I decided early on that I wanted to either do a punk or gothic doll or something edgy like rocker, and one of the ways I thought I would do this - and a technique I'm not seeing on customized dolls - is tattooing. Fortunately, I have a teen who has a large and impressive collection of temporary tattoos, so I looked through them and pulled out a bunch that inspired me. I tested tattoo on the Barbie "aka guinea pig" and then began to layer then on Blythe, choosing arrangements that I thought were fun and "lifelike." Eden have never missed a season of LA Link, so I was pretty inspired by "what would Kat von D do"....
Tips for this - look for tattoos that are small scale or ones that you can cut up into smaller images. Layer to make it look like chest and sleeve collections. Because Blythe's legs are rubbery, the tattoo process can get sticky and annoying, so once I was done with the leg, I coated it with clear gloss. When I was done with the body, I also coated with gloss - dried and coated again - this ensures the tats won't come up when dressing or peel off- but there is no guarantee with lots of use - unless you enamel something on plastic, it's never permanent. Thus, you can chip it off later, but after I was done with her makeover, I dressed and re-dressed her several times, and I handled her torso and neck during the re-assembly and there were no peeling, chip or sticky issues.
The next thing I decided to commit to was piercings - I've seen the fake Blythe piercings - stickers like gems or o-rings that are crimped to look like bull-ring nose piercings, but I wanted "real" piercings. So, again, using the Barbie's plastic torso, I tested drilling with a small drill bit to see if the plastic in Blythe's face would shatter. Barbie's did not, so I gave it a whirl - ears first, then the eyebrow, then the nostril and side of the nose.
Next, I decided to install highlights. The process I use can also be use for an entire reroot but I love Guava's hair - and I love pink, so I just wanted to do add some highlights. I bought high-quality synthetic Japanese hair from the local beauty salon. They have other colors, too. The smallest quantity will be enough for a whole head reroot of another doll, too. Take out the hair and cut off a few narrow skiens. Thread a darning needle and pierce into the doll's scalp, following the follicle holes that are already there, for the most natural look. You will have to eyeball how many highlights you want. Knot underneath. You may have to use pliers to pull the darning needle through the rubber scalp.
From here, you can give your doll a haircut. Put a headband or a scrunchie over her head, like a blindfold to mat all of the hair down for an eye "bob" cut or freehand it. From there, in order make the new black hair lay down with the pink hair, I boiled a cup of water and poured it over the head. This will make the hair flatten, then dry the hair on the COLD setting. Do not use a hot hair dryer - synethic/saran hair will melt. Style as you want, cut stray hairs, etc.
Finally, I did the eyelash installation. You can use any kind - I had some from Halloween that were perfect for my theme. Cut to the right size and press into the eyelash hole line - fortify with a little clear glue.
Then, put the doll back together. I made a few other modification:
A bit of internal eye filing to compensation for the height of the glitter on the eyelids.
A pull string to make a sleepy eye - you can Google this for a tutorial.
Adding the earrings/piercings.
I also had to trim the scalp tags to fit it back into the slots on the head.
So here you go:
I will take better pics in natural light, but it was late when I finished tonight, so the best I could do was to get Guava to her job as bartender in our doll townhouse :)
Other pics I'll have later on are the new eye installs (I have the eyes ordered but they are not yet here), changing the pullrings and adding extra eyeliner.
