Ok so I finally finished my first custom after several difficulties which i will discuss in detail after the pictures.








Close ups of Face





Close ups of the symbol




Ok so her name is Bobbi Jo, because I wanted a hillbilly kind of name, I was shooting along those lines, a country cowgirl type. I wanted her to have freckles (hense the red spots on the face), and really wild red curly hair (kind of representing the inability to tame her). The rope on her rump marking curls all the way around her back leg.

So what do you think??

Ok I am also requesting some tips. I have read all the tutorials I could find and still have some questions. First issue I had with her is the dye, she was a very baity G1 and I did my best to clean her up, there was no markings left on her but yet the dye still stuck to some spots more than others, i am not sure why that is. The next issue I had was working with the pre-curled hair! That was a nightmare!! I used I believe it was Minty's method of tying the hair in knots and dipping them in modge podge. Anyway I found this to be a problem because some of the glue got over the knot and ended up on the hair that showed through, also I had a hard time removing it from the magazine and wax paper so there are large chunks of glue that i couldn't remove. Is there any other suggestions that will make the knots stay in place with out glue? My next issue was that I painted her symbol & eyes before rehairing because I didn't want the hair to get in the way while repainting but then I came across the issue that when I rehaired the paint came off on my hands major issue!! The symbol got a little smudged but I had to completely redo the eyes. So I bought some sealer varnish to try to prevent any further smudging after repainting the eyes but then my problem is the sealer never seemed to dry it is still tacky and it has been over a week. I would mind so much except cat hair is getting all stuck to her. What kind of sealer do you use? and what order to you do your painting & rehairing to prevent smudging?

Thanks so much for all your help and comments! I really appreciate it!
Alexia

A really cool first custom! You were brave to tackle curly hair for your first - I haven't tried it myself but the general consensus seems to be that it's insane to work with. I use a rehairing tool, so I don't knot the strands, just poke them into the head and then when finished, glue the entire mane in place from the inside with a tacky craft glue.

I love love her symbol. It's really nicely designed and painted.

For the varnish, my favorite kinds are Minwax Polycrylic (you can get this in the hardware/wood stain section at Walmart) or Sculpey Glaze (which is with the clays at craft stores such as Hobby Lobby) - these two are very durable and I haven't had problems with stickiness. If you're doing a full-body seal, I love Testor's Dullcote spray (sold with the model paints)... it's invisible when dry and non-tacky.

I always paint first, then seal, then rehair. ^^

I'm not sure why the dye didn't take evenly - maybe due to her age the vinyl had degraded in places, or there was some invisible remnant of chemicals or glue on her.

Anyway, she is very pretty and you should be proud!

did you use a powder or liquid dye? I've had that problem with the powdered kind, but I tried the liquid RIT last time, and it's muuuuuuuch better.

I use the same method as fae for rehairing. Rehair with the tool. Then you just squirt some glue into her head, use a Qtip to smoosh it all into the roots, and let it dry balanced on her ears and nose (the neck hole should be up, so the glue doesn't run out everywhere) overnight, and you're good to go.

I love the symbol, too. What kind of paint did you use? I had a hard time when I first started because I was using cheap apple barrel or folk art paints. They chipped, cracked, smeared, etc. Now I use Testor's model paint (in acrylic) or Model Masters Acrylic. Both are much more durable, and go on thinner, so less clumps.

Good color choices on her. She's a pretty girl. I'm gonna go check out your 2nd one now. Great start in the world of customizing!

I second the liquid RIT dye.

very cute

She's very cute! Great work!

Thank you all so much for your kind comments! I really appreciate it. She was definately more challenging than I should have attempted for my first but I am really happy with how she did turn out.

FaerieLantern Thanks so much for the tips for the sealer/varnish brands! That will help out alot!


Unicornucopia I did use the powder RIT. Hmmm I will have to look for the liquid. As far as the paint I was using, it was a combination of nice liquitex (i think thats what its called - it comes in a metal tube) and a little bit of the Apple barrel, so maybe that had a lot to do with the symbol smearing.


It sounds like a unanimous consensus that the rehairing tool is the way to go! I will have to look into getting that, hmmm where is that christmas list *gg*

Thanks so much for all of your tips and suggestions and your kind comments!

Alexia

very nice!

sooo Beauteful!!

that hear is very nice and great!

and her face is to great looking!!

oh she's pretty!!! love the hair!

Unicornucopia wrote:

liquid RIT

i never knew there was any!!! is it HTF? oh and does it hold to the plastic better?

Thanks again for every ones kind comments, I do love her hair too but man it was super tough to work with!

Quote::

i never knew there was any!!! is it HTF? oh and does it hold to the plastic better?

I think I remember seeing it at Michaels when I picked up the powdered RIT, I dont know if you have those where you are but I am pretty sure they were under the Powdered RIT display.

Thanks again!!
Alexia

I'm pretty sure my local AC Moore has liquid RIT dye...?

I used powdered RIT and had the same problem (blotchiness everywhere!) I haven't tried the liquid yet, but next time i will- I have seen it at both Michael's and A.J. Moore's, and I believe Wal-Mart also carries it.

If you want to rehair with floss, try Woosie's tutorial:

http://members.aol.com/brandiwst/tutorials.html

I found her method to be much quicker than the others (I used wire w/ single knotted plugs for a while until I found her tutorial which cut my time in half.) Using a rerooting tool is much faster than floss, but with Woosie's mothod you don't need to use glue and you don't need any special tools. But both methods are fine, and the tool is faster.