First attempt....Pocahontas has a new look!

After posting yesterday about my new customised Disney Animator Rapunzel, today I was itching to have a go at customising one of the two girls that I already have here.  I bought two girls for the price of one in the sale at the Disney Store in Romford last October when I was in the UK for the Chat n Snap.  I thought I'd take advantage of the cheap price and brought home both Mulan from Aladdin and Pocahontas.  They've been standing around for a whole year waiting for me to have time to work on them and finally today I took the plunge!!

I decided to start with Pochontas, for no other reason than she was already undressed!  Here is how she looks in her default state.  She is actually quite cute but I don't really like the printed eyes:

Because these dolls have rooted hair rather than wigged, I wanted to make sure her hair was completely covered during the 'makeover' process, so as not to ruin it with the sealant spray:

Having covered her hair, I removed her original face paint.  You can just see a very faint mark where her original eyebrows were as the paint was very dark and stained the vinyl.  It wasn't a problem though because that would be covered by the new eyebrows:

I used white acrylic paint to paint the whites of the eyes and I used brown chalk pastels and watercolour pencils for the new eyebrows:

I then used watercolour pencils for her new pupils and irises.  I used chalk pastels for the lips and blush.  I added freckles using thinned down acrylic paint and a cocktail stick!  When the face was complete, I sealed it all with Mr Super Clear sealant.   I didn't take photos of the individual stages here because I got carried away with it!!! 

Once the new face was sealed, I used a water based gloss varnish on her eyes and lips, one layer on the lips as I didn't want them high gloss and about 5 thin layers on the eyes.

After the varnish on the eyes was completely dry, I added human sized false eyelashes on the upper lids and then she was finished!!!

Below she is wearing an 'angel top' that I made some years ago for Sasha, tights, thick socks and she's borrowed boots from my Wichtel dolls.

I washed and conditioned her hair to remove any 'dressing' and then  cut approx 5cm off the length.

I'm actually really happy with how she came out because I've never done eyes before, but I have learned a few things in the process. 

Next time, when I customise my other Disney doll, I will do a couple of things differently.  Firstly, I don't think I'll use white acrylic for the sclera (white part of the eye) as it makes an uneven surface for the watercolour pencils, I would prefer the surface smoother.  Next time I think I will build up layers of white using a white watercolour pencil.  Hopefully then I will get a much smoother finish on the iris.

Secondly, I will wash and condition the hair prior to starting work on the face, I think it's safer that way! 

Apart from that, I think I will probably work roughly the same way on Mulan and I don't think I'll wait a year to start on her either!!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my customising of Pochontas, thanks for stopping by.  I hope you all have a great weekend!

The flea-market find makeover...

A couple of weeks ago I showed a little Paola Reina doll that I got for 10 euros at the Saturday flea-market in Los Boliches, Fuengirola.  I had given her a wash and she was wearing a sock on her head (and whole body!!) to flatten her hair down.  Well she ended up wearing the sock for days, then when that didn't work she progressed to a hat.  Finally, when I removed the hat after a week....her hair was still sticking up in the air and looking awful.  It was nice and soft at the back but the front was cut exactly to accommodate the headress that she came with.  So I cut the lot off.  I know....incredibly destructive but I was so mad that I couldn't do a thing with it.  And because I'd done that, I thought I might as well remove her spidery eyelashes and her plastic eyes and give her the full works.

She now has a revamped wig, more realistic glass eyes and new eyelashes.   I just noticed that her eyes are a bit wonky though!  I will try to fix that.  The funny thing is, the eye holes have to be softened with heat from the outside and pushed in from the front, they sit in a sort of 'pocket' and are not accessible through the inside of the head!!

Not a great photo, her face is a little bit out of focus!!

 

She looks like she's got incredibly long arms in this photo!!!  (She hasn't!)

 

I like this one, she looks young and baby-faced!

Here is a before and after comparison, I should really have taken both photos in similar lighting so that a 'true' comparison could be seen as I've not changed her lips or blush but it appears that way in the 'after' photo:

I was thinking that perhaps I could reroot her back to brunette as her head is quite soft so it might be nice and easy and not take very long.  We shall see!