So why not Chatty Baby too? The booth at the Antique Mall that I had bought my Strawberry Blonde Chatty Cathy, also had this Chatty Baby. We went back and I made a low offer of $10 on her and they excepted.

My idea is, since Chatty Baby is (creepy looking right now) and in worse shape than the Strawberry Blonde Chatty Cathy, is to work on Chatty Baby first. Mostly, since the Talk/Voice String is stuck on Chatty Baby, to crack her open first.

Both our Chatty Cathy and Catty Baby are from the 1960s. Each came in at least some of their Original Clothing that they were sold in back then.

WARNING: Restoring Vintage Dolls is Fun and Rewarding, <whispers the next part of this paragraph> but it can not only get expensive, you will want more and more Dolls to work on and Display. You have been warned. <laughs and winks>

DISCLAIMER: I have written here on our Website what I have done on my own Dolls and what has worked for me. I have described how I went about each step as best as I could. I will not be held responsible for what you do to the Dolls you are working on. I am not there, I can not see your Dolls or how they are made or the shape they are in. ALL I AM TELLING YOU HERE ON THIS PAGE AND IN OUR VIDEOS, IS WHAT HAS WORKED FOR US.

much more to come....thanks for visiting. Photos and videos will be coming soon.

As you can see in the photos, this Chatty Baby was loved and played with...and took some knocks and bumps along the way.

I love the look of these Chatty Baby's. Somehow the face reminds me of a childhood friend's little sister, Peggy. She just has this look about her, something in the....

This Doll was a bit Dirty. Her clothing is stained, but otherwise in not bad shape. Her one eye is broken and has no lashes. Her face is a bit wobbled, and needs a little something to push just the smallest part back out to look as new.

Her hair was straight when I brought her home. I however bought some curlers and wanted to try the HOT water over curlers on Doll Hair....IT WORKS!

But all in all. For a Doll over 50 years old, she looks pretty danged good. For the $10 I paid for her, a GREAT DEAL to me.

My Chatty Baby was dirtier than I thought, once I stated cleaning her and really got a look. The GOOP Hand Cleaner is amazing at cleaning these Vintage/Antique Dolls.

I used the GOOP on her whole body and saturated her hair with it. I then let her sit, what I did was put her face down, over a towel, head down on the towel, legs up under so that her butt was in the air, for any water (I was pretty careful not to get much into her) would drain out over night. The next morning, I combed her hair again and set her upright, so that any other water than may have gone to the top of the head and not gotten out the hair root holes, would drain down and out the leg joints. I let her set a couple of days there.

When I first bought this Chatty Baby Doll her hair was pretty nice. I am the one that put the curl in the back of it, testing how to curl doll hair.

I used GOOP on Chatty Baby's hair, let that soak for several hours, then I washed it out with a Shampoo and combed it while still wet. I let it air dry after each treatment.

The next morning, I gave it a good combing with different sized, ever getting smaller, teethed combs.

My Chatty Baby came with the original under garments and red Jumper with her name on it.

I soaked them first in GOOP, to get any (never noticed any) smells or stains out that it would. Then I washed them in the same shampoo I used on Chatty Baby's hair and body.

I will be working on making up some FREE Patterns for simple Chatty Baby Clothes. Not only is it fun to make up clothing for Dolls, it is not always easy to find the sort of outfits, prints on the fabric in clothes for purchase, and it IS a proud moment when you put it onto the Doll and it not only fits, but looks so cute.

All in All, this Doll, for her age, and being as 'loved' and 'played' with as she obviously was, she looks pretty good. However, she has a broken eye and missing eye lash piece. I have seen these replaced in videos on youtube....it takes some work, and I will have to find an eye replacement...so stay tuned. We shall see.

A funny thing happened. more coming soon on this...

When we bought this Chatty Baby her Voice Box, when the string was pulled, was frozen. After working with her a little bit, cleaning and such, the string pulled freely, but the speech is garbled, growling that is. I have an O Ring ordered and we plan to crack Chatty Baby's Body open to see if it can be fixed.

