Customizing Caroline: Hannah Swensen from 'Murder, She Baked'

We don't watch a lot of new films or TV shows. In fact, our grandfather used to say that we couldn't watch anything in colour -- and wouldn't watch anything with actors who were still living. Not quite true, but old black-and-white films, Westerns, classic musicals, etc., have always been our favorites! But we do, occasionally branch out into newer films or shows (particularly Jane Austen themed British shows). Well, that's been the inspiration for some of our dolls, including Elizabeth's Margaret (Marie-Grace with new hair style) --- styled after the heroine of the 2004 mini-series "North and South", based on Elizabeth Gaskell's classic novel.

Here's Hannah with the first 'Murder, She Baked' novel -- which we haven't actually read yet!

Our newest addition to the family DVD shelf are the five Murder, She Baked TV shows. Mom stumbled on these at the library a couple of weeks ago, and we have really enjoyed them! The main character is Hannah Swensen, a baker in a small Minnesota town. She's very fun, perky and inquisitive. Elizabeth decided that she needed a Hannah doll -- and sooner than later. We played with the idea of using a Kit doll with a Tenney wig, but after some purchases of Tenney wigs fell through it seemed like we should consider other options. For a couple of days, Mom and I had really been suggesting that Elizabeth try a Caroline. Particularly appropriate, since we had a beautiful one who was standing unclaimed in the back of the cupboard. So, we looked at some more pictures of Hannah in the shows, and I assured Elizabeth that removing the wig and putting the part on at the side would make the difference. The eye colour was really the most perfect, so we decided to go for it! She couldn't be more perfect. At a later date, Elizabeth may paint some freckles on her, but we'll see if that happens or not. Here are photos of the doll and photos of Hannah (and Mike) in the shows.

So, Islandshire has a new inhabitant and gives a big welcome to Hannah! She is going to work for Eydie at the island's fanciest eating establishment, Eydie's Gourmets. Eydie will make all the main courses and fancy desserts, and Hannah will handle all the cookies!

Decision Made: Meet Bix and Phoenix

Okay, as I was saying in the last post . . . we brought home two really cute Truly Me #77 dolls. This was for Mom to look at them and decide on a replacement for her Nachito. Well, she decided to keep Doll #1 with the tightly-curled wig. She's leaving him in the box until later this Summer --- that way, if the dolls come out with the "good" eyes, she can exchange him (if she finds one that she likes better -- if not, she keeps him).

Well, that left Doll #2, who was just the most perfect-cute-irresistible little chap you could look at, going back. After two days of contemplating him, he was just too cute . . . and then my sister did it! She suggested that I name him "Bix" and give him a record collection and some sheet music. I'd been trying to plan a doll that liked Bing Crosby and all kinds of the 1930s music for a year. The plan had been to use a girl doll and call her "Dinah Lee", after Bing's song. She'd get mini copies of a bunch of my Bing sheet music collection, I'd make new labels for the three records from Rebecca's phonograph set and turn them into some Bing and Dinah Washington records, and she could play an instrument. She just never seemed to work out, though.

So, here we are, sitting here staring at this adorable #77, and Elizabeth suggests that I call him Bix after the great Beiderbecke himself! That did it. I took him out of the box, put Logan's "Play Loud" shirt on him and there was Bix! He's getting a trumpet and a squeeze-box . . . not to mention the other stuff. This same weekend, I finally finished restoration work on a doll that has been a real TLC project. She was a #31 who was in such terrible condition that we weren't even sure she'd fix up --- but I wanted to try! We got two TLC dolls (#31 and #47) sold for parts on eBay at a total of $30.00 shipped for the pair. Glitter makeup had been put everywhere on them. This was back at the end of Summer. I managed to save all but the wig of #31 and the body and limbs of #47. After a lot of baking soda, Magic Eraser, compressed air, laundering and re-stringing, the #31 looks really amazing. She had to get a new hair style, so she's wearing an AG CYO "black, long, natural curly" wig. Mom came up with the idea of naming her Phoenix, since she really did rise from her own ashes!

