Part 4 of Reposts

Blythe Dream

Originally Posted: 03-16-2007

I had a thirft store dream last night. I was poking through their toy bins and found a 1991 Raspberry Tart and a vintage one. They were both priced higher than I wanted to pay but I felt I couldn’t leave either behind, the 91 because of her rarity and the vintage because she was totally perfect.

 

Then I see a bin filed with Kenner Blythes. These dolls were involved in a fire so they have some damage and for $20 you don’t get to choose which one you want. I decide to try my luck and buy two.

 

When I get home I pull one out and she’s been colored a medium brown by the smoke and heat. One of her feet is melted into a stump so I know I’ll have to swap the body but I’m confidant I can still use the head. The scalp is missing but hey, I can get a new one. Then I turn the head so I can see the back and it’s totally flat.

 -_- Oh dear.

 

I’m pretty sad but I pull the second one from the bag. The fire doesn’t seem to have touched her! Her hair is messed up and her pullstring doesn’t work but these are all fixable. I am THRILLED.
(She was a dark brunette, wispy banged doll, BTW)

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Chatter, Chatter!

Originally Posted: 12-09-2006

I don’t write like I used to. 😀 I still tinker about with dolls as much but I just don’t write about it. Plus we’re getting ready for THE 24th OF DECEMBER. Busy, busy stuff!

 

I saw an Only Hearts doll in person :O Winners is so cool. I figure they get their stock from the US which is why the have stuff that doesn’t pop up in normal stores. MAN! They are small! I knew that some of their gear fit Blythe but I still pictured them as larger.

 

Kekekeke. I was in a store buying winter boots and had to walk through the little girls’ clothing section. On top of one rack they had a Bratz doll display and just in case the little girl you’re shopping with isn’t into Bratz, on another they had the $60 horse/carriage/doll set from Barbie’s 12 Dancing Princesses. DEVIOUS, simply devious, I tell you. XD 

 

I don’t realy care about how Mattel packages the dolls. I most always debox and something like the Fashion Fever tubes get’s tossed out because I can’t recycle it into things like I can Bratz box plastic. It’s entirely about what’s inside for me which is why, if they switch over to the new, stumpy body permenantly, I will be buying even less Barbies in the future. If it’s about saving money on plastic, fine, I’ll save my money too. If it’s about making the body more realistic, they need to go ALL the way and totally redesign (again.) rather than just shortening the torso. And for crying out loud, go back to smaller heads! Bratz’s little bodies and big heads look stylized but this just looks weird for me.

 

I’m pretty untempted on the new Bratz, but that’s okay. It’s not good to be in “OMG, MUST HAVE IT!” mode ALL the time. Oh man, I KNEW they’d do a doll with en pointe feet at some point. Well, not really “knew”, just thought it would be neat way to take advantage of the feet being removable. The Mermaidz are cute! I dig the stylized tail fins. Am I the only one who doesn’t like the first Kidz Jade best, though? I think it’s the pigtails. I have a thing for hair styles that part in the center. Pigtails, braids, double buns, afropuffs, etc. ❤

 

So MGA’s Shrek dolls WILL be a Bratz line. -_-; That’s disapointing. I’m one of the crowd that wants an Ogre-Fiona fashion doll so I’m hoping that even if there’s a line of Bratz wearing Shrek tees or something that a relitively acurate Fiona will be put out by herself as well. (Though I can’t say I’d pass on a green skinned Bratz if one were made XD)

 

I was at the flea market and though I saw a bubble-cut Barbie for $5. I was all “Ooooh! *_*” but I checked the back of the body and head and found no trace of markings. Aw. If it had been $1 or something I would have bought it anyway because vintage style knock offs are still kinda cool but not at $5.

 

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Hello There.

Originally Posted: 11-20-2006

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Misadventures in Sculpey

Originally Posted: 09-15-2006

I’ve been working on a head in Super Sculpey. The first one I wrote off as a proto-type because it came out way too big. I based the size off the original head the body I’m putting it on had without thinking about the fact that it was oversized (Bratz, what have you done to me??). Anyways, I made a smaller one, baked it, and all was groovy and fine.

 

I wanted to cover it over with a layer of colored Sculpey III like Lithe Fider did with Jaquel. I painstakingly added the layer, baked it, then realised while sanding that I had made the layer too thick and now the head was huge like the old one -_-; I had to chip and sand off the coating and the scissors left gouges that I will need to fill in later. In the end, the head will just be painted.

 

I messed up, wasted my time, wasted my supplies and breathed in Sculpey dust which worries me slightly. I might as well have been making a rooster-girl because the whole process has been a big cock-up. -_-; May the future go smoother.

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ_________✧_________ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ☆

Wigmaking and Ponies

Originally Posted: 07-07-2006

The What’s Her Face doll wigs have a vinyl scalp. Now, I can’t mold vinyl but you know what’s also flexible and plastic-y? Hot glue. I got out a spare Boyz head I had, put two layers of saran wrap over it, a layer of netting, outlined the hairline then filled it in with glue. After setting, it pulled off without a lot of sticking, I trimmed it, and was left with a somewhat flexible wig cap which I started gluing the hair on to. I’m still experimenting but it seems that this would alow me to make a wig in whatever size I needed.

