Unsticking Bubbles.

It was on Bubbles that my series languished. I’d chosen one of the two Auroa dolls I have. It’s not a face sculpt I much like. The eyes feel too large and wide apart but I thought it might work for Bubbles.

Alas, her hair parted on the side and I found no way that I could make her hairstyle work. I chopped off her hair and thought I’d make a wig….but I never did.

Last week, in surveying projects to finish up, I knew in my heart it was time to move on…and try making Cinderella into Bubbles instead.

When I first got Cinderalla she was sporting some facial stains that I finally bleached off with 10% Benxoyl Peroxide acne cream this summer.

I figured that she had a middle-part hair and would work…but it was difficult to really make out the full part because of how matted her hair was.

I conditioned and brushed and conditioned and brushed. At first I did so without gloves and then realized that if I’m going to increase doll work I’ll also need to increase protection to my skin and body. Gloved up.

It was only once it was fully dry that I realized the top part was great for pigtails….but the hair becomes too sparse in back to support that style.

I’m never going to fully reroot a Disney Animator doll again, that was a special hell, but her hair seems easy to match and I’m fine with just adding a part and longer bangs in front.

Which is how Bubbles came to get the back of her head removed so I can more easily glue and access skull bits without removing her head.

I’m not going to have time this week to get more hair, so I don’t expect to get any further on her until after the dance studio has it’s show. The rest of my night tonight is for cleaning and costume alterations.

craft, Doll, monster high

Beast Boys

Have I made Beast Boy (the doll) his action suit?

No.

Have I made two Beast Boy animal figures?

Yes.

I saw this derpy doggie at the 100¥ shop.

One Apoxie Sculpt collar and paint job later

Beast Dog!

My MH haul came with these plastic cats.

I cut one head open and drilled some drainage holes.

Then I primed and painted.

It’s rough but it’s Beast Cat Planter!

It’s these little projects that give me the sense I’m accomplishing something creative when my schedule gets busy.

Should my self worth be tied to my productivity? No.

Is it?

Hmmmmmm.

craft, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

Exploring Hands.

It’s common to find Monster High/ EAH dolls without hands. This is only going to get worse as the line is discontinued.

Now I’m trying to find a way to deal with that when I don’t live in a country with much in the way of replacement parts.

I think I’ll eventually have to learn how to cast resin but until then:

Try 1 for a hand-less EAH doll:

Obitsu four hand set for 21/23 (about 800¥)

Right off the bat the peg that needs to be inserted into the arm is way too long and thick.

Left: EAH Hands Right: Obitsu

The Obitsu hands don’t have the lovely long fingers of a fashion doll, the wrist is thick, and the colors are limited.

This color is actually close to the body I’m using so I probably won’t blush them right away.

I set about cutting and sanding/dremelling away the excess peg.

And testing the fit.

Until it fit!

It’s not the most elegant solution. The rubbery hands aren’t easy to sand or shape. It works though. They can always serve as placeholders until spare hands are found, if ever.

Up Soon:
I’ll be trying the Pure Nemo hands, which come in a wider selection of hand poses and might be easier to sand and shape. These will also require whittling down.

I’m also drying to airdry polymer clay and apoxie Sculpt to see if I can make my own forearms in the future.

craft, sewing, Uncategorized

Never Ending Cat Skirt.

Cleaning and organizing my craft room always involves finishing some projects and alterations.

Tonight I added three more patches to the never-ending cat skirt.

About three years ago I bought a simple, white, eyelet skirt at the Gap, figuring it would be fine for work.

Then I realized it needed a little more length so I added more eyelet at the hem.

As soon as I wore it, some of the eyelet caught on a chair at school and ripped.

Not being willing to admit that I’d made a bad purchase and that fast fashion sometimes is built to fall apart, I started patching it with appliques from my scrap bin. The tears almost always happen on the sides….from catching on various chairs.

Today I added a jaguar, left over from my quilt backing, and two pairs of black and white cats on pink backgrounds.

It shouldn’t really work but it does. When I wear it I garner squeals of joy….and it’s not easy to be exceptionally adorable in Japan. The bar is high.

I think this has been in my to-fix pile for so long that I might not have worn it this school year. Tomorrow black tights, black sweater, never-ending cat skirt it is.

costuming, craft, sewing, tutorial, Uncategorized

Stuffed Animal Renewal.

I didn’t just have conjunctivitis, I also had a sinus infection. It took me DOWN.

Also, it’s made a lot of detail work I could be doing impossible. When I tilt my head down to focus on what my hands are doing I feel all the weight of the crap in my sinuses and it hurts.

I haven’t had much energy while getting well but I’m NOT GOOD at not doing anything, or doing next to nothing. I get a little stir-crazy. I’ve spent a lot of time in bed so I’ve mustered the ability to do laundry, make my bedroom feel clean..and renew an old stuffed animal.

I’ve written about my history with Ralph here before. Because I’d found him left behind at a campsite, I’ve never known him in pristine condition….but I figured he could look better.

