#berenguer doll

[grey-eccentric]

This is wren. I fell in love with the tiny details of these life like dolls. He's fully vinyl and anatomically correct.

I usually prefer dolls with closed eyes but something about their eyes captured my interest. The details on their arms, legs, and backs is impressive for a doll that isn't a reborn. At least in my opinion. This is my secret little interest.

[keyofshadows]

Mabel with her new pacifier. I just cut off the nipple and put a piece of a silicone earplug on the back. Sticks on without damaging the lips.

[blackdollenthusiast]

Early Reborn Dolls

[desertdollranch]

Eyeswapping my A Life of Faith doll

~*~*~ Before & After ~*~*~

This adorable little lady here is a doll from the doll brand A Life of Faith. The dolls were first released in 1998, and are based on characters from the Elsie Dinsmore book series, which was published in the 19th century. Since the dolls are no longer being produced, I had to acquire mine secondhand.

But they can sometimes be tricky to find without a certain very common condition affecting dolls: eyes that have changed color over time to red, orange, or purple.

(Left: a Violet Travilla doll; right: a Laylie Colbert doll, both from A Life of Faith; both pictures taken from secondhand listings)

This is absolutely not the only brand that has that defect; My Twinn, Ruby Red Fashion Friends, and Berenguer Classmates are some others I've seen whose eyes turn a bright shade of red.

My new doll came to me in excellent condition, but with light purple eyes that I did not like. I planned on removing and replacing them the moment before I bought her. It turned out to be easy and surprisingly inexpensive.

When I received my doll, I could tell immediately that she had the right kind of vinyl that would make it easy to replace her eyes. I took photos of each step so that I could show precisely how you can do the same.

The first thing you will need to do is get yourself a pair of flat-backed oval glass eyes, size 20 millimeters, in the color of your choice. I used these eyes from CR's Crafts and I'm pleased with what I got, but I can also recommend Dolls By Sandie as a legit source of doll parts that I have purchased from in the past. This size of eyes is also commonly used in reborn baby dolls, so if you're wanting to shop elsewhere you can search for that type of supplier. But do not compromise on the 20 mm size. Too big and they won't fit in the socket at all; too small and they will move around in the socket.

What else you'll need:

A very small screwdriver, or a similar slender metal or plastic tool

A large pot of water, and a way to heat it up (ideally a stove)

A few extra large plastic sandwich bags; large ziploc style bags are what I used

Dry towels in case your doll gets wet

What you'll be doing here is using the water to heat up the head, which will make the vinyl soft and flexible. Then you'll use your screwdriver to pop out the original eyes. Then you'll heat the vinyl again and use your hands to insert the new eyes.

Warning..... there are pictures within this post of an eyeless doll. If that is something you don't want to see, do not continue reading this post.

.........

Start by heating up some water in your large pot. Make it about 8 inches deep.

While that heats, remove the doll's wig and peel off the eyelashes. If you want to put the lashes back on after the eye swap, keep them in a safe place where they won't get lost. Eyelashes have the tendency to stick to random things and get far away from you.

Removing the wig isn't absolutely mandatory, but I do recommend it. It will make the whole process much easier when you're not worrying about damaging it or keeping it restrained and out of the way. You can always glue it back on afterward.

When the water is ready, get your doll suited up for the hot water plunge.

I covered her with two large plastic sandwich bags, then a plastic grocery bag. This will protect her from getting wet, while still allowing the vinyl of her head to heat up and become soft and flexible.

Bring your water to a boil, and then immediately turn off the heat and take the pot off the heat. Carefully bring the pot of hot water to a stable surface--I put mine down on the floor and sat there to work on my doll.

Turn the doll upside down and lower her head into the water. Make sure your water is deep enough to be level with at least her chin. Hold her there for about two minutes.

If your water is hot enough, the vinyl head should become warm and flexible.

Oops, she got a little bit wet. My bag leaked. If this happens to you, use towels to dry her off completely. Do not let her eye sockets get wet and remain wet, as this could let mold grow.

Working very quickly before the vinyl cools down, slip your screwdriver or other skinny tool into the eye socket behind the eye and pop it out. Be careful not to scratch her skin. If you're having trouble, put her back into the bags and heat up her vinyl a bit more.

Jeepers creepers! This is what you'll see after extracting them peepers.

Set the old eyes aside, and get the new eyes ready at hand. Then stick your doll back into the bags for 60 seconds to heat up the vinyl again.

Once she's warmed up again, it's time to insert the eyes.

The previous steps were the easy part. This is the tricky part that's hard to photograph in a helpful way. What I did was slip the top half of the eyes into the eye socket and then just pushed down hard on the eyes until the bottom halves popped into the socket.

