#doll tutorials

[doll-tutorials]

ik it's a bit of a big ask but, can you provide a guide of essential products/tools to have for someone new to doll collecting?

thank you!!

Hmm, for small doll repairs I'd say a melamine sponge, rubbing alcohol, cotton wipes, qtips, metal pet comb, nail scissors.

For collecting, i'd start with a small notebook or spreadsheet of what doll, how much and notes about it.

After that it's about deciding how you'd like to collect: how much time energy and money are you willing to put into each doll?

If you want to get into MyScene your options are buying mint condition for about 20-30$ more than buying used condition but probably needing hair plugs replacing. Ponies often require hair work, G1 Monster high need glue treatment and de yellowing, old Barbies will have stains or need body swaps. It can be very rewarding or very tedious if that's not your jam so finding that price/work point that works for you is a really important start. There are collectors who only get dolls that are in stores and enjoy the physical trips to go 'hunting', others thrift, others do ebay/mercari/mandarake with set budgets. If you're outside of the USA you might not get much in-store choice.

It's about figuring out what part of collecting is fun for you : redressing, hairstyling, making jewelry or miniatures, photography, sewing, crochet, doll repair, doll customizing, coming up with a backstory, completing a set?

The hobby is vast so the essentials are 1- some dedicated space and maybe a time slot to put your dolls and related crafts, 2- an idea of your budget then 3- playing with a bit of everything to see which direction you'd like your collecting to go.

I'm opening this up to anyone reading : what's a tool or supply that came in useful with your doll collecting?

I think I would have invested in a dust proof bookcase sooner and a heat pad instead of using a hair dryer but I'm glad I didn't invest in photography equipment as that's not my thing.

[firespirited]

I was asked to put together a beginner reroot kit so I’m going to cut needles for myself too and that’ll be today’s use of shoulders.

as specified in the previous needle cutting tutorial, you’ll want safety goggles.

Here are a few things I forgot to add:

The tool to cut needles is a memory wire cutter ($8-10 at craft stores) - if you don’t have that but do have heavy duty* diagonal cutters or large pliers with a cutting area, you can place the needle at the base and press with both hands. *We’re talking much larger than jewellery tools.

Do not hold the foam AND the wire cutters: align the wire cutters and press with both hands: let the foam fly backwards that’s why the needles are in foam to begin with. you need both hands to get a clear cut that doesn’t bend or snap the needle eye.

If you can’t cut the needle stem with both hands (especially the thicker needles, place the wire cutters on the cut and pliers above and pull in opposite directions to snap-cut the stem.

The kit itself is

an exacto knife holder (rebranded as a microblading tool)

5 needles: 1 for yarn, 2 for thin plugs, 2 normal.

3 crocodile clips for holding hair.

some electronic twistie ties

saran from trendy and bendy Teresa (not enough for a full head)

nylon from  rainbow high amaya (dyeable)

kiwi nylon from mermaze orra (dyeable)

black saran scraps for eyelashes

test head

[elsaspants]

If you were still looking for a doll sealant, I use Testor's dull coat! It's a spray like msc but a decent bit cheaper. I get it from the like miniature section of the craft store

thank you! I’ll look into this for sure. I appreciate it a lot!

publishing this for future reference :D

[tanuki-kimono]

To complete past diy kimono dressing for Sylvanians Families/Calico Critters I shared before (see 1 / 2), here is a new step by step by @haluchobin to create cute easy to put on obi :

Tie a thin elastic into a loose loop around the tail

Slip both ends of a ribbon through the loop and sew into place

Tie another ribbon around the elastic covering the knot. Style it into a bow, you can try to mimic real musubi if you want

Put on the finished obi and enjoy!

[aroworlds]

Over the past eighteen months, I've made enough green, white, grey and black clothing pieces to outfit ten Barbie dolls in aro colours. In addition, every doll has earrings, necklaces, belts or embroidery featuring pride stripes. Now I just have to figure out how to make a one-sixth-scale aro pride march display...

(More information about the making of aro-themed doll accessories and clothes is available on my website.)

[umbratundra]

Making of Sprigatito 🍃

[dragonsdelightstudio]

Shoe Stay Last the Broke Way

Or, you’re a cheap bitch like me and have only basic materials at your disposal.

