Random updates: Ken reroot, shoes for Lottie, and another sweater

Just some doll stuff that's been going on this week: 

I finally finished Ken's reroot! Well, I finished rooting about 6 months ago, but I procrastinated on the cutting and styling. Luckily I found a couple of good tutorials and it didn't turn out quite as bad as I feared. 

I took a billion photos and dumped on my Flickr, but here's the before&after: 

I don't know what I did with this picture, it just looks uncannily real somehow:

Spooky! 

I used nylon in color Nickel (at least that's what MyLittleCustoms call it) and a reroot tool since I couldn't get his head off. The thing is, I always thought it's nylon that fries easily in boiling water, but I may have gotten it wrong. This took a couple of boil perms (wrapped head in a strip of fabric, poured boiling water over it, then cold, then set to dry) to make the hair lay flat; it wouldn't have worked otherwise. 

Since the boil perm worked without seeming to damage anything, I tried it with Young Sweethearts Michael's hair too. I haven't mentioned him but I got him used and his 70s hair looked, well, like this: 

"My hair is a bird - your hot tap water treatment is ineffective!"

Using the same technique as with Ken, he now looks like this: 

Much better! 

The little 21cm Volks guy needed some more clothes in his size, so I made him a sweater. I learned a lot from the one I made for Darren and from stuff I've sewn since, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Some day I'm going to see if I can replicate it in a more interesting color (somethig which would've been easier if I'd saved a proper pattern...). 

Of course, when I say it's done there's still a random seam or two left. 

Oh, and my package from Amazon arrived today. Hunter and Ashlynn will have to wait, but Barbie Style Teresa (is that the name? It's what amazon calls them) has already been deboxed, undressed and had her body donated. Somehow I've run out of floating heads in that particular skin tone, so I used it for upgrading Diva instead. 

The weird thing is Teresa's necklace looks exactly like the one Dreamhouse Midge is wearing in the box art. Midge the doll wears a pretty ugly simplified version without the painted blue dots, so I don't know why they put the "real" version on Teresa?? 

LITD Midge left, Teresa right. 

Also, Lottie has two new shoes that came with robot accessory pack! The interesting thing is, it's not an outfit pack, just a robot buddy for Robot Girl Lottie - but it still comes with twice as many shoes as the outfits do! And since shoes are the hard currency of the doll collecting world, it was an easy choice. 

Pink and green! The stickers are for customising the robot. 

Dolll talk...

Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud about dolls.

Amazon.co.uk has a sale on some MH and EAH dolls, but of course none of the ones I want. Maaaaybe a Clawdia - I like big sister characters, and she has the best toothy grin - but I'd still have to find something else to get at the same time to qualify for free shipping. And of course the Ashlynn & Hunter set has gone up instead... I think I'll just wait for Cedar Wood. 

And then I'll have to decide how to handle the inevitable glue seepage: ignore (aka never wash the hair), reroot, or experiment with various removal methods? That's right Mattel, these are the things I plan beforehand when buying your dolls! Hope you're happy! (Well, they should be since I keep giving them my money... the sad truth is I just really want a Cedar Wood.)

A tip: camelcamelcamel.com is pretty useful for keeping track of Amazon's price fluctuations (if the neverending newsletters aren't enough). It seems to be correct as far as I've checked. There are a few localized versions, and I think you can register to get alerts. 

It's not much good when you're broke, of course - at the moment all I can do is stare angrily at that dip in the price graph back in April when Ashlynn & Hunter were at their cheapest and I passed them up... oh well. 

I don't like how EVERYTHING has to be pink, but sometimes it works.

My last trip to the thrift store yielded two Stacy dolls (two Stacies?). Barbie's barely-articulated little sisters aren't my cup of tea at all, the only reason I got them is they both had really cute shoes. Unfortunately they're too small for Lottie and my other kid dolls, so now I think I might keep one Stacy around just to wear the shoes... until a more interesting doll with the same shoe size comes along, that is. 

Both Steffi Love's little sister Evi (middle) and Barbie's Li'l Friend (right) have too wide feet. 

