Disaster Dolly's fresh start - Printable Version +- Dolly Market Forum (https://forums.dollymarket.net) +-- Forum: Doll and Art Galleries (https://forums.dollymarket.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=28277) +--- Forum: Other Dolls/Figures (https://forums.dollymarket.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=28264) +--- Thread: Disaster Dolly's fresh start (/showthread.php?tid=7260949)

Disaster Dolly's fresh start - Alliecat - 04-02-2017 I can't believe how long it has taken to finish this project. Alas, "life" intervened, and I got completely stalled. This poor girl arrived two years ago (!!!!!!). Her disastrous arrival story is here. TL,DR... Finally, here is the story I was going to tell. Once upon a time, my friend Claudene Christian owned a doll company. Claudene was a little five-foot ball of energy with a squeaky giggle and a huge appetite for fun and adventure, and she made everyone she met feel like they were her new best friend. She was a college cheerleader, talented singer and guitarist. She once told me she believed she'd crammed more adventures into her life than many people half her age, and I think this was true. In 2012 Claudene discovered tall ships, and found a new passion for adventure. We met that July, and I like to think if we'd known each other longer we'd have been great pals. Here we are oiling the taffrail (a much nicer job than hosing fuel out of the bilge, which we also did that week) somewhere off Nova Scotia. Claudene drowned when the HMS Bounty sank in Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012. I didn't know she'd had a doll company when I knew her, and I wasn't interested in dolls at that point. I only learned about the "Collegiate Cheerleader Doll Company" after she died, and when I did start collecting dolls, there was a point at which I decided I should have one of hers. Instead of bothering her parents to ask if I could buy one of the leftover dolls, I went looking on eBay, and ended up with this poor girl. There was going to be an arrival story... but... Long story short, she was advertised as NRFB, but arrived with disintegrating hair which went literally to powder within minutes of my opening the box. Her clothes were a little dirty and faded too. After a wrangle with an irresponsible seller, Paypal refunded me and let me keep the doll. I felt sorry for her and decided to salvage her, so I watched some tutorials, got some advice from some of you, bought some dolly hair, and began re-rooting her. After many starts and stalls I finally finished. I told myself I MUST finish her before starting on the miniature kit I want to make. Out-of-body eerience! It was like the Project That Wouldn't End. The first boil perm was a fail. Her hair went >POOF<. I recall reading that you shouldn't make the plugs too thick. She had a weird spiral pattern which was quite sparse so I used up the leftover hair by making more holes and she probably got 1/3 as much extra hair. That might not have helped. The other problem was that the bobby pins make crimps in the hair. NONE of the many tutorials I watched or read mentioned that bobby pins kink hair or what to do about it. So I had to melt it out and try again. I then decided to curl just the ends instead of the whole length. She's not going to have the 'do' she was designed with but I am satisfied with this. Dunno how long the curls will hold but I can always curl the ends again. Maybe. Although for now I vow to never boil-perm doll hair again!!! Here she is with her box -- and her new hair. She's been "Disaster Dolly" for so long, it's hard to give her a different name. But I think I will call her after my friend but spell it a bit differently -- Claudine. So she finally got a real photoshoot. She looks so happy to be finished and to have hair! And, guess what, girl's a star after all! "Wheee! I have hair!!!" "Wheeee!" She tried on a new outfit, and you would not believe it but in the process, her hip broke!!!! Old plastic, I guess. So then I had to repair THAT. She made a friend. And to make up for all the months sitting with no hair in my dining room, we decided to give her her own movie. I should also add, the lens I've been using to shoot dolls on the new camera since last summer was given to me by Bounty's Captain Robin Walbridge, a dear friend who also loved photography and who was lost with the ship. I'm sure he'd laugh. Onward, to teenytiny miniature kit!! (she's sitting on the box in a couple of pictures) which I HOPE won't take as long. Thanks for looking. RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - dargosmydaddy - 04-02-2017 Wow! That was quite the moving story. Glad you persevered, and Claudine looks great. What a wonderful tribute to your friend. RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - GreysPrincess - 04-02-2017 Oh, yay! I'm glad she's finally rescued! I didn't realize the personal significance she held for you; that makes me even happier to see her "back on her feet." What a wonderful way to honor your friend's memory! RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - Miss Edith - 04-03-2017 that made me all teary A few other things started that earlier though You did such a fabulous job with her hair she looks beautiful and happy and it is a very special tribute to your friend. RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - Alliecat - 04-04-2017 Thank you guys! Sorry you had a teary day, Miss E. I kinda did too. Re-rooting really isn't hard, and I'd encourage anyone to try it. It's just time-consuming. RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - martah - 04-06-2017 I'm so glad to see her again, she is looking great! RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - fishy - 04-06-2017 What a touching story. You did a really great job fixing her up! RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - Alliecat - 04-17-2017 Thank you guys And thanks also to those who offered advice about re-rooting and encouraged me to try it. I'm glad it's done!! I'm not sure how solid her repaired hip is so she's not going to be doing too much jumping around RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - KiraKira - 04-19-2017 I love the new hair she has--you did a great job. I remember when you first posted about Disaster Dolly, and I'm glad that everything mostly worked out in the end. RE: Disaster Dolly's fresh start - kitten-squid - 05-05-2017 That is a seriously touching and beautiful tribute. The doll looks so much happier now!