Other people's posts: Once Upon A Zombie and #NoMoreGlueHeads

Today I don't have anything of interest to post, but luckily there are others who do.

Good news: Once Upon A Zombie has apparently been un-discontinued, which I guess you already know if you follow their facebook. I didn't, but luckily ChristinaArticulates wrote a post about it - apparently there's a book/web series/something else that isn't dolls coming out, and there's a promo campaign where you can win dolls and stuff if you're American. The rest of us will have to wait, but at least this means their zombie!Alice doll is coming out after all. Alice seems to be a really popular choice for a doll character - there's probably a doll with a blue dress+white pinafore+blonde hair combo in every single doll line, from Licca to Liv. While I'm not automatically a fan of the Alice look, I really liked the OUAZ prototype from the toy fair last year and I'm glad it wasn't scrapped after all.

Also, D7ana/PhillyCollector is gathering links for a pinboard dedicated to Mattel's head glue problem. Got any links to posts, forum threads, reviews, rants about sticky doll hair? Submit'em! Of course, if you're following me you're probably following her as well, but I figure it doesn't hurt getting the word out as much as possible.

Part 1: Request for links & Part 2: Pinterest post promotion @ PhillyCollector
#NoMoreGlueHeads @ Pinterest

Sugar scrub for greasy hair, repaint finally finished!

Today I gave the Headless Headmistress' sticky hair another go with the sugar scrub (as suggested by BlackKitty) and it does seem to have helped a bit. I tried it once last week or so and didn't feel much difference, but persistance pays off: after a couple more rounds the hair feels a lot less sticky. The bangs need a bit more work since they were a bit tricky to get at. I'll do them again tomorrow - or I guess I could just wait until the glue inevitably starts seeping out again and I have to do the whole thing over again anyway...

Anyway, while the last word hasn't been said on Mattel's glue problem at least this particular doll seems relatively ok for now. I'm a bit relieved, actually - I liked her and her hair, and having a doll sitting around without her head isn't much fun. Yeah, I know she's a headless horse(wo)man, I guess I'm just used to it being the other way around: heads everywhere but no bodies to put them on. 

While she came with a strict, gelled down bun, I much prefer her hair like this. 

Braz tops = crop tops, Bratz Boyz pants = highwaters with a dangerously low waist. If they still look ok, Bloodgood (and Nefera) can wear them, with varying degrees of success.  

...aaaaand I actually finished my first proper repaint! Woohoo!

There's a bunch of little mistakes and the lips in particular are overworked, but if I had continued I would just have messed it up even worse. Art is knowing when to quit, you know? I feel like I learned a lot on this one - for example, working on a head with molded eyes and eyelids is SO much easier than the Bratz sculpt. As a beginner I think I'll stick to more detailed sculpts for now 

I always intended to wipe it and start over, particularly since I messed up the base layer of sealer by putting it on while the vinyl was damp, but it's nice to have a physical reminder of what I've learned so far, so for now she gets to stay. The sealer has cracked a bit at the edges in places, but... we'll see how long it lasts, I guess? An experiment!! *evil cackle* *thundercrack*

Speaking of experiments, it's also a chance to see how the brush-on sealer (Liquitex matte varnish) works as a top coat. I know it smudges watercolor pencils (and dry pastels obviously), but the blushing I did with almost-dry acrylic paint seems ok, so that's good news. 

It's not quite as matte as I would have liked, so the face looks slightly shiny, and it's impossible to avoid leaving brush strokes, but neither of those things bothers me as much as it did at first. It's also not completely transparent - I think that's why it makes the eyes look a bit dull, so I'll get some gloss varnish and put a final layer on just the eyes (most repainters seem to do that).