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Friday 13 November 2015

A Journey Girl Kyla from Toys R Us.....

When I was in the UK, Dee very kindly took me to Toys R Us after the Chat n Snap and before we went for our lovely Italian meal.  I wanted to have a look at the play dolls called Journey Girls which are exclusive to them.  Although the Stevenage Toys R Us didn't have a very big selection (I understand this is not uncommon in the UK, compared to the US stores who have loads of dolls and outfits available),  I decided to get a tanned skin Kyla because I'd been looking at her on the internet.  At £30 each, I thought this doll was a good candidate for a 'makeover' because as I've mentioned previously here in my blog, I really do enjoy customising dolls.

I won't do a box opening because I left all the packaging in the UK, but will just show you the dolls face before and afterwards.  I had thought about removing her eyes before working on her, not to replace the eyes, because I wanted to keep them as they are pretty, but to make it easier using the sealant on her face, but having discussed it with the owner of Journey Girl Adventures Blogspot I decided to leave the eyes in place and just cover them.  This made attaching new eyelashes a bit more of a challenge but I was able to do it in the end!

Journey Girls are about 18 inches tall and are made of vinyl except for their waist, hips and bottom area which is made of cloth.  They have the usual 5 points of articulation and the head can be moved up and down slightly.  Their hair is rooted and in the case of my doll is very soft and silky.  I like that the doll has a vinyl chest plate, she looks so much nicer in strappy tops and anything that has a slightly lower neckline.  If there's one thing I really cannot stand and that is where a soft bodied doll has an outfit that shows their cloth body!

So here are some before photos.  The first photos show her as she came, you can see that she is already a pretty little thing!   Her lips were quite 'solid' and dark, a sort of dark plummy colour.  I didn't think they looked horrible but I just wanted a different colour with more definition.


Here you can see a close up of her lips:


I also wanted to do something with her eyebrows which were very simply done, with thin 'hairs' going in one direction and very sparsely drawn.  Also her eyelashes were the stiff plasticy ones that a lot of play dolls come with.  I decided they needed to go too.  I like her eyes, they are acrylic but are very detailed and a pretty colour which really suits her:


I wanted to keep her eyebrows in the same position so decided to enhance them rather than start from scratch.  Here she is with her eyelashes and her lip paint removed:


As you can see she has tiny bottom lashes and, as well as the plasticy lashes that I'd removed,  she has some painted on upper lashes too.


Before using any sealant I covered her hair with a plastic bag to protect it and then put some masking tape over her eyes.  If the sealant were to go on the acrylic eyes it would make them very dull, which I didn't want!


I intended taking photos as I went along but as luck would have it, a friend of ours arrived and I forgot!  So I will tell you what I did and show the final results.

After spraying the dolls face with a thin layer of sealant, (I like to use Mr Super Clear Flat but be sure to always use in a very well ventilated area.....I only ever use mine outside) I used a deep brown artist quality chalk pastel and a thin brush and filled in the eyebrows with shading.  I wanted them to look denser, like real eyebrows.  Normally at this stage I would spray again with sealant but I wanted to keep the layers to a minimum as the sealant can make the darker vinyl look paler and I didn't want to risk that.  So then, taking a very sharp watercolour pencil, I added extra eyelashes, drawing the fine lines in a different direction to the existing eyebrows.

Then using a black watercolour pencil, I added more bottom eyelashes (I am actually going to add some more tomorrow but took the 'after' photos prematurely!).

I used finely shaved chalk pastels to shade the lips, I used several shades of reds and pink and built the colour up in layers.  I added a little bit of white to the middle of the top and bottom lips.  I then added fine lines in white watercolour pencil, these are supposed to replicate the lines in human lips! ;)  I dusted the lips again with rosy shades just to soften the pencil lines.  I didn't want them to look too 'obvious'.

After I was happy with the lips I blushed her face, again using fine chalk pastels.  I used a flat but wide brush and did the usual places, chin, bridge of nose, forehead, temples, around the nostrils (just a little, you don't want your doll to look like she has a cold) and finally the cheeks.

Once I was happy with the depth of shading and blush, I sealed it all again.

And finally I added human false eyelashes.  One human eyelash strip will do the two eyes, you just fold it in half length wise and cut in half.  I used Ailene's Tacky Glue and used the tiniest bit on the innermost edge of the upper lids, let the glue go slightly tacky and then apply the lashes with a cocktail stick.  Any glue that got on the acrylic eyes was easily wiped away with a cotton bud.

