My Little Darling doll in mohair curly auburn wig from Global Dolls

This week I tried out one more doll wig on my Little Darling doll. I think this is the last one, because it is the ultimate cutest one yet. It is a mohair curly auburn wig from Global Dolls. The seller even sent a free pair of doll socks.

I was so tickled when I found someone making MIM doll dresses that fit Little Darlings. I crochet but my sewing is not the greatest. Some dresses were a bit long for my Little Darling but most were fine for me. Still no shoes for my Josie. I tried H4H doll shoes on her and just thought they were big looking even with socks. I want to try making some shoes for her first. I feel that having everything made for me stumps my own creative endeavors. So I will be waiting a bit more.

Next I tried another wig on my Goodreau MIM doll. The banana curls aren't very modern but I think she's cute. Now that cold weather is coming I'll be able to make a few things myself.

A different shade of blonde for my Josie

I tried another blonde wig on her today. It is okay but with the reddish eyebrows I still think she is a redheaded little darling. The wigs are tagged size 6 inside them, but almost all of them are really 7/8 inch wigs, so that turned out to be pretty nice for Josie.
I put a Goodreau MIM jacket on her and some cute leggings made by Spindlewick Creations for a H4H doll. The leggings fit pretty well. Still I have no shoes. After buying the doll, I think it will be a while before we get shoes. I could possibly make something. I made 2 right foot shoes one night and used up all the scrap I had to do it. I was so frustrated, I said maybe shoes aren't my thing. I only get so much time off from work and I almost cried. Dolls are usually fun and relaxing for me.
She needs some clothes on, since I am making a cardigan. I need for a cardigan to fit over something like a top. The first problem I ran into with the cardigan is she gets rounder in the middle. For instance, the jacket zips up in the front, but gets snug on her when it is snapped. The jacket was made for a 16" American BJD. Josie can share a few items made for American BJD, Make It Mine dolls. I noticed a jacket from BFC Ink 18" doll fits LDs too. I just love the mini zipper that really works.

Trying out Little Darling wigs

 I got a few wigs this week for some of my smaller BJDs and was surprised to find that several of them fit  Josie. I really like the sausage curls. They are so vintage dolly looking and suit the Little Darlings quite well. I don't have any clothes for her just yet, but I am making her a tiny cardigan. Next Josie will need shoes.

Josie looks better as a redhead.

 I love her intense green eyes. Sometimes they look almost turquoise in color. 

 Different angles show of the chubby baby cheeks. When I first unboxed Josie, I thought her face was slimmer than other dolls. But it is the different angles of the camera that makes her cheeks chubby looking.

I have her dressed in Goodreau Make It Mine clothes for now. She has a cute backpack from BFC Ink 18" doll clothes pack. Still no shoes.

A Little Darling Painted by Helen Skinner

I really love my adopted Dianna Effner Little Darling. I have been gawking at pictures of these dolls for such a long time. I thought they were amazing in photos but too pricey for vinyl dolls. Now I see the reason for the price. The quality of these dolls is amazing in person too. 

The skin tone is so realistic, it is not noticeable that she is a vinyl doll. She looks like a porcelain doll I had, which was also made by Effner. My doll was made in 2013 and retains her lovely color after all this time.  

My Little Darling had no name on her tag. I have named her Josie.

She has such realistic proportions and looks like a real little girl. Her wig can be changed to make her a little more customizable. This next picture is me next to Josie. I was never considered to be a little darling though. I remember my mother would get upset when family members called me little devil.

The Little Darling doll is truly a work of art. 

Eclipse 2017 in North Carolina

I really didn't see the total eclipse today in North Carolina. I got glimpses of the partial eclipse on my Kindle screen. I had on glasses that were so dark all I could see was a reflection on my screen. When I tried to get snap shots, I missed every time or got a glaring ball of sunlight unfiltered. I was just to scared to look. I decided I had rather look at other things for the rest of my life more than a few shots of an eclipse. I did however get photos of the crescent moon shapes of the sun on the ground being filtered through the leaves. I stayed outside with my dog to see if it got dark. It never did get dark here. It got like it was later in the evening around 2:40 PM and then it began to get more light again. I heard the crickets singing and the birds stop singing like night time. I had read you may see things on the ground due to the eclipse. I read that sometimes you can even see snakes that are just shadows on the ground. That is why I decided to focus on the things that change or look different during an eclipse. It was cloudy so I did get a glimpse of some rainbows, but not a photo of the rainbows.

My dog didn't notice a thing.

Like I said I tried to get pictures over my shoulder with my Kindle. I am not sure if the pink rings are the moon or reflection on the screen. I was too scared to look at it.

 In this next photo look closely between my eyes. An infinite cone just seems to appear right in front of me.

The leaves all have holes burned in them afterwards.

