Repairing a Frog

FROGGY THE GREMLIN

Repairing a Frog

Your fingers could be magic twangers....

....fixing up a Froggy

A dirty Froggy can be cleaned up a bit just by using Ivory soap and warm water, and GENTLY wiping away some of the accumulated dust with soft paper napkins or cotton swabs.

With a little deftness, you can push a squeaker back out (often they end up rattling around INSIDE Froggy).

Re-painting a Froggy is a little more difficult, because the original used a spray-paint process, and unless you're very good, you'll end up with too-obvious lines that don't quite blend. Froggy's face is a subtle pattern of green and beige! However, it's easy enough to touch-up his shoes or jacket.

The real test is what to do about a deflated Froggy, or one that has undergone amputation!

He's gruesome, he is, he is. Mouth flat-shut. Feet fallen off!

First step: make him pliable again. If you've seen Red Skelton's film "The Fuller Brush Man" you've got the idea. Putting plastic or rubber into hot water can work wonders, if you're careful. You can't let the water get TOO hot or leave Froggy in there TOO long.

The major problem here was to gently open the mouth and free Froggy's tongue. Later, it was a matter of gluing the legs back. Sometimes you'll need to insert a plug, screw, nail, or other object into the shoe so it'll be easier for the hollow leg to remain in position during drying.

If a Froggy has gotten hard with age, he's permanently senile. But if he got frozen into a weird position you CAN temporarily soften him and make changes that can give him a better appearance.

And below, it's one step at a time...as we glue one foot on, and let it dry. There you have it...from a closed-mouth footless Froggy, he at least was able to stand up and stick out his tongue again! SUCCESS!

One of the most common problems with Froggy, is that after 60 or more years...he can't always stand up by himself. He tips over.

Rather than getting him a cane, you can simply get some velcro, attach it to the soles of his feet, and to whatever shelf or desk top he is standing on.

An alternative, IF you're clever, is "weighting" his heels, as you see below, which will keep him from falling forward. Various forms of glue, paste or ceramic can do the trick, it can it can.

You can perform "preventive" maintenance. Many Froggies will develop small rips at the ankles. You can "re-inforce" his weak ankles with a little rubber cement-type stuff (a product called "Goop" works well).

If the frog is soft but deflated, you can pry open his squeaker and insert filler to puff him back out, you can, you can. It takes some time but it can be done.

Many doll hospitals have an extra squeaker if Froggy's is permanently lost or doesn't make a noise.

It's easy to re-paint eyes that got scuffed and do other minor repairs.

Purists will tell you that any restoration destroys the re-sale value. Not necessarily the case. The rule here is to judge if what you'll do is going to improve Froggy. As you see from the pix above, it was better to glue him together and open his mouth than leave him flat!