I never knew rubber face dolls existed, let alone Rushton being as big of a thing as it is… until I found Cozy Craze Cuddles on Instagram. That is where I stared down a rabbit hole learning about them. So, I reached out to Cozy to see if she would be willing to teach me more about these dolls and share her passion with me. To my absolute joy she said yes! I sent her a list of questions that I couldn’t answer from history forums and websites.
History of the Rushton Rubber Face Dolls
Rushton is the brand of rubber face stuffed animals most widely known rubber face dolls. The brand’s creator and the maker behind the plush dolls was Mary Rushton. Mary became widely known for creating hand-made, colorful stuffed toys with rubber faces. They have been praised since for their impeccable quality and high profile quantities. Meaning they were small batch made.
Mary started out of high school creating stockinet dolls in the 1920s as one of the two primary retailers in America at the time due to supply chains from Europe ceasing. The dolls were sold under the brand trade name MA-WA-PHIL Dolls for 50 cents to one dollar, roughly the same price as ceramic eyed dolls.
In 1950 her daughter and her created the Rushton’s Star Creation toy line. A line of rubber faced dolls, which soared to popularity between the 1940s and the 1950s. They were sold until the closure of the Rushton Toy Company in 1984. Now they have a cult following of dedicated collectors celebrating their quality and charm.
Vintage Stuffed Animal Restoration and Reproduction – An Interview with Cozy Craze Cuddles
A huge thank you to Cozy for her help on my deep dive to learn about rubber face stuffed animals, their reproduction and restoration.
How did you learn/become interested about these vintage stuffed animals with rubber faces?
What really got me interested in rubber faces was completely random. Most people get exposed to them by artists that mention them, whether it’s singers that have them in their music videos, artists such as Mark Ryden. For me though it was simply browsing Pinterest one day and locking eyes with a picture of the Rushton cow that immediately turned my attention to them.
What was your first addition to your collection? Do you still have it?
The first addition to my collection was my Rushton cow which began my desire to collect. I got her at a reasonable price and with my grandmother we restored her together about three years ago. I still own her and most likely will always due to the significance she holds as the first item in my journey.
A fun fact is that when I initially purchased her, I said that I would be one and done. Clearly, that didn’t happen.
How long does it take to design a single prototype for a reproduction animal?
Sometimes it’s the original, and other times it’s a remake. If it’s a remake, I’ll research and collect as many pictures of the plushie from as many different angles as I possibly can. Fortunately, I have some amazing followers who will sometimes send me pictures of every single part of a plushie I am planning on creating a replica of (for example, the body, the rubber face parts, etc).
One of the longest projects I’ve worked on was a reproduction of the Walrus. From the time I started working on it until the finished product was complete, it took me approximately 3 months. And although it wasn’t always easy, the most difficult part of this project was the face. As far as the amount of work I had to put into this plushie goes, I would say it was one of the hardest faces I’ve ever created. Making the plush prototype for the walrus was the easy part, but the rubber face had to go through multiple revisions to achieve the final look. In addition to the paint job, the sculpting of the rubber face added to the difficulty being the most complex one I had to ever sculpt. However, once I completed all of these revisions, and finally assembled the entire plushie, I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.
There are occasions when the face revision process is not the longest part. At times, the actual plush production can take longer than expected. Sometimes it can take several rounds of revisions to get the original idea of the plushie correct. A good example of this is the opossum plushie. It went through a total of 6 revisions before it reached its final form. Even though it may be discouraging at times when things do not turn out as planned on the first attempt or two, it is extremely important to trust the process and keep moving forward.
What inspires your creativity?
I am definitely not limited to just one inspiration. Sometimes it is seeing an outrageous price tag on a Rushton that inspires me to create a replica.
At other times, it’s something very simple, such as going into a toy store with my dad and he pulls a sloth plush from the shelf and asks if they have ever made a rubber face version of it.
And then there are those late nights when I lie in bed and can’t fall asleep and ideas suddenly pop into my head which result in the making of the opossum and the bat.
How do you personally design your rubber faces?
I create all of my face designs using the 3D modeling software Nomad Sculpt.
If I am replicating an existing face, I typically gather as many photo references as I can on the plush I’m attempting to replicate.
If I am creating an original face, I will usually look at pre-existing rubber face designs and then ask myself: “How would it look if Rushton made one?”
I also consider which Rushtons my new design would closely resemble.
For example I created the opossum based off Chippy the chipmunk Rushton referencing both size and shape, as if they were designed to be a duo.
When you decide on an animal you want to restore, what is your process? For instance, do you see one online in an old magazine and want to bring it back or do you see one in a shop, and it just speaks to you. Is that process the same for reproducing a new one?
For my personal restorations, I typically restore plushies for myself when the plushie is going to be a better price due to the poor condition. I also look for items which will make good projects to restore like monkeys and chubby tubbys that were either missing lots of hair, or infested with rubber mold spores.
