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!
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