 

With both dolls now sitting there, it seemed a great idea to have a brother and sister duo. And they both have "x" in their names! They both like to read and are going to help make screenplays for the Islandshire Drama Club. Phoenix likes to read about astronauts and space stuff, so she has a flight suit, a space suit (which Bix also likes), a stellar outfit and a mini Luciana doll of her own!

They both like music, and Bix is always playing records or practicing his instruments. Together, they've adopted a dog from Bessie and Zaida's Islandshire Animal Rescue --- a black and white French Bulldog. Her name? Dinah Lee!

So, a new duo has moved into Islandshire. This is good, since so many just moved out. The boys were getting pretty worried there for a bit about their numbers dwindling. These are just some preliminary pictures of Bix and Phoenix, so I'm sure they'll feature in some more posts later on!

Introducing the All-New Harriet (aka: Bunty)

Customizing dolls and creating personalities for each doll character is a lot of fun. Somtimes you hit it right on the head from the start! That's what happened with Benny. I bought a wigless Nanea doll, unpacked it, tried on about ten different wigs and knew the minute that dark brown "Johnny" wig went on that I had a perfect little boy sitting there. And it didn't take more than three minutes to come up with his name, because he looks just like my Dad's really cool cousin, Benny!

But sometimes it can be a very long journey with a lot of stops along the way. Such has been the case with one of my very favorite dolls, Harriet. Any of you who have been following this blog probably remember a previous entry about her and know that she's undergone quite a change since arriving last Summer. Well, here is a final change (yeah, I know . . . it's been final a couple of times, but I have now bonded with her and really enhanced her character) that took quite a while to come about.

This shows Harriet #4 with some of the paintings that inspired me to make this doll and character.

One of my very favorite American Girl dolls is Rebecca. The doll only, that is. I can't stand her clothes, but she's a really beautiful doll. For a year, I tried to buy one, but it was one failure after another. You never knew that so many bad things could happen in the mail to a doll! Finally, I gave up and decided that Rebecca was not for me. Months went by, and we ended up with a TLC Rebecca in a lot of dolls. Her wig was bad, but she cleaned up very nicely and has the dark hazel eyes that I love. I decided that I'd try to re-wig her and make some kind of addition to my collection.

Some time ago, we had been able to buy a variety of AG CYO wigs in a variety of styles and colours. They are great wigs, and the "red, short, curly" wig was particularly appealing. It is the same type of curly hair that you get on Rebecca (in red), but instead of being the longer length, the hair comes just to the shoulder. So cute! So, I put that on the Rebecca doll and decided that Harriet could have a cousin called "Bunty". The doll was adorable, and making a character for her fell into place almost immediately. She likes wool, knitting, felting and sheep. She particularly likes rare breeds of sheep that have been place on the Conservation lists and enjoys fund-raising to help with the protection of these rare breeds. Everything was falling into place, and I was bonding with Bunty way more than Harriet. In fact, she was heading right up to the level of Nanea, Benny and Eliot --- my three super-special dolls! But there was one hitch . . .

The red hair caused the vinyl tone on the Rebecca doll to look very green. This can happen when putting red wigs on AG dolls, and it was very obvious in this case. Her vinyl doesn't look green at all when wearing a brown wig, but the red really didn't suit her -- plus, she looked very similar to Harriet (one just being a Marie Grace face mold and the other a Josefina mold). The green tone hampered the doll, because she looked pretty bad in almost any coloured clothes I tried. We dug around through the wigs some more, and there was a beautiful "brown, medium, curly" wig in there. Basically, that's just a Rebecca replacement style (without the thin areas common on the character doll wig). She looked great and the green effect disappeared. 

You can see the original "green" Bunty at the far right.

By now, I was really bonding with Bunty, and Harriet was fading away a bit. But Harriet is a key character for some of the story and pieces that are my favorite parts of the doll collection, so dropping her character was out of consideration. Mom and Elizabeth came up with the great idea to combine the characters! One doll named Harriet but called Bunty. She could like the family history, dressing up and sheep, all together. She could organize little fund-raising bazaars and would make a great sister for Eliot. Bunty is very outgoing and energetic, which is the total opposite of Eliot! They make a good team. The idea of combining the characters was so great that it only took me a couple of hours to do just that. 

