CUSTOM: Rosie O’Donnell Update and Michelle Rounds

Michelle Rounds and Rosie O'Donnell

Leah’s barbieland is all about reflecting the diversity of the real world.

I’ve wanted to include LGBT characters for a long time now but was having trouble deciding how to go about choosing a doll or dolls to send the clear message about L, G, B or T.

Would I start with two gay guys? That would have been the easiest because I could just choose two effeminate Kens (stereotyping of course). For whatever reason though, starting with the guys didn’t feel right.

Leah's Barbieland Michelle and Rosie

I gave it a lot of thought and decided finally that adding a married lesbian couple, and have them raising their children, was ideal.

Back in 1999, Mattel had released its one and only plus-sized doll. That doll was “Rosie O’Donnell – Friend of Barbie”. And because she was plus-sized, I had to have her. It was a given that I would purchase her, lesbian or not.

I’ve had Rosie in Leah’s Barbieland almost since I got started building it a year and a half ago. Whenever I put Rosie in one of Leah’s scenarios, I knew she was a lesbian.

Leah didn’t know because all we ever had Rosie doing was buying a pet at the Petshop or eating at the bakery. Lesbians don’t buy pets in a particularly lesbian-ish way. They don’t buy bakery goods in a lesbian-ish manner. So Leah had no reason to know she was a lesbian.

So much like life, right?

Rosie Doll was going to be a lesbian doll whether she was out about it or not, so she was the obvious choice to be part of my married lesbian couple. There was a problem though– the last thing I’d heard about her personal life was that she was divorcing Kelli Carpenter. This was a bit of a problem for me because I felt the best way to have a lesbian couple in barbieland was to give them an analog in human scale. Kinda like we do with POTUS and FLOTUS.

Imagine my delight at hearing recently that she is engaged to be married!!

I’m glad that she’s found love and happiness but I am even more happy for myself! This means I can make her part of a married couple in Leah’s barbieland. Her doll wife will be Michelle Doll.

This post then, is about the steps  I took to make my lesbian couple, Rosie and Michelle, and integrate them into Leah’s barbieland.

Rosie's outfit from 1999

I started with Rosie Doll’s clothes.  She only has one outfit and it’s pretty dated because its a decade old.

I’ve been resisting having to sew entire outfits but I was seriously considering sewing her an outfit until I realized I could just dye her original outfit black.

I could also change the neckline of the shirt. The original neckline resembles a mock turtlneck. No good.

Rosie Dolls clothes after dying and drying

I used a bottle of Black Rit Dye and dyed outfit the for about 15 minutes in a small pot on the stove.

Next, I poured vinegar on the clothes (someone told me vinegar sets the dye) and after letting it soak in that for about 15 more minutes, I rinsed the pieces in warm water.

I didn’t want to wait for them to dry overnight so I used a blowdryer to dry them.

The stitching retained it’s red color so I used a Sharpie marker to color over the thread.

I also needed to change Rosie’s lipstick. I looked at recent pictures of her and indeed, she’d chosen to tone down her color considerably since 1999 (haven’t we all?).

Original face. Loud lipstick. Forced smile?

I used a chocolate brown Sharpie to color over her lipstick. Since it was hard for me to get the underside of her top lip without coloring a little of her teeth, I ended up making her lips slightly fuller and her smile a little less toothy.

This picture shows both the revised makeup and the stitch I used on the new neckline.

I would have preferred to give her a much less bold lipstick, something way toned down, but I’m still not really feeling capable of a repaint so she’ll have to live with dark lipstick for now.

Now it was time to change the neckline on her shirt. I cut out a small scoop. It’s important to go small first, because you can always go bigger but not vice-versa (duh). Then I put the pantsuit onto Rosie Doll to check the neckline.

It looked good so I decided to finish the edge while it was on her. I started with a straight stitch and then went back over it with an overcast stitch.  It’s not perfect but it will do just fine.

