Common Issues and Damage

Damage to Body Vinyl and Head

Rock Flower dolls have an unusual body compared to their 6.5" counterparts made by other companies in the same time period of the early to mid 1970s. Their body is one solid piece of soft vinyl cast over an internal flexible skeleton capable of bending and holding poses. This makes them more or less flexible than their jointed competition, as some of their joints can't bend as far but they do move in more places and directions. The soft material is also susceptible to a range of different damage that most dolls don't experience as frequently. The hands in particular are often partially missing from being caught within sleeves during dressing and flexed past their limits, or simply having been chewed on by a pet or a child. Due to the one piece nature of their bodies it's not really possible to combine spare parts from damaged dolls as you can with many other fashion dolls, the only way to repair a damaged body is to replace it altogether.

One benefit they do hold over many of their contemporaries is the stability of their materials! Dolls from the early 70s are notorious for their chemical instability, while Rock Flowers tend to be remarkably stable. They don't melt on contact with each other, and don't discolor notably with age or sunlight exposure (though it's best to store your dolls away from sunlight regardless). The only issue with their vinyl's aging I've come across is that Rock Flowers can experience something refered to as "head shrinkage" where the chemicals in a soft plastic that help it retain its flexibility dry out over time and the remaining vinyl hardens and shrinks slightly. This can also cause a bit of darkening to the color of the vinyl resulting in an often orangey tone and a mismatch between the head and body. The head also becomes hard and its surface becomes shinier. Many other vinyl dolls can have this issue, also.

Some 70s toys have a chemical instability where the different types of plastic they are made out of chemically react to each other on contact and cause the plastic to liquify and melt. Living Barbie by Mattel, Kenner's Dusty, and Dawn by Topper are all examples of dolls from the same period where their different parts of their bodies having contact can melt themselves. While Rock Flowers luckily don't have this reaction with themselves between their body parts or between each other, they can still have reactions to other materials. My Rock Flowers Stage Case has two small foot print shaped holes in its plastic insert where a past ower had left a doll's bare feet in contact with the plastic. My Rosemary also stood barefoot in a doll stand where her feet had a reaction with the enamel paint on the metal stand, leaving white on the bottom of her toes. It's best to individually wrap dolls for storage if you plan to store them in a container together, just to be sure to avoid contact between the doll and other plastics.

With Rock Flowers, sometimes you may notice two small pin prick dents right next to each other in the middle of their forehead, this is very common. The two small dents are result of the nosebridge on their sunglasses pressing against their foreheads while the glasses were shoved up onto their forehead. Related to this, you may notice two small holes in their temples, possibly with string coming out. This is the remnants of the factory stitching their sunglasses to their head.

Skeletal Damage

This form of damage can be easy to miss upon a quick inspection or a simple photo, as it is generally a completely internal problem encased within the vinyl body. The internal skeleton that allows the dolls to pose can only flex so far before it snaps, resulting in a floppy broken joint that will return to the default position of the body's original casting. A doll with internal breaks can still be a nice piece for modeling fashions and standing in a display! However, you will want to take extra care in dressing and handling a doll with internal breaks, as bending a broken spot too liberally can result in the sharp broken wires inside tearing through the soft vinyl. The most common skeletal damage I've come across is broken hips, as Rock Flowers cannot sit a 90 degree angle and attempting to pose them in such a simple position often breaks the hips. Just remember, these dolls were born to dance! Not sit down on the sidelines.

If you're shopping for Rock Flowers online and trying to guess internal damage from a photo, a helpful thing to look for is the doll holding a pose in the picture. Even a doll with twisted and contorted limbs can be a good sign that the internal skeleton is still in one piece and capable of holding a pose; a doll with her arms neatly at her side has functioning shoulders, while a doll in a T pose it can be hard to tell without handling her and checking the joints with your fingers. Many sellers either don't know or don't take the time to communicate damaged joints in their sales listings.