Barbie Divergent Tris doll head swap with Disney Belle Beauty and Beast doll

It has been a month since I posted anything. I have had some not doll related things to do called work. I did work on a Disney Belle doll a little bit when I could. I washed a ton of glue out of her hair and it's still stiff. I liked the style so I left it a little bit stiff to hold the big curl. I touched up her color and gave her a Divergent Tris Barbie body. That way she can pose well and wear Barbie things. The skin color looks good with the doll head. I pierced her ears too. 

The Divergent Tris body is very poseable. I love the delicate Barbie hands on this doll. Her fingers are not all together like Made to Move. I tried a bunch of Barbie shoes on her to make sure she wears lots of Barbie things. Her old body could fit a few of the Barbie shoes but not all. It seems her feet were wider.

 The hairline is still a bit harsh. I think I would like to work on it more. I added some little wisps to the sides, using false eyelashes. 

 I really love the French braid and big curl. 

 I love the Barbie hands that have some separate fingers. I noticed even Made to Move has the hands with fingers all together. 

 Barbie heels fit the doll well. She can't wear flats but that's okay. I like her.

 The Divergent doll body has shorter looking feet. I did notice a bit of difference in her feet and the other Barbies I have. Some shoes look like her feet got trimmed off. I still like her. 

I noticed the legs are strung together inside with something that looks like a black rubber band. I really loved this, because her range of motion is really great. I always wondered what's inside Barbie's legs. This is one I can see. It rained a little while I was working outside. I got little drops of water in my pictures. 

Her old body I tried to fix.

 Her knees are wide apart when sitting no matter what I did to her legs.

Now that I found the body I want for my Belle, I want to continue to dress her and call her Belle.

I have been making Rocky some legs and feet

Today I worked on making Rocky some legs and feet. Then when it got too hot outside, I went inside and made him some elf shoes. I think they need a little embellishment with some bells. I loosely strung Rocky to see how he is going to look when he is all dressed up for Christmas. He is shorter than his outfit but it is still cute. He needs some arms now. I realized I cut the blocks for his arms too short too. I went outside and cut some new blocks. Tomorrow I will make him some arms and hands. He has to be done this weekend so he will have time to learn about Christmas. I also think he needs a hat to match his shoes. This would help to balance the colors I chose for him. I wanted a warm color but not exactly a red. The package of felt I bought had a lovely mixture of browns, rusts, burgundy, tans, and greens. I think the colors are beautiful and the small pieces are perfect for making tiny doll things.

 Rocky stands well even loosely strung. I made him with pretty chunky feet just for that reason.

His eyes look like they follow me. I'm always very happy when I get eyes that seem to follow me around as I move, even though the eyes are stationary. I have not yet figured out why some dolls have that effect and others don't. I thought it was the way the eyes were made. These are little plastic eyes that I can paint and then put together--kind of like Blythe eye chips but with half round whites and clear pupils. The smallest size of eye I could find so far was 8mm. The eyes are a bit large for this size of doll, but that's all I have. The other eyes I have had, which seem to move, are glass and have spherical pupils in them. 

 I sketched out a pattern for the shoes and made one pair too large. The next pair was just right so I traced around them on a cardboard just for Rocky. A larger doll fortunately could wear the extra shoes. So that worked out for Rocky and someone else.

Alabaster Carving My Own Handmade Ball-Jointed Doll Update

I ran into some rainy and cold weather this weekend. But I did get some things done on the nice days. I found some wire that was about to be thrown away. I decided to put my doll together with this wire it works so well for the weight of stone. I don't know what it's called but it looks kind of like the bread sack ties on a loaf of bread.

When I put her head on her shoulders I noticed she had limited ability to turn her head. So I decided to make a neck joint extra, kind of like Doll Chateau. Only mine has a slant to it so she can raise and lower her head by turning the joint. I just came up with the idea in the middle of the night and went aha, I will try this tomorrow after work. I picked one of my circle cutters that was closest to her neck size and then just drilled out a plug. 

I also cut her out a torso but I think it is much too large for her. I drew lines on it where I will be trimming it down with a neat waist. I used tacky glue to temporarily hold the magnets in before I use the cyanoacrylate type of glue. I want to make sure they are in just right, so I don't end up carving them out. 

You can see in this picture that I rounded her shoulders to make her look elderly. But the neck had very limited mobility, because of her chin. She still wants her eyes painted. 

 I worked on her a silver wig also. I won't bore anyone with the basic wig making. There are plenty of tutorials available online about making your own doll wigs. I make a crocheted cap and then blind stitch the wefts to the cap.

 It is actually still too young looking. I am going to press it down on top and do some styling to make it look like it belongs to her.

I just cut her a 6" waist and 8" hips, which will be smaller when I round her off. I drilled some more channels.