Friday, September 21, 2018

The My Twinn Lenora Saga

I wanted to stop in and tell you the story of how the My Twinn Lenora makeover turned out, especially because so many of you were kind enough to give me your advice and support after my last update.  Thank you!  For anyone who didn't read the previous post about Lenora, I'll do a short recap.

Basically, I'm still addicted to My Twinn dolls.  In particular, I'm addicted to "project dolls," or really inexpensive, hopeless-looking Denver-era My Twinns that need a lot of work.  They keep me busy and happy.

I was fortunate enough to find a Denver Lenora on eBay (for a great price) who needed a ton of attention, including a new finger!

My well-loved Denver-era My Twinn Lenora.
Here are a few pictures of Lenora when she first arrived at my house:


She had extensive staining on her upper arms (not just dirt, but deep stains):


A missing pinkie finger on her right hand (and stained fingertips):


And some scuffs, stains, and white paint marks on her legs:



On her head, she had a dry, thinning wig:

project

Dry wigs I can fix, but thinning wigs are a different matter.

She also had missing eyelashes and blocky eyebrows with missing paint:


In my last post I said that I didn't think these were her original eyelashes, but I was wrong: they're actually consistent with the thick, dark lashes that were used in 2001.

On closer inspection, Lenora's eyes were also mismatched (fading), and she had a deep scuff on the tip of her nose:



I love her freckles, though!

There was evidence that this doll's head had been removed at one time (the cable tie was not original):


And, although her body tag identifies her as a Denver doll...


...I wondered if the original head had been replaced by a different head, especially because there isn't a great color match between the vinyl of the head and the vinyl in the limbs.  Her head looks a lot more yellow-tinged to me:


My suspicions increased when Lenora's vinyl cracked during her eye replacement:


Here's a better look at the cracks around her right eye:


Not only was there a deep crack at the edge of this eye, but there were little micro-cracks all along the upper lid:


Here's the (super-glued) crack at the edge of the left eye:


After noticing these cracks, I reached a bit of a crisis point with this doll.

The new green eyes are lovely (they're Secrist's "Ocean Green" Real Eyes) but they made Lenora's vinyl look even more yellow than it is.  Also, I simply could not see past those cracks.  What's the point of working on a doll who might just crumble away?  I had to decide if I should forge ahead and try to salvage Lenora, or if I should cut my losses and simply replace her entire head.  

This is the dilemma I was facing when I finished writing the last My Twinn post.

Well, in my typical overkill style, I decided to try and fix the cracks around Lenora's eyes and buy a second head--just in case everything went south.

Here's the backup head I found:


This head has the Wendi (I'm going to spell it "Wendy") face mold.  She came with a Denver body, but the head was detached from the body and the seller wasn't sure it could be fixed.  I got a good deal.

In the auction photos it looked like Wendy's skin tone would be a good match for Lenora's body, and I also liked the grey-hazel color of her eyes:


Here's Wendy's head without the wig:


Unfortunately, Wendy's grey eyes--pretty as they were--had these strange blue-tinted scleras that, once I noticed them, I couldn't see past:

It's a little creepy.
This story didn't end up being about Wendy, though.  I'll skip ahead (pun intended) and reveal that Lenora kept her head.  Or Lenora's body kept it's original head, I guess I should say.  Believe it or not, those eye cracks were fixable...to some degree.  That victory allowed me to reunite Wendy with her original body, which turned out to be a really easy fix.  

Wendy also got her own little makeover in the process:

Toy Box Philosopher

I really like the serene, happy expression of the Wendy face mold:

Toy Box Philosopher

She's sporting new Secrist Victorian blue eyes and a Majesty wig from Dolleanne.


I love this doll, and I never would have found her if I hadn't been searching for a head transplant donor for Lenora!  So, a special thank-you to everybody who recommended that I scrap Lenora's head and get a new one.

But back to Lenora!  How did I salvage her head? Well, first I removed the green eyes.  I did this by re-heating her head and popping them out.  When this (brutal!) process didn't cause any more cracks, I figured maybe the head was tougher than it looked.  I gained some renewed optimism.  I worked on on sanding down the cracks again--this time with fierce determination (and a Dremel).

After several days of careful Dremeling and hand-sanding, I was content that the cracks were mostly gone.  I sanded away all of the super glue, too, because it felt like a cheap and unsightly fix.

Instead of re-heating Lenora's eye sockets to replace the eyes, I opened up the back of her head.  This technique is more destructive (you have to cut open the doll's head!) but it puts less stress on the edges of the eyes.  I didn't want to risk ruining all of my hard work.