I decided first to restuff him. I opened him up at side seams, removed the existing filler, stuffed him with polyester filling, and restitched him. His body was filled with foam chunks, I’m glad I did this before those started to chemically break down into dust. His limbs were filled with cotton-like batting. The final photo is after this process. Ralph is sitting a little prouder.

Then a made a paste of baking soda, dawn dish washing soap, and a little water. I took a toothbrush and started scrubbing his fur.

Then, when I’d scrubbed as much as I could like that I took a spray bottle of vinegar, spritzed him bit by bit and removed the fizzing/past residue with a clean towel.

To get rid of the rest of the moister/oil/grime I put him in a plastic bag, poured about a cup of baking soda in, and shook until he had a nice crust.

I let him air dry a few hours.

Then came the dusty task of rubbing/cracking him down with towels first and toothbrushes second to get all that baking soda out. I suggest doing that over a bathtub because there will be baking soda everywhere.

Along with the toothbrush I used a pet brush to make the fur fluffier again.

No, I don’t have a pet with fur who needs this. It’s for doll wigs/ stuffed animals/and re-rooting with yarn.

Fluffier Ralph! He still has a bit of baking soda to work out of his fur here.

I also used some high-grit sanding paper (1000/6000/8000/10,000) to buff some deep scratches out of his eyes.

And, in my final act, I’m stitching new fabric on top of his old ear-lining… because that fabric is sad.

I have one more ear to go but Ralph is already looking much better.

New Year, New Ear, New Me!

craft, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

Rerooting Wednesday

In early December I received an Ever After Doll and learned about glue seepage.

In some dolls there’s some sort of chemical reaction between the hair/head/glue used (often excessively used) and the doll continues to sweat greasy glue runoff out of her hair plugs. This all happens in the manufacturing process. There are online discussions about what dolls seem to be more affected by it, theories about if a specific factory in Indonesia is to blame for a portion of it, and a lot of tips for fixing it…none of which worked for me so I removed all the glue and hair from my doll.

Since then I’ve seen some baggie dolls at Hobby Off in Kashiwa that have stickers warning customers that the hair of the doll within has “styling wax” in its hair. Nope, Hobby Off, them dolls have seepage. Styling wax is something you can wash away. I know the dolls have seepage because I bought one knowing full well I’d be removing all the hair. I was not wrong.

And, hey, Hobby Off, why didn’t you mention that the Living Dead Doll I bought was infused with nicotine stank?

Back to Wednesday, who has taken more time than I anticipated.

My first mistake, as seen above, is that I forgot to paint the area of the doll the hair was being put into. I caught it midway up and painted the rest and then tried to stain the rooted area with permanent marker…more on that later.

My second mistake was to not worry about how tight together the holes on the hair part were. All the squeezing and contorting of the doll to get all the hair and glue out weakened this already vulnerable area. When I started rooting in the area, 5mm of head/part ripped clear in two. Had I taken a few days to fortify the inside and outside of the holes with Liquid Fusion this probably wouldn’t have happened. As it was I had to do that in mid-rooting. I probably didn’t apply enough in thin layers on top…for fear of getting the Liquid Fusion in the rooted hair…so I had some additional rips later I had to stop and tend to.

I thought I was finished so I glued the inside of the head and let it dry…only to learn my third mistake.

Wednesday has two braids.

To get her part correct, the tight partline needs to continue to the nape of her neck. The picture above and on the right sort of shows that the hairline ends at where the paint ends and then the hair beyond that just hangs straight down. That’s fine if your doll has her hair parted up top only.

I had to fix that with more rooting…and permenant marker because ALL gaps in the black near the hair root SHOWED at the partline.

This is where I am right now. I’ll leave it a few days to make sure the glue has fully cured.

I also regret mixing a little bit of dark brown in the black hair. It wasn’t a bad idea but I didn’t work hard enough mixing it to prevent brown streaks. I wanted more color depth and just got…Meh.

However, I was looking for a deep purple/black hair for a different project, the sort of hair you see in comics where it’s mostly black but highlighted areas show color. I couldn’t find any in Japan and Etsy shipping is costly so I hand mixed pre-existing black/ the leftover purple/red from Starfire 1, and some newly purchased blue.

And that’s the hair rooting update. I hope you’ve gained from it.

Goodness knows my Roomba has gained much from the process.

craft, Doll, Uncategorized

Orderly Craft

I have one full day left of Craftsmas before it’s time to go back to work. I also have a head/chest cold and..as of yesterday…PINK-EYE…which is disgusting. I’ve now got prescription drops and know where my nearest eye doctor is.

One thing I’m trying to tackle at the end of craftmas is the storage issues of my doll crafting. Last year at this time I had a single Disney Animators doll that I was making dresses for with the help of the Thimble People book. I’d also started on performing my first two face-ups: Archie and Rook.

I hadn’t even bought my first damaged Pullip/Dal.

Now I’m faced with the realization that I haven’t dedicated an organized space for my doll-making equiptment. Everything is here and there and quickly takes over the apartment.

