Angora Lee Preview

I have only about a row and a half to go. The closer I get to finishing, the longer it seems to be taking, But I plan on finishing by the weekend at least.  And you know what? I would definitely do this again. I really like the way it's turning out a lot. And I think next time I will use the mohair more sparingly then  did this time. I think I could have had a lot more left over if I hadn't stared off with such thick plugs. Even thin plug, once they dry are nice and fluffy and all together they make nice thick tufts of full rows of hair.

I haven't decided what to do with Angora's lips but I want them to be simple, sweet and magical. I will be looking at the customs and reaching out with questions as to the best medium to use for lip painting. And yes, when she is done, I will be selling her. I need to support my habit people.

Licca Brown!!!!

It worked!!  I could kind of tell just from the smoothness of the original unpainted texture that it might take the paint successfully. What I have noticed so far, is that of the legs of the body are already sticky, such as the Takaras normally are, chances are the spray finish is going to be sticky as well. I guess it also helps that I sanded this one as much as I could to prep it. I also washed  it with soap and water and let it dry first as instructed by Jaszmades site.  So I'm a little hopeful now, that second Licca body may work out as well although the legs on that one are more of a velvety smooth texture. I noticed that one of them says China on the back and the other says Japan. Perhaps the manufacturing is different because of this. The other one is a whiter body. The one above was more pinkish.

 Originally, I wanted this body to go to Angora Lee, the Black Blythe with the gold lids and mohair re-root that I plan on selling but there are a few little flaws in the body you can't see from this picture; lightness in the upper right shoulder, a small nick in the lower torso, nothing really noticeable and nothing I can't touch up but I don't know, I might feel weird putting it on the market. I may give this one to Neige whose Takara body is just a wreck. I'll have to see how the second Licca body custom goes this weekend. The re-root is coming along by the way. But the closer I get to finishing, the slower I seem to be moving. I'm trying to stretch the mohair I have left by using smaller sets of plugs which seems to be working. I also feel like I'm really getting a feel for the rhythm of the way a scalp re-root is supposed  to be done. 

I have suffered some minor damage doing this, but damage nonetheless. In the beginning, I was stabbing the heck out of my left index finger with the crotchet needle whenever I would pass it through the inside of each hole to pick up a hair plug. I was literally gouging out a crater in my finger for a few weeks. And the index finger on my right hand suffered burns from dragging the needle on it while pushing the head through the holes on the inside of the scalp. Now though, I've developed a nice and easy system where I can find the holes and push through slowly without piercing my finger every time and still keep up a nice flowing pace. At this point, I've probably built up protective callouses anyway. LOL!!  I cannot wait for it to be over. I just wanna see how it will look already! It's so much hair!

The Girl, The Hair...

Both arrived today finally!! They were on the desk when I came back to work from lunch. It was hard for me to jump up and down about it since I've just grown mentally exhausted from waiting but I was glad that she finally got here. The mohair I knew would be here quickly. The seller is really nice, straight forward, and does business up front. I got a confirmation when it was shipped and knew it would get here immediately. And let me tell you, it is unbelievably soft! Like nothing you've ever felt. If I get this re-root done successfully, I will spend most of my time with my face buried in a dolls hair! That is before I ship her off to be sold, if I can do that! I get attached!

Anyway, to the left is our new "Factory Girl." How can I describe a "Factory" Blythe? As I understand it, and I'm just learning about this myself, she's a bit like a mutt, composed of different bits of Blythes, eye chips, scalps, makeup whose origin you don't really know and then sold off. All I know is they're relatively cheap and suit my purposes perfectly. On flickr, it's fun to see collectors recieve their "Factory Girls' because even if you've seen her picture, you sometimes still never really know what you're gonna get. Sometimes it's surprisingly great. Sometimes not. I have my eye on like two more but let's not get into that madness now. I have such a hard time focusing on what's right in front of me! Jeez.

I'm in the middle of arranging a scalp swap for Neige, a dark haired RBL scalp for her Simply Mango scalp. I love the SM scalp, think it's fun and all but I'm not married to it. I won't miss it that much. Anyway, we'll see how that goes.

Sanding and spraying this lovely weekend. Wish me luck!

Wild Spirit

"Wild Spirit" mohair is a fiber specially selected for the OOAK artisan who wants to bring a little more drama and personality to their creations. This fiber has a slightly more fly-away, wispier texture than regular mohair but it is not frizzy or coarse. It is also perfect for African-American and bi-racial hair textures."

This is a description given by one of my favorite mohair sellers on etsy because yes, I am considering getting a custom made scalp for Neige and that's big bucks. Back to the description though.

Several words jumped out at me while sitting here in my living room reading this. "Wild," "Dramatic," "African American and bi-racial." Wow. I guess this is equivalent to how kinkier hair would be described if it were sold to the larger fake hair market except that there is no market among most women who where fake hair for this type of texture. It's kind of a trip thinking about it. I live for this mohair for a Black Blythe doll though. I just know it would be perfect and it's just what I want. So occasionally I just got to the site and stare at it. I may have to stop staring soon.

To weft or not to weft

A look I was considering for Reya from the Marshmallow Factory on Etsy.

So I just bought a new Takara Licca body for Reya, which I bid for to the death on ebay last night. I have to be really careful spraying this one because I will not be buying another.

But while I wait for that to arrive I'm now contemplating hair possibilities for Reya. I actually just bought a fine crotchet hook this week for re-rooting thinking I might just buy some human hair and re-root Reya's old scalp myself. That would take some time but it might look nicer if I do it myself. Also, since all the holes will already be there I would just follow that pattern. Another alternative would be to get someone else to do it for me. The Marshmallow Factory on etsy does full service mohair re-rooting for a price, but they only use Mohair and I worry that Mohair may not be very washable or might change in texture when wet. I inquired about it and I'm still waiting to hear back. So now I need to look at some DIY doll scalp re-root tutorials.