre markham 84 wellington st west 2343520