Next it was time to make Michelle Rounds. I bought my first Star Doll – the red-head, just so she could become Michelle. The hair is much darker red than Human Michelle’s, but the facial structure is similar and the doll face is really beautiful. Recently in the news, Rosie compared Michelle to a Barbie, but I think she got it wrong – Michelle is clearly this  Star Doll.

A doll from the new Star Doll line by Mattel

I like the Star Doll faces, but I don’t like their bodies. Don’t get me wrong – they are stunning bodies – but i don’t need my five-year-old to be stunned. I want her to have a doll that looks at least a little more like women of the real world.So, of course, Michelle Doll got rebodied with a LIV body.

Those bodies have much smaller boobs and more realistic boob to waist ratios. Their hips aren’t very womanly but they are actually marketed as Teens so I give the manufacturer a pass on the hips. Plus, of course, LIV bodies are articulated so the dolls can actually have a life.

Articulated LIV bodies don’t just strike a pose and stand stiff for the rest of their lives. (Star Dolls can’t even sit down!!).

So Michelle got a LIV body and she was close to ready. But I looked at the length of her hair compared to the human Michelle. Of course, the length of hair on the doll was, as always, impractical.

Who wears their hair this length? Not many. Even if you go to a mall frequented by Trophy Wives, you won't see waist-length hair!

I chopped Michelle Doll’s hair to just below the shoulders. I could have curled the hair, like Human Michelle’s in my guide photo, but I’m not an OOAK artist, I’m just trying to make lesbian couple in less than two hours.

I put Michelle Doll in a Barbie Basics 1.0 Little Black Dress and called her complete.

I also trimmed Rosie Doll’s hair a little, giving her more layers around the face but my method was too random to offer anything like a tutorial for creating said layers.

Now it was time to introduce the couple to Leah. She already knows what it means to be lesbian or gay so I didn’t have to cover that ground.  I called her over to my laptop where I showed the picture of Rosie and Michelle, both wearing all black, at an event (see above) and explained to Leah that they are real people and they are married. I told her that Rosie has children already. She doesn’t realize yet that she might someday question how two women make a baby so that part went smoothly.

Then we went from the kitchen, where I’d been dyeing cloths and swapping body parts, into her room to play.

A few months ago, Leah’s cognitive abilities reached a point where she became able to describe a rough outline of what she wants to have happen in a play scenario before we start playing. I asked her for the outline and through some additional questioning on my part we came up with the scenario that two married couples with children had just moved in across the street from each other and they needed to meet. We agreed that after the introductions there would be a birthday party for one of the kids.

I put together my family and she put together hers.

Then it happened – the moment when we had to deal with freakish nature of one of the married couples.

When Leah’s family arrived at my family’s house, I learned that her family was made up of a human father, a mermaid mother, a superhero son and a rock-star daughter.

You can see Leah is gripping the mermaid's hand because we always have the dolls shake hands when they meet

Turns out Rosie and Michelle’s family were a bunch of boring normals. I know this sounds like a contrived punchline – but it really happened exactly this way.

The Mermaid Mom thing was just too good to let pass so I begged Leah to let me get my camera and take a picture. She didn’t want to (she never does) but she let me this time and it is priceless.

CUSTOM: Give your Doll Natty Locs in 20 minutes

I have posted several times before about giving a doll Locs or Dreadlocks – or whatever your preferred term might be.

Corset Kitten’s Loc’ing technique has a great organic look and feel but but might be too intensive for some, and may not hold up in the hands of a five-year-old.

Ms. Loanne Hizo Ostlie’s work is beautiful but might be out the price range for most people.

I kept pondering though- hoping to devise a way of creating the locs without re-rooting, that would be cheap, easy and durable.

I had been thinking about Locs for months when the idea hit me to try using a common household iron.

I played around with different settings on my iron. The Silk setting worked but the hair didn’t melt quite enough to lock in the Loc and I had to stay on a single loc a long time.

The Wool setting did the trick but if you linger too long, you can melt right through and the hair comes off the head. The hair doesn’t stick to my iron or board, only melts to itself it seems.