Barbie Shoes Collecting

I was dressing a Blythe doll one day and noticed one pair of green shoes was too loud. So I tried another pair of green shoes and they were perfect for her dress. So then I started collecting Barbie shoes for my Blythe dolls and similar dolls. So far these are the keepers. I think my dolls are going to need their own shoe closet. Which I am working at making some kind of homemade closet. Right now I am using an empty Barbie box. I have a few extra pairs not in the picture but they are on the dolls. Most of the shoes fit Barbie Made to Move and Style Barbie. Some of the smaller shoes fit 1:12 scale dolls like the Realpuki and 5" AI doll.

Icy Doll like Blythe

I found an Icy Blythe doll on Amazon with the 19 joints body. They are not very expensive. I really wanted to try a customization on different types of dolls. I had read somewhere that Basaak dolls have thinner plastic, so they are good for heavy modifications. I have never opened a Blythe, but I did notice while modifying my Basaak doll, there is not a thick plastic head. I could hold her head parts in the light and see the light through them. I can't say about the comparison, because I like my Blythes just fine the way they are. This Icy doll has amazing eye chips and colors. Her hair is thick and nice. Her jointed body is a bit loose. I put rubber bands in loose joints. Some say put putty inside joints. I haven't tried that but there is a demo on youtube I think that will show how. I don't know for sure why they are 19 joints. She has 2 ankle joints, making it possible for her to wear flat or high heel shoes. She has 2 knee joints. She has 4 joints at the thighs. She has 2 wrist joints, 2 elbow joints, 2 sets of joints at the shoulders. She has a joint at the waist, and can turn her head. I keep getting 18 joints. Her head does toggle a little for up and down motion. I have a jointed Blythe with the same body and her head doesn't move up and down. I think that is the type of adapter used to attach the head. It is a lot of mobility for posing dolls and making pictures of them. I didn't get the extra hands but the price justified it for me. I really don't like pulling off the doll hands. I think it will get loose over time and ruin the doll overall.  I have made some pictures of my doll and added them for anyone interested in Icy dolls. She is a better quality doll than Basaak.

 She wears Monster High sized shoes.

Poor Raggedy Blythe Basaak CCE Doll Wig

I recently made a wig for my Basaak doll. I had some old boucle yarn that is dark red. I had been wanting to make a raggedy Ann style doll for a while and said why not now. I already had crocheted a wig cap. I picked a red color from my yarn stash. I found I had some olefin boucle in my yarn stash. The thing about this fiber is it can't be brushed or combed except with your fingers. I has a knotted thread all the way through it which makes it a boucle yarn. It is quite stiff but will be softer when I wash it. At least that is usually the case with my olefin yarns. This yarn says it was made in Mexico. I was happy to see it had the labels inside so I could learn a little more about my yarns. So much for my going on about the fibers, now for the pictures.

 

I played around with the idea of getting the Basaak doll new hair. I am tempted to keep what she has and add something to it or start all over. Then I remembered I got the wrong size of wig for my dolls a while back and just didn't do anything with it. It was blue. I went to get it out and try it on the Basaak doll and it fit! This got me to thinking, I had rather have a few wigs to experiment with the look of the doll than to have more than one doll. I love her so far. I really enjoy playing around with her look. I made up a before and after so I could see the differences. 

Bassak doll to practice customizing

Bassak doll to practice customizing

I got a Bassak doll on Amazon for a very low price. I wanted to practice customizing my own doll but the Blythe dolls are too expensive, even factory dolls. This poor doll had scratched eye chips and some thin hair so it made it perfect for trying out new things. This is my first attempt and I am really attached to her already. I held her up to my Blythe and her eye chips are not as bright or high quality. I knew anything I do to her would be as good or better than how she came to me. She did come in a lovely Basaak box with a clear plastic stand, shoes and 2 dresses. The eye mechanism worked well also. I put the pixie dress and orange Barbie shoes on her and the matching hair clips. I made the new pull string with hemp, since I kept breaking the other string I tried using. The hemp is tough and works so much better. I pierced her ears and made her a pair of earrings. I carved out a little around her mouth and nose just to get a feel for the carving. I blushed and freckled her face and gave her brows to match her hair color. I put some fake lashes on her. The doll was cute enough as she was and now she's just mine. 

The Bassak body has seams like a Barbie and a few flaws typical of a lower priced doll. I do like how she can lift her arms to the side. The head always seems to be looking downward, but he waist is made so you can position her side to side. My plan was to do the most I could with craft items I already have around home and not spend too much money on a doll that is not the highest quality. But now I am thinking perhaps an Obitsu body is in order for this girl, a wig and some special eye chips?

I broke one of her eye chips trying to remove it with the glue stick method I saw on youtube. So I tried making my own chips with resin. It was okay for a first try. I used the one good chip to press a mold into the shape of an eye chip. 

  I painted one set of eye chips with glass paint to cover the scratches.

I still love a plain Blythe but this was lots of fun and she has really been sweet about it.