Sunday 25 March 2012

Revamped Dolls House Doll

Isn't it funny how you buy something that you know you're just going to change completely?
Take my dolls house doll, for instance... here she is when I ordered her:
Long dress and full pinny, dark hair and a cap (bald under that cap though!), and sleeve protectors.
All perfectly acceptable...  but not for my dolls house. I just liked the look of her face... so that's why I bought her. So... I got her home and ripped her hat and hair off. The sleeve protectors were a no-no, and also the full pinny. Collar on that dress?... not a chance! As for the length... way too long. But she had cute bloomers on that could stay.
Her hair was replaced with blonde mohair - twice! Never again... that stuff gets everywhere!
The dress was shortened, the collar removed and the neckline widened... no pinny - just a purple ribbon instead and we were almost there. Except for those legs. She had flat feet with painted black boots on. No good at all for curling up on the sofa to read a book, or settling down on a blanket to fuss the dogs. No... they had to go. So I ripped them off.
Oh, the guilt! I kept looking at the sweet face on the doll, and telling her that I could rebuild her... better, stronger... :)
The major problem here, of course, is that I have no idea how to sculpt feet and legs. I knew I wanted chubby legs with small feet (just like mine!)... but that was about it. Last night I couldn't sleep - probably the thought of that doll laid on the table with no legs! So up I got from my bed, into the craft room, found some pink skin-tone clay and tried to make something... anything that might ease the guilt.
The leg-making and feet-sculpting was so hard - but not nearly as difficult as trying to keep them the same size!
I did it though... and for an old lady whose got rheumatoid arthritis and is a complete amateur, I reckon I did alright... and the doll seems quite happy too.
The originals and the replacements. The new legs look bigger - but from heel to top they are about the same length as the older legs.
You can see how chubby they look from behind... just how I wanted them to be :)
I shaped the legs and feet so that I could pose them - bending at the 'knee' and with a slight pointing of the foot. She can now tuck her legs under her as she sits on her blanket and plays with the Jack Russell pups...
She looks so different!
Oh... I nearly forgot to add that the mohair costs about £2, the fimo polymer clay I get on EBay (postage free) for £1.59... and the rest of the doll is just altered from what she was wearing originally - except for the piece of ribbon that I found in my stash drawer. A dolls house doll, customised to suit my (still un-made) dolls house for under £4... and the doll originally cost £3.50 - so that's a unique and perfect-for-me dolls house doll for very little cost. I'm a happy bunny :)

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Thankyou for your lovely comments on my blog, I will enjoy following your blog too, I love the way you have rebuilt your dolly!