If you try this method, please share your sucesses as well as your frustrations, lessons and tips.

So In Style Grace after her hair has been Loc'd

CUSTOM: The making of Michelle Obama

So I bought the Obama True-Type Action figure. And since I spent way too much money on him, I felt it was important for us to work him into our play scenarios. To do that, I felt I needed a Michelle Obama.

MO- an inspiring First Lady for sure!! And not just because she is so beautiful.

So I set out to create one.

I started with  Barbie Basics 1.0, Model #10. She was a nice match for Michelle’s beautiful skintone.  But Model #10 would need a haircut and re-style.

Promo shot of Barbie Basics 1.0 Model #10

Original Eye Makeup on the Barbie Basics 1.0 Model #10

She would need her makeup toned down and she would need those weird gray eyes made a proper, beautiful, Ebony.

In order to tone down her make-up I started with Non-Acetone nail polish remover and a small paintbrush (not small enough actually, I just couldn’t find one smaller at that time).

Non-Acetone Polish Remover Pad and Paintbrush

I used the polish remover to “paint” the glitter off her eyes.

The polish remover actually did a great job of softening the paint decals (I think Mattel actually lays down decals instead of paint) and I was able then to scrap off the outer eye-lashes with a kitchen knife.

My handiwork is actually quite poor now that I see it enlarged. You can see I went astray with my red marker. I didn't quite fill in the iris and I didn't scrape the outer eye area as cleanly as I imagined. No matter, it looks fine from a distance.

I also colored over her green eye-shadow with a red pen, giving the lid a copper color instead. I then used a black marker to fill in her iris. I tried to preserve the white dot, because it gives the eye a certain depth.

This was another case of me not having the best possible tools. I should have used magnifying goggles- because my work would have been much more precise. One reason I didn’t do this is because I get a lot of people saying that my blog is obsessive and hardcore so I don’t want people to feel they have to invest too much money in order to make Michelle happen.

Frankly, what shows up as flaws in this extreme closeup don’t register when using the doll for play.

So the next step was to style her hair. I wanted to give her a better trim (initially I just chopped her hair off with little precision). I put a silicone hair band over her head and arranged the hair around her face the way I wanted it.

Place the rubber or silicone band on the head.

Once the silicone band was in place I was able to cut her bob much more precisely. Then, I boiled some water in the microwave. I poured the boiling water over her forehead ONLY.

She was prone over the sink and I hit only her upper head, the portion above the band, with the water. This will ensure that her hair lays down around her face. If you dowse the whole head, the place with the silicone band will end up with a dent in it. So you must not wet the area of the silicone band.

Next I let her hair air-dry.  Later I will style it using q-tips dipped in boiling water. I use the Q-tip to paint the hair into compliance. It works okay but it’s not great. Someday I am going to try using Gum Arabic.  I am going to follow the tips of FashionDollFoto on using Gum Arabic to style doll hair.

Be sure to get DARK Alexis if you want to use her body for your Michelle.

After Michelle’s hair is dry, I have to (want to) rebody her on a Liv Alexis body. Liv Alexis can’t decide whether she is Mexican or Black (that’s a joke, albeit not a very good one). In order to make Michelle you will want dark Alexis not light Alexis.

If you have never re-bodied a doll before, be sure to check out the post on this blog with instructions for the re-body process. We rebodied Michelle for the usual reason of wanting her to be fully poseable but we chose a Liv Body so that she would be the right height for Obama’s Action Figure body.

Action Figures are notorious for being too short for barbies. An excellent post on the Stinker’s Stuff website will tell you what you need to know about Action Figures.

So the Obama's are among the shortest people in our barbieland - but at least they look good together.

You can see from this photo that Michelle and Barack are a much better height match once she is on a LIV body. It bugs me a bit that two people we know to be tall in real life end up being short in barbieland, but I can get over it, I guess.

In the end, what I have are my favorite First Couple of all time and height issues aside, Leah and I are ready to use them play scenarios as the loving couple they are!!

