Doll hospital, continued

I've been working on  the rescue dolls little by little over the past weeks - also reorganizing the playroom so that all my sewing stuff can be in there. It's slow going.

#26 really just needed a cleaning - and some hair care. She still has some small green markings on her torso and her hair is not great, but I'm still astonished by how gorgeous she was just to begin with.  One wipe-down and she looked ready to be played with. This is a beautiful doll.

Before

After

I also need to do more work on Kirsten, who appears to have had some haircuts in strategic places around her scalp, and her wig is dry and brittle - but her eyelids cleaned up very nicely.

Before

After

Next: Nellie. This picture really doesn't do justice to how grimy she was.

Nellie and Pink Lady were the two who I unstuffed and threw into the washing machine because it was just that bad. I cleaned her face multiple times, getting layers of dirt off. I also washed as much of her hair as I dared - which was really just the ends.

Here she is now:

There are some lingering stains on her body, but for the most part the washing machine worked nicely. Nellie turned out to be astonishingly orange.

 

Here she is with Larkin (my custom Grace). Together, either Larkin looks sallow and drab or Nellie looks incredibly pink/orange. It was interesting to compare their coloring; Nellie's hair is lighter, her freckles are much more faded, and her eyes are a deeper blue.

Finally: Pink Lady, who I've tentatively identified as Just Like You #33 based on her face mold, blue eyes, and strawberry-blonde hair with a left side part. You will recall she got her name because of the gigantic pink stain on her torso.

Pink Lady and Nellie with their respective stuffing

• The problems just kept mounting the more I worked on her.
• She was entirely filthy, even her eyes. 
• Her eyelashes had been cut unevenly in spots.
• The pink stain issue, of course. This was mostly resolved with a trip through the washing machine and some rubbing alcohol; I think it was paint?
• A large section of her hair was matted with gunk that would not come out even with washing . . . I don’t even want to speculate on what it was, but after it dried and was relatively cleaner, I noticed a persistent foul smell. Even the wig cap itself seemed spotted with dirt.

At that point I decided to just strip off the wig, since her eyes were fairly dirty too and I wanted to try an eye swap. The wig came off very easily (the easiest wig I’ve ever removed) and there were brown spot-stains on the inside of the wig cap and imprinted on the head.

At this point I was ready to throw out the Biohazard Wig, but as an experiment decided to try throwing it in the washing machine. There wasn't anything to lose at that point.

I put it in a pillowcase and washed it on the delicate setting. It came out very tangled and frizzy and dry. The smell had gone and I couldn’t find the dried gunk in the hair, but the spots were still evident on the wig cap. I ended up pitching it - it just grossed me out too much.

The spots did clean off the head with the aid of some Magic Eraser.

As all these issues kept popping up, it became clear that Pink Lady was the one I was going to keep for my customization experiments. Although I love #26 (especially #26) and Nellie, I don't have room for them. So I used Pink Lady for my first eye removal (which ended up being more my brother's first eye removal). I think the eyes benefited from cleaning; they were full of sand and dirt. Since I wanted to try out heterochromia, I put one eye back in and replaced the other with a green eye.

Before

After

At this point I don't think I'd notice the pink stain if it wasn't pointed out to me. Unfortunately, you can tell pretty easily that the eyes are from different manufacturers (even without the snipped-eyelash issue). However, I think she's up for some new looks and experiments. I want to try a brunette wig on her.

Merry Christmas from the Doll Family

All the dolls get to gather around the tree for their gifts. There's plenty of stuffed wrapped up . . . and is that a Radio Flyer wagon?

 The angel on top of the tree is tipping a little. (Have to work on a better rig for next year.)

"A pair of French-to-English dictionaries! Merci!"

Elphaba got an tablet.

 Jocelyn unwraps a present...

It's from Tonka Tinys! The bin even tips up like a real truck.
Molly got a smartwatch. It's anachronistic, but hey.

I guess it's time to put away the Advent wreath and get out the Nativity set... and some hot cocoa and candy canes.

The candy canes are Christmas ornaments - they came with glitter but it strips off easily. The tablet and watch are from the My Life As line. The tablet comes with several cardboard inserts that can be swapped out.