Hello, beautiful people~

Let’s create a shoe stay together.

(I’ve been corrected in my terms, it’s a shoe last. My bad if I confused any of you!)

Most every crafter has - Glue, water, plastic wrap, paper bags (or whatever you may have on hand,) and hot glue; That’s it, that’s your list of supplies. Perhaps a sharp instrument to cut away the mold carefully.

If you are like me, my crew is chronically shoeless. Shoes are expensive! I consider myself a decent seamstress though, so why not try shoe making? When doing this it’s a good idea to have a shoe “last” or a basic mold to help shape the shoes. I’m not a huge fan of handling my dolls every time I try and make something to fit.

Enter shoe lasts stays, the broke way.

First you need a volunteer. I chose the boy who had the bigger feet to basically provide a mold to all my other boys of similar size. This is Harper. His body is an April Story Senior. He’s got his pantlegs rolled up and he’s ready to go.

Let’s get messy now and act like we are in kindergarten. You want to make sure your doll’s feet are wrapped securely in cling wrap, covering a little above the ankle. We are going to paper mache over his feet. There are many recipes online for a mixture, but I personally use a mix of wood and white PVA mixed with a bit of water.

I alternated thin Kraft paper and paper towel for a couple of layers. Make sure each one is thoroughly dry before applying the next. Try and fill out some of the area above the heel and the arch as we want to keep this basic shape but not totally form fitting.

All dry! Now you need to carefully cut off the paper Mache. This can be tricky. Much like the paper Mache dress form we want to avoid doing damage to the doll during removal. Go slow and separate as necessary. I cut down the back of the leg and heel and about halfway down the foot. I was able to wiggle the mold off at this point.

Yay! Now that it’s off, try and ease the split back into place. I use tape as a temporary closure until I can go back and cover it with a final layer of paper Cache. You don’t have to, but I just like the clean look.

This last part is totally optional but I like to fill the cavity with some sort of firm support just to ensure the longevity of the cast. My doll forms are stuffed firm with yarn scraps and dryer lint. These though, I wanted something more solid. I’m not familiar with expanding foam nor do I have any on hand but what I DO have is hot glue. In the past I’ve made hot glue gems for some kids out of molds, so I know what I’m working with.

I cut the molds to an even height and started filling from the toe up to the arch. I let it cool in that upright tiptoe position for a bit before placing it flat and adding my little handle and filling it up to the top. I tapped them on the desk a few times while doing this just to make sure the glue settled firmly. I added handles just because, but you don’t have to. I used a cheap dowel.

Depending on what kind of shoes you plan to make (either soft formed or modern shoes with a formed toe) you can build up the toe areas to give yourself that sleek shape that modern shoes have.

Credit to @dollsahoy for adding on the buildup tip!

There you have it. Let the glue harden and admire your work. If you are going to use these to shape damp leather, remember to seal them with a water resistant sealant!

I hope this provides inspiration to someone.

Cheers and happy crafting.

[mttztrading]

With one look, I'll be me!

Nicole Scherzinger and Tom Francis in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway (2024)

📷 @theriddletrades

[sleepytoycollection]

One Way to Repair a Broken Doll Arm

Today I'll be walking you through how I repaired this Ever After High Lizzie Hearts doll's broken arm. While I wouldn't call this a fool-proof method, and I'm not sure that this repair would hold up to being played with, if you've got a beloved doll you want to repair, this should be just fine for a doll that's mostly going to be displayed.

The best part is, this will retain the articulation of the arm and/or knee (this method will technically also work for knee joints, though knees are harder than arms to work with). So let's jump in.

Tools required: Craft Knife, Jewelry pliers, Wire (gauge depends on size of joint), Super Glue, Hot Glue, Patience.

Let's start with our patient.

I thrifted this Lizzie doll a few days ago, along with a Venus McFlytrap, as shown in the above image. As soon as I saw the taped up arm, I knew the joint was broken, but hey, she was like 80c USD. I can apply some elbow grease for that cheap. Plus it gives me an excuse to finally make this tutorial.

They went a little overkill with that much tape, but whatever works?

I cut the tape off carefully with a craft knife. I didn't take a pic of that, but I think you can image what a broken doll arm looks like. Unless you have aphantasia I guess, but that's getting off topic.