While we were talking about all of this (I think we were washing dishes, actually . . .), Elizabeth throws out a passing comment that she thought Harriet (being the Marie Grace with a "red, natural, curly" wig) was the most gorgeous doll in the house. It so shocked me that I didn't even say anything. Right then, though, I knew I would just give her the doll. While I liked it and thought it was beautiful, it certainly wasn't my favorite. And if something appeals that strongly to someone else, then it's my pleasure to gift them with it. 

That left me with the Rebecca-style Bunty, now wearing the Rebecca-style wig. She's an adorable doll, but I couldn't get away from the fact that Harriet/Bunty needs red hair. The girl she's named for had the brightest red hair you could imagine, and it was a family characteristic. To be truly Harriet, she needed red hair. Boy, it's hard to try and get a doll with the exact personality and colouring you want.

Everybody reading here knows that GOTY 2019 Blaire was a disappointment to me. I'd been hoping for a much more unique doll and theme. Luciana seemed like a really unique package, but Blaire is rather run-of-the-mill. That said, I really liked the doll and think it would have been a great addition to the regular Truly Me line-up than a Girl of the Year. But as far as a doll goes, she's lovely. Her wig is quality, her skin tone is the new shade of pale vinyl, and her eyes are a grey-green. The problem with her (in my mind) was that she looks like a red-headed Rebecca, which makes her too similar to another named doll in the AG stores and current collection. But it hit me, after giving my red-headed Marie Grace to Elizabeth, that what I needed was a red-headed Rebecca! And Blaire was made with a special vinyl tone that handles red hair without looking green.

The two photos above show Bunty when she arrived (left) and dressed but still wearing her original wig (right).

Mom and I went to the AG store in January and spent a while looking at Blaire. I didn't want to buy another doll that I just wouldn't bond with. Harriet/Bunty needed to be perfect, because I already knew she'd be one of my very favorite dolls. We held up all kinds of outfits to the various display Blaire dolls, and she never looked green. Perfect! I decided to wait and order her with my Rewards certificate this month (having since been through the miserable AG Customer Service experience outlined in the previous blog entries, I'm so glad I didn't wait --- because I would probably not have purchased her). Waiting seemed irritating, but it would make her a better price. Then, we found out that the Navy Exchange had a great coupon that applied to AG dolls! My Gramma was willing to order her for me on her NEX account, and the total price was $84.00 shipped! 

Bunty arrived on one of the coldest days of the year, but she looked beautiful! In fact, it was really thrilling to get a doll that looked so cute right out of the box. I really wanted her to wear the CYO "short, red, curly" wig, but the idea of taking a wig off of a brand-new doll seemed scary. I dressed her up and let her sit around for a week, but she really needed shorter hair for her personality. So, just this past Sunday afternoon, I decided to go for it. I got out a spoon, disposable gloves, non-acetone nail polish remover and some cotton balls. Quite amazingly, her wig was one of the easiest that I've ever removed! They did not use much glue at all, and there was already an area at the bottom back edge that was coming up. The wig came off in less than twenty minutes -- without a tear or stretch on it! Bunty put on her new hair-do, and she's just great!

So, Harriet has undergone a final change here, and she's very happy. She has a lot of personality and all kinds of accessories. She wants a pet lamb, so I am in the process of needle-felting a lamb for her. One of the conservation breeds that she loves is Leicester Longwool. With some serious looking and e-mailing, I was able to purchase Leicester Longwool locks, so her little pet lamb will be made of the authentic wool!

Check back in the coming weeks for more photos and fact about Bunty!

Playing in Photoshop with Different Eye Colours for Blaire

Elizabeth and I have been talking about Blaire's eye colour a lot. I really like the eyes she has, since they are the dark grey-green colour. But we've been wondering what she would look like with other colours . . . so, I went into Photoshop and put some different AG eyes onto a photo of Blaire.

Caroline's Seafoam Eyes

Marie Grace's Aquamarine Eyes

Felicity's Beforever Green Decal Eyes

Molly's Grey Eyes

Samantha's Brown Decal Eyes

And just for reference, here is the photo showing Blaire with her own dark green eyes!

