Dolly makeovers!

This week I've been busy with my Blythe dolls.  I think the renewed interest in them is because I'm going to the Blythe Con Europe in May as it is being held here in Malaga, at a venue just 25 minutes drive from here.  I'm really looking forward to it and as I'll be taking one or two Blythes with me, I decided that a couple of them could do with a bit of freshening up.

I decided to give Heather, my Heather Sky, a full makeover, so she has had a bit of extra carving and new face makeup as well as new eyelashes and eyelids.

Heather's eyelids were originally painted but after rubbing the paint off I decided to cover them with thin self adhesive fabric.  I had to sand the eyelids down quite well so that the fabric didn't catch on the eyelids when opening and closing her eyes.

She also got some pretty new blue grey eye chips.  I'd intended to always have her with different shades of brown chips but thought these blues would make a nice change.

Next up was my Vainilladolly custom Blythe, she got a different scalp to wear.  I rooted this scalp several years ago and finally someone can make use of it.  I think this style and colour suits her quite well.  (Apologies for the loose and flyaway hairs, it was quite a windy evening!)

After working on the Blythes, I decided it was time to work on my Tonner My Imagination doll as I've been saying for a while now that she needed different eyes.  I cut a hole in the top of her head under her wig and then cut into the vinyl at the back of her eyes.  I removed the vinyl and then, pushing from the front, removed her default acrylic eyes.  However, having tried her with several other pairs of eyes, I decided to go back to her original eyes again as they suited her, it was just the placement of them that was all wrong.  I also attached more natural upper eyelashes.

Here you can see that just the tiniest adjustment to the placement of the eyes can take a doll from having that weird "deer caught in headlights" look, to a more natural non staring gaze.  I hope you'll agree that it looks much better this way.

This is the 'before' photo, you can see that her eyes look very 'round' and staring, as if she is in shock:

 And now you can see that she looks far more natural, the eyes have just been lifted up slightly to show a tiny area of white underneath the irises, this softens her whole look:

Finally today I made a new dress for my Fairyland Mini Fee tanned Chloe.  I used a pattern I'd not used before and found the bodice was rather big on her so I took it in down the front then created this 'frill' using a strip of the fine knit fabric of the dress to cover the seam.  All I need to do now is remember to make adjustments to my pattern before I forget!!!

Well I hope you've liked seeing what I've been up to over the last week!  Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week :)

Big hugs, Sharon xx

Beach Belles....

Early yesterday morning I took some of my girls down to the beach for some photos, I thought I'd get there before it got busy....I'm still not comfortable taking photos of my dolls in public!  So I took 6 in all and just took random photos of them enjoying the sunshine....

First here's Heather, she's my favourite of my Blythes, customised by me....she wanted to top up her tan....

I love these eye chips below, they're made of very thin glass and from a maker here in Spain!

I might invest in another set to replace the ones below....

Next we have the four Sasha girls who came to the beach with me....Destin (60s Gotz Slate Eyes), Núria (1968 Redhead), Bailey (1971 rewigged Brunette) and Wren (Kilt).  Yes, my lovely redhead now has a name, Núria, which is popular in Catalonia. 

Here are a few individual photos that I thought came out nice enough to share:

  

And finally we have Ellie, my Little Darling by Dianna Effner.  She couldn't wait to take off her shoes and socks and run in the sand.....but I managed to keep her shod long enough to take these photos!

 

And last but not least, I wanted to share these two photos that I took with my zoom lens as I sat about 15 metres from the surf, I was really pleased with how they came out!

 

 Hope you enjoyed my photos of our morning at the beach!

Thanks for looking!

Good old Cockney Fare!!!

Yesterday we went to Nerja for lunch in a sports bar called OLAS. OLAS means Over Land And Sea which is the name of the West Ham Utd football club fans magazine, and as hubby and son are big WHU fans, we had to go there.  However, my main reason for going was that they have started to serve good old traditional Cockney Pie n Mash with Eel Liquor!!!!  And that, I have to say, is my all time favourite food! (And you thought it was chocolate!!!)   Sam, my 20cm Elfdoll Hana Angel, also came along....here she is showing you the menu!!!

 

And here is the meal prior to splitting open the pies and adding Sarsons Malt Vinegar....and traditionally Pie n Mash is eaten with just a fork and spoon.

 

The minced beef pies were excellent, the pastry had just the right amount of flakiness to it, the beef was really tasty and the bottom of the pies was just the correct consistency.  The potato had been mashed with butter, whereas the traditional way is for it to be just mashed without any butter, spread or milk, but the taste was nice and it was good and fluffy.  The eel liquor was tasty but could have done with being just that little bit thicker, and maybe a bit greener.  Apart from that, it was lovely!!!  Plus it really was the only time I've ever eaten this traditional East End meal in full sunshine with the beach and sea in front of me!!!!

In other news,  I changed the eyechips on Heather Sky for her new handmade glass ones...they are really pretty and easy to apply.  I like them a lot!   Here you can see she's stolen Baileys beret!!

Heather was one of my earlier Blythe customs and I can't decide whether I want to redo her a bit, maybe give her more of a philtrum and carve her lips a little more.  I am always worried that anything too drastic will change my favourite dolls to the point that they are no longer the dolls they were....I've found in the past that even a new faceup can change the 'personality' of a doll to the point where I no longer want him/her.....so I'll have to give it a lot of thought.  But she really could do with some more work I think!

And finally, I removed all of Baileys hair, she is now a little baldy again!  Well almost bald anyway.  I realised once I'd tried pulling the plugs out, that I really had done a great job of the knots inside her head! :)  I thought I'd try the Prince Gregor wig on her because I'd seen Sarah Williams' (Vintage Sasha) little wider faced ex Gregor wearing it as a girl and she looked so incredibly cute!  Well I think Bailey looks so sweet too that now I'm wondering if I might save myself the job of rerooting her again, and might keep her as a wigged girl!!!!!!  I've not quite got the wig on her right yet, but will keep trying and see how it goes!!!!