A Funny Thing Happened....when I bought my first Chatty Cathy to restore, her pull string worked ok, not great, once in a while, you could make out what she might be saying. After her clean up, if you pull the string off to the right side and upward, she talks, and pretty well. You CAN understand her. However, if you pull to many times in a row, or if you do not pull to the right and upward, gargle/growling noise. So I am very hopeful repairing her voice will not take too much. We shall see when we split her open. I have ordered an O Ring for the Device, but we will 'practice' on Chatty Baby first.

I am AMAZED that almost 60 years after they were first made, not only do some of the Chatty's STILL WORK at all!, But most still have Pull Strings that react to the pull, some slip, but most at least 'growl'. Mattel Toy sure made a STURDY Doll here. I know. I had a Chatty Cathy and a Chatty Baby...and we did NOT baby those Dolls any more than any other dolls!

It is not uncommon for the Vintage Mattel Chatty's to have faded limbs. Some are more faded than others. What to do about that?

Some people paint them. Some air gun paint them. I have heard of people heating up the limbs and rubbing foundation face make up into the 'pours' of the plastic, plastic is a porous substance.

I am not sure, at this point, what I am going to do for these limbs. I might try different technicis.

I am going to try to make some patterns for Chatty Cathy and Chatty Baby and offer them here FREE to people that like to sew and to crochet for their dolls. I LOVE to encourage young girls, that are in fact still playing with dolls, to sew and crochet for the dolls. There is a sense of pride in that, plus the fact that not enough young girls are learning these crafts these days.

If you are looking for a Mattel Chatty Doll try looking in Antique Stores, (I know, HOW did we get so old our toys are in those places!? Ha Ha) also Thrift Stores, Garage Sales, Estate Sales, Auctions (on line and in your town), and check your attics, your mother's attic....you never know, stranger things have happened.

My own mother kept my Chatty Cathy in near MINT condition on her bed for....well?, until my mother went into a home.

Chatty Cathy Before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnJz8fsrRZA

Chatty Cathy Part 1 Troll Doll Cleaning Removing Mildew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEjIcjp7Qm0

Chatty Cathy Clean Up Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCRFMNDCJ9o

Chatty Baby Unboxing Chatty Brother Review The Tiny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CrPEcz-VDY

Chatty Cathy Part 3 and Charmin Chatty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01f3aU1SzLg

Tiny Chatty Baby Fried Hair Repair:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8PB07ow_F8&t=332s

Chatty Cathy Ornament - TALKS!:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8PB07ow_F8&t=332s

My Size Barbie ~ How To Make $1 Outfits:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8PB07ow_F8

Just a bit of History. Although I had one of these dolls, that one, long gone, I do not remember much about them. I have relied on information from the Internet to provide this "Bit of History on the Tiny Chatty Baby Doll".

Chatty Baby is what most people call the "Tiny Chatty Baby" and "Tiny Chatty Brother" Dolls. They were produced after Chatty Cathy was SUCH a Hit for Mattel.

Mattel Toy Inc was BRILLIANT at making toys and money! BRILLIANT! Not only was Chatty Cathy an immediate hit on the Toy Market, you must remember, Hot Wheels came out right, like RIGHT, after the Chatty Cathy Dolls. They followed Chatty Cathy with other talking Dolls. None were as popular as Chatty Cathy, but they were each, on their own Popular.

Tiny Chatty Baby came out in XX and was followed by her Brother, Tiny Chatty Brother. The difference? The way the hair was parted on the head. LIKE I SAID, MATTEL WAS BRILLIANT at making and marketing toys!

I found a GREAT deal on this Chatty Baby....I bought it. I like cleaning and working on the Chatty Dolls. So? Why Not? Will I keep her or fix her up/Restore her and sell her? Right now, just keeping her. We will work on her Talk Box and more.

This is the above Doll's face photo. Her eyes look great, her little Bib is original, I will have to do some research to see if any of her other clothing came with the Doll back in the 1960's.

At any rate, she is cute, I got a great deal, and she's now ours.

The contents of this page for Chatty Baby Restoration is still under construction. Please check back often.

-- The Far Out Living Team
Wed, 08 May 2019 20:01:44 -0400