So, it's a fun idea to decide which colour you would have picked yourself!

Harriet's Journey: From Marie-Grace to a Custom Beauty

Sometimes a custom doll can fall together right away, but that doesn't always happen. In fact, I've had three dolls (Harriet, Eleanor and Zaida) who have had to go through multiple stages before they actually "arrived"! Of the three, Harriet is the only one who has had the same name and personality since before her arrival at our house . . . but several different looks.

 

Left: Harriet after cleaning, but before her wig was removed.

Right: Harriet as she is today with her CYO Red Curly wig.

Harriet arrived in the beginning of June this year, one of four TLC dolls that Mom got as a lot on Craigslist. She was certainly not the worst, as one doll was a completely wrecked Caroline (though turned into a fabulous rescue, now my Eleanor). But Harriet was a dirty Marie Grace with a very dry and wild wig, dirt all over and some small stains on several limbs --- not to mention some odd glue spots on her fabric body.

I had known that I wanted a Marie-Grace doll for customizing for several weeks. While her face mold doesn't usually appeal to me, it certainly looks like a portrait right out of 18th Century miniatures. Mom and I got this idea to make a pair of dolls (boy and girl) who could be modern children with a rack of historical costumes, in which they could dress and re-enact the lives of their ancestors. That way, I wouldn't need a million historical dolls -- each one in a particular period all the time. I knew right away that the girl needed to be Harriet and a customized red-haired MG doll, because she would look like one of my favorite adopted relatives!

These are the paintings that inspired me to customize Harriet.

Little girls in the Regency era (early 1800s Jane Austen styles) had very short hair, like "Boy" or "Pixie" cuts as we call them today. So, when Harriet arrived, I started cleaning her right away. Mom washed the fabric body, I oxy treated the stains on her limbs and removed her frizzy wig. Once she'd been cleaned with baking soda, Elizabeth re-stuffed her with brand-new stuffing and re-strung her with good elastic cord. She looked great . . . but now it was a matter of choosing a wig.

Knowing that I wanted red hair was easy, but you can't tell exact colours when ordering wigs online. I was really leaning towards to Monique "Bebe" wig in Carrot. But Elizabeth felt sure that the red hair would be too limiting when it came to dressing her in different shades. So, we ordered an Auburn Monique "Johnny" wig. This was really cute (though on the browner side in colour) and matched any clothes she'd want to wear --- and she wore this for a several weeks --- until I bought some other wigs and a Carrot Monique "Dutch Boy" wig arrived. I tried that on and loved the red colour! So cute!

Left: Harriet in the "Dutch Boy" wig -- her second look.

Right: Harriet in the "Johnny" wig -- her first look.

So, for a few weeks, Harriet walked around in the "Dutch Boy" wig and was very happy. It wasn't long though, before I decided to order the "Bebe" wig and try it on her, because there would be no loss, since Elizabeth is planning on customized a red-headed little boy doll. The "Bebe" wig arrived, and I really love that one. Even better than the "Dutch Boy", it had more hair and was quite full to look like a girl's cut. Harriet was really settling in here.

Left: Harriet in the "Bebe" wig -- her third look.

Right: Harriet in the CYO medium-length, curly red wig -- her final look.

By this point, I had decided that Harriet would not have her wig glued down, because I wanted to find a long-haired red wig for her to use occasionally with different costumes. And the coolest wig turned up on eBay: a medium-length red curly wig from the AG CYO line. Wow! I ordered it and couldn't wait for it to arrive. This would give Harriet something to wear with her 17th Century costumes! After what seemed like forever (but really wasn't too long at all), the wig arrived in the mail. I popped it on her head to have a look and both Mom and Elizabeth said she should never change. She was beautiful. Now, it's hard to so drastically change the look of a doll that you've already been interacting with and given a special personality. It took me three days to get used to it, even though I could see that she was completely gorgeous with her new hair! Of course, I can't imagine it being any different now!

This is the long journey that Harriet has taken on the road of customization. But I couldn't be happier with her, and we've all voted that she has to be one of the two or three most beautiful American Girl dolls in the house!