Care, Display, and Cleaning of your Collectible Teddy Bear/Porcelain Doll

As questions about the proper care of collectible teddy bears/porcelain dolls seem to come up quite often, I thought I would help those of you out who have many collectible items and don’t know how to manage them by giving you a short checklist.

1. Please do not put your teddy bear or porcelain doll in a sunny window! This will cause discoloration of the poor things’ fur and/or clothes.
2. Please do not wash your teddy bear in your washing machine unless it says you can on the care tag! When you open your washer, you might see a flattened, decapitated bear! (Autopsy anyone?)
3. When your teddy bear/porcelain doll becomes dusty, please don’t wipe it with a wet rag! Either gently vacuum the dust off of its head, arms, legs, and clothing or put those babies outside on a nice windy day (in the shade). (Make sure it isn’t going to rain first and please don’t leave your item unsecured! They will blow away and disappear forever!) An easy way to anchor teddy bears in the wind is to tie their legs to a NEW piece of wood with a fishing line, then set the wood across something like sawhorses so the wind can circulate better. Don’t leave them out for more than 30 minutes because you never know what a bird/dog/rain cloud might decide to do.
4. Glass and plastic eyes may be wiped clean with a dry microfiber cloth.
5. Leather foot/paw pads/shoes may also be cleaned with a dry soft cloth.
6. If you need to remove something like splatters of kool-aid from a leather foot/paw pad (don’t ask), you can use a good saddle soap.

Okie dokie, on to other things! Next, I am going to tell you how to display your collectible teddy bear/porcelain doll for maximum visibility and cuteness!

1. Put tall teddy bears and dolls in the back and short ones in the front. (Like you didn’t already know this) It increases visibility of the smaller items.
2. Put items that are dressed alike together (country with country, formal with formal, etc…) that way they will look like they are actually doing something besides just sitting around gathering dust. (darn lazy things takin’ up all my space… why I oughtta…you get the point)
3. Teddy bears/dolls that go together, should stay together! Geeze, if you separate them it will be like taking away their best friend.
4. Make sure that your bears/dolls are well out of the reach of animals in your home. Some dogs like to eat them and some cats like to scratch on them.
5. If you have the time and energy available, make some scenes with your items. Include things like little trees and benches or a dance floor and dining tables. People who view your collection will believe you to be a genius with a few little changes or additions!
6. Put your collectible teddy bears all over the house. Don’t limit them to one room! Install a beautiful shelf in your dining room or bathroom and put a plush or two up there as well! Porcelain dolls will brighten any room and gain quite a lot of compliments. (just make sure if they are in the bathroom, they don’t get a lot of steam… smell that? it is a wet/mildewed doll!)

Now, if you decide to keep your teddy bears/dolls in their original container forever, make sure that they are stored where the plastic breakdown of the package is retarded and try to remember that the longer your item is deprived of air, the sicker it will become!

If your little one pulls a limb or a head off of your favorite doll, DO NOT throw it away and cry! Call a bear doctor ASAP! As usual, I have included a list:

http://www.hannabrucebears.com/ (this one is for teddy bears and is in Pennsylvania)
http://www.teddys.com.au/about.php (this one is for teddy bears and is in Australia)
http://www.dollcradle.com/hospital.htm (this one is for dolls and is in Kansas)

Till next time,

The Collectible GURU
I work at http://www.collectorsdreamhouse.com