Porcelain Dolls in Mountain View

Dorothy’s Dolls

Dorothy and Deloy started making porcelain dolls while still living in Lethbridge. Dorothy had always loved dolls and dreamed of making porcelain dolls. Dorothy painted beautiful faces and sewed outfits of perfection. Deloy poured the porcelain slip in the molds to a precise thickness and had the strength to pull the string that held the body parts together. They worked as a team; teaching classes first in their basement then at the Lethbridge College and in various community halls even as far as Fernie. They would teach at least twice a week and bring their fragile parts home and fire them in the kiln over 24 hours for each firing. Each doll would take three firings, one from bisque to porcelain and then two paintings.

In the summer of 1984, they fulfilled their long-time dream of owning a home near the mountains, in Mountain View. Over the next few years, they made their home a place where family and friends came to make dolls and have fun. A place everyone felt welcome and loved, and gained a sense of how they could create something beautiful.

In 1996 Dorothy and Deloy served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tonga. They were to serve for two years but Deloy needed heart surgery so they came home after just one year. Dorothy was heartbroken. She loved the Tongan people and the opportunity to serve. As a way to serve and ease her broken heart they decided that every young woman in Mountain View age 12-18 would be invited to make a porcelain doll that year.

For years to follow as girls turned 12 they had the opportunity to make a doll and spend time in Dorothy’s doll house. This was a blessing to Dorothy and Deloy and to the community of Mountain View.