The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-20

A Chat With the Worlds Greatest
DolImaher.


Here is one Of the worlds benefac-
tors, is the inward remark when for the
first time you meet NJ Juneau, the great
French dollmaker. He, more than any
other, looks the man who has made happy
the lives Of thousands Of children. Rich
children and poor are his devotees. The
dolls permeate the whole earth. No child
could hope to equal Jumeau's knowledge
OF dolls and doll life
His factory is at Montreuil the town
being practically brought into fame by
the presence of the doll mandatory in
its midst. One part of the factory con-
sists of shed, under which stand large
number of great watts, partly filled with
caOlin or porcelain clay, with which are
nodded thousands of dolls heads.
The clay, when in plastic form, is re-
moved and passed under rollers. A suit
able thickness is given to the sheets of
clay as they are worked so as to suit the
different sizes and weight of the dolls
bodies for which the clay is intended to
form the head.
This is a difficult process, as dolls vary
in size from a pigmY of a few inches to
that resembling child of four. These
sheets of clay are then cut into squares
by machinery, each square being forced
into a mold by the WorkwOmen in this de-
partment.
After these forms have rested within
the mOlds for a sufficient length of time
they are taken out and placed to dry.
While clay is still soft workers cut out
the holes in which the eyes are to be set.
The forms are then left until most of the
moisture has evaporated and afterward
removed on to what are called "gazettes"
into the ovens, where for q hours they
are baked just in the same way as ordi-
nary earthenware.
When the baking process is over and
the heads are cooled down the surface
of the forms are rubbed with sandpaper
until they are as smooth as the skin Of a
baby This completes the first part of
the manufacture.
In the painting department one room is
exclusively reserved for the painting of
the lips, whilst all other parts, such as
the eyelashes and eyelids, the pink of the
cheeks, etc, have each a separate room,
where one part is done at a time.
Painting the cheeks is the most trouble
some work, for no fewer than five differ
ent layers are to be given until the de-
sired tint IS arrived at. When the paint
ing is completed they are submitted TO
second baking, but at milder tempera-
ture and only for seven hours
a great number of the girls are en-
y
glass sticks with blow-pipes. With these
the eyes are made, large and small, dark
or fair, to satisfy the tastes Of the fastidi-
Gus When ready, they are sent into an
other department, where they are fixed
into different heads of the dolls.
1t is here, further where the levers in
the heads are adjusted, by means of which
some of the more expensive dolls open
and close their eyes as they are held up
right or placed in their doll beds
The manufacture of the bodies is an ex-
ceedingly interesting process. Hands,
arms, feet and legs are all made in their
respective departments, from which they
are all brought to a central room, where
they are put together. When limbs and
trunk are put together they go TO the
embarrassing room.
Here the workpeople, men and women,
with big brushes, paint the headless bod
les with zinc whiting They then go to
another department, where the flesh tint
is painted on them, which is nearly as
difficult an operation as that of painting
the cheeks, as several layers are required
to obtain the proper tint.
Now the body is nearly complete. It's
head only is wanting, and that is fixed on
to the body by means of a special appa-
ratus Some of the heads are adjusted on
a screw so as to allow them to be turned.