So, in the last few months I have become interested in Blythe, Pullip, and other big eyed dolls. Which is odd, cause I never played with dolls as a kid. I'm a stuffie grrrl. But there is something about the huge head and little bodies that I think is appealing. I also am very interested in how all the Big Eyed Doll owners customize their kids. But, it will be awhile till I can spend the kind of cash it would take to "play" in Blytheville. So, when this challenge came up, I decided to see if I could make my own version.......I started with this.
99 cents for the baby doll and $1.99 for both of the Bar.....dolls of a recognized name (don't want to attract the attention of Mattel). I was not sure which B-girl I was going to use, but they were in a bag together. I ended up using the middle one, because she was a slightly odd color and a bit sparkly. I think she used to be a fairy or some such, as she has 2 slots in her back about where wings would go. (Sorry about the stickers. I think all dismemberment has me a bit addled as to what is appropriate now..)
WARNING! Doll dismemberment ahead. May not be suitable for the weak of heart.....My house has looked like a tiny serial killer moved in for the last few weeks.
These are the parts I ended up using. The baby's legs from the knees down, I used for my dolls feet.
I've started to carve my dolls head at this point.
After I was happy with the carving, I started to paint her to help to blur the carving lines. I think I put about 7 coats of paint and or Weldbond glue (used as a sealer) on by the time I was done. The eyes I used were clear, so I used a bit of a sticker (from the Olympics I believe) to back them in something sparkly. (Everything I used was from my hoard. And most of it was recycled.) I ended up tapeing the eyes into the head, so I could change them later if I wanted to.
Here the eyes are glittered, and I have chosen her fur. Her fur was a remnant from the fabric store I used to work at.
This is after I started to work on her hood. I've finished the background of her face, and just finished putting on the lip base. The nails in the side of her neck are to keep the holes open that I punched for putting some wire so the hood could be taken on and off. Somewhere in here I decided the stiff arms would eventually drive me crazy, so I decided to do a hack I saw on CRAFTzine a few months ago. Turns out it was an instructable on how to insert wire into the joints of the doll so it would bend where it should. I ended up cutting the arm, poking a hole with a awl, and just pressure fitting the wire into place. So if it breaks from posing, I can replace it with ease.
It took me about 2 weeks of fiddling to get her to this next step. But here she is finally standing tall...
ZOEY!!!!
She really needs a hair cut though.....so, after a lot of cutting and combing and detangling......
The new and improved ZOEY!!!
This is the first dress I made her. I used a shorty shirt that I bought for a quarter a few years ago because the fabric was funky and it was 100% Lycra....normally Lycra is blended. I'll show you what is left of the shirt in a bit. I used the hem of the shirt for the hem of the dress, so it was pretty easy to do by hand. I will make her a funky belt for this dress out of an old necklace...someday.
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And a closeup of her face...you may be noticing the fangs. It turns out she is 1/2 Angora rabbit, and 1/2 Yeti...It's a complicated and sordid story that she doesn't like to talk about....But here is a photo of her Daddy..
She doesn't have any photos of her Mom...don't ask please.
And that will explain her feet too..
I used the babies lower leg and feet to make Zoey's feet, because Miss B's feet were set up for high heels and there was no way I was going to make my new friend wear high heels.
I decided, after I got her done, she needed more clothes then just one dress. So I pulled out my Box-O-Sox, and made her a few outfits from old tiny socks.
Zoey's first sock outfit. I also made her a tiny pet from a baby sock. She calls him Munch for some reason, even though he doesn't seem to have a mouth.
Zoey's stripey punk dress. I will add some embellishment of some sort..once I figure out what..
I think this outfit is my favo. I love the tiny goldfish tube top.
Second favo outfit so far.
Here are some examples of the socks I used, and what is left of the shirt I used for her first dress.
Now, it turns out that Zoey has a secret you may have noticed in some of the construction shots. I ended up adding a hinge to the scalp and head so that I could store things in her brain box. It turns out that Yeti's brains are in their feet!
And here is a pic of her putting away all the things she owns so far in her head.
I'm past happy with how she turned out. She is sturdier then I thought she would be for one thing. And I love love love how she is a one of a kind for sure.