10 002 hits later, Darren finally gets his sweater

Blogger tells me I've reached 10 000 pageviews - 10 002 to be exact. To be fair, a good third of those are probably just me checking that the html isn't borked, but I stilI feel this is occasion to celebrate - with a few more blurry photos! Hooray!!

I made Lottie a pair of pants while I was at it. She fit right in with the IKEA furniture. And of course the surplus dye gave her a few faint pink stains, not too bad but still annoying. 

So I made her a pair of white socks instead. No proper hem at the top yet because I'm lazy. I'm amazed they fit in the shoes (they're from same cheap white t-shirt I used for her top). 

You'd be frowning too if you were wearing that. 

Remember Darren, the Triad Omega guy? Remember his sweater that I started about, oh, 18 months ago? Well, yesterday I was on a roll and decided to finally finish it. Still not entirely happy with how the v-neck turned out, and I'm not sure why I made it quite so big. I must have learned something from all the doll clothes I've sewn since, though: those final seems were a lot easier than I remember the rest of it was! Progress: hard to see, but probably happening anyway. 

V-neck: a bit lumpy, but finished. 

Also, the Momoko boots I ordered arrived yesterday. They're not the legendary Doc Martens, but still a really nice pair of doll shoes. I read somewhere Momoko dolls have big feet, so I thought the shoes might fit the Simba Super Model girls. A pair of heels might have been trickier, but the boots fit perfectly. 

left: Jun Shibuki (uses a SAJ body by Takara) wearing those blue OHC boots, right: Super Model Miri wearing the Momoko boots. 

I like the realistic design of these boots, and I'd like to get more for the "bigfoot girls" if I can find them at a good price (these were used from Mandarake.co.jp). 

One thing I'm a bit worried about is the split in the back doesn't end in a round punched hole like it should, it's just sort of printed in the plastic. I should do something about that, but I'm not sure I could make a perfect circle with a hobby knife. A heated needle, maybe? 

Sewing for Lottie, OHC sale

What I usually do at the beginning of each month is, a: stock up on toilet paper and rice, and b: go through my dollieh wish list and check if anything's on sale, or about to be discontinued, or if maybe something I've wanted for a long time just happens to be on ebay that week. While my wishlist is practically endless my funds aren't, but having to choose between buying Cool Thing A or Cool Thing B is hardly the worst problem you could have in this world. :)

There's finally a sale on Only Hearts Club at one of the few shops that still carry them. Still not super cheap, but the alternative is paying ridiculous money for shipping, so... I got two clothes sets, the pink party dress and one of the riding outfits. 

Unfortunately the shoes didn't fit the dolls I had in mind: the rubbery pink party slippers do fit obitsu, but they're rather wide and clumsy-looking. The low riding boots (shoes? I'm unfamiliar with the terminology here) look really nice but were really tight even after I'd extended the slit in the back all the way up. 

The most annoying thing is they were sewn to the packaging, so there are two holes in on one side, and of course one had to be placed just where the wider doll feet put extra stress on the material... Since I don't want the plastic to split the Super Model girls and their notoriously wide feet will have to do without riding boots. I might go back and get one of the sets with sneakers, we'll see. 

On the other hand, the pants from the riding set fit Fashionista and Super Model really well (although a bit shorter of course), and the pink party tights were aaaalmost the right size for Howleen (a bit too short, but you can't tell under the skirt). My dolls hardly have any tights, and I haven't had the courage to try and sew any, so that's a plus in my book at least.

There should have been pictures but I got lazy, sorry! Here's what I've been working on instead today: 

Lottie's new clothes!

I found a bunch of fabric samples I forgot I had, and those little strips were just big enough for a skirt for Lottie. Not big enough for a pleated skirt, but I wanted to try something simple (and there's always the big sample bit if I decide to make something more complicated later). 

I thought I'd make something similar to those Licca clone clothing sets by Daiso I've seen. Out of curiosity I ordered a couple from a place that sells them at a reasonable price (www.foundinjapan.com) but they haven't arrived yet and Lottie was getting cold, so I decided to make my own school uniform inspired outfit.