First thing I did was use the craft knife to slice along the seam lines, then pried the upper arm open (slowly. seriously go slow.) with a pair of jewelry pliers. It will leave marks on the plastic, but I can buff those out later.

Why am I doing this if the arm's already broken? I want to remove what's left of the peg that's in there. You could also drill it out if you have a dremel, but I wanted to avoid this tutorial needing power tools.

So here's the arm, pried open, with the peg removed.

To close it back up, I used a tiny bit of acetone to melt the plastic at the seams, then held it together until it hardened enough to stay in place. Leave it for a few hours to make sure it's all fully cured, then you can sand the area smooth.

And here's the arm with the broken peg.

So what now? We need to remove the peg piece that's attached to the elbow. I couldn't get a photo of that since it's a delicate process and I only have 2 hands, but here's an artist rendering that would give you the idea.

Take a craft knife, and SLOWLY. CAREFULLY. cut into the ring that surrounds the elbow joint. YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO TOO DEEP, TOO QUICKLY. YOU DO NOT WANT TO ACCIDENTALLY CUT THROUGH THE ELBOW POST. Just go nice and slow. Just chip a little out at a time until you get to the center.

Use pliers as well to pull out the rest of the bits, though you might have to cut a good bit out before you can pull the rest out.

As for my doll, the operation went successfully.

This is what the elbow looks like with the joint peg removed.

Now we've gotten past the hard part, we'll cut off a few inches of wire and string that though the elbow joint. Once through, we'll twist it until it's reasonably tight to the joint. If that makes sense.

It should look like this. Give it a test fit and cut the wire shorter as needed so there's no gap in the joint.

My test fit. Yep, I recycled this for the top photo as well. The blue is just painter's tape.

If you find you can't get it tight enough, and it feels too loose, I'd add a drop a super glue in there. Just keep moving the joint as the glue dries, and it'll add some friction so your arm will hold a pose.

Speaking of glue, I also add a dab of hot glue to the top of our new peg. The coating will add thickness that will help it stay in the upper arm. Tape works too, but hot glue holds up better.

Here's our newly repaired arm back on the doll. Aside from a slight glimmer of silver, the repair is not very obvious I think.

Lizzie can now enjoy having two functional arms again. Whoo-hoo.

While not 100% a beginner repair, it's not particularly difficult either. Just takes some patience and a reasonably steady hand.

Before I go though, some disclaimers/notes: Some wires can rust overtime, so keep an eye on your doll to make sure the wire isn't degrading and discoloring them.

Also, if you do a repair like this, then sell the doll, do let the buyer know. I feel like I shouldn't have to say that, but don't be one of those sellers okay?

This same method can be used for knees, but thighs tend to be made of a harder plastic, and it can be more difficult to pry them open to take the old, broken peg out with out major damage to the upper leg.

Good luck with your repairs! Love y'all. c:

[diddybu]

I love your robots!!! Do you have any advice for drawing those types of characters?

i hope that responds your questions (i didn't know what to say but then had a lot of fun doing this lol)

[oobbbear]

People asking for doll tutorials I see you

I’ll try to document the process next time I make dolls, I zoned out during this one so there’s not enough process pics for me to use :’]

But but I did document the entire process of making Courtney’s horn tho, those things drove me nuts I took so many pictures because I need it next time I make horns like those

They’re hollow on the inside so the head won’t be too heavy for the body, if anyone wants a tutorial of the horn specifically feel free to let me know!

[firespirited]

So the problem with a really felted/tangled glue head is that you need the cif to act on the glue but the cif can't get to the glue until you've conditioned and started to detangle but conditioner won't do a thing until you get the stickiness edge off the glue. Bit of a vicious circle.

You end up alternating a quick cif rub with a conditioning, detangle a bit, repeat.

The cif not fully washed out while the hair is full of conditioner for the full detangling session.

The first cif soak: I really try and get the cif into the scalp then the second one rub the product into where the ponytail was (or below, where the seepage stops), you see there's a second layer of glue+dust.

Apple is a good example as you can see the grey zones against the vibrant gold blonde: the top of her head was grey before we began, then that ponytail area. Then the schmutz starts to move downwards as we condition and hot comb through her hair. First one tine of the comb and manually pulling knots apart sideways, the large tines, then smaller tines. I won't be using the flea comb until she's finished: too much risk of ripping.