You may need to reheat the vinyl again after putting in the first eye and the second eye.

If that's not working, you can also try squeezing the head to stabilize it and push the eyes in that way.

As soon as they're in, you're done! Reattach the lashes and the wig if you took that off.

Success!

This is an older picture and she has since changed wigs, but I'm so happy with her new eye color. It gives her a completely different, more natural look.

[tmbeethatsme]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Berenguer La Newborn Boy Doll Anatomically Correct 14" Jointed Vinyl Blue Eyes.

[rosieladybug]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Berenguer Newborn‎ 14" Realistic Baby Doll 2016.

[bestgla4u]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Berenguer Baby Girl Doll approx. 14" long.

[pleasantsrack]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 1 baby first doll 1 Berengue Black Doll Lot Of 2.

[spndhsmony]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Vintage Berenguer Expressions Doll Yawning Baby.

[mdronebarger]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: JC Toys Berenguer Lil Cutesies Baby Doll wearing owl outfit.

[grey-eccentric]

Close up of his face with his original hat.

[keyofshadows]

Doctor appointment, super anxious, brought Mabel.

Still super anxious, boo.

[glittermariah]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Vintage Berenguer Soft Body 8" Vinyl Doll Blonde Hair Blue Eyes w/ Outfit Bonnet.

[desertdollranch]

Happy New Year’s Eve, dollies! I’m taking a look back at all of the delightful additions to my family in 2022. Here they are standing and sitting patiently on my patio stairs. 

The number of new faces is unusually high this year because I adopted a big group of Our Generation dolls from another collector who was trimming down her collection. Most of the others are also secondhand, and a big portion of those were thrift store rescues. This year I really enjoyed the thrilling roulette game of walking into my favorite thrift store and walking out with a doll that was never actually on my wish list, but whom I fell in love with the second I saw them on the shelf. I discovered so many different brands that way, and I’m very pleased with the brand diversity of my collection now. 

Lining them up like this also makes it obvious that my preference for doll size is between about 14 inches/36 cm to 18 inches/46 cm. Just the right size to be cuddly and huggable little friends, and close to realistic size for baby dolls. I like seeing and learning about smaller scale dolls, but I do prefer to only own dolls of 1:3 scale and larger.

Bottom row, left to right: Kimberly (My Child), Aviva (Berenguer), Isadora (AG Caring for Baby), Katie (AG Bitty Twin), Frida (Llorens), Betty (AG Bitty Baby), Bianca (Gotz), unnamed Corolle mini baby.  Next row up: Zoe (Healthy Roots), Lyra (Gotz Happy Kids Mila), Harmony (AG Truly Me #85), Cara (All About the Doll), Layla (City Girls), Elizabeth (AG Truly Me customized #13), Tipi (Hearts for Hearts Girls). Next row up are all Our Generation: Jolene, Iris, Autumn, Marcela Next row up, also all OG: Kathleen, Tally, Kavika, Jane Tall doll in the back: new Kendra (My Twinn) (replacing a previous version of Kendra)

[yes-sassy-stuff]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: New Born Sleeping Berenguer Babies 19" Life Like Partial Vinyl Weighted Soft Bod.

[littlewalken]

Feb 1

I have some of that cosplay foam clay and now three Berenguer baby dolls and ideas... If I have energy I'm going to get in to the closet room and look for the one who's been around longer because if I'm getting out the baby customizing supplies I want to do all three at once.

I have other pictures but this one hopefully makes it obvious it's a doll because you know how the internet is. That was in a kit so it came blank but I really don't think for what I have planned I would have to strip the factory paint off the other babies which would be nice. I just have to find out.

If it works as intended I'll be on to something I'll have to say I don't take commissions for and if it doesn't work I'll again have something I won't take commissions for. You'll have to chose from what's there and like it.

What I need to do today is have a carefree making art day. Was able to cognitively keep myself from having a melt down over a minor mistake so I feel good about that.

Got some oil pastels, not Pentel hopefully a more adult brand, and odorless fake turpentine, and some brushes and canvasses to try something. I've been thinking about oil painting again but after my supplies got fucked up in storage I would have had to replace them. If I can make what I'm going to try work then it'll be less mess than before. There's no reason it shouldn't work technically.

Honestly I don't think I have any of my old oil paintings except for a couple I did in school. Spiritually they had to go. Artists know what I mean.

I really need to do a substantial art piece. Did some more sketches in the mechanical pencil book, printed out some more reference pictures, mostly Teddy and Robert from last year's tour, and I just need to art in color.