Whether you deal in antique dolls or just collect them, sooner or later you will get a doll who needs a pate.  When you don't have just the right size on hand, it can be frustrating to wait for mail order.  Or maybe you'd rather have something more appropriate than the new buckram pates that are sold in craft stores.

It's very easy to make a cardboard pate!  Using household materials you can make one in a few minutes plus overnight drying time. 

Materials needed:

thin cardboard or heavy brown craft paper
white glue
water
a mold (small bowl, custard cup, pingpong ball, styrofoam ball, spoon, etc.)
plastic wrap or scrap of fabric

1.  Cut the cardboard or paper into rounds slightly bigger than the size pate needed.  Make sure you measure over the curve and not straight across.  If using thin cardboard, you'll need two layers.  If using paper, cut 4-8 layers, depending on the size of the pate (larger pates need more).

2.  Find an appropriate mold.  The inside of a  bowl will work for medium to large pates.  The inside of a spoon, especially certain measuring spoons, will work for small pates.  You can also form the pate over a ball.

3.  Get the cardboard wet.  Press it into or onto the mold.  Spread a thin layer of white glue on the cardboard and add the next layer.  Press firmly into/onto the mold to work the fullness in.   If using a ball, wrap plastic wrap or cloth around it and twist tightly to keep the cardboard close to the ball.

4.  Let dry overnight.  When dry, pop the pate off or out of the mold and trim the edges with sharp scissors.

This makes a pate that looks very much like the antique cardboard pates.  It will be strong and sturdy and will not flatten like new buckram pates tend to do.  You can also tailor the curve to the doll's head and/or wig---some need a flatter pate and some need a more domed pate. 

I find that the cardboard in paper towel  tubes is the perfect weight.  It flattens out when wet, and two layers is just the right finished thickness.