I did a small strand first to see if it was worth detangling and degluing her: if the hair is too shredded there's no point.

However, there were several dolls in this bundle that I expected to be too damaged to be saved who turned out to be just super, super tangled from the glue (including non glue-heads exposed to glue in storage).

This is just an outside clean, Apple is now cleaning on the inside and will need a final cif wash + wash out after that.

*reminder: cif is a stand in for any household cleaner with ethoxylated alcohol or phenoxyethanol in it

[imreadydollparts]

If I had the right mindset for making videos this would be a video, but.

I don't.

Anyway.

There are a few little tricks to get from this severely matted mess:

It is worse than it looks. Most of the knot is under that scrunchie.

To this:

All smooth.

But first, you have to get through this:

Doll grade kanekalon hair is very fragile and often if the doll has been roughly handled and her hair has become matted, there is a ton of broken hair stuck in the matts.

I know that this was broken hair and not crumbling hair because the individual strands did not break when tested by giving them a gentle yank. Crumbling hair will break into little bits when you do that.

Sometimes when huge amounts of hair come out like this it's because one plug pulled free and the neighboring plugs are now loose and also pulling free, but this was not the case for Barbie today.

I also know just from experience. I've been doing this for a while. It gets to a point that you just know. You can feel it when it's crumble vs breakage combing out or if it's plugs coming out.

The first trick is using metal combs. It just works better with plastic hair. There is no mold line or seam on a good metal comb.

Second trick is to have the right flat iron.

Both the combs and flat iron are here:

I used the Tervixx, which is the second listing on that post, at 120F. Kanekalon is a low-heat fiber, meaning it will melt rather easily. That Conair can do Kanekalon, too, on setting 1, but the Tervixx is much narrower and that makes it easier to get to the scalp on dolls with shorter hair.

You want the hair to be damp but not dripping wet, lead it with a flea comb (also shown there), and go nice and slow giving the hair time to get hot and pliable while being pulled by the comb, to get the best results.

With a lot of breakage, you'll end up with something like this:

It's going to look rough. There are a lot of ends. To get rid of that rough appearance, you hold the section of hair tightly near the longest ends, then gently push the shorter hairs back toward the scalp with the other hand. You're not trying to tease the hair, just push surface hairs that are short toward the scalp. This part I'd like to record so you can see how gently it's meant to be done but can't brain making videos and working at the same time.

Then, keeping the longer hairs pulled back tightly, carefully snip those short hairs as close to the scalp as you can get with sharp, tiny scissors while being careful not to cut the long hairs. I use cuticle scissors.

Or you can pluck them right at the scalp with good tweezers.

And you'll end up with this:

So the tricks are hairline trimming. metal toothed combs, and a good, variable temp flat iron.

I haven't fixed her bangs, yet, so don't look too closely at them.

[wtfrepaints]

So I'm gonna make a list of people who are pretty good resources on learning new things for taking care of and customizing dolls here. Please feel free to send me recommendations.

Great glue seepage infographic made by MisfitDollies on here! It includes a tutorial on taking care of it with goo gone specifically but I have been hearing people are getting better results with oxyclean lately.

Doll hair care/styling/rerooting:

Peace love and plastic

PLANET HIMM

ZombiexCorn

Rodney Rainbow

Draculijah

Minor alterations and crafting:

My Froggy Stuff

Delightful Dolls

Adult Doll Collector

Repainting and Full Alterations:

Of Crafts and Curios

Dollightful

Poppen Atelier

hisnameisAkin

[tanuki-kimono]

Adorable papercraft/pepakura kimono made for Sylvanian Families (Calico Critters) figurines. Patterned origami paper is cut to form 3 different pieces (top, bottom, collar). You’ll find the measurements and step by step on OP’s website (example below is found here):

[final-residents]

PART 3

since tiktok is ending I needed to make this video well. picture slide for both here and my other social medias. this can be used for the DIY kids or finish dolls that need to be restrung. if there's a better way to do it then you can use that option. but this is how do mine. I'm still selling these dolls. the one in the picture is my personal print. it's a little smaller than the order prints.

thank yoU so mUch for those who have supported me on this app. and thank you for anybody who has purchased anything from me.

To orders you own or other items check out my shop