It's much harder to replace the eyes from the back.  The vinyl that encases the eyes has to be slit with a sharp knife, peeled away (without damaging any visible vinyl on the face) and then the eyes have to be maneuvered into place through the awkwardly small hole in the head.


This time around, I chose a darker eye color for Lenora, hoping it would de-emphasize the yellow in her vinyl:


These are Newborn Midnight eyes from Secrist.  I've started buying only Secrist eyes at this point. I've been too disappointed with other brands, and the Secrist Real Eye colors and iris patterns are the closest I've found to original My Twinn eyes.

I hadn't fully seated the eyes in these next pictures, but you can see that the cracks are much less noticeable.  Here's the left eye:


With a reminder of how it was before:


And the right eye:


With a reminder of how bad it was:


The eyes still aren't flawless, but any remaining imperfections are now nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.  And there's no super glue.  I had to use vinyl glue at the backs of the eyes (to hold them in place) so I hope that stays put and doesn't cause any damage or discoloration over the years.

As a sidebar, after sanding and working with this vinyl for a few weeks, I'm positive that Lenora has a Denver head.  It's amazing what you can do with that vinyl!  I suspect she was just stored in a hot or sunny environment for too long, and this is what yellowed the vinyl of her head and made it more prone to cracks.

With the eyes sorted out, I forged ahead with cleaning the stains off of Lenora's body.  For the deep stains that couldn't be cleaned with a Magic Eraser, I purchased Twin Pines of Maine's magical stain remover (Remove-Zit) and the Formula 9-1-1 cleaner that's needed to remove the Remove-Zit!


After I removed Lenora's body stuffing, I slathered huge amounts of Remove-Zit all over her arms and legs:


This stuff is thick and sticky and hard to spread, and I don't think it was intended to be applied this liberally (the company suggests using a toothpick for application...) but I went a little nuts:

Die, stains, die!
Remove-Zit has a very strong odor.  I think it's just vinegar, but I found it quite overpowering!  Maybe it's because I was using so much.



The Remove-Zit had to sit for several weeks.  In fact, I had to scrape it off and re-apply it every time it dried out.  It was a slow, sticky process.

There was plenty to do while I waited for the Remove-Zit to work, though.  I machine-washed the body foam (and set it out on the deck to dry).  I also purchased yet another doll on eBay so that I had something I could use as a guinea pig to practice my finger replacement technique.

For this task, I chose a 2009 (non-Denver) Madison doll who was super-cheap.  Here are two cropped screenshots from the auction, since it never occurred to me to take "before" pictures:


She had four missing fingers:


I really had no intention of keeping this doll.  She was strictly for experimentation.  Her wig was in horrible shape, her head was dirty and, well, she clearly isn't a Denver doll: 


The head seems smaller than my other heads.  Also, the vinyl is shinier and less natural-looking than it is on the Denver dolls.  It just looks and feels like a much cheaper head.

In addition, I don't think the eye color is very realistic (or perhaps the eyes are in the process of fading?):


The color match between this doll's head and limbs is really bad--even worse than it is with Lenora.  The head is about three shades darker than the arm:


To try and fix the fingers, I followed a wonderful tutorial on the This Old Doll website.  Not only is the tutorial well-written and simple to follow, but all of the supplies are for sale on site.

I won't re-write that tutorial (I couldn't do it justice!), but I'll summarize the process.

I used Amazing Mold Putty to make a mold from another My Twinn doll's hand (one that wasn't missing any fingers):


Making the mold was easy.  I just mixed equal parts of the yellow and white putty and then pressed one side of the doll's hand into the mix.  The putty turns rubbery and solid pretty quickly, and then pulls away from the vinyl with no residue or staining.  

Next, with my completed half of the mold held up against its side of the hand, I mixed a new batch of putty and molded it around the other half of the hand--so that the two sides of the mold met in the middle.  I had a bit of trouble separating the two sides of the mold once the second half was dry, but everything else went exactly as described on This Old Doll. 

Here are the two sides of the mold:


The finger detail was captured nicely:


Next, I got Madison's hand ready by gluing some toothpicks into the missing finger holes.  This Old Doll recommended this step for added support:


I made sure that the toothpicks lined up with the middle of the finger molds--so they wouldn't poke out:


To fill the mold, I used Plastic Paste:


This is also really easy to use.  You just mix equal parts of each kind of paste and fill your mold!


The resulting mixture looks like peanut butter:


I made the mistake of mixing the paste with a good butter knife and a ceramic cup.  It was very hard to clean these things afterwards!

I taped one side of the mold to Madison's wrist, just to help keep it from sliding around:


However, the mold is rubbery and flexible, so I noticed quite a few gaps around the base of the missing fingers.


I decided to try and use toothpicks to skewer the two sides of the mold together and--hopefully--reduce those gaps:


I smeared a ton of paste into the mold...