(Dollar store doll clothes are actually great for sewing inspiration: they can be low quality, lopsided with wonky seams, but still look pretty good as a whole. For someone prone to perfectionism it's a much needed reminder not to get too caught up in details.)

Not so sure about that snap, but I didn't have anything smaller. 

I didn't have any plain white cotton fabric that was thin enough for a shirt, so Lottie gets some kind of t-shirt/blouse thing instead (made from a human sized dollar store t-shirt). Something I'm really proud of here is how the sleeves came out, even though it took a couple of tries to get them to cooperate. 

To make it more school uniform-like I thought of adding a collar and some kind of decoration (bowtie?) but I'm not sure if the fabric is too bulky for that. We'll see. 

What I'm not so proud of is the skirt, partiularly the waistline. That's what happens when you just wing it. But hey, I have fabric to make a different skirt for each day of the week, sooner or later I'll get it right. In the meantime, the top covers the mistakes. :)

Lottie's only shoes are the beige and pink gumboots she came with, but I found that these Obitsu mary janes will work in a pinch. 

Steffi Love boots mod

Oh yeah, I actually finished modding those Steffi Love boots. Originally they were fake flats, but I sliced off the soles, hollowed them out to make room for föat feet, then glued them back together. They still only fit articulated Steffi's feet, but at least the proportions don't look as weird. 

All hollowed out and ready for reassembling! I just used whatever glue I happened to have laying around.

The seam split when I rammed her foot down in the boot too carelessly. Oh well, just pour some extra on.

Steffi Love's articulated feet aren't pretty, but they do the trick.

Balancing without problem! 

Skipper/Super Model, Twilight Teens Nemonia review, carving out shoes

This changes everything!

This is a bit enbarassing, but: I only just realized the Super Models' arms come apart! Elbows AND hands. I don't know how I missed it, but I can tell you how I found out: from purplemonkfish's review of Nemona, one of the new Twilight Teens dolls (Simba's Monster High clones who use the same body). I'm still not sure if I want a "Pneumonia", but it's a pretty informative review anyway. 

Speaking of the super models (again), I took a few comparison shots of them next to my old Skipper. Skin tone doesn't match all that well, but may be acceptable (I guess it's possible different Skippers might be slightly different shades, but I only have this one). 

Juls, Skipper, Sarah

Same but in a slightly different light

Skipper and Hadley's original body don't match either, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, some people out there have tried the Skipper/Super Model combo. This Dollforum.ru thread has pics of a Skipper on Juls's body (scroll down a bit) and here's blogger Barbiebeauties' Skipper rebodied on Sarah. I'd probably go with the latter.

Also, I sliced the soles off those boxing boots for Steffi Love and will attempt to hollow them out to actually fit flat feet. I don't have a dremel, but the plastic is pretty soft so I'm using a knife and an old lino cut gouge. I'm not sure if it'll work, but these shoes were pretty useless to begin with so I don't really have anything to lose. 

After slicing off the sole. Note "toe hole". 

The story so far. Also pictured: gouge.

Both Headmistress Bloodgood and the CAM mummy + gorgon pack are on sale,  but as I've already spent all of this month's doll money and then some, all I can do is sigh and hope they don't sell out too fast. 

Rebody fail: OHC Briana Joy on Simba Super Model

Well, back to the drawing board!

L: Only Hearts Club Briana Joy on Simba Super Model Sarah's body, R: Barbie and the Rockers' DeeDee rebodied on Super Model Bel.

As I mentioned, I just bought another Simba Super Model - a Sarah this time, the only one of the four dolls I didn't have before. I was hoping she would be a close enough match to rebody Only Hearts Club Briana Joy on, but it turns out she's too pale after all. The hues don't match very well either -  Briana looks almost green in comparison. Plus her head looks way too small.

Hmmm.

(More comparisons and photos of naked dolls below)

Briana and Sarah, pre-Frankendollying. You can already tell it's not going to work. 

