Oh Dear

to the doll customization community: any suggestions on how to get into doll customization?

what hair do you recommend for reroots? what is the best paint to use? what kind of finishing spray is the best?

i’ve been told that watercolor pencils are good for sketching out faces. eventually i would also like to get some kind of glittery powders to add some sparkle to some of my dolls skin. anything will be helpful!! 🧡

Added a new color to the armchair collection. You can download this one for free on Patreon.

Chess

Doll of the Day: Legends of Ireland: The Bard Barbie.

Our doll today is The Bard Barbie doll. She was released in 2004 as part of the Legends of Ireland Collection, one of Mattel’s most beautiful Fantasy inspired collections to this day. She is a Limited Edition doll, and one of my favorite dolls in this specific collection. Considering we have a Ireland for our history theme tomorrow (spoiler), I thought she’d fit perfectly.

Her dress is one of the loveliest creations that came from Mattel. It’s inspired by Medieval attire (Cotehardie over kirtle), but closer to 19th Century Pre-Raphaelite and Celtic Revivalist art than to actual Medieval clothing. Although it’s not completely historically accurate, it is no doubt gorgeous. As I mentioned before, my favorite kind of Fantasy outfits have some history as inspiration, so she’s just my kind of doll. The make up though… MAC Ireland rather than Medieval Ireland.

Well, now’s the part where I start spiiling the IRL pictures, right? But, I’ve had a minor problem. I was a child when I got this doll, and as a child I was a bit of an iconoclast…

So, I might have left this doll a little too much exposed to sunlight (not to mention pool water and all that a child can think of as an adventure) my poor Bard doll’s head has yellowed way too much and there’s no retouching I can do.

Soooo, I did the next best thing: I picked up another doll, dressed her in The Bard’s dress, and voilà! The doll chosen to represent her is a modern fashion doll by Integrity Toys. Her hair has been rerooted (a doll world word for taking the doll’s head off and changing all her hair) in a blonde color that is the closest I have to the original Barbie’s tone. The make up is modern, but it’s softer than some of my other dolls’ makeups. Loose hair isn’t period either, but it works both for Pre-Raphaelite art and for Fantasy, so again, I’ll let it slide.

The harp used in the photoshoot came with the original doll. I was very happy to discover it wasn’t just a prop for the stock photo, and I’m even happier it survived my childhood!

Paintings of Archways, Doors and Windows, 2003 (oil on panel), Leon Morrocco

🎃 - calico critters halloween display