First, what to do with the BoxDoll squad.

I made two extra (removable) shelves in my craft room! This was during a cleaning spree.

Before:

After!

I also took the time to organize all the doll clothing I now have. I have a source who gives me a crazy amount of used doll clothing. This isn’t all items I’d made or from dolls I bought

I scored simple organizer things from the 100¥ shop and now the clothing lives in one area, not three.

While getting shoes organized I had a doll in progress that I removed a boot from. Her ankle snapped. Because the doll is almost a gray-pale I knew I couldn’t get a good replacement so I used Tamiya Epoxy Putty to fix the joint as best I could.

And I bought a second Ikea RASKOG. The Ikea near me now offers online purchase and delivery…which is a game changer. The delivery cost me about the same amount the train would cost going to and from the store.

I’ve yet to move everything to this cart but…pink eye and head cold means that I’ll probably be to bed early tonight and will try and tackle it later.

If you know any good blogs or videos for organizing craft rooms, let me know. I’m always into organization videos. ALWAYS.

craft, Doll, Uncategorized

Hush Makeover

What’s on my balcony?

Parts.

I couldn’t resist. There’s been a Living Dead Doll at the Kashiwa Hobby Off. She was in a tightly sealed baggie. I resisted for over a month.

I know nothing about LDDolls. If I’d taken the time to figure out who was in the bag before I bought I would have been ahead of the game.

Here is what I bought.

Here is what she should look like. Hush from series 6 of the Living Dead Dolls.

Yeah…she should have pinkish tones to her skin…not olive/mustard.

You know what hit me when I opened that bag?

Nicotine stench.

Just waves of it.

I’ve been removing her paint and washing her and washing her…soaking her in vinegar…scrubbing…lightly sanding…

It’s the worst where her outfit didn’t cover, like her face and shoulders…but the smoke was so absorbed by the vinyl that there are stains and discoloration even UNDER where her underwear was painted on.

But nothing really explains it better than once I realized I’d have to take her apart. Look at that color difference. This is after scrubbing and soaking.

I’ve been trying to get the sun, what short amount we have each day, to help do the work.

I’ve scrubbed them up in a slurry of baking soda/ hydrogen peroxide/liquid soap and have been putting them out on the sun.

It’s new years eve and her torso and limbs are soaking. Her head has been re-slathered and is on my balcony to see the first sunrise of the new year, as is custom in Japan.

If anyone has tips on how to battle soaked-in nicotine I’d love to hear it.

craft, Doll, pullip

Holly went roughly.

Doll fixing while cleaning:

Picked up this damaged, unwigged, naked Audrey Hepburn for about 2,500¥

What she’s supposed to look like.

Reality.

She was missing blink bars…which didn’t much matter as is because her eyes had been modified so they stuck out too far for her eyelids to close anyways.

I’d found a listing on Mercari for two sets of blink bars and two sets of eyelids for this generation of Pullip (three-part head with body type 3) for 500¥ MINE!

I found her generation of eye mech at Dollyterria with some large eye-chips the same time I bought her. 500¥ MINE

Good thing too!

Her body was in good shape but I had to figure out what was up with her eyes.

Ok. Eye-mech broken. Replace and save for items that can be used to repair future eye mech.

Eyes…wtf? Some sort of doll eye has been hollowed out and fitted (and smashed) over the eyemech eye area. This is probably the stress that eventually broke the eyemech.

Useless to me.

With Audrey’s face off I took the time to remove the rest of her face. Her lipstick had been removed by a previous owner.

Then I put her eyelids in, put in a new-to-her eye mech, inserted her new eye bars and reassembled her.

The eye chips in the eyemech also stick out a little too much, interfering with her blinks, so they’ll be replaced when I decide how I want to repaint her.

But there we have another doll ready to face-up when inspiration strikes and we still have two pairs of extra eyelids and one pair of wink bars.

Doll, pullip, tutorial

Replacing broken knee joint

Rehab:

While cleaning up my craft room (as part of a Mom/Craftmas is coming I’m also tackling “to do” unfinished work.

This might be my inability to avoid distraction or it might legit be reducing my clutter/ getting things prepared so that craft work can begin whenever I’m ready.

Dal surgery:

A baggie Dal I picked up recently experienced a broken knee joint when I tried to put her in her bunny outfit.

The knee joint broke off inside the thigh….wedging itself there and in the shin.

Upon further inspection i realized that this rescue Dal has forearms and shins a pinker color than her body…so she’s not new to surgery.

I had an extra knee joint from rebodying the footless Monomono/Bedhead Dal, but first I needed to remove the joint.

I took my dremel tool and carefully drilled a hole into the broken off joint. Then I screwed a smallish screw partway into that hole. I used my leather man tool to then pull the screw and joint out.

I repeated the action to the other half of the broken joint.

Then I used my extra joint to thread everything back into place.

Surgery finished, broken parts disposed of, doll ready for future modifications!

Do It Yourself: WFU

The dolls and art of a woman in Japan trying to be better.

Tag Archives: rehab