Eye Swap for Wellie Wisher Emerson!

As promised, I stopped in at Goodwill today and found a porcelain doll with brown eyes which looked like she'd be a good candidate as an eye donor for my Wellie Wisher Emerson.  She had the half-off color tag which brought her price from $6.99 down to $3.50, but when I pointed out to the checker that her face was broken, I got another half off from that, bringing her down to $1.75.  Perfect!  Because all I needed her for were her eyes.  

Her outfit was removed so I could donate it to Goodwill, but I kept her shoes.  Her eyes popped out very easily.

Wellie Wisher eyes on the top, and donor eyes on the bottom.  The iris and pupils are larger on the WW's eyes, but the shape of the entire eye was about the same, so I took a chance that they would work.

There are lots of good tutorials online on how to remove a WW's eyes, so I won't bore you with all the details.  Basically, just heat a pot of water to boiling.  Remove from stove.  Slip a plastic bag over your doll's head to keep her dry, and then submerge her head into the water for 2-3 minutes.  This causes her vinyl to become extremely soft, and then you simply squeeze the eyes out of the socket.  Sounds barbaric, right?  But it works!

Ready for her eye transplant!

Now, just pop her new eyes into position.  

They fit perfectly!  She still looks a little plain, since she is missing her factory painted eyeliner and lashes.  I will add those later.  I'm thinking of also adding some false eyelashes.

Here's another porcelain doll I picked up at the same Goodwill.  She was $10.  She also had the half price tag, bringing her down to $5.  But upon examination, I noticed that she had a crack on the side of her head, too!  So I got another half off, bringing the total to $2.50.  I wanted her because she has beautiful blue eyes.  And her buckle strap shoes will fit an 18" doll, I believe.  

The dress and undergarments are getting donated, but I might keep the bonnet.  I think it's kind of pretty.

The damage on her head

Removing her eyes proved to be a lot more difficult.  There was a ton of glue holding those eyes in place, and they weren't budging.  I decided to dunk her head in the hot pot of water as well.  After only about a minute, the glue softened considerably and I was able to easily pull out the eyes.  I also removed her eyelashes.  I may be able to cut them down and use them on Emerson.

Cute buckle-strap shoes

My last find for the day was this Disney Animator Sleeping Beauty.  She had her complete outfit, down to her socks and shoes!  This made her completely worth the $3.99, especially since her hair wasn't horrible.  She is so cute, as are most of these dolls.  The only one I don't care for very much is Elsa.  Her face looks too pinched to me.  I've already washed and conditioned Sleeping Beauty's hair.  She is lying on a towel in my sewing room, ready for me to detangle and make her hair beautiful again.  And then, I'll probably want to keep her, even though I already have one in my collection.  But the one I have has her hair cut short in a cute bob, so I kind of need one with long hair, right?!?  

I hope to add the eye makeup onto Emerson this evening, so check back for the progress!

DotsydoodleDollies Is Now on ETSY!

I did it!  Finally.  At the urging of friends and complete strangers, I've finally opened an ETSY account.  Now, before you get too excited, there's only ONE item listed so far.  Yeah, I know, pretty lame.  But after spending the morning taking a kid to the dentist and squeezing in some quick grocery shopping, I thought I'd just open up an Etsy store "real quick".  HA!  It took me the better part of the  afternoon to figure everything out, my computer wouldn't load my pictures, and then we lost internet service while I was adding important information on my account which caused me to have to start ALL OVER.  I almost quit.  Oh, and I did I mention that we are in the middle of a heat wave and our house only stays cool downstairs (my work area is upstairs), so add sweating to my frustration and I was not a happy camper.  But you'll be happy to know that I persevered!  My shop, DotsydoodleDollies is now open for business.  With one item.  But hey, it's a start!

 

Here is my American Girl Wellie Wisher "Willa", modeling the item of discussion.

 

 

I created this pattern on my own.  Aren't those pockets just the sweetest?

 

I had been hoarding the lace trim in my stash for a long time.  It's 100% cotton and two-tone.  So pretty.

 

When my 8 year old saw this dress, she said that she wanted me to make her one just like it, only in HER size.  I think that's a compliment.

