Project Story: The Grinning Reaper

I've been working on this project for about three years now, on-and-off (but mostly off).  It all started with a six-inch papier-mâché skull purchased on a whim from a craft store.  I didn't really know what to do with it, but after it had been painted a beige color and collecting dust for a few weeks, I decided I wanted to build an articulated body for it.  Of course, the body would have to be a bit below scale, giving the figure a rather playful, comic appearance.
A gangling, elaborate contraption of string, cardboard, Popsicle sticks, hot-glue, wire, masking tape, bubble wrap, and pipe cleaners was constructed.  The dratted thing was nearly three feet tall.  After testing the body, I found it to be poseable, but very wobbly, needing much finicking before it could stand or hold a pose.  However, I was satisfied for the time being, and, still unpainted and lacking a costume, "Richard" (as he was then known) was cast into my closet for about two and a half years.  Recently, while I was cleaning out the closet, Richard emerged.  I wasn't sure what to do with him, so I brought him back down to my workshop and left him there.  And this weekend, I finally got around to working on him again - just in time for Halloween!

This is what he looked like after I'd made some repairs and reinforced his joints with hot-glue and masking tape.

Now Here he is, fully reinforced, covered with masking tape to make the surface more paintable, and coated with acrylic sealant.

After I'd finished his body construction, I coated him in beige paint, let it dry, and sprayed him with sealant.  Then, I looked up a reference picture of a skeleton to draw in the spaces between the bones.  I filled in the spaces with black paint, cleaned up the edges with more beige, and sealed him again.
Here he is, fully painted:

Once I was finished with the reaper's body, I needed an outfit.  I decided on a simple black hooded robe, the classic grim reaper getup.  I found a big black T-shirt, trimmed the tag, turned it inside out, and pulled it over his head. And here he is, complete!  Happy Halloween!

Monster High doll lot rescue and plans for the future!

A few days ago, I rescued 17 used Monster High dolls off of Ebay, just to practice my customizing skills on.  They arrived yesterday.
Many of them had their hands mixed up; some had the wrong hands altogether and one only had one hand; I did my best to switch the hands back and complete as many dolls as I could.  There are a few dolls that will need to have their hands repainted, however, and one is still single-handed.

Their clothing was in relatively good condition; only one doll was nude.  I plan to do some sewing for them, as I have never had Monster High dolls before and I don't have any other outfits for them.

The hair was, of course, tangled and matted, and some dolls had sticky hair, as if a gel styling product had been added.  I will, of course, be restyling all of the dolls and probably doing some repainting as well; stay tuned for updates!
For now, here are all the dolls.  (They also came with a chair and a sword, for some reason).
I performed the boiling-water treatment on a Draculaura doll's hair.  She came out quite well, I think.  Here are the process photos:

 At some point I will be customizing all of these dolls, but for now I'm content to just restore them.
Stay tuned for updates!

Custom Monster High doll finished - Repaint Story #1

I recently finished customizing my first Monster High doll.  She was rescued in a large doll lot off of Ebay and was in pretty bad condition.

It was a MH "Meowlody" doll; one hand was missing, and her hair was a sticky, tangled rat nest.  The missing hand had been replaced with a hand from an Abby Bominable doll - blue and sparkly, not matching at all.




Of course, the first order of business was to wash her body and hair, then soak the hair in boiling water, condition it, and comb it out.  Once this step had been completed, she was looking a lot better.

After she'd been prepped, I wrapped up her hair to protect it. Here you can see her face before I removed the factory makeup:


















And after I had washed her face with acetone and sealed it:


















 Now you will see some of the steps her face went through as I was coloring it with paint and pastels:

I also painted her replacement hand to match her body and sealed it for security.  Then I made her a cute outfit from upcycled fabrics (an sock and some outgrown leggings) and had a mini photoshoot!

 I have named her Adalie.  I may at some point be selling her on Etsy or Ebay, but for now she is just chilling in the closet with the other dolls.
Overall, I'm very happy with how she turned out.  For a first-time job, she turned out pretty good!

A New Creation!

I have been very busy with work and school, but I have finally found the time to  finish this little project.
Several months ago, I created a small (8 inches high) doll armature out of various rough components (such as clay, wire, and cardboard).

The armature is jointed and very flexible, capable of taking many different positions:







































































Now, I have finally gotten around to painting it and adding hair, clothing and accessories.  After some deliberation, I decided to make a nature witch.

I'm very pleased with how she came out.  She doesn't have a name or a story yet, but since I only finished her this morning, I think her character will be filled out soon enough.

How to Restore Matted Doll Ringlets

I have finally found the time to post a full tutorial outlining the technique I used to restore Lucy's ringlets, going from this...

...to this, in a few simple steps.

1) First, lightly wet your doll's hair, add normal conditioner or detangling spray, and gently comb out all the tangles, starting at the bottom of each clump of hair and working towards the top.  

While this step will remove all the knots, and is necessary, it will also misalign the strands in the ringlets, removing the original effect. 

Now here's how to get those bouncy curls back!

2) After detangling it, re-wet your doll's hair.  It should gather itself into thick strands or sections, which are an indication of where the original ringlets were.  Separate one section.

(What we're trying to do is realign the curls so they are wrapped around each other again.)

3) Fill a small cup with warm water and soak the section of hair in it, getting as much of the hair into the water as possible.

4) Gently pat the hair dry in a cloth or paper towel.  Do not rub, scrub, or squeeze.  Try not to tangle or crush the curls.

5) Now, starting at the bottom of the section, re-comb the hair, combing it against your hand to get all the ends facing and curling in the same direction.  This will realign the strands.

The section should now look like this.

Note that the ends are kind of ratty and not all the curls are back.  We need to keep going.

6) To improve alignment, gently bounce the curl in your hand and smooth any strands that stick out downwards, so they slip back into the curl.

7) The ends will probably now look like this.

They will be all different lengths, kinked-up, and curling in different directions...

To create a more polished look, re-comb the ends, and, if necessary, trim across the bottom to remove tangles and kinks and even out the length.

If you like, you can smooth a little hairstyling gel over the ends of the curl to hold them in place, but this isn't required.

Your curl may now be finished.  However, sometimes, it won't want to recurl and will look flat or straight, or have a straight part in it as if a curl is missing.  If this is the case, continue to the next step...

Step 8)  To recreate a curl, pull out the curl straight and comb it all the way down.














Then, look carefully at it to see if it "wants" to curl in a certain direction.











Now, tightly wind the curl around your finger in the same direction as the "preferred curl."  Wrap it as far as you can and hold it there for a few seconds.
Then, pull your finger out of the roll - DO NOT unwind the curl manually.  Let it fall out of the roll on its own.






Bounce the curl in your hand to fluff it and help restore its shape.


Repeat steps 1-8 for the other sections of the doll's hair, keeping the finished curls away from the unfinished sections of the doll's hair.







9) Finally, gently comb the top of your doll's hair, before the curls start, to smooth it out and make the curls look more natural.
This will also help distribute the hair, preventing bald spots.

For reference and for your viewing pleasure, here's the turnaround of Lucy's fully restored ringlets again:

And that's it!  This process can be time-consuming, depending on the quality and condition of the hair. However, it is very effective, and is a surefire way to restore the lost beauty of a doll's hair.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for my next post!