Thanks for all the information and comments on my dolls and ALL the other dolls shown this week. It has been really fun for me to see all the different ones and I even found out about my Zwilling-Fox doll. I didn’t have a clue who she was… she’s not terribly valuable, but she’s sentimental to me.
As far as why my mom didn’t wash my doll dress after my kitty “messed” on her lap, she may have tried, or it may have just been too much of a mess to try. As I recall, her dress was like a sheer baby pink with lots of lace on it, so it may have just stained it beyond repair. I never really thought about making her another dress… hmmm…
Okay, want to see what I’ve accomplished 2 days ago? I had to have my hubby’s help with some of it…
Remember my Wellie Wishers doll, Kendall?
Well, the other day I was at a thrift store here in town and I spotted another Wellie Wisher, Emerson. BUT… she had some strange looking eyes… my hubby called her creepy!
Her brown eyes had faded to a “lovely” pink color and she looked a bit possessed to me… even though she was cute.
Here they are together…
W-E-L-L…. I wondered what it would be like if I did an eye swap and gave Emerson Kendall’s brown eyes? I didn’t want to spend anymore money on her if I could use Kendall’s eyes to try it out. I had never done and eye swap before, so I looked for a Youtube video… It’s just about 2 minutes long and I thought I could try this… it looked pretty easy.
Eye swap for Wellie Wishers dolls
I got some zip lock bags ready and heated up some boiling water on the stove…
My hubby held them for the 2-3 minutes… and we tried to get them out, but the head was still too stiff… so I heated up the water and tried again… this time putting Emerson in a bowl and propping her up on the stove… and putting Kendall into the hot water right in the pan (but not touching the bottom of her head to the bottom of the pan).
The pink eyes of Emerson popped out pretty easily after I let them sit in the water for 4-5 minutes, not the 2-3 mentioned in the video.
After one more try I got the brown eyes out… after watching the video, I realized my zip lock bags were probably TOO thick to get the vinyl hot enough… so if you try this, just use the baggies like shown in the video… like a sandwich baggie. The faces do get really squishy.
Now a tip on putting the new eyes back in… push them in with the point going to the nose first… not the outside edge in first. It made all the difference doing it that way… It’s not hard, just a bit tricky. There is no adjusting of the eyes, there is a little pocket they sit in and will only go in one way… no straightening up at all.
So here is Kendall with no eyes and Emerson with her new brown eyes.
I decided she was a bit pale so I got out my oil pastels and blushed her cheeks… then I decided to give her some lower lashes with a water color pencil. I added a little color around her nostrils and outside of her nose, and then added some lines to give her lips some contrast.
I think she looks really cute now… and it didn’t cost me anything other than buying her. I trimmed her bangs a tiny bit and straightened up the one side that seemed longer… I loosely braided her hair instead of the pony tails.
Now I need to find another pair of eyes for Kendall, so she can see what’s going on… :o)
Well, that’s my dolly post. I actually DID something with my dolls. It was fun, and I’d definitely try it again.
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Emerson certainly looks cute with her new eyes, but poor Kendall!! Now she has to be “blind” for a while! Are you hoping to find some other brown eyes for her, or will you try another color? (You are right, those pink eyes definitely looked creepy!!)
You sure are a brave one, Jeanne! This is something I have never tried and probably never will! I never really wanted to change anythng on my dolls, but then, of course, I never had a doll with eyes like Emerson’s”before” picture!
My Emmy is bursting with pride when she sees “herself” featured in your blog today—except for that first picture of her, not to mention what she must have been thinking when she saw “herself” in a pot of hot water on the stove! But she turned out exactly like the cutie she is! I may even try braiding her hair like you did!
And now what for poor Kendall? If you get another damaged doll for her eyes to fix Kendall, then you have another poor doll to fix up! It might never end!!
Great job, Jeanne! Emmy looks better, of course because she got new eyes but you did a wonderful job on enhancing her facial color. It makes all the difference!
All of your tips are so good to know. I am considering doing some eyes on dolls here in the future. We’ll see if I can get up the courage. But, I’ll need to get some replacement eyes the right color first. Also, on dolls with applied eyelashes, they need to be removed first before the operation and then glued back on afterwards. Your coloring updates look great. Will you be spraying the face with whatever is used to make it permanent? Otherwise, it could rub off I think. Thanks so much for sharing this.
I had a very successful delivery of my latest RRFF girl recently. It wasn’t anything special, so I haven’t mentioned it, so this is for Dorothy. 🙂 I was out in the backyard doing some more bush trimming. Finally, got other person out there as well to use the saw. As I was cutting up pieces to fit in the yard can, I thought I heard a truck way out in front of the house. Then, I remembered that I had a package out for delivery! Humm. Hadn’t had a Fedex delivery in awhile, so the schedule was vague. I told other person that I would be right back as I needed a tissue. The stuff we were cutting was very messy. Clomped across the yard, up the steps to the brick walkway, continued on the path and up the steps to the lower deck, across the deck and up the last steps to the upper deck. I continued in the slider door and across the living room to the front door. Opened the door and there was my package on the mat all wrapped in it’s bright white easily identifiable plastic bag. Grabbed it. Brought it inside and deposited it in that secret location. Then, back outside and retraced all of my steps back to the awaiting garbage can and started in clipping once again. Other person had no idea. 🙂 I was lucky! Poor thing is still in her box as I have not had any free time to dislodge her from her trappings. Soon, I hope. 🙂
Dear Joy, thank you for brightening my day with the “report” on your latest caper. You definitely made me smile. I hope you remembered to return to your task with a tissue and make a big deal of blowing your nose (laugh).
You know, employers are looking for workers nowadays. There are signs everywhere. I bet the CIA is hiring. We Sofa Sisters would, for sure, write you letters of recommendation. Just saying (laugh).
I think you were brave to try the eye swap and it turned out so well. Her hair looks cuter in braids too. I have wrapped vinyl dolls in a heating pad and left them for an hour or so… they do get nice and pliable so arms, legs, heads can be removed and replaced easily. Some of the porcelain dolls made in the 80’s and 90’s get the pink eye syndrome too. I used the very very fine line Sharpie to outline with color…. then fill in the center with black. It worked really well.
Good to get back to working on dolls🤗
Joy you had pretty simple doll retrieval this time😉 Does other person ever see your dolls or hiding spot? I’m sure he has at least as many tools as you do dolls!
It was so Smokey we didn’t go outside yesterday.. today is much better😉Can’t imagine how bad it is in Canada😲😳
Sorry about your smoke. Definitely should wear a mask if outdoors. When we had our first big fire here in 2017, finding a mask was difficult. Now, everyone wears them to protect from Covid or weather as we recently had smoke blowing down as well.
And other person hasn’t found the hiding spot, yet. You’re right about the tools. And we’ve been living with a generator sitting in the living room for months now. In November, when fire season may be over, it’s going to the garage. 🙂
Dear Jeanne, I have seen this technique done on YouTube videos. I always think about the poor, poor dolls (laugh).
I have a Mary Hoyer doll who developed blue eyes. I mean vivid, almost unnatural blue eyes. They make me think of the song lyrics, “don’t it make your brown eyes blue?” I don’t think there is a way to remove her eyes so we (she and I) will just live with it.