Repaint Story #8 - Monster High Lagoona - Sky Girl!

Hi Magicians!  

Today, I have a very exciting project to show you.  Like the flower fairy, I actually did this a while ago, but it took a while to get everything written up.

I started this project with my first MH Lagoona doll.  She's one of my favorite characters, and I love the wide eyes and fishy features of her face mold.  I got her in a batch of used dolls off of Ebay.  She was in very bad condition - some of her body parts were missing and had been replaced with parts from other dolls, her leg fins had broken off, and her hair was patchy and sticky.

The first step was, of course, to wash her.  Soap took off all the dirt, but couldn't get the stickiness out of her hair.  I tried a bunch of different methods - alcohol, Goo Gone, boiling water - but nothing worked.

Here you can see the replaced parts.  Her right forearm was from an MH Abbey Bominable doll, and her right hand was from an EAH Cedar Wood.  The colors and textures were way different from the rest of her body.

I took off her face with 100% acetone nail polish remover.  Here's a tip: if you're having trouble getting paint out of the crevices in a doll's lips or nose, soak a Q-tip in acetone and use the end of a needle or pin to push the soaked cotton down into the crevice.

Here you can see how patchy her hair was.  Many plugs were missing, especially around her hairline, and the ones that remained were both thinned-out and very sticky.

I decided to make a wig for this doll so I wouldn't have to deal with her nasty hair.  Using Mozekyto's wig cap tutorials, and a blank Ghoulia as my base, I made a wig cap with fabric and glue.

Next, I painted it black and sealed it with watered-down matte Mod Podge.

I mentioned in my last post that I like to experiment with alternate wig materials.  I got the idea to make a feather wig from MyMonsterCrush's awesome blog, but I changed up the directions a bit (her wig does not use a wig cap, for instance).  I raided my feather stash and found some long, soft, iridescent-dark-green feathers.

I started by gluing the longer feathers at the back, making sure that they all curved inwards.

Then, I kept going around the wig, using shorter and smaller feathers as I made the layers.  At the top and front, I used feathers with light-brown highlights, to add some interest.






I was super happy with how it turned out.  The hardest part was keeping the stiff quills from popping up at the top of the wig.  I had to use lots of glue and heavy pressure to keep the ends flat.

Lagoona got a haircut, and I popped off her head to get the plugs out from the inside before I put it back on.  At this point, I had decided to change her theme from "fish" to "bird."  The feather wig, combined with her big eyes and delicate features, seemed to suggest the shift.

I popped off both her finned left arm and her patchwork right arm.

Then, I cut off the fins on her left forearm and between the fingers on the left hand, and sanded down all four of the arm parts.  This smoothed out the glitter texture on the right forearm and the woodgrain texture on the right hand.  Finally, I mixed up some acrylic paint to match her body and repainted everything before sealing it with Mister Super Clear matte sealer.

With her new arms, she looked much better!

After coating her face with MSC, I did the first few layers of pastels.  I've been trying out a few different brands.  These are Faber-Castell soft pastels.  So far, they're my favorites.

Next, I start to block out the face shapes with acrylic paint.  I drew inspiration from the colors that I see on the birds in my yard (sparrows, cardinals, and the occasional falcon).

I finished the details with more paint and fine brush.  I really like how her eyes turned out!  I struggled getting them to match, but I think the red and yellow mixed well in the end.

The final step was to add glossy sealant to her lips and eyes, and see how the wig fit!  I'm really glad I made the wig first, since I was then able to look at it and choose complementary colors for the faceup.

But she wasn't finished yet!  I made a coat for her (pattern: chellywood.com's Pirate Tunic), along with a little leather vest (my own pattern), blue half-leggings with feathered hems, (my own pattern), and a red sash for a little color.

I also made cardboard shoes for her using my shoe form pattern, painted them red, and embellished them with feathers and pearls.  So cute!

For a little extra cute detail, I attached a mini birdcage (found in the jewelry novelty section of a local craft store) to a matching loop of chain and filled it with little charms, beads, and a ribbon rose.

 And she's finished!  I had a lot of fun making this doll, since she had so many pieces to assemble.  The wig and birdcage really make her stand out!

