News Sep 27, 2015 by Jeff Mahoney Hamilton Spectator

Sisters Shirleyann and Gail Tayor search for the maker of an antique doll on the base of its head.
The doll, which was made around 1910, was dropped off at their Concession Street shop by a man who said he no longer had any use for it and knew that it would have a good home with them at Rainbow Treasures.
The sisters repair old dolls as well as teach classes on how to make porcelain dolls.

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This larger doll named Annika is an example of Dimensional Doll Painting - her eyes are painted, not cut out.
She is made in the Modern style by Gail.

This music box doll is a Jumeau called Arielle IV - another award winning creation by the Taylors.

These sweet little dolls are called Bleuettes, and are made from 3 separated designs.

These dolls are called Bleuettes. - Cathie Coward,The Hamilton Spectator

These two Circle Dot Bru dolls get their names from the markings on the head that the designer uses as a signature.

Jack Frost is another award-winning modern doll made by Shirleyann Taylor.

The Whistler is hand-made by Gail Taylor on a German doll body, designed by Armand Marseille and made to resemble the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders.

When you walk into Rainbow Treasures, it feels as though there are a hundred eyes upon you, and there are, looking down from display shelves and up from work tables.

They're made of painted glass, but they seem alive with their own special intelligence. The dozens of exquisite hand-made porcelain dolls which look through these eyes seem glad to see you, as though you're here for their amusement, not the other way.

All week long, numerous students file into Rainbow Treasures and spend hours working, with a painstaking, almost religious devotion, in the service of these amazing creations and with an exact regard for every particular of their needs.

Rainbow Treasures owners Shirleyann Bastable and Gail Henderson (sisters, nee Taylor) not only make dolls, and teach others, they also repair dolls, many of them antiques.

"These two took a year," says Shirleyann, showing me a couple of vintage beauties. "I spent over 15 hours just combing the hair of this one, with a needle." The hair is mohair, too fine for a comb. If the dolls think they're not so much our toys as we are their servants, no wonder.

They have such personality, I tell Shirleyann. She knows. "It's hard not to think," she says, "'What do the dolls say to each other at night?'"

As we talk a young woman pushes a stroller along the sidewalk on the other side of the window, then slows to look in. It's irresistible. Dolls. Doll clothes. Doll supplies.

"When a child comes in with a broken doll, that supersedes everything," says Gail. They'll put other work on hold.

"A four-year-old came through the door the other week, crying and poured her broken doll out of a bag. These kids sleep with their dolls.
She would phone to ask 'Is it ready?' Oh, to see the faces light up when they get them back."

Gail can relate. She loved her dolls growing up. But Shirleyann oddly had no interest as a child.
Sandwiched between two brothers, Shirleyann loved toy trains.

"But our mother (the late Mona Taylor) had some antique dolls, from her childhood.
One day she put them in a box to throw away," says Shirleyann.
"I said, 'Don't. I'll learn how to fix them.'" It took years but she was as good as her word.
After taking a doll-making course in Cambridge, she caught what she calls "doll pox," and plunged in with a fury.

Before long she became grandmaster doll-maker, a very hard designation to achieve.
She can even make blinker eyes, which require the complex rigging of a delicate mechanism she makes herself.
Rainbow Treasures, 582 Concession Street, is believed to be the only storefront doll-making operation in southern Ontario.
It opened in 1987.

A true unsung treasure in the city, it's part Santa's workshop, part triage hospital, part doll shrine, part social club.
There are dolls from all over the world and many of Gail and Shirleyann's prize-winners from various doll shows.

As with any magic, you are curious how it's done, but also don't want to ruin the spell by knowing.

"Mud," Gail says bluntly, with a laugh. The porcelain starts as a muddy liquid.
It's ultimately "fired to bisque" in a kiln; there are two in the shop.
This involves demanding precision. Over- and under-baking can happen and are fatal.
Once the porcelain is vitrified, smoothing the surface is critical.
Rainbow Treasures' dolls are known for their perfect skin, so fine as to be translucent,
the paint so subtle that the half-blush on the cheeks seems to fade and reawaken as it would on real flesh.

"We won't let a doll leave here that we're not proud of," says Shirleyann.

Rainbow Treasures is definitely a family concern.
The sisters get to know all their students ("Everyone can make a beautiful doll," says Gail) and have tea parties and Christmas galas with them.
Beyond that, third sister Donna Henning does lace draping for outfits; Gail's mother-in-law Marilynn Henderson does crocheting;
brother Gerry Taylor builds furniture and shelves.
Brother Rev. Ernest Taylor, a Christian missionary, sends dolls from his travels over the world.
Gail's husband Mike Henderson makes wood bases for displays.

For class hours and more information, call 905-575-7088 or visit rainbowtreasures.ca.

jmahoney@thespec.com