POTUS + FLOTUS = Love 4 Ever

CUSTOM: Larger bodied Grace

Two Mattel heads on larger, more "realistic" bodies.(R) Grace on a True Type body.

Want to add more body-type diversity to your barbieworld? I recently re-bodied a Grace head onto a Hot Toys True Type 12 Cuban Female body. These dolls are pretty pricey on eBay.  But for me, the option of having a fully-articulated, larger-bodied Grace was worth the money.

I began with a cheap Grace – $7 at KMart and a True-Type Cuban. As well as Grace on her original body that I was keeping close by for comparisons.

True-Type by Hot Toys tends to be carried by Hobby Shops. They have a level of articulation that barbie players never really even dream of having.

They also often come with interchangable hands and feet.

This Cuban is possibly expected to look like Eva Mendes. True-Type makes doll heads that look like famous people but does not include the famous person’s name in marketing for obvious reasons.

We also bought an Obama True-Type and he’s pretty cool.

Head and Neck joint are very different than barbie head and neck.

I removed the head and studied the neck joint and finally decided that I would be best served by destroying the Cuban True-Type head and re-using the neck socket inside the head.

I cut away the head in pieces and checked the head piece to make sure it would remain stable if I used it within Grace’s original head.Neck rubber rolled down while I check the neck joint within the head neck socket.

Neck rubber rolled down while I check the neck joint within the head neck socket.

I removed Grace’s head from her original body - preserving her body to sell for a few bucks on eBay.

Then I put glue into her head to secure the neck joint and put that inside the head.

I probably didn’t even need to glue it. Grace’s original rubber neck hold might have held it just fine without the glue.

A lot of Action Figure class women’s bodies have ERECT nipples. The True Type body I used actually has a rubber upperbody sleeve that makes the nipples and belly even more realistic. The nipples are so stiff and prominent that there is no barbie bra or shirt in the world that can tame them. Either Grace was going to be cold all the time, or sexually aroused, or she needed some help toning down her erections. I chose option 3.

Relieved of one of her very realistic nipples.

I found the sight of the nipples unnerving. Since the doll will be used in a 5 year old’s toy collection, I decided to remove them. I used cuticle nippers to cut off the nipples and then I used an emery board to file away some of the uneven “skin” left behind.

It was now time to put the Grace head onto the True Type body. I was thrilled with how she looked.

I have included a number of comparison pictures that show Grace on the original Belly-button body next to the re-bodied True Type Grace. I have also included shots of Grace original and Grace re-bodied alongside other larger bodied dolls including: Get Real Girl body, Rosie O’Donnell Friend of Barbie, Happy Family Grandma.

Get Real Girl, Grace head on True Type body, Rosie, Grandma, Grace

CUSTOM: At long last…LOCS

Corset Kitten’s finished work.

FYI – it is not currently in vogue to call so-called dreadlocks by that term anymore. They are now referred to as “Locks.” The “why” should be obvious. I am not the originator of the change in terms, but being a believer in the Whorf Hypothesis, I do abide.

Several months ago I posted about an OOAK Artist who creates Lock styles. Her work is amazing. But I can’t really afford her stuff. I exchanged a few emails with her but ultimately decided that I needed to overcome my fear of re-rooting and learn to make my own locks.

I made my own re-rooting tool and did a few test plugs…I was proud of myself for taking that step.

Help with needle sizes and what your needle should look like after you snip it. Stick this into a pencil eraser and you are ready to re-root.

I scoured the internet for help. I experimented A LOT. Nothing I tried seemed to really work.

Today I was on Anika McKay’s Dollz4Moi blog and after catching up there I went to the list of blogs she follows and found a blog called Vita Plastica which had some great stuff including a reference to a site called Corset Kitten’s Workshop.

Corset Kitten had a tutorial for doll sanding – which was pretty “out there.”

I say “out there” because when you become an Adult-Barbie Enthusiast (as I did about a year ago) you quickly learn about rebodies, boil perms, re-roots and repaints…but I’d never heard of body sanding until today.