 I struggled with her face, and it's still far from perfect.  But, I'm going to count it as a success, since I learned a lot and improved my techniques while I was working on her.  I still have a ways to go before I can say that my skills are top-notch, but I think I'm making progress!
Tell me what you think about Sky Girl (and share any other thoughts) in the comment section, or email me at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com.
Recently, I created a new account on Instagram!  Follow me: @miniature.magic
Have a great day, and stay tuned for my next update!  Bye Magicians!

Repaint Story #7 - Monster High Draculaura - Flower Fairy (Merry Christmas!)

Merry Christmas!

Today, I am happy to be showing you one of my absolute favorite customs!  I made her a while ago, but only had the time to get good photos recently.  

I got the idea to make a flower fairy doll when I was digging through my junk stash and found some nice fake flowers.  I started to think about what it would look like as a doll wig (I love to experiment with alternative materials in wigs).  

I made a wig cap with fabric and glue (to see how, check out Mozekyto's amazing video tutorials).  The doll I used to make the cap was my blank mannequin doll, an old Draculaura.

I started out with the large roses in the front and back, then filled in the spaces with smaller flowers, buds and leaves.  I added more leaves at the bottom and back to imitate loose locks of hair.

This is what the final wig looked like.  I was originally planning to use it on a different skin-toned doll (Clawdeen), but I liked the way the pink worked so much that I decided to use a Draculaura instead.

This was my candidate.  Like most of my Monster High dolls, she was bought secondhand off of Ebay, in a giant batch of dolls.

Her body and face were in pretty good condition, but even after washing, her hair was totally gross!  I think the plug glue had leaked out of the rooting holes in her scalp, because her hair was super sticky and nasty.
That's why I decided to use this doll for a wigged custom.

Boiling water softened the plastic enough for me to pop her head off.  I think Draculaura's might be my favorite MH face mold.
I also cut her hair close to the scalp, and used pliers to pull the roots and glue out from the inside.

100% acetone nail polish remover took off her makeup and scalp paint.

Here she is, ready to go!  The nicest thing about doing wigged dolls, as opposed to rooted dolls, is that you don't have to worry about masking off the hair when you do the faceup.

First layer of MSC and pastels, with some light pencil mapping on top.

More pastel shading, and the basic color blocking with acrylic paint.  I really had fun with the complementary orange/green/pink colors.  I think that the green in her makeup and pupils really pulled the faceup together.

Painting completed, she's ready to have glossy sealant put on her eyes and lips.

 Here's the faceup and wig together.  The bold reds in the faceup really made it pop!

 For her outfit, I decided to make a skirt with one of the leftover fake flowers.  This one was a big white rose.

 First, I cut off the leaves and separated the layers of the flower, then lined them back up and glued them together.  I reversed some of the layers, placing outer leaves on the inside to add volume.  When gluing, I also used a ring pattern to avoid gluing them together in the middle.

 Next, I cut through all the layers to create a center hole that would become the skirt's waist.

 I enlarged the hole to fit the doll's waist, and cut a slit to the back of the skirt.  To avoid the layers separating, I also glued the edges of the slit.

A hidden Velcro tab glued in the back makes it super easy to put the skirt on.  It fits perfectly!

 Here's the front view.  I folded and glued some of the larger petals to make points at the ends, which added some more texture.

 I glued in a spare piece of leaf for modesty.  It also keeps the skirt from rotating and riding up.

 At the last minute, I decided that the plain white petals were too boring.  I used watered-down pink and brown acrylic paint to give it some color!

 For her top, I used more spare leaves to create a simple fitted bikini top with shoulder pieces.

 Like the skirt, it closes in the back with Velcro, making it easy to get dressed.

 Then, I glued some long leaves around the sides of the top, leaving them loose, kind of like fringe.  Then, I added a little ribbon rose to the front and glazed it with paint to make the color match nicer.

I covered some basic cardboard shoe forms with leaves (I may make a post about how to make these shoe forms later).  For her arm braces, I just trimmed, wrapped, and glued leaves.

 Finally, I was able to assemble all the pieces!  Her wig is held on with three regular little sewing pins.  Three is a good number to use, since triangles are very sturdy.














I'm so happy with how she turned out!  I think she may be my favorite custom yet.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's just because I had so much fun making her!

(She likes to hang out in the houseplants.)
Thank you for reading!  As usual, comments, questions, etc. are welcome at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com.  Stay tuned for my next update!