And here is the end result, I hope you like how she looks!  She is wearing a Gotz outfit that I got on Ebay last year.  I think it suits her.  Her sandals are her default ones, I didn't have shoes that both fitted her AND went with her outfit!  (The lines you see on her face in some of my photos are just shadows from the fence, which unfortunately were unavoidable when the sun was low in the sky this evening, but I thought I'd use them regardless!)























I hope you've enjoyed seeing Kyla getting her makeover.  She was fun to do and I'm happy with how she has turned out!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, thank you for visiting!


25 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Thanks for sharing!
      Makeovers are always interesting. I'm not able to even try it, but admiring the people who take a chance.
      Kyla looks like she is woken up. Well done, Sharon :)

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    2. Thanks for commenting Anne, I'm glad you enjoyed seeing the Journey Girl makeover. I know it's not a lot that I've done to her but hopefully she is better now!
      xxx

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  2. Wow! She is amazing looking! You did an outstanding job.

    JGKelsey

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    1. Thank you very much JGKelsey, I'm glad you like her new look!
      xxx

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  3. Hi Sharon, you did a splendid make-over, her eyebrows and lips are so much more natural looking now, and I love the eyelashes you used. This doll has amazing eyes, they look so real! Great job done :-)!

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    1. Thanks very much Linda, I'm happy with how she's come out. I did like her beforehand but I just wanted her to be a bit more 'my own' if that makes sense!
      xxx

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  4. Hi Sharon,
    I LOVE HER! You did a fantastic job! She still looks like the same doll, but so much better. Thanks for sharing your process...I would love to try this sometime! I especially love how you filled in her brows and gave her the false lashes. She looks amazing. :)
    xo Farrah

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    1. Thanks so much Farrah, I am glad that you love her new look. I hope you will give it a try, it's a lot of fun!
      xxx

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  5. Well done Sharon! She looks so much prettier now! I love her new lashes and her brows are fantastic! Her hair is so very nice! What a pretty girl and her outfit is perfect for her! Thank you for the lovely weekend wishes! I hope your weekend is lovely! :) xxx

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    1. Thanks very much Ginger, I'm happy with her and happy too that you like her new look :)
      xxx

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  6. Those eyebrows especially give her such a fabulous new look. It's interesting how the change in lip colour actually makes them look like a slightly different shape - there's a real magic to that kind of change, I think. Great work!

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    1. Thanks very much jSarie! You're right, it's very interesting how doing just a couple of changes can actually make such a lot of difference! xxx

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  7. Great job Sharon :) And thanks for the visual info of covering the eyes and hair, I want to take the shine off my new Kidz n Cats doll Katja so this is a great reference point for me.
    Will it effect the eyebrows and lips of my knc girl when I spray the matte? will I need to re colour them of will they just look less shiny? Need to know if this is going to be bigger than just cover and spray!!!!!!! :) hugs Dee xxx

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    1. Sorry forgot to say she looks so much better now , much more natural than before, you are a master of this craft :)xx

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    3. Hi Dee, thanks so much for the comments! I think you'd do your KnC girl the same way, you just need to cover all the hair and her eyes and go sparingly with the sealant. You can always add more but it's a right old pain in the bum to have to remove it if you put on too much, plus you'd remove your girls original makeup too, which I know you don't want to do.
      The eyebrows shouldn't be affected more than that they will be matt rather than shiny....I'm assuming that they're shiny along with the rest of her face now? If you wanted more colour to her eyebrows you'd need to do those before you used the final sealant and that would stop them from rubbing off. I can help you more when you get to doing her, if you'd like me to.
      xxx

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  8. She looks even prettier now! I think the eyebrows in particular make such a difference! :D

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    1. Thanks very much Lynn! I'm glad you think so :)
      xxx

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  9. Wow Sharon! This is amazing! Thank you for the steps...
    This is a lovely doll to start with, but the changes you've done give that real person look to her. So pretty!
    Calm looking, like a good doll to turn to when chaos surrounds. Haha.

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    1. Thanks very much Jano, I'm glad you like her and enjoyed seeing the process that she went through!
      And yes, chaos often surrounds me here....particularly in my sewing room!
      xxx

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  10. Your 'dolly' blogs are a true source of education to me as I've never seen or heard of most of these dolls before! Great too to think that Kyla will always remind you of your 2015 CnS visit!
    Love ALL your dolly customisations! Such amazing talent at your fingertips!

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    1. Awww thanks very much Kendal! I am glad you enjoy my customs even if they are not Sasha customs! :)
      And yes, this doll will remind me of going toyshop shopping with Dee :)
      Hugs xxx

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  11. Really Great Information about Toys R Us . Thanks for provide us this useful information.

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