Sometimes, a plushie just speaks to me, and I am drawn to it enough to feel the desire to bring it back to its former condition.
Due to my autoimmune disease it has made me highly sensitive to strong odor and lingering filth. Which is why I restore quite a bit of my collection to fully enjoy them depending if they need it.
This is one of the reasons I enjoy creating new reproductions. Since I know exactly how clean and fresh they are I have no worries regarding smell, condition, or not knowing what kind of history the plushie may have.
The Rushton Rooster with overalls is one of my “dream” pieces. I would be happy to have an original or a reproduction of this Rushton as long as it has the same charm as the original. The pros of creating a reproduction of this plushie also allows me to avoid worrying about the durability of it and reduces the stress of taking it somewhere.
Creating a reproduction of a plushie also provides the opportunity to take advantage of various design elements. In the case of the Rushton Rooster, he was produced in three different sizes. Each size has slightly different face sculpting due to being resized and hand sculpted. When I create a reproduction of a plushie such as the Rushton Rooster, I can take the best features of each size and design them into a single cohesive version.
I have also done restoration for other people before. Although I don’t do restorations for other people as frequently now due to time constraints. To me, preservation of these toys and bringing them back to life for others to enjoy is so important and I hope to have time to revisit and restore more for others in the future.
What does your general restoration process look like?
By this point in time, the restoration process seems quite natural.
Although there is still always something new I can learn from each restoration.
Firstly, I evaluate the project:
- Does it have mold?
- Does the fur look brittle?
- Does it have a smell?
- What condition is the rubber in?
- Is the fur red or black?
- Does it have fragile felt pieces?
These questions will give me an idea of what the cleaning and restoration will be.
Depending on the project some may just need some minor face or surface touch-ups/scrubbing. Although some may require more extensive restoration such as mold treatment, disassembled to prevent dye-bleeding, odor from smoke removal or other restoration methods.
What was your hardest restoration project?
My biggest restoration challenge and perhaps the most rewarding was restoring a XL Rushton whale.
I agreed to do the restoration thinking a smaller whale would come in the mail to my shock being a undocumented XL version which is the first known to the collector community.
The plan was to save as much of the original parts as possible. The only part that had to be created from scratch was the tail since the tail was gone.
Removing all of the pieces from the whale, cleaning each and every piece, restoring the face that was coated with dirt and deformed, and then sewing each piece back together was an enormous job. However to this day I consider this one of my favorite restoration I have ever done.
What is your holy grail stuffed animal to make or collect?
I’ve said it before that the Rushton rooster with overalls is my holy grail plush. However, I can only see myself spending a max of $250 on him if he were somehow to be available for that amount. He normally sells for $500-$1000 and I have no intention of paying such a large amount regardless if he’s my dream plush.
I’ve already begun working on my own version of him. The body prototype is already built and looks great so far. I’m very excited about adding him to my personal collection. Whether or not it is a remake, it has the same significance to me. It will allow me to enjoy him as well as provide an opportunity for others to also.
What advice do you have for someone reading and wants to look into doing this themselves?
There are countless opportunities to give up when first starting out. I can count a lot of times that I was ready to stop trying. But the most important thing is to see your vision through. There’s no short cut to success, but if you’re willing to be patient, determined and have people supporting you then it will pay off.
If you were to teach a class on stuffed animal restoration, what are your must-have supplies and/or skills?
If I had an opportunity to teach a class, the required items that you would have to have would include:
- Dawn Dish Soap
- Toothbrushes
- Mold Armor
- Acrylic Paints and Acrylic Paint Markers
- Wire Brush Combs
- Mini Cutting Scissors
- Alcohol Wipes
- Matte Eyeshadows
Of course, you will also need patience and a steady hand as well as the ability to sew. In the near future I am planning to make several full-length video tutorials explaining step by step how to restore rubber faces and the different types of restoration methods. However, I find myself becoming lost in the process, I usually lose track of the fact that I’m supposed to record the entire process, but that is something I’m going to try and work on, to better document the entire restoration process, and to provide more information to people on the subject of restoration, including some basic dos and don’ts.
And of course, my DMs are always open to anyone who wants to learn or has questions.
Any extra fun facts you have that you want to share:
It’s not really a fun fact but I wanted to share that if you are interested in rubber faces and feel that they are too expensive don’t be discouraged I’ve made many rubber face plushies from squeaky toys and old stuffed animals I’ve also seen people make their own out of clay you do not need to spend a lot of money to introduce yourself into the rubber faces community or start your collection.
Conslusion
From Mary Rushton’s creation to the dedicated restorers, collectors and reproducers celebrating her legacy to this day. A huge thank you again to Cozy, from Cozy Craze Cuddles for all this wonderful information. Be sure to check out her collectable creations here. I hope this deep dive taught you just as much and you enjoyed learning about the fascinating world of rubber face dolls.
