Hello! I'm still alive!

 I'm really sorry that I've not been around for ages, I've not posted on my blog or read anyone else's either, which is bad because I do enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to on the dolly front.

As for me, well I'm well but have had six months of problems with one of my legs, several times I was unable to actually walk and I honestly thought the worst.  Well it turns out that I have 'severe arthritis' in my knee and lower leg and am too young (I like that!) for a replacement knee so I've been given strong painkillers.  They're working well but I feel so tired that sometimes I just cannot be bothered to do anything! 

However, I have actually been sewing, quite a lot to be honest.  I've let my house gather dust and concentrated on my dolls....well those dust mites deserve a life too, wouldn't you say?  Seriously though, I've been sewing, sewing and more sewing and really enjoying it.  I've also customised a doll so I will share some of those things here and hope, if I still have any readers left, you will enjoy seeing what I've been doing.

I received a new BJD back in April and although I wasn't sure whether I'd actually keep her, when she arrived I was smitten.  She is a Pao by Boto Doll and although she has a chubby body which I normally don't like, I really love her.  I've done a lot of sewing for her.....

 I've been having such fun with her, her name is Jin, which apparently means Jade in Chinese.

I've made outfits for my Gotz girls too....

 

Both of those girls arrived in the early part of the year....I had a bit of a spending spree!!  

Some more BJDs got new clothes....

 

Samantha (Elfdoll Hana Angel) got a new blue dress with beading around the hem.

Noa (Irrealdoll Nora) got a check dress and cream socks.

Black Cherry Dolls XiaoYu got a new denim pinafore and striped stockings.  The lovely knitted sweater and beret were a gift from a friend.

And she also got a linen dress in khaki green.

 Bastian by Little Cosmos Dolls got some new trousers and a matching top.

So these were just a few of the many things I've been sewing recently.

Finally I did a makeover on one of my Gotz girls.  Anna is from 2005 and although she was really nice, her eyes were quite flat and not the most attractive so I decided to give her a whole new face.

Here she is with her new look and new dress....well if a girl has a new look she really needs another new dress, I guess!  

 I almost cut her eyes out to insert glass ones but then I decided to try repainting her existing eyes, after five attempts I was happy with the ones I painted and after sealing them, I added clear UV resin to give them a strong shine.

I think she looks more like a child now and less 'doll-like'.

So you'll see that I've not exactly been idle, just not here on Blogger.  I will try my best to catch up with all the blogs but I might just have to start afresh from now.  Forgive me for all the things I've missed and for not commenting.

Big hugs and enjoy your week.

Sharon in Spain xx

The Girl With Golden Freckles....

I've been having a bit of a sort out in my doll/sewing room and trying to decide on what I want to keep and what I want gone!  Same old same old, I hear you shout....and I know that several of you will relate to this because you've also blogged about it!  However, this didn't immediately have me sorting out things to sell because I came across another Disney Animator doll that I'd bought with the intention of customising, so instead of carrying on with the sorting, I decided to give her a makeover! LOL I'm so easily distracted.  

Anyway, I took this little girl from her box and she had such a cute face I thought maybe I should leave her alone, but then I remembered that either way I wouldn't want to keep her, I really do not want more vinyl dolls, I want to get rid of some, not add to their numbers.  So I decided to work on her.  

Here she is in her default state, she's a cutie but her features are stamped or printed on and I wanted to make her 'different'.  I love her quirky eyebrow, although I'm not sure if it was intentional for her to have that or not!

Firstly I removed all of the factory face paint, you can see that her eyebrows haven't completely come off as the dark paint stained the vinyl, but that's actually quite useful to me for positioning of the new eyebrows.

And here she is with her new look.  I apologise to anyone hoping for 'in progress' photos, I never did them, but maybe will do that with the next Disney Animator doll I customise, if anyone is interested.  Her cute dress and hat set are by a seller on Etsy, her socks are by me and her lovely white sandals are by Marti Sanders. 

Here is a close up of her eyes which I did using several different watercolour pencils, I wanted them to have the same variations in colour that real human eyes have, I hope I've achieved that.
 

You can also see her 'golden' freckles here, they were just an afterthought really, I wanted them to catch the sun and the ones I'd put on first with regular watercolour pencils didn't show up enough for my liking.  They're just tiny dots of golden acrylic paint put on with a cocktail stick!

She also has applied human sized false eyelashes....