The first wig I made isn’t finished, these are me fooling around with yarn. The first one in the picture is a pigtailed wig that has kind of a crooked part in back and the little hangy down side pieces are there to hide the ‘burns. (sideburns won’t really be an issue for female dolls though) It could also use ribbons or something to define the pigtails as pigtails, rather than just two masses of hair. The weight of the hair is also an issue and the wig has a tendancy to slide backwards (aparently this is a problem with human wigs sometimes too)

The second one was mainly to try and make one where it didn’t have hair hanging down in the forehead. Turns out that a style like this makes Eitan’s forehead look HUGE.The flower is covering a massive glue mishap. The hair in front is meant to be pulled back into a high pony tail but the tail flattens itself down.

 

For a more serious attempt in the works, there’s this photo of Tori (WHF) wearing a wig made from dollar store hair piece hair. The bangs are a bit wonky because it hasn’t been flatted with boiling water yet. The headband hides glue XD;

 

On a rather messed up note, I associate hot glue burns with Christmas, due to my experiences making ornaments in Brownies/Guides.

 

Some of you may have already seen it but I’ve been uploading group photos of my entire pony collection as I take them. Heehee, “entire”, makes it sound huge, doesn’t it? XD Anyway, I have them all up, except for the two flutter ponies, G3 Minty and the second Glory. I’m waiting untill I make the flutters new wings, decide how to photograph Minty and decide whether or not to customize the second Glory. Glory’s mane and tail are fine, head is pretty white but the body is yellowed and the symbol is gone. Is that “baity” enough to do some work? I want to try and make her fabulous but I don’t want to mess with her if she hasn’t crossed the line.

 

Year One
Cotton Candy

 

Year Two
Seashell
Bubbles
Glory
Moondancer
Firefly
Moonstone
Seapony Sea Winkle
Baby Blue Ember
Lemon Drop
Majesty

 

Year three
Powder
Sparkler
Tickle
Pinwheel*
Baby Surprise
Baby Seapony Splasher

 

Year Four
So Soft HeartThrob
Flutter Morning Glory
Flutter Forget me Not

 

Year Eight
Pony Bride*

 

2003
Minty*

 

The ones with asterisks are the ones I had prior to getting that great deal. :3 What I’ve realised while IDing them is that the owner must have either been a hardcore collector, or gotten alot of great hand-me-downs. Ponies stretching 4 years, play set exclusives like Lemondrop and Majesty, Ember the mailaway. I wish the play sets had been for sale too, but I bet those got given or thrown away years ago since they are such a big thing to keep around.

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OMIGOSH! PONIES!

Originally Posted: 06-18-2006

Yesterday I made an amazing find. We stopped at a yard sale and I saw a pile of ponies. How much were they? 25 cents each. So I started picking up ponies, was offered a bag and then finally the young woman (probably the former owner) just said I could take the whole lot for $3.

 

How many ponies did Lon get? 20. Now that deserves an expletive!

 

As I worked away at cleaning them, I realised that this is the first high volume doll cleaning I’ve done :O Mostly I’ve never cleaned more than 4 dolls at a time. Right now, they are drying in pieces except for Baby Blue Ember and Baby Surprise who dried quicker than the rest.

 

Sea Pony FAQ. Yay! One of the ponies is an adult sea pony and her weight as gone all rusty 😡 I want to reinsert it but AFTER I derust it. I wonder what you could coat it with to keep it from going rusty again? Would a thin coat of Sculpey work?

 

I’d like to thank the woman who sold them to me. I’d also like to thank her younger self who took such good care of her ponies. None of the manes seem to be cut, the tails are all there and they aren’t doodled on. They were definitly played with, some had had braids or bits of dried leaves in their hair, but they were played with NICELY. The grime was what you’d expect from a 20 year old children’s toy and most of it came off with elbow grease.

 

*Does a jig* I’ll have to post a photo after I put them all back together and ID them.

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ_________✧_________ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ☆

Afropuff Christie

Originally Posted: 06-13-2006

Ever since I restyled my 03 Orange Blossom’s hair (something esle I must remember to finally photograph), I’ve wanted to give a doll afropuffs from scratch. I came across a modern-bodied Christie in a thrift store with a bad hair cut but they wanted $4 for her and the junk doll in with her so I passed. On a later visit, she was still there, still $4 so I grew a pair and asked about a possible discount since she was almost bald AND I had noticed her left hand was badly chewed. I ended up getting her for $1.something :3 Sadly I also discovered she had broken knees when I got her home ^_^;; Oh well.

 

The reroot took me only one day, since it was pigtails and curly hair takes up alot of space.

 

I also opened a Flickr account to house better my photos a while ago. Some are old but there are some new ones too. Two….but there will be more at some point! One of them shows the shape of the puffs better.

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ_________✧_________ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ☆

Wanna see a Pussy Cat Doll?

Originally Posted: 06-01-2006

(Link to replace lost picture)
Madame Alexander’s “Pussy Cat” XD

I got a couple books on dolls from the library. Some where better than others.

100 years of Dolls by Dawn Herlocker: It goes back farther than Dolls of the 60’s and 70’s and has lots of interessting info on the companies and how they got started. Sadly it isn’t as picture intensive so I’d get excited to see a certain doll mensioned and then be unable to find a photo.

Dolls of the 1960’s and 1970’s by Cindy Sabulis: PICTURES! WOOT! The area it covers is limited but some of the best dolls came out at that time so it’s fine. My favorite of the three.

The Charlton standard catalogue of Canadian dolls by Evelyn Robson Strahlendorf: Boring! The worst part was that the photos are in black and white and the lighting isn’t very good in some of them. It’s particularly bad with some of the dark skinned dolls, sometimes you can barely tell there’s a face 😦