I was really hoping this would work out since I've been meaning to rebody my OHC dolls forever (or since I got them, at least). They have soft stuffed cloth bodies with some kind of wire skeleton, making some posing possible, except their arms wind up looking like bananas. (Also, the fabric used is my Least Favorite Fabric Ever. Seriously. I don't even know what it's called, I just know I've hated it since I was a kid. It's what they used for the seats on the school bus, maybe that's why?) 

Their hands and feet are vinyl (I think?),  except the first wave which only have cloth feet. The soccer player Briana I bought turned out to be the old version, and so I decided she would be the first to receive a new body. 

Unfortunately there aren't that many options for articulated bodies in the 8"-9" (or 21cm) range, particularly not for AA dolls. Volks Mini have the right proportions, but only come in pale pink and paler pink (and also are possibly discontinued? It's a bit unclear, but their international online shop hasn't had them in stock in forever). 

I've seen people use Juku Couture bodies (like here), but they're a bit hard to come by and it doesn't look like Kana would match Briana either, plus their necks look really skinny. Here's Briana rebodied on a Bratz body, which unfortunately doesn't solve the articulation problem. ETA: Somehow I never realized there are articulated Bratz! They don't seem to be any taller than the unartiulated ones, so if I find one with a matching skin tone that could be an option. (Of course they seem to be discontinued now...) 

Using a full-size Barbie body (like this Taylor Angelique on a Model Muse) would provide more options, but with a head that small and obviously designed to resemble a child, it just doesn't look right. I wanted to keep the doll as close to kid size as possible, and the Super Model body seemed like an acceptable compromise at 25cm. 

Well, at least the neck has the right dimensions, and the articulation works fine: she can look up and down and tilt her head without problem. Getting the head off the original body wasn't too hard either (thanks to Roxanne's guide on what to expect). Still, I have to admit it - it just doesn't look very good. Sigh.

Clothes can camouflage/distract a bit... 

...but that's still a very long and missmatched neck.

Here's a couple of comparison pics I took: 

L-R: Briana's original body, Briana on Super Model, MH Clawdeen (whose neck is too thin and uncompatible)

L: Briana on Super Model, R: Fashionista Barbie. (As usual, the mismatch shows up differently depending on the light.) 

L: DeeDee on Super Model Bel's body, which sadly doesn't match either.

I think she'll stay on this body for now until I find something better. Her original soccer outfit still fits, just a bit tight (although the socks with built-in shin guards looked a bit silly protecting only the lower half of her shins). 

At least Sarah came with a new outfit (modeled below by DeeDee from Barbie and the Rockers, rebodied on Simba Super Model Bel's body) and most importantly with a new pair of shoes! They do fit over the socks, although it's a tight fit. Liv can wear them too (without socks). I wish they had made them white with a pink or blue star instead, though.  

Sarah's shoes + socks

Actually, the soccer shoes that Briana came with was one of the reasons I got her:

OHC Briana's shoes

Seams are a bit wonky as usual, but nothing too bad. The color scheme is almost identical to Dreamhouse Summer's jacket. 

So I heard the 80s were back 

Random sewing and wig buying

And now for something completely different: 

After I put that headband that came with the mini BabyBorn clothes on Lottie, I realized she needed a white dress to go with it. Super simple model, made from a cheap white t-shirt. I quite like how it came out, although I still need to close it in the back. 

Currently looking at shoes for her (she came with gumboots/wellies). The accessory packs get a bit expensive with shipping, but there is a set with a little robot (to go with Robot Girl Lottie) that comes with two pairs of shoes that I think are supposed to fit the dolls too, but I haven't been able to unambiguously confirm it.

ETA re Lottie shoes: 

The robot set comes with the robot wearing a pair of pink shoes, but the promo pics shows it wearing the second green pair as well. This reviewer apparently managed to change the robot's shoes: http://pleasegivepeasachance.blogspot.se/2013/11/lottie-dolls-review-and-giveaway.html 

This reviewer on the other hand says she couldn't get the first pair off the robot's feet, although she mentions the second pair fits Lottie: https://rebeccahains.wordpress.com/tag/lottie/