I think she looks like she's full of mischief, don't you?!!

Her lips and blush are done using artist chalk pastels, I grind them down and apply with soft brushes of various sizes, then seal several times with a clear matt sealant.

 These dolls have the cutest profile, they are so sweet with their little ski lift noses!

You can see that I also cut her hair before washing and conditioning it.  It was very long hair, right down to her ankles almost at the back, and full of some sort of sticky white styling product.  Now she has a shorter, more manageable bobbed style.  Much better suited for playing in the garden in the sunshine ;)  

I hope you've enjoyed seeing this little Elena of Avalor.  She is now going to live in the UK with the 2 year old granddaughter of a special friend of mine, as I would rather gift her to someone who might enjoy her than have her collecting dust here :)  Hopefully little Sally will have fun with her new 'one of a kind' dolly!! 

Have a good 'rest of the week' and thank you for visiting!

Big Hugs Sharon in Spain xxx

My First American Girl......

For many years I've wanted to see an American Girl doll in real life.  But I never had....until now that is!

I've never liked dolls with a fabric torso and I dislike it when the cloth shows at the neckline in certain outfits, but I really like the Josefina face sculpt and their little legs, which I think are very cute.  I've looked at photos on Flickr, Pinterest and Ebay, sorely tempted but always put off at the thought of that fabric body.  Finally though I decided to give it a go and look for one to adopt.  I didn't want to spend too much money in case I didn't like her, so I decided to look again on Ebay and see what was on offer.

After a lot of research, I decided to bid on a secondhand Josefina being sold by someone in the UK.  I was fortunate enough to win the auction for a reasonable price and the doll arrived last Monday.  She appears to have been made by the Pleasant Company, probably before the company became a subsidiary of Mattel in, I believe, the year 1998.  I forgot to take a photo of the company name on the back of her neck, but will do that if it makes her easier to identify, because I'd love to narrow down when she may have been made.

Immediately on arrival,  I noticed that she was smaller than I expected....I'd sort of imagined these dolls as 'bigger' although I knew they were 18 inches tall!   I realised too how these dolls would be popular with young children as Josefina has a very squishy torso, I should imagine she'd be great to cuddle with.

So Josefina arrived.......

 she had a cute face with some surface dirt and a few scuffs......

And some white marks behind her pierced ears......

And a bit of glue residue in her hair......

And she had the most awful wig!  It felt really crunchy and dry, so that had to come off.

I removed it with great difficulty, it was glued on very securely and took a lot of tugging and a bit of swearing :) before finally I got it off her head!   You can see the surface dirt and scuffs better in the photos below, as well as the residue left behind by the wig.....

She has a very cute semi profile though......

Below, you can see what looks like additional glue has been applied to her head, just in one place, which makes me think a repair to her wig has been done at some point in the past.....

I love her profile and the colour of her vinyl.....

Here she is after a good scrub with washing up liquid.....you can see that I didn't have any luck removing the wig residue, it's stuck on very firmly! 

Despite the wash, obviously the scuffs remain.....

She has these sparse looking eyebrows drawn with individual hairs......

I haven't photographed her body but it does have a couple of clothing dye stains on the fabric, these were disclosed by the seller though, so no surprises there, and they'll be covered by her clothing anyway.

Once I'd put her head back on again (not too difficult as she has a string that tightens the cloth torso around the base of her neck) I looked in my wig stash for a suitable wig in her size.  Unfortunately, despite my massive amount of wigs, I really only had this one that fit her properly......

And I don't think it suits her at all!!!  So after washing and conditioning her original wig, I replaced that on her head but with the parting off to one side.  I then trimmed the horrible dry ends and put it into two bunches......

And dressed her in a dress I made from an American Girl pattern....I don't think it's her 'style', I'd prefer her to wear something more modern, but it fits....and looks OK for now, until I can make her something more suitable...... 

And finally we have a bit of sunshine!

Conclusion:  Well it's still early days, but so far I do quite like her.  I especially like her face and legs, which have always appealed to me from photos of American Girl dolls, plus I have a new appreciation of her little teeth and her profile.  I still don't like the fabric torso as I feel it's very limiting, but if I can always use patterns that have a reasonably high neckline, like the dress above, then that would be just fine.  I don't like this wig on her but having searched on Ebay, most of the wigs I've seen are very 'full' with too much hair, I'm sure that's NOT the look I'm after, so I will keep looking.

