Friday, August 17, 2012

Dolly Hair Transplant ~ your opinion, please!

If you've been a reader of this blog long enough, you might remember this post, the first of our themed birthday posts, in which Sunshine received a homemade Waldorf doll to complement the Cutie Beautie that Shortcake loves. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but Cutie Beautie's hair was very thin and hot glued onto her head. When I originally made that dolly, I didn't know how to do the hair and this was in the era before Youtube. You know, back when dinosaurs roamed the internet. Anyway, I did the best I could which was pretty pitiful and hoped that someday I'd get the chance to redo it. Well, that day was yesterday!

Shortcake was really scared that Cutie Beautie would look different and it took a couple of tries before I got her stamp of approval. I followed this tutorial and made adjustments to make her look like her old self, just with new hair exactly the same color as the old. Here is the finished look.
 Wow, those kind of look like mug shots. Oh well. Here is my new dilemna. I can't find the doll kit that I used to make both of these dolls. I don't think it's being sold anymore. I want to make a doll for Cupcake, maybe for Christmas. I think I still have the pattern somewhere but I would need to hunt for skin fabric and wool stuffing.

I have this doll that my big girls have been saving for their baby sister. It was a Christmas gift from long ago. They only play with their special mom-made dollies now and have set most of their other dollies aside. (Secretly wiping away tears of remember when...) I like the look of this dolly but being an actual Waldorf doll and not a homemade one, her hair is  mohair I think and really fuzzy and very easily pulled out in clumps of fuzz so much that I don't feel comfortable giving it to Cupcake just yet. I don't want my baby coughing up a hair ball. So my question is, should I save it for her for when she's older, maybe 3 or so or should I attempt another transplant? She's also a little overstuffed for my girls' taste. They like their dollies squishable so I think I would also try to remove some of her stuffing.

Inspired by this beautiful doll on Etsy, I took these pictures of the doll with some yarn that I thought was fun and kind of funky laid over her hair just to get a feel for what it might look like. We all agree that she looks cute both ways and can't decide what to do, so here's where you get to tell us what you think!

Leave her as she is and make a new one or use what we've got and give her a make over?
 

9 comments:

  1. I love the colors of the hair. I think I'd go for the transplant. But I can be a bit lazy when I'm contemplating sewing projects. I've been thinking about making a doll for our little one. It's been over seven years since I last made a doll. Not sure If I have recovered from the Raggedy Ann doll that I made which had such a creepy face that I sent her to live in my brother's basement playroom.

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  2. Make her over with the adorable blue hair! So cute.

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  3. She looks adorable with that blue hair, and it's perfect for Cupcake! I think you should definitely give her a make over.

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  4. I think that it would be more work to un-stuff her and give her a hair transplant than to make a new one! There are a few places to get skin and wool (I get mine here http://www.weirdollsandcrafts.com since they happen to be local). I love the hair and would love to make some more dollies with cool hair.

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  5. I'd go with replacing the hair but use a brown yarn to replicate the original look. (I'm not a Waldorf expert, though...I just think the brown is cuter...and less prone to giving girls crazy blue ideas for their own hair ;) Great work on the first doll!

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  6. just thought I would share a new website, we attend the TLM in kansas city and a member of our parish has started a new business of doll making. The site is dedicated to their son which they loss during her third trimester. I think they are so cute but my children are to old so waiting on grandbabies to buy them for. :)
    http://www.jacobstoybox.com/index.html

    God bless, Jackie

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  7. I'd vote for the makeover. There's the satisfaction of using what you have on hand, as well as that the blue hair kind of goes along with the sister's lavender hair doll. I've been keeping a stuffed dinosaur going for eight years now (he belongs to my special needs boy, and is not going to be put in storage until said son says so), and makeovers are the name of the game there! :)

    Do you still recommend that Little House movie, by the way? With your Jane Austen party and now the Little House party, I find myself impatient for my girlies to grow up! Riiight, like that will last long. ;) We had a low-key Peter Rabbit party for my littlest girl last Thursday (we were all sick last week, so no big plans) and next month we are having a Princess party (generic princess, not Disney) for my oldest girl. Thanks for all the inspiration!! I love your themed parties.

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  8. Cutie Beautie's hair turned out lovely!
    I vote for making a new one. The already made one doesn't look as happy as the one you made. :)
    If you do decide to make a new one, tutorial please??

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  9. Hi Charlotte,
    I would have to vote for remaking the existing doll's hair over with the blue yarn. I'm partial to using what you have already. I do really like the brown hair, but with "sisters" that have purple and red-red hair, she may feel out of place with plain brown hair. :)
    Melissa

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and yourself!