Then sandwiched the other half of the mold on top of the paste and speared my toothpicks through to hold everything together:

Hand sandwich.
I added some more tape, too, just to be safe:


Well, anyone who was reading this and thinking to themselves "that's never going to work," you were right.  It didn't work.

The resulting hand was a mess.

I photographed the unfortunate hand in my studio without using my big, hot lights (this was back when Maine's temperature was like the surface of the sun).

So, forgive the poor quality of the pictures, but you'll get the idea:


The worst flaw was probably this huge gap at the back of the middle finger:


There were a lot of little air bubbles, too.


Could I have done a worse job?  Probably not.


So, I pulled the new fingers off (which was pretty hard to do) and started over!  

This time I skipped the step where I put toothpicks into the finger holes of the broken hand.  I don't think that added much stability.  The Plastic Paste is tough enough on its own.

Take 2.
I made a few more small modifications to my plan this time around.  First of all, I mixed the peanut butter paste in a disposable container with a plastic knife:


Second, I cut my hand mold into two parts so that I could mold the fingers and the thumb separately:


I also ditched the stabilizing toothpicks and just used tape to hold the mold together.  Oh--and I marked the two sides of the mold with lines to help me keep everything well-aligned:


Once the fingers were taped up,


I positioned the thumb mold:



Well, this attempt didn't work super-well, either, but it was better.

Here's how the hand looked at first:


Sigh.


But, while the paste was still a little bit flexible, I used scissors to cut away some of the larger defects:


When the fingers were fully dry, I sanded, and sanded, and sanded...


...and sanded, and sanded, and sanded:


It was not easy to sand this hand (especially between the fingers!), and the non-Denver vinyl did not take as kindly to sanding as I'd hoped.  Notice all of the white sanding marks.  Ugh.

After a while, I decided that I'd done enough for a practice doll.  That hand wasn't going to get any better, and I needed to move on and see if I would be able to paint the new fingers effectively.

Here's the unpainted hand in the studio (with lights):



What a mess.


I thought maybe I could disguise some of the defects with paint.  Because that always works, right?  Cough.

I used acrylic paint, because that's what I had on hand:


I got a pretty good color match...at least when the paint was wet.  However, the colors kept drying darker than they looked when I mixed them.



And--surprise, surprise--the paint didn't cover any of the defects:


I still felt like I'd learned enough to attempt Lenora's finger repair.

And, as it turned out, fixing one finger--especially if it's a pinkie finger--is a lot easier than fixing four fingers!

I was able to make Lenora's mold out of one piece of putty that wrapped around the outer edge of the hand, like this:


The only challenge was getting the Plastic Paste into the tiny finger hole:


I ended up using a syringe to inject the paste into the mold, and then I taped the mold to Lenora's hand and let it dry.

Here's the completed finger as I was painting it:


I think the shape of this finger turned out really well.  The color match of the paint isn't great, and there are still little air bubbles and imperfections where the molded finger meets the vinyl.  However...I decided it was good enough.

Fixing doll fingers is not something I'd be super-excited to do again, but I do feel like it's something that could be perfected with practice, which is always a compelling challenge.  One thing I'd do differently if I ever re-molded Madison's fingers is to try and make my mold from one piece of putty--not two halves.  I think that would give me a more stable mold and a better result.

The nice thing is, I don't see too many Denver-era My Twinn dolls with missing fingers.  It's the newer dolls that seem more prone to breakage, but I'm not likely to own any more of those.

Speaking of non-Denver My Twinns, let's go back to Madison for a minute.  I didn't have the heart to throw her away, but she was never going to be perfect with that poorly-molded hand.  So, I decided to just see what I could do using my leftover/reject supplies.

One thing I love about this Madison head is that it was marked in pencil by (presumably) the artist who completed the head:

 

A40 is an eye color, DBL must be "dark blond" (for the hair), and 4-22-8 is a bit of a mystery!  It's probably just a date, but Madison is from 2009, so that's a little backwards.  I wish I knew for sure what it meant!

The vinyl on this doll was really hard to work with.  I couldn't sand it the way I can sand the Denver dolls (sanding left the vinyl looking mottled) and the coloring of the vinyl is not as rewarding to paint.  It looks like plastic, not porcelain.  But, at least the eye sockets didn't crumble when I swapped out the eyes!

I gave Madison lots of blushing and a heavy freckle pattern to disguise her mottled vinyl.  Here's the completed face:


Up close:


I gave her some Pabol green eyes that I don't like very much.  They have no depth and the colors are a bit too bright:


It was also really hard to get these new eyes into position.  I mentioned that Madison's head felt small in general, but the eye sockets are definitely smaller than what I'm used to!  I think I lost half of the skin on my thumbs trying to jam the new eyes into place.  Never again.

