I have been thinking for a while, that I need to do a “making of” video, but it is a LOT of time to take on something, and if I were watching it, I would rush through to the parts I thought were most important. But I am a writer, or was before my muse died, and I can take pictures 🙂 So let me take you basically through the steps of a 2ndlifedolls OOAK custom doll. I put step one as the basic doll once I removed her hair and actually rememberd this would be a good time to take a picture, but obviously, I went to the Thrift store and found this Cinderella doll first. She had a roughed up dress and her hair was pretty raggedy. She was in my doll bin as a possible remake/upcycle, so when I got the commission to make a custom Elsa for a <5 year old girl, I decided the Cinderella would do just fine, and if I didn’t get it right, I could always try a smaller doll.
First thing I did was remove the dress, her hair, and because she was a singing doll, I removed her voice. I guess that makes me Ursula!
Next, I had to make some big blue Elsa eyes. Disney has Princesses with very big eyes, and I didn’t want the eyes to look like the store bought, so I made them a little bigger and outlined her mouth and drew in some new brows. You can see the mold of her eyes in this, but with the glaze, I knew that would diminish.
The next step was some hair. Since this was for a little girl, I thought some yarn hair would be perfect. It can’t really be combed or brushed, but it will withstand a lot of playing with and can be dyed and/or hand washed pretty easily. Plus it’s soft and nice to cuddle with. Because she has so much hair/yarn, she can probably take a few brushings and it won’t turn out as ratty as the synthetic hair. Besides which, this hair can always be replaced, and it’s not too difficult for a beginner.
You can see also that the glaze on the eyes has pretty much removed the mold lines visibility. Look at Barbie trying to photobomb this shot… what an attention whore.
I found the Dress at Texas Thrift. It was covered in lace, which was removed, and altered so that the 24 month dress fit our Elsa a bit better. I added velcro for easy on and off. I also dyed a pair of white leggings (12 mo) that I got from the thrift store so that Elsa would look a little more like Elsa from Frozen 2.
For the finishing touches, I added tulle and some blue/glittered snowflakes. She has a little scarf that matches. I also took apart a singing Elsa doll and stuck the body in the cavity left by the Cinderella voice/battery box. If you squeeze this doll, she will sing “Let it Go” like Elsa in the first movie.
Now she’s all done and ready to wrap and ship…. which will cost a lot, because it’s a big doll, but someone’s daddy is willing to pay for a one of a kind doll that will keep their little girl warm at night.
2nd Life Dolls 