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!

A (temporary) new look for Hope! (LOTS of photos!!!!)

This morning I decided to remove Hopes faceup!  I generally remove the existing faceup if I'm sending a doll off for a new one because some faceup artists prefer it and also I always think that it just saves them the job!  I know I'm a bit premature because my slot with my chosen artist won't even be available until the summer, but I did it all the same.  Then I thought I'd have a little practice on her myself.  She looked quite scary and ugly without her face!!!

Once she was all nice and clean I sprayed her with a coat of Mr Super Clear Flat (sealant) and then got to work.   Now I'm not the worlds best faceup artist....in fact I'm not very good at all, but I like to have a go....and it's only temporary!  As it happens though, I'm really quite pleased with how she's turned out, she actually looks rather sweet!  Apologies for all the photos, they are a bit repetitive but I couldn't choose which ones I liked best!!!

Wig and overalls by me.  And faceup, obviously!!!

Hope for Hope!

Hope is one of my three girls designed by the Australian artist Kaye Wiggs, she is MSD size which is approx 45cm tall, fully jointed BJD in 'sunkissed' resin.  She's lived here, from new, since 2012.  When she arrived I wasn't overly impressed with her default faceup, in fact I thought it was horrible.  The shading was very dark, almost black, and her lips were outlined in the same dark colour.

Arrival photo showing default faceup:

I removed the lips and redid them myself but left the faceup as it was because once the lips were lightened, so the shading didn't look quite so bad.  I also removed the horrible spidery eyelashes too and gave her some slightly softer ones.

But today I decided that I want her to have a whole new faceup as her default one really doesn't compliment the sculpt.  Hopefully she will go to Sweden in the summer to be repainted by a very talented faceup artist, who's work I really admire. 

I took some photos of her today in the garden with a lambswool wig that I made for another of my dolls.  Hopes regular wig has been stolen by one of my Gregors, so I will have to replace that later when she has her new face, if not before.

As Hope looks today:

Some other wigs I've tried on her and rejected:

Redhead - Monique Gold Geneva (I think) in Carrot Red

 

Brown - Monique Gold Ginger in Brown with Electric Blue 

 

Blond - I think this one is from Elfdoll and is synthetic or modacrylic:

And finally, this is how I would like her to look with her new faceup.  This Hope was done by the same faceup artist and the photo belongs to her, isn't she beautiful!

Saddle him up!!

Twig, (Elfdoll Min del Re, 14cm resin ball jointed doll) has wanted a horse for ages and back in January I was lucky enough to find her one.  However, because the weather had been cold, the horse had to be kept in his 'stable'...until today!!  The sun was shining and it was hot, so Twig decided it was the perfect day for a ride!  Twig has decided to call her horse Amazon....and what a magnificent beast he is, don't you agree? ;)

Of course the whole family wanted to come outside and see Twig on Amazon, even the two dogs, who didn't seem to be in the least bit afraid of such a big creature!  Sunny has brought along her camera to record the occasion.

L to R in front: Boris the Bulldog, Sunny Song (Elfdoll BongSunHwa),  Minx (Elfdoll Min del Re 2nd Edition with custom faceup by Ravendoll), and Stanley the Chihuahua.

One for the photo album Twig!!

THE OUT-TAKES

As per usual when I'm trying to take photos of my dolls in the garden, I have my little 'helpers' in attendance.  Today, apart from running up my back and deciding to sit there whilst I was laid out flat on the ground to take these photos, Yoda decided that she needed to be in on the 'action'.....hence we have dolls falling over in all directions!!!

"Oh" said Yoda "I think this one would benefit from a little wash!"

 "Oh dear! Looks like she's tired, poor thing!  Oh well, let her sleep...what can I do to help now mum?"

No dolls or animals were harmed in the taking of these photos....but the photographer had trouble getting back up off the floor afterwards....DOH!!!

My Sashas and Gregors in the sunshine.....

I made a little video of my Sashas and Gregors from photos I've taken in the last year and a half.  I hope you'll take a few minutes to view it and that you also enjoy it!!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday from Meggie, my 1973-74 puddle eyes Sasha, who has been seriously neglected recently!  (As, it would appear, have my Irises!!)

Happy Mothering Sunday!

Although it's not Mothers Day here in Spain today, I'd still like to wish all my lovely friends, whether they be mums or not, a very Happy Mothering Sunday.  But in particular I would like to wish my own mum, who incidentally is the BEST mum in the world, a lovely day!  I know she won't read this because, in her own words she's not into "all that new fangled stuff!" but I wanted to say it all the same!  She really is the best!!!

My mum, with my son Brendan (left) and my brother John at our wedding in Gibralter.