Corset Kitten intrigued me with this “sanding” thing so I started looking around her site some more.

LO and BEHOLD, I found Corset Kitten’s Quick Tutorial for LOCKS!!!!!

You know what’s crazy? She posted the tutorial TODAY!

I actually found her tutorial on the very day she posted it. How could I be this lucky? I decided it must be some sort of Adult-Barbie-Enthusiast Karma I had stored up.

Corset Kitten suggests that you put on some music while you “lock” so I have provided the most cliché song possible. Then again, don’t confuse my admission that it is a cliché for an apology. I can’t apologize because the song has such a catchy tune and one of the best messages EVER.

…you know the words so don’t hesitate to sing along!

CUSTOM: Rotini or Halo Hair

Baby I can see your Halo

This doll does not have an ”Afro.”

People who were part of the Black Pride movement of the 1960′s  also took pride in wearing their hair natural instead of using straightening combs or chemical relaxers. Their pride in African culture was an Afro-centric view. The way they wore their hair was soon dubbed an “Afro.”

Fifty years later people often shorten the word and say [ 'fro ]

It is sometimes thought of as a comical word. I have decided to start calling it a Halo instead. Why? Because the Whorf Hypothesis says that thought follows language and I love this hair so I want to give it a name that isn’t about a particular political view (not that Black Pride isn’t great) but is instead about it’s beauty and power. It is a hairstyle that to me looks angelic and powerful yet gentle.

So, blah, blah, blah.

This post is actually a tutorial for creating Halo or Rotini hairstyles for your barbies.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• A doll
• End papers (Sold at Beauty Supply shops)
• Pipe Cleaners
• Scissors
• Pot full of boiling water

Note about end papers – if you start with a doll that has long hair and you plan to make style similar to the style shown here, you will not have to have end papers, they are optional. But if you start with doll that has shorter hair and don’t plan to cut it any further then end papers will be essential.

1. Cut pipe cleaners into two inche pieces and bend each one in half. They will look like little “V” shapes.
2. Section off a peice of hair and twist it into a tight spiral.
3. Wrap the spiral in an end paper (optional)
4. Place a pipecleaner onto the scalp and pull the twisted section into the crook of the pipecleaner.

5. When you finish each section twist the pipecleaner to lock the hair onto it.

Fully wrapped head

6. Once you have all the sections in pipecleaners, dip the head in boiling water for the count of ten.

7. Wait for the head to cool – usually a few hours, but overnight is best.

8. Take the pipecleaners out.

9. If you have length to spare, trim each curl to get rid of straight ends or strays.

If you want ROTINI style, don’t ever comb the curls out. If you want a HALO, brush vigorously and shape with your palms.  For a HALO, be sure to bring some of the hair down over the forehead and then shape it back up underneath.

Rotini Hair

Oh, and be sure to play this song while you wrap the hairs:

 

 

CUSTOM: How we re-body dolls

I have read various “how to rebody” tutorials online and their re-body-ing efforts are explained in various ways. Those ways are not wrong, but over time I have created my own method using tips from various other tutorials, as well as the experiences I’ve had.

If you don’t understand WHY we re-body dolls, check out this post.

1) First, I wrap the hair of any head I want to preserve (sometimes I only care about one of the two heads) using paper towels and rubber bands.

2) Next, I use a blowdryer to heat the underside of the neck joint. Point the blowdryer at the rubber jawline of the head you want to remove.  I have the blowdryer turned on for about the count of ten. Longer is okay too.

3) Pinch the head and pull upward. The head will come up about a quarter of an inch until the neck prong snags on the lip of the neck.

4) Finally, I use a small screwdriver (the ones found in eyeglass repair kits work well) to move the neck hole over one of the prongs. Once you have one prong below the neck hole, the head will come off easily.

TIPS:

• The worst thing that can happen is if you break the neck prong off of the ball joint in the neck socket. This makes the good body unusable. This is not so bad if you do it the “bad” body because if that body was good you probably wouldn’t be bothering to remove the head.

