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!