The winner of the Cocoa Jackson sunhat giveaway is:
Congratulations! Your hat will be on its way from Cocoa Jackson’s top secret workshop ASAP. Thanks to everyone who entered.
Archive for July, 2010
While for some human hair on a doll is a fast-track to the uncanny valley, I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of a Blythe with really realistic hair.
The closest I’ve come previously is a adult goat mohair weft which looks very much like human hair, but can’t really be styled. The waves are beautiful, but permanent, and a weft offers little in the way of style options without exposing the rows of hair.
Rerooted human hair, on the other hand, should give multiple styling options with regular hair products and heated appliances. I had to have a go. The only thing that has held me back for so long is the cost of good long hair. But then, we found something amazing in our spare room:
A ponytail grown by my husband, cut off, stored away and forgotten. The hair is 12-16 inches long, dark chestnut brown, strong and shiny. Result!
Next thing we needed was a dolly victim. Fortunately my Star Dancer, Michelle, was keen for a new look. I whipped off her scalp and pulled out her hair:
As human hair has a ‘right way’ and a ‘wrong way’ (i.e. it is smooth to the touch in only one direction – from root to tip) I couldn’t use the lock and loop method, at least, not if I wanted it to be smooth and shiny. So the knot method was called for. Bah. This is how it goes:
1. Take a very small section of hair. Knot it close to the end (the ‘root end’):
I found the knots stayed tighter if the sections of the hair were small. The larger the section of hair, the quicker the knot slipped out.
2. Turn your scalp inside-out. Push your crochet hook (I used a 0.75m hook) through the hole you want to fill:
3. Loop the hair around the hook, close to the knot, then use the hook to pull the hair through the hole:
4. You should now have the length of the hair on the outside of the scalp and the knot on the inside:
(Remember in our picture the scalp is turned inside out so we are looking at the outside here.)
5. Repeat until all holes are filled, or as many holes as you want to fill. Stock Blythes have varying hair thicknesses and therefore varying numbers of holes in their scalps. Leave holes out or add extra to get the thickness of hair you want for your reroot. I like to fill the parting holes first, then the field, starting at the crown:
6. After many many many hours you will have this:
A finished reroot! Check how it looks with your chosen Blythe’s head and feel pleased:
Your work is not finished yet though…
7. Next, wash and condition the hair. Dip the hair in the basin of water without submerging the scalp. It’s also a good idea to comb the conditioner through thoroughly – if any plugs of hair are loose it’s better they fall out now than after you’ve reattached the scalp to the doll. If some do fall out, wait until the hair is dry, then replace them (with stronger knots this time!).
8. Now comes thatching. This is always a painstaking and fiddly task. I do it by sweeping all the hair in the parting rows over to one side. Then I use a small crochet hook (0.6mm or 0.75mm) to pull alternate strands over. Ideally, the hair should criss-cross over evenly with a result like a zipper.
9. Once you’re happy with the result, you’ll want to put your doll back together. Trim any excess fluffy hair bits inside the scalp (careful not to cut off any knots). I gave the inside of the scalp a big squirt of strong-hold hairspray before putting it back in the dome. Cramming the flanges back into the gap in the dome sometimes seems about as easy as putting toothpaste back in the tube – you might need to trim the flanges a little bit to get them to fit comfortably. Then, put all the dolly pieces back together.
10. You may find the hair is standing up away from the scalp a little bit in all directions. If so, cut the foot off an old pair of tights (pantyhose, if you’re American) and pull it over your Blythe’s head (making sure her hair is neat underneath it). It should only take a day or two for the hair to learn to sit much more flat to the head. Also, it looks funny:
11. Whip off the tights and admire your handywork. You are finally done. Now you just need to play 
Expect to see many more photos featuring many hairdos on this girl!
Mysterious French seamstress Cocoa Jackson has donated one of her reversible patchwork sunhats for a WPWD giveaway!
For an opportunity to win a sunhat by Cocoa Jackson, just comment on this blog.
For a second entry to the draw, tweet this:
I’m in the draw for a hand-made Blythe sunhat @weplaywithdolls blog: http://www.weplaywithdolls.net/blogs/
Good luck doll fans! The draw will be on the 22nd of July.
From around the intertubes, WPWD recommends:
Number 1: The official National Blythe Meet 2011 blog.
A site for news concerning the National Blythe Meet 2011. Also the traveling Blythe, Miss Sydney, will be blogging her adventures here.
Number 2: blythelife.com
A fab new blog from a Canadian Blyther. Although it only began this month, it already includes an in-depth designer interview and a giveaway. We all love giveaways!
Number 3: lollitams
Two of my favourite Aussie Blythers have teamed up for blogging fun. The blog has a great look. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.
This year’s Blythe anniversary animation is definitely the best animation so far, even featuring everyone’s favourite destroyer of Tokyo, Godzilla. But what of the dolls?
Well, Marabelle Melody is certainly cute, but the response across the English-speaking Blythe community is very muted indeed.
She just doesn’t seem all that special for an anniversary girl, particularly as a recent release, Ice Rune, has such similar hair and cute little bear ears:
Marabelle Melody’s outfit is quite lovely, mind you. The ears, while similar to IR’s, are adorable and I love a lolita-style ruffly dress. Her casual outfit is spiffy too with very nice new-style boots.
I can’t help thinking though: shouldn’t we get a bit more from an anniversary doll? Something special? More detailed clothing, a third outfit, a special never-before-seen hair colour, striking make up? Perhaps we’ve been spoilt by anniversary girls such as Princess a la Mode and Art Attack. My expectations are set for truly breathtaking dolls, dolls that I’d sell a kidney to obtain. MM is very sweet, but I wouldn’t sell any organs for her. It’s a strange way to be disappointed, but I am.
The anniversary petite, so essential to defeating (with cuteness) the monsters in Blythe-land, is also very sweet, but not overly exciting.
Her colouring is nice, but muted, and her outfit is adorable, but not terribly special.
The trumpet is a nice touch though, especially once you’ve seen it in action in the animation, calling super-Blythes to action. The packaging for the little one is delightful, featuring cartoon images of the whole anniversary team:
What is new this year is the inclusion of a set of primadollies, three lower-priced releases in very simple outfits. These girls have vivid fantasy hair colours and little ice-skating outfits (skates!). The primas all have the new ‘Fairest’ face mould though, which isn’t nearly as popular (certainly in Australia) as the Radiant mould. This time the FBL girls have make up and are shiny (see Junko Wong’s blog to find out about issues with the previous matte finish FBLs). Only the first girl, Simply Bubble Boom has promo pics out so far:
The international lottery for Simply Bubble Boom starts tomorrow. We haven’t yet seen promo photos for the other two, but they can be seen in the anniversary animation. At first glance, their hair colours look fabulous – rich vivid fantasy shades. More fun than Marabelle Melody perhaps, but without any accessories, I’m not finding these super-exciting either.
Maybe next year…. *sigh*…