My brother got the dictionaries for me at a yard sale and I love them. They're from 1961 and are part of a pretty extensive line. "Langenscheidt's Lilliput Dictionary." THEY'RE PERFECT.

The wagon was my own yard sale find. It came new in box and had to be assembled. And there's someone on the box who looks a little familiar...

 So Karol got one new shirt for that photoshoot, and then for Christmas he got another new outfit - from, again, the My Life As line.

It velcros open at the back, with a hole in the hood. You have to slide it over the doll's head. If the doll has long hair, it can either stick out through the bottom of the hood, or be pulled out to go over the shoulders.

Looks pretty good on Karol. I was a little afraid I couldn't get it on since his head's so big. He does look a little silly with the hood up, but it fits!

MOLLY GETS NEW GLASSES!

Well, technically they're old glasses, but this was a very exciting day at the thrift store. They had a ton of AG stuff. Most of what was left was Josefina, Samantha and Addy accessories, I think. I would have bought everything, but it was kind of cost-prohibitive.

What they did have, though, were a few Molly accessories.

I don't have much of Molly's collection, and a couple years ago somebody stepped on her glasses, so she has been missing her spectacles since then.

So what I ended up buying were Molly's glasses and hot water bottle, a sleeping bag, and a stove.

The sleeping bag first came out in 1995. I think the logo is supposed to glow in the dark. It can unzip into two blankets.

The glasses are actually the older type, I think, because the earpieces curve. My Molly came with glasses that were straight. These are a little harder to get on but I'm very happy with them. 

The water bottle says "Pleasant Dreams" on it. It's really cute. I love love love older AG stuff. It's so detailed and realistic.

And I love the stove! It's a little damaged, but I love it. I found out just now that it's Kit's stove, which is even better! 

And doesn't Molly look dapper in her new glasses?

Review: Friendly Witch Outfit

When I got Elphaba, I knew one thing: she needed a broom. I think she's spent more time as a space alien than a witch, but she still needed a broom.

Then I found out that American Girl has offered witch costumes in the past!

The Friendly Witch Outfit was available from 2008 through 2009.

The Witch Costume was available 2013 through 2015.

Both outfits come with that same model of broom. I think the boots are the same too. After looking at both of them and comparing the prices on the secondary market, I opted for the first one.

The dress has sleeves puffed at the shoulder and a layered tulle skirt. It comes with pointy-toed boots that velcro at the back, a curved hat, and long striped socks.

The broom is hard plastic and surprisingly heavy. You could use it as a bludgeon.  The details are great - wood grain on the handle, detailed straws even on the bottom. I love this broom.

Due to Elphaba's variations from AG dolls, there are some slight measurement discrepancies. The shoes were very, very tight on her, and the broom handle does not quite fit over her four fingers. 

But still, Elphie finally had her broom!

Here she is in her original outfit - dress, shoes and hat - with the broom.

I actually got this back during the summer. Now that it's fall, I decided to break the dress back out for a cold-weather look. (That's another nice thing about it - it's very versatile. It doesn't have to be a witch costume.)

This time, rather than risk damaging the boots, I paired it with her original Mary Janes. I feel like the collar of the dress seems a little plain, so I added a scarf.

And that brings me to another find: Dunkin Donuts. They offer little lip balms shaped like coffee cups, and they are both adorable and perfectly to scale. Now Elphie can have pumpkin spice.

Finds!

I went to the local fleamarket today! I say local, but it's kind of a drive, so I don't go often, but this week I was very happy with what I found.

So we have a mug, a Christmas wreath, a male Barbie child (I've been looking for one of these forever - he has no shoes and his shirt is torn, but it's okay) and a doll-sized toy train.

Then we have the books. I hit the motherlode! There are several books from the Running Press Miniature Editions line, then a Little Little Golden Book in really good condition, and finally, one of the mini American girl books, Meet Samantha. I actually made a high-pitched squealing noise when I saw this. I'm going to need to get another bookshelf.

You neve know what you're going to get. There were also plenty of things I passed over because of price or because they just weren't quite what I was looking for. I saw a doll with a Gotz head (the seller wasn't sure whether it was on the original body), and strongly considered that, but it was kind of high in price for such a TLC doll. I mean, I've got Gotz on my wishlist, but this doll did not look good.