I'm glad I've not spent a fortune on buying my first American Girl, but admit that I'm still tempted to buy a new one at some point!  (Honestly, there's really no hope for me, is there!!!!)

Before I sign off, I'd just like to say a big thank you to Farrah Lily of Cozy Comforts and Dolls, for all her help in my quest to find an American Girl doll to bring home! 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Big hugs Sharon xx

A new arrival.....

I've not done any sewing, dolly or otherwise, or had any dolly play time in about a month or more, and I have no real interest in my dolls at the moment.  However, that doesn't stop me from buying!!  In fact I have been really wanting to buy.....nothing I need, but who said 'need' comes into it eh? 

So a few weeks ago my friend in the US and I were chatting about a particular doll and both decided to order one.  We both bought on the same day and both dolls were shipped at the beginning of September.  Both dolls were coming from Greece and would you believe it, both dolls arrived on the same day too, even though my friend's doll was going all the way to the west coast of the US!

The doll is not a doll I'd normally go for, she's incredibly quirky looking and definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but she made me laugh.  I only have to look at her to make myself smile!  She is a Malisa by the Greek artist Chrishanthi of Ppinkydolls, who sells on Etsy.

When I saw the doll in her box I thought I'd made a dreadful mistake.  She was so pale and I really don't like pale dolls, also 'pale' doesn't really photograph well for me in the sunshine.  Also she had long spidery eyelashes, one of which had been crushed and was all out of shape because she'd been sent without any face protector.  BJDs are generally packed with face protectors because it prevents just such problems happening with the eyelashes as well as protects the faceup whilst in transit.

Here are some  before photos.  She is not wearing her wig in these photos but you can see her crushed eyelashes on her right eye (on the left of the photos).....and you can also see the messy thick glue that they were attached with.

My mum was here when the doll arrived and she couldn't stop laughing and said the doll was so ugly and like an 'alien'.....well that is like a challenge to me.  I was determined to make this little ugly bug into a cutie! 

First of all I removed the eyelashes that seemed like they were stuck on with super glue!  Then I removed the shine on her pink lips (I really am not into pink lips) and then I set to work giving her more colour. 

As you can see above,  I filled in her eyebrows as they were pale and nondescript, I wanted them to be darker so I used a couple of shades of ground down chalk pastels in brown, I then added more individual hairs to the eyebrows, using various shades of brown and grey watercolour pencils.  I used some black pencil around the eyes to fill in where the original eyelashes had been removed (the glue had taken some of the eyepaint with it when removed).  I added some more dark eyeshadow and then I worked on the lips.  I used various shades of red and brown chalk pastels which I applied with a small flat paint brush, building up the layers of colour and using Mr Super Clear Flat sealant between layers.  I filled in her mouth cavity with the same shades of chalk pastels and then I re-whitened her teeth using white watercolour pencil.  I also added some colour to her nostrils, her philtrum and the very sides of her nose, to define the shape of her nose more.  After that I added blush to her cheeks, forehead, chin and across the bridge of her nose.  I then sealed her again and once the sealant was dry I gave her new eyelashes.  I used one human size false upper eyelash and cut it in half then trimmed that down to size.  Her eye holes are not big compared to the size of her face, she wears 12mm eyes. 

When everything was dry, I put brown glass eyes in.  She actually came with a sort of two tone grey eyes but I preferred the warmth of the brown eyes.

The wig in the above two photos was the one she came with but I felt it wasn't quite 'zany' enough for her so today I looked through my wig box and found this bright auburn/ginger Tibetan lambswool one that I've had for ages.  I tried it on her and felt it was just perfect for this unusual and quirky girl!!  I've trimmed it about a bit to suit her better.

As you can see below, even with the extra blushing she now has, she still looks quite pale in the sunlight, but I'm happy with her new look.

She's a funny little thing, with a tilt of her head she can look so different from one photo to another!  I think in this photo (below) she looks quite happy.....

But in this one she looks really sad....poor girl, I wonder why?

And in this one, she looks almost annoyed over something!

She's wearing clothes borrowed from my Blythe dolls and shoes from Riley Kish....one day I will get around to making her something of her own, I mean who wears a strappy summer dress with woollen leg warmers and boots!!   And her name, by the way, is now Riley Mai!

Well thank you for stopping by, I hope you all have a good weekend ahead, so until next time....