Gotz Happy Kidz Emilia...A New Custom!

Last week I bought a Gotz Happy Kidz Emilia because I both liked the sculpt and wanted to do some customising.  I got Emilia because she has an interesting face sculpt, not the prettiest of the Gotz Happy Doll sculpts but a face that I find I'm drawn to.  I liked her on arrival but always like to make my dolls 'my own' and she was no exception.

Emilia before:

I've always liked Gotz dolls as their quality is very good and they're great as play dolls, being made with very safe and well tested materials, and for adult doll collectors too.

Firstly I removed the factory makeup and the acrylic eyes.  The eyes were not bad quality but I prefer them to be more realistic so they had to go, along with the eyelashes.  Here she is with her cleaned face, but eyes and lashes still attached.  I felt these eyes were also a tad too large for her eye sockets too.

The hair on these dolls is rooted so I covered her head with an old shower cap to protect it from the chalk and the sealant.

The hardest part was getting her head off.  I had to soak it in boiled water until the vinyl was soft and then pull it off.  The eyes are seated in little 'pockets' inside her head but the back of these are open so you can easily remove the eyes through the neck hole.  Here she is will her default eyes and lashes now removed.

 

I then gave her a new faceup using watercolour pencils and artist grade chalk pastels.  I wanted her to have glass eyes but I found that the ones I have here (and I have quite a few pairs!!) did not suit her or were the wrong size.  In the end I decided that I would stick with acrylic, so these eyes are by Glastic Realistic, unfortunately I have no idea what the colour is called.   As acrylic eyes go, I think these are a great alternative to glass or resin eyes as they are very detailed and natural looking. 

Between layers of chalk pastels, Emilia is sealed with several coats of Mr Super Clear Flat sealant. 

I hope that I've bought her more 'to life' and less dolly looking.  I enjoyed working on her, customising really is one of my favourite parts of the doll hobby to be honest!

She's wearing an outfit that I made for my Zwergnase dolls, I thought the grey of the outfit went well with the grey of her eyes.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you're all having a very nice weekend.

Big hugs and stay safe!
Sharon xxxx
 

Kidz n Cats Makeovers.....

I've been a bit busy over the last few days but didn't want to let my New Years 'resolution' to post here more regularly, slip within the first month!  So please forgive me for not posting new photos but I thought I'd share some photos of the few Kidz n Cats makeovers that I've done since discovering these dolls a few years ago.

I started out doing one for myself, this was my first Kidz n Cats doll, she was Grace, known as the 'classic face'  from 2015 if I remember rightly and I gave her a full makeover, including new wig, new glass eyes, and new makeup.

Here is her 'before' photo:  (sorry it's a bit blurry)

 

You can see she was a cutie to begin with but I just wanted to make her more 'mine' if that makes sense.

Here she is with her whole new look,  her lovely grey glass eyes and Monique Gold Roxie wig:  She turned into quite the tomboy!

 

You can see I had a lot of fun sewing for her too!  However, I decided to send her to a new home so then there was Elise!

Elise, who is still here, is from 2013 and she went under the knife too, becoming my little Afro Caribbean girl.....she got the full treatment, and I love her pouty little face.

Before photo:

And after.  Elise was given golden brown eyes and her wig is a Monique Christine which I styled into two plaits and then cut shorter, plus cut some shorter tendrils into the front to soften the look.  (You can see my girls have to share their clothes! LOL )

After this I decided to buy a sculpt that hadn't really appealed to me previously, what is known as the 'mischievous' sculpt, a Julika, from 2015.  I wanted to see what the sculpt was like in 'real life' and also I liked the outfit!

Before photo:  She was actually rather cute but I didn't like her wig which felt really very synthetic. 

But I did like this outfit which was multilayered and appealed to me.....

I gave her the 'full works' including blue glass eyes and a red wig, which I think suited her mischievous face, plus added freckles.  I liked her better this way but still she wasn't one of my favourites so she went to live elsewhere!!

Then I started to get requests to custom dolls for other people, the first two girls came for a visit from Switzerland.  The first is 'classic face' Laura who is the same sculpt as Grace, above.  Her mum wanted her to have a similar colour wig to her original, but not the same style, which was very curly and brown eyes.  Because the Kidz n Cats come with acrylic eyes, I replaced her originals again with glass, this time in deep brown, and her wig is a Monique Gold one, if I remember rightly it's a Geneva. 

Before photo:  (Sorry this isn't my photo, I forgot to take one before I started on her!)  She was pretty but her hair was a mess, again synthetic feeling and easily tangled.

After her full makeover:

The second girl to visit from Switzerland is Stine, who is known as the 'sweet face', and is also from 2013. 

Before photo:  Stine looked cute but her lips were very pink, as if she were wearing her mother's lipstick! 

 

After her makeover, she had pretty blue glass eyes and a trimmed Monique Gold Jojo wig....

Next came a girl from the South of France, her name is Rosie and she is also the 'classic face', she's from 2015.  Her mum wanted her to have a full makeover but to keep her default wig and eyes as the hair colour suited her well, and her acrylic eyes were a particularly pretty colour green.

Here is her before photo:

After photos:  I gave Rosie the full makeover, plus some freckles as I felt they suited her 'outdoorsy girl' look...

 

My latest Kidz n Cats makeover is Alice from 2016, she is the 'mischievous' face, which as I said above, wasn't my favourite but her brown eyes and hair appealed to me, so I adopted her.  I decided to keep her default wig but cut it short and of course she got the full works, including deep brown glass eyes.  She is now known as Scarlett, (thanks to Farrah Lily!), and you've seen quite a few photos of her recently, so I will just add a couple here:

Her before photo:

And her after photo:

Finally, I was tempted by another 'classic' face sculpt on Ebay a couple of weeks ago and little Lena arrived earlier this week from Germany.  She is going to get a full makeover very soon, maybe I will even make a start on her tomorrow!  So please watch this space if you like seeing dolly makeovers :)

Thanks, as always, for visiting, I hope you've enjoyed seeing these girls again.  I hope you'll drop by to see Lena when she's ready to show herself!

Have a great weekend! 

Big hugs, Sharon xx