 

Hearts 4 Hearts dolls can wear it, too.  This is Shola.  She is made to represent a little girl from Afghanistan.  Hearts 4 Hearts dolls were just recently introduced again after being off the market for awhile.  I'm glad.  They're really such pretty dolls, and their price point of around $40 makes them more affordable than the Wellie Wishers (which cost $60)

 

So there you go.  I'm kind of proud of that one item.  But rest assured that I will be listing more.  I've got some darling outfits for the Disney Animator Toddler dolls, as well as for the American Girls.  I have plans to have clothing available for many different dolls, so check out my shop if you're interested.  Meanwhile, it would sure be nice if nobody needed me to cook, or do laundry, or clean the house (and let's not even talk about how I've had sick kids for the past couple of days so I've played nursemaid as well, cleaning vomit bowls and administering cool washcloths to fevered foreheads)...just think how much sewing and listing I could get done!

 

 

 

 



Wellie Wishers vs. Hearts 4 Hearts Dolls

Yes, I caved and bought some Wellie Wishers.  As in plural.  More than one.  I just couldn't decide between the two I liked best, so I got them both!

Meet Emmerson and Willa!

As stated before, I love Asian dolls, so Emmerson was a must.  But I also love red-heads, so I couldn't leave Willa behind.

Willa has a light sprinkling of freckles and beautiful, hazel eyes.  She is supposed to be the animal lover of the group, which is why she's wearing bunny ears and a hedgehog printed skirt. 

Her boots are adorable ladybugs!

Emmerson is so pretty.  She loves to be in the spotlight, which is why she wears a dance outfit.

Check out her ballet-themed wellies!

Back view.  I was a little concerned about their hair...they are wearing what appears to be nice quality wigs, but Willa's hair has so many short hairs along the part line that I wasn't sure if the rest of her hair could come out of the pony tails without looking funny.  But I decided to try:

Not bad!  I had to spend a little time, finger-combing the longer hair strands over the short parts, but I finally got it looking presentable.  I think it would look even better if I used a comb, but I didn't have one handy at this point.

Very cute with her hair down.

Here they are, with one of my favorite Hearts 4 Hearts dolls, Lilian.  I turned her into "Alice" by making her an Alice in Wonderland outfit.    As you can see in the picture, Lilian is just 1/2" shorter than the Wellie Wishers.

Here they are with the rest of my Hearts 4 Hearts girls.

Top row, left to right:  Dell, Consuelo (replaced wig), Tipi

Bottom row:  Lauryce, Emmerson, Lilian, Willa, and Shola

I love the Hearts 4 Hearts dolls.  I was sad when they were discontinued, especially since I had only found about them shortly before that happened.  I think they were an awesome doll for the money.  I bought all of mine at Target, and I think they were somewhere around $25.

Here is a shot to show how similar their body construction is.  Wellie Wishers are about 1/4" bigger around in their waist and chest measurements.  As a result, they can share clothes (and even shoes!)with the Hearts 4 Hearts girls!

While they both have the standard 5 joints, Hearts 4 Hearts dolls can move their head at different angles, while Wellie Wishers are more limited with just side to side movement.  The photo above shows Tipi looking up to her right...

...then down...

...and up...

...and then up to her left.  This small feature gives them so much more posability.  I wish the Wellie Wishers had this feature.

In this photo I was trying to show how far their legs must spread in order for them to sit--pretty close to the same, but the Wellies have a slightly bigger spread than the Hearts 4 Hearts.

So...would I recommend these dolls?  Yes.  I do like the Wellie Wishers--I think they have adorable faces and darling outfits.  Will I buy another one?  Probably not.  I think their price point ($60) is rather high for this type of doll.  But it's American Girl, so what did we expect?  Considering that the very similar Hearts 4 Hearts dolls were only $25 and have more articulation in the neck joint, I think that American Girl could have done better.  That said, I'm glad I got the two I did, but I don't feel a burning desire to add any more to my collection. 

But have you heard???  Hearts 4 Hearts dolls have been licensed to a new company and will be relaunched in time for the 2016 holiday season.  I can't wait!  I've read that the first four to be reintroduced will be Dell, Rahel, Nahji, and Consuelo.  Yay!  I never got a chance to get Nahji and Rahel, so I suppose those will be the first ones I get.  I'm excited to see how the new ones will compare to the originals.  Will they have the same outfits?  Will the quality be the same?  Will they introduce new dolls?  Oh, the doll world is so exciting, don't you think?!