• If you don’t care anything about the head on the good body I recommend just using clippers to cut the neck open instead. That way you don’t risk weakening the neck ball joint on the good body.

If you don't plan to keep a head, just clip into the neckline to remove the head.

• Some people recommend clipping the prongs off the neck piece/ball joint while it is still inside the head. That is another good idea, especially if you don’t quite understand or can’t seem to accomplish step 4 above where we torque the prong out of the neck hole.

This is a cross-section of a head with the neck prong seated within it. This should give a first-timer a good sense of what they are working with.

CUSTOM: Why we re-body dolls

The post is about WHY we rebody dolls, if you are looking for a post about HOW we rebody dolls, we have that information in a different post.

I remember, in 1978, being frustrated by barbie arms that did not bend to my will.  Legs that made the clicking sound and bent only about 15 degrees.

There have been some barbie bodies however, over the years, and currently – that have much more moveable joints,   Adult barbie enthusiasts refer to these dolls as “articulated”. As of this writing, in 2011 there have recently been the Fashionistas – which were a big hit for body swapping. 

Fashionistas of 2010 - No swapping heads

I used Artsy Fashionista bodies to re-body SIS dolls Trichelle and Grace as well as a few others – mostly dolls that were supposed to be “ethnically ambiguous” like a Cali Girl Lea and other “Latinas” as well as Pocohontas.

Every other Fashionista had the same white-girl skintone so I used a few of those to rebody some interesting heads I got through garage sales. Mostly brunettes and redheads from the 90s when the heads were not so large on the non-Collector dolls (Mattel calls these the “Playline” dolls).

Leah and I don’t want to bother with any dolls that can’t move their elbows and knees and we don’t like the giant heads. There are times when we have to play with dolls who don’t have truly bendable knees. But if we have a face we like and a body we don’t, I try to do a re-body as soon as I find a usable body. I have low standards, too. If I can just approximate a skin color I am willing to make the switch.

Re-bodying is so important to me that Leah actually things one of the reasons I love her is because her knees bend. She has heard me rave about the Alvin Ailey collector doll to other mothers for it’s natural hair, brown skin, ebony eyes and full articulation. One day I was telling my daughter how beautiful she is to me and I said “Leah, I love your Cinnamon skin, your Rotini hair, your Ebony Eyes…” and she interrupted me and said “Yeah! And I can bend my knees too!”

This SIS Pastry Kara is about to get the body of this Olympic Gymnast Poseable from the 90's

For darker skinned dolls like SIS Kara, I use dolls from the 90′s that have a body called the “Poseable” body. The upside of this body is the jointed knees and elbows, the downside is the giant boobies from the pre-Bratz-Phenomenon redesign. My SIS Pastry Kara came with click legs so they bend only about 15 degrees and her arms don’t bend at all. She’s not fun to play with because of this.

You can find lots of the Poseable bodies on eBay – just type in Barbie Gymnast, Barbie Hot Skatin Fun – anything about Skating, Ballet, Gymnastics and Olympics can yield good results. They run $10 to $15 each. You can add “AA” or “Black” or “African American” but sometimes it’s just easier not to add that and eyeball the search results.

There are lots of tutorials online regarding methods for re-bodying dolls. I have created my own as well because my method is an amalgamation of the methods of others – the way things seem to work best for me.

Kara with her new body!!

Once this doll has the Poseable body, there will be modern clothes that will not fit across her bustline. She will be able to wear stretchy fabrics but other items will be too small.

Casualties of the Re-body - Hair is mussed, earrings broke, sunglasses have to be re-positioned and shoes no longer fit.

Another difference is the feet. Poseable has big flat feet, which I don’t mind since I personally hate wearing high heels, but the cute high tops that came with Kara’s Pastry outfit won’t fit the Poseable body so I will have to substitute some LIV shoes.

So when all is said and done Kara is a little raggedy from the re-body experience but we are glad we did the rebody work anyway because it makes her so much more fun to play with.

That, in a nutshell, is why we re-body – because articulated dolls are much more fun to play with!!