Doll Priorities ...

I bought an unplanned BJD recently. I swore I wasn't going to do that, but I did. At least a conversation with hubby happened first and a financial game plan was made as to how to gather funds (or should I say, pay back the family fund quickly).

I wasn't going to have time to sew up things to sell, so it was time to re-prioritize my collection. Briefly I considered selling one BJD for the bulk of the cash, but I took a good look at her and the rest of my collection and decided to sell off more 16" fashion dolls and more Barbies instead. How much was the doll I wanted to buy? Neveryoumind. But, the Tonner collection got narrowed down to just seven dolls, and only a dozen Barbies are left now - the Sashas weren't even considered, they stay.

It always surprises me what folks will pay for doll items. One of the things sold was a red pleated paisley vintage Barbie skirt (in excellent condition) that went for well over seventy dollars. Wow. I'm glad, but wow.

How did I decide what to keep? Nostalgia. Dolls that are replacements for favorites from childhood (Barbies and a Darci) and 16" fashion dolls that represent something important from my adulthood. One of the Tonners is my first Tyler, a gift from wonderful friends, others are dressed in outfits that look like favorite outfits of mine (like the knock-'em-dead black velvet suit worn on a date with my hubby early in our relationship) and one is my Harry Potter doll. Yeah, I'm a Potter-head. Been something fun to do with my oldest child ... but I had to promise I wouldn't bring the doll to the upcoming HP7 book release party. Tuh! Spoil sport!

So, what was bought and why? It was another 60cm scale BJD, a Dollstown Lucille head on a Domuya Flexi body. What made her special? I fell in love with her pictures. Her original owner, a wonderful face-up artist named Jay (drop me an e-mail if you want to contact her for a commission) was doing her own reprioritization and put her up for sale. Am so glad I happened to pop into the board Jay advertized her on when I did!

Her name is Francesca, and she looks to be straight out of a fairy tale ...



*Sigh!* Isn't she lovely?



And here she is with the rest of my resin kids ...



Have to admit, am feeling the need for one more ... a little child BJD in correct scale to the rest ... like a Bambicrony. Hmmm ...

Making a Doll Enjoyable ... and some words on the importance of cleaning and modifying BJDs

I bought both of these beautiful BJDs (Asian Ball Jointed Dollfies) earlier this year with the intention of doing their face-ups (make-up) by myself. Freakin' eep. I can sew. I can make jewelry. I can sculpt fantasy heads. I just don't have the patience to give good face-up ... the poor things, something had to be done or they'd be justified slashing me while I slept ...

On the left is a Lishe from Luts, on the right is an Estella head from DollsTown on a Soom body. They are gorgeous now because my wonderful friend TracyP) took pity on me - and the girls!

When Lishe first arrived - her head that is, the body was purchased separately, both second hand, my first "project" BJD - there was a lot of work to be done sanding her smooth, cleaning the resin's yellowing and getting the old face paint of of her facial crevices. That was quite a lesson on doll face-lifts, not as ugly as human face-lifts, but nearly as terrifying.

When cleaning resin doll parts ...

• a two minute soak in 91% Isopropyl alcohol helps considerably in getting off sealer and facial paint; use further-soaked paper towel for the large areas, soaked Q-tips for the small, and an alcohol-soaked wooden toothpick for those hard to reach places. Always rinse well in cool water. Keep drinking alcohol on hand for yourself, it makes the process seem smoother, I recomend Red Truck highly. This strength of alcohol seemed to help lighten yellowing as well.
  
• Soaks in an OxyClean solution also help lighten the color of yellowed resin so you might not have to sand at all. Yellowing happens for many reasons; age, too much sun exposure, hand oils and general dirt.
  
• If you do need to sand your resin doll, use the finest grit sandpaper available - preferably one backed by sponge - otherwise the sanding is too harsh and can scrape the resin away faster than you thought possible.
• Have heard that soaking the resin parts in hydrogen peroxide (leave in a dark area, as it loses it's potency in light) for a couple or more days will whiten resin well. I have NOT tried this myself yet.
  
• It is always best not to do any of these without checking to make sure there are no adverse effects, the inside of head caps makes good testing ground.
• Keep in mind that what works on one company's resin may not work on another's as they all have different resin properties.

For Lishe's face-up I wanted something soft, pretty and clean and made a couple attempts at doing this using watercolor pencils and chalk pastels. Unless you want to invest in an airbrush and get REALLY good with it before going near a Dollfie, stick to these kinds of pencils and chalks, mistakes erase easily and the materials blend well together with a touch of water. (I've been told by a few to steer clear of acrylic paints on resin, it tends to flake off.)

The best sealer for resin dolls is a product called Mr. Super Clear, it doesn't yellow or clump up like other sealers are known to. MSC's instructions are all in Japanese, so shake for two+ minutes and do thin even coats, letting them dry thoroughly between layers. Use a coat for an underlayer to give your pencils and chalks something to grip onto.

This was my first attempt, not horrible, somewhat amateur but pretty:

And my second - good freaking lord!:

And then I cried "TRACY!!!" and she did the job with the expertise that I just don't have the patience to learn ... there's just not enough red wine for that ...

Isn't Lishe lovely now?! (Nevermind the straggling hairs.)

Similar happened with Estella ...
Never even got the eyelashes on with the first attempt:

The second attempt lasted longer, and told me that yeah, this is the color scheme that fits her, but still no cigar ... more like crayon:

Tracy's work is SO much more satisfying! This is a doll's happy look:

So, Lesson #1 with modifying your own doll: know when it's time to put the job in someone else's (significantly more capable) hands!