Doll Rescue #1 -- Ken doll prosthetic leg REBOOT! + faceup & restyle

Hello friends!  

In place of the usual Monster High faceup, today I have something special:  "Legless Ken."  This doll has a very long backstory, so buckle up!

"Legless Ken" (as he is affectionately known to my mom) was my very first Ken - mom bought him from the drugstore as a birthday present when I was about six or seven.  He came dressed as a prince, and I loved Ken because he had bendy knees and elbows, and could all sorts of cool yoga poses.  Unfortunately, Ken did so much yoga that the elastic holding his legs on broke, and his legs fell off!  I was, of course devastated. 

In this sorry state, Ken lived at the bottom of the Barbie box for several years, and somewhere along the way, his left leg got lost.  I had taped the right leg back on, and then (much later) I made a very rudimentary prosthetic leg for him.  I sculpted a hip joint from an old cork, then glued on a round piece of wood for a thigh.  A piece of coat hanger wire rendered a semi-flexible knee and served to attach another piece of wood for the shin/foot assembly.  I sanded everything down to make it look a little more organic and then used some elastic to attach the leg and tension it with his (original) right leg.

Fast-forward another few years, and I came across Ken while digging through my old dolls for customization volunteers.  This is what he looked like.

I seem to remember that Legless Ken often played the part of a swashbuckling pirate adventurer - hence the eye patch.

Here's a closeup of his face.  Look how poofy his hair is!

And here's the leg.  I'd painted it black to cover the wood, cork, and elastic, but it's still pretty rough-looking.

However, I did like the premise of the wooden leg.  I used an X-Acto knife to trim down the wood and glue on the foot so it was a little more similar to the original foot.

I also cleaned up the hip joint a little.  While working, I was running over concepts for the doll design.  I settled on a battle-worn but good-natured steampunk airship captain with tattoos and an eyepatch (a nod to his original pirate identity).

Ken's head and body parted ways for quite a while - they both had extensive work done before I reattached them!

I started out by painting Ken's tattoos.  I sealed his body with Mister Super Clear matte sealant, drew the designs in pencil, went over them with a permanent marker, and then finished them with acrylic paints and more sealer.  I put air-force and steampunk-influenced designs all over his body.

The next step was to reboot the prosthetic leg.  I had some fake brown leather fabric lying around, probably from the craft store remnant bin.

I painted the leg brown to make a good undercoat for the leather.

Next, I wrapped the wooden thigh piece with the leather and glued it down, manipulating the edges so that it would lie flat on the curved hip joint.  I also glued strips of leather around the hip socket and made a strap going around his waist, just to make the leg look like it's actually attached.

At this point, overwrought by all the bending and wear, the wire that was serving as the knee joint broke.  I realized that I needed to find a better surrogate.  I've had a bit of experience with doll prosthetics, and I knew that the best thing to do would be to use a Lego® ball-hinge joint.  (I've used them for doll knees before.)

So, I folded up the fabric and sawed off the bottom part of the thigh to make room for the plastic part.

Here's what it looked like before gluing.  I had to trim down the corners of the plastic so that it would line up with the thigh.  I also roughed up the top of the part so the glue would stick better.

Note the hole through the upper part of the joint.  I found a piece of wire that fit through the hole.  This upper part was going to be covered by the fabric, but I kept in mind where the hole would fall under the fabric.







Next, I hot-glued the plastic to the wood, adding several layers of glue for strength.

I used more hot-glue to smooth out the surface of the plastic so the fabric wouldn't get pushed out.










Next, I folded the fabric back down over the plastic, glued it in place, and poked the piece of wire through the fabric, through the hole in the plastic, and back out the other side.

Then, I wrapped the wire around the leg, strengthening the join between the wood and plastic and adding some cool surface detail at the same time!

Next, I cleaned all the pieces of wire out of the old hole drilled in the top of the lower leg, and widened the hole so the peg on the bottom of the lower part of the knee joint could fit in.

Then, I just hot-glued the peg right into the hole.  This was made easier by the fact that the Lego part can come apart into two pieces, so I didn't have to deal with the part already glued into the thigh.

Before reattaching the leg, I did a nice steampunk paint job on it with black and metallic gold acrylic paints.  

I also added a random serial number to the fabric on the thigh, just for a little extra detail.

Finally, I could snap the knee back together, completing the leg!  I think it came out really well.  It's very securely attached, and the knee is fully bendable.

Okay, on to the face!  Ken's  paint   came off with 100% acetone nail polish remover.  But, before I repainted his face, I wanted to change his hairstyle.  Drawing on the "punk" aspect of "steampunk," I decided to shave and flock the sides of his head to sharpen up his style and eliminate the dreaded poof.

 Here's the side originally.

 I sectioned off the hair on the side and cut it super close with a pair of sharp scissors.

Then, I chopped up the hair really finely, along with some fur trimmed off of a piece of brown fake-fur fabric.  This created the flocking powder.

 I filled the spaces between the trimmed hair plugs with liquid superglue...

 ...And used a toothpick to press the flocking powder into place until the glue was dry.  Once it had dried, I trimmed and brushed off  any extra flocking powder and  used black and brown acrylic paint to  neaten up the edges.

  Results.

 I went ahead and pierced his ears with a needle, in case I decide to make earrings for him later.

 While all the glue and paint on his head were drying, Ken's body helped me make some clothes!

 I ended up making a white shirt (get the free pattern: chellywood.com)...

 Some black dress pants (free pattern also at chellywood.com) and a pair of felt boots (my own pattern)

 I also made a captain coat from black felt (my own pattern) and a new eye patch (cardboard glued to black elastic thread).

 Protecting his new 'do with tape, I started repainting his face.  I like to go with a simpler, more cartoony look for male dolls.  I also decided which eye he's lost.

 Here's the finished face.  I put a red tint in his good eye to spice things up a bit.

And here he is, all dressed up.  After so many years of not having a proper pair of legs, I think he and I are both relieved that this project is finished!

I'm seriously considering naming him Janus.  I believe it's a Dutch name, and it seems to fit his archaic style.  What do you think?

As always, feedback and questions are welcomed at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com!
Stay tuned for my next doll rescue - coming soon!