Fixing Kendall?!

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Heh guys! Ok so last week, or the week before, I attempted my first ever limb tightening and eye fix (I didn't fully remove the eyes just tried to adjust them) and I definitely have mixed feelings about the results! It was my first time attempting a eye swap (type thing), and tightening a dolls limbs, so I guess it was an experiment.

*WARNING- THERE WILL BE HEADLESS AND NAKED AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS IN THIS POST, IF THAT STUFF FREAKS YOU OUT PLEASE DON'T READ THIS*

Kendall was previously a McKenna doll.

So the reason I decided to fix Kendall's eye was because over the years it got more and more wonky until it was so bad that when I tried to take photos, it looked like she had a flipping glass eye!

Her limbs were also so loose that she couldn't stand up very well and her skin looked really oily, and she was really squishy (her cloth area was not very firm like a new doll) so we had a lot of work to do!

Let's start with the limb tightening and re-stuffing.

So I started off by removing her wig, but I could just pull it of because I haven't glued it on yet! >.< As you can see her toenails are painted, yeah that happened a few years ago and now it won't come off, I need to try that acne cream treatment sometime.

I then removed her head and pulled all her stuffing out

Here's half the stuffing out.

And there is her body with all the stuffing out! Lol it looks kinda funny

I then tied a hair tie on each limb following the tutorial by aggirl1109

Here's the vid (if it doesn't work just click the account name above)

That went smoothly and she now has limbs that are super tight, her body is way more solid and she can stand on her own now! Success!!

Now onto the eye swap, yeah this is where things went a bit cringe..

So this is what she started of like. It's not super super major but it's enough to bug me. In my naivety I was going to remove both of her eyes and then put them back in but a person on Instagram suggested just heating her head and then adjusting her eye without fully removing them. That sounded like a better idea and a lot less scary!

I followed the tutorial by AGTriviaMaster but just adjusted to what I was doing

If the video doesn't work just click on the account name above to view the video.

Everything went smoothly, I boiled the water, heated her head and I still don't actually know what went wrong but after I had adjusted her eyes I noticed that a little bit of water had crept into her actual eye ball.

Maybe there was a hole in her eye socket? I hope her eyes don't rust, I'll watch it over time and see if it does any damage. Also when I was done her eyes look like they are permanently looking down..

this photo was taken at a lower angle so it's less obvious

Can you see that small black gap between her eye and the rim? Looks like she's wearing eyeliner. Yeah the eye pieces are like slightly in the skull.. it's hard to explain... So that isn't the best. Oh and finally her eyes don't close now!

So I don't think I would call that a success but it was a good experience, Kendall is my experiment doll :) I try everything new on her! Sorry Kendall, I do love you.

So the final thing I did was clean her skin, now I have a love/hate relationship with the baking soda & water method that American Girl suggests because in the past it has left my dolls with large patches of cleaner skin and other bits still dirty even a little darker skin. Not very attractive. But I don't have access to Magic Erasers that I know of so I just used this method and got on with it.

And it worked really nicely, the trick this time was to apply an even amount of pressure/scrubbing when cleaning. I had to scrub pretty hard but it worked! So in the picture above, the right (our right, the doll's left) arm has been scrubbed with baking soda and water and the left (our left, her right) is what it looked like before! What a difference, she's less shiny now and I am very happy! :)

So this is what she's looks like at the end. Here's what I learnt from this experience

1. Limb tightening & re-stuffing the doll is surprisingly easy and the results are really good!

2. Eye swapping is a different story, less scary than I thought it would be but please use a doll that you are half ok with if you muck up. I will probably go back and try push the bottom of her eyes forward in the future but for now i'm just gonna leave her. I'm kinda traumatized! ^.^

I don't even know if I fixed the wonky eye, I think I made it worse than to begin with :) Oh well, you learn from your failures i guess. So I'm not very happy about the eye thing.

3. And the baking soda cleaning method actually works, contradicting my previous thoughts, but you must apply an even amount of scrubbing or the skin will look patchy. That's my experience anyway.

Here is a unedited photo from a photoshoot I had been panning for ages with Kendall after fixing her up and her eyes are looking down! With a normal doll, at this angle they would be looking at the camera, also it looks like she has eyeliner on! :) So I got 1 photo from this photoshoot that doesn't look weird and you can see in my last post or on my instagram (@lydias.dolls) Also her hair is frazzled coz it got caught in a zip. #dollproblems.

If ya made it this far thanks for coming along on this journey with me! Yeah I was scared but I learnt some valuable lessons that I hope I passed onto you :)

Happy Doll Loving

Lydia

11 comments

Farrah20 October 2016 at 07:34
Wow, you are braver than I am! Honestly, though, if you hadn't said anything about the eyes being "worse" I never would've notice...I think they look great from the photos, lol. I think her gaze is much better as I know what you mean about the annoying wonky look. From the photos it is hard to tell that she's looking downward..sorry to hear that her eyes don't close, though! Maybe when you feel brave again you can take the eyes totally out and try again. :)
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Norah21 October 2016 at 14:27
Kendall is beautiful! I love admiring customs, but I would be too scared to do it myself.
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Alison M21 October 2016 at 21:20
What a great job you did! I am in awe. You should be very proud. Her results are absolutely amazing. Not sure I am brave enough to take on such an endeavour.
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Marjorie22 October 2016 at 16:26
I love this!!! I named my my Julie doll Kendall, i named her after Kendall Vertes off Dance moms!! Love it!!
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Lydia P23 October 2016 at 09:26
Hello! I just discovered your blog from another blog (I actually don't remember which one... Wack-A-Doodle Dolls maybe?) I got really excited because my name is also Lydia. I'm from America, so Lydia is not a very common name except for younger kids. Anyway, I have really enjoyed reading your past posts! Kendall is so cute! I also love the overall dresses you made.
-Lydia
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Unknown5 November 2016 at 10:23
You are BRAVE!
I've always wanted to customize a doll but I'm too much of a chicken. >_< I have the same problem with the black gap between eye and skull. However, I think that was caused from impact. (My dolls have a habit and falling out of the dollhouse no matter their position!
~Tenley
thesunshinedollies2.blogspot.com
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