The completed hand looks clunky and off-color:


 

But the nice thing is that I stopped noticing the hand after a while, especially as I added bright colors and details with Maddie's clothing, face paint, and hair.



Incidentally, Maddie's right hand is also defective.  Look at how warped her pinkie finger is on that side:


I've never seen a warped digit like that on a Denver doll.

I completed Maddie's look with a bright My Twinn outfit that I don't like very much, and a bright carrot-red wig.  The wig is the Kristy style (by Monique), but I couldn't handle the curls that it came with, so I chopped them off.  Hence this wig landing in my reject pile.

Here's Maddie at the beach, where her coloring looks especially bright:


Her hand might be a bit awkward, but it works just fine for digging in the sand!



The green eyes look unfocused to me, but I'll admit that I'm starting to feel a bit of affection for this poor girl, even after all of the trials she put me through.


Sometimes direct sunlight shows off flaws in my painting that I didn't see inside my dark house.  In this case, Maddie has a shiny patch of vinyl over her left eye that didn't capture the watercolor pencil I used for her eyebrows as well as I would have liked.  But other than that, I'm happy with her face.



I didn't protect her repaired hand at all during this outing, and I never worried about it breaking.  The molded fingers might not be pretty, but I think they're fairly durable.



Even if something about Lenora's makeover had gone horribly wrong at this point, I was feeling great.  I already had two completed My Twinn girls: Wendy (who I absolutely adore) and little Madison, who I'm starting to like.

But now let's find out what happened to Lenora, the doll who started it all.

In my ongoing quest to de-emphasize her yellowed vinyl, I decided to pair her new dark blue eyes with a jet-black wig.  It makes her look very pale!

Black magic.
This beautiful wig is from Exquisite Doll Designs.  I'm totally in love with this store.  The wigs are thick, glossy, full of color, and they fit My Twinn dolls perfectly!

Once I'd decided on a wig, I finished Lenora's face to match.  I gave her dark eyebrows, dark eyelashes, rosy cheeks, and a few faint freckles:


These eyebrows were really hard to draw.  Some of the scuffed patches of vinyl disrupted the lines from the watercolor pencils.  Other areas of shiny vinyl repelled the pencil completely.  I might need to switch back to painting eyebrows with a brush in the future.



I also placed one of Lenora's lower eyelashes badly.  It sticks out too far from the eye.  That's easy to fix, though:


I glued the pate back onto the head:


And re-attached Lenora's head to her freshly-cleaned body!


The stains on the vinyl limbs came out beautifully, but there's still a dark area on the cloth torso that I was not able to remove--even with a bit of bleach.




You can probably see a very faint line of staining right near the junction of cloth and vinyl on the left arm, but that's because I was worried about getting Remove-Zit on the cloth, so I didn't apply it right at the seam.


Here's Lenora with her wig glued down:



I think she looks like a completely different doll.  Here are a few before and after comparisons:


My Twinn Denver Lenora, repainted and re-wigged with new eyes.

One of the things I love about these dolls is how I can totally change their appearance and personality if I want.  In the comparison pictures, above, notice how even the color of Lenora's vinyl looks different!  This is largely a trick of the camera (as much as I tried to keep all settings the same) but it's truly amazing how different hair colors, eye colors, and face paint details can change the look of a doll.  In some cases, I try to preserve a My Twinn's original appearance as much as possible, but in Lenora's case, a fresh start was needed.

Clothing is a big part of a My Twinn makeover for me.  I like to use only original My Twinn pieces, and I like to try and find a really flattering outfit for each girl.  At first, I dressed Lenora in a fancy red velvet My Twinn dress:


By the way, I took these raised-hand shots so that you can see how obvious her repaired finger is--or isn't:


The red dress washes out all of Lenora's vinyl, so I think it makes her finger look pretty normal, especially from the front:


The black hair looks great with this dress:


But I found Lenora a bit hard to photograph with such a vibrant color.


For example, she's definitely not as pale as she looks in this shot:


For my next wardrobe attempt, I found a simpler velvet dress with a rich blue color that almost perfectly matches Lenora's new eyes!

Bingo.
To me, this is the perfect dress for her:


I celebrated the end of this saga by taking lovely Lenora to the beach:


Lenora's dark hair and outfit make her easy to overexpose, so I was fortunate to get a warm, yet overcast day for this outing.


These outdoor pictures show off her actual coloring pretty well:

Toy Box Philosopher

You can see tinges of yellow in her face, but the dark hair really diminishes the effect--and this isn't just true in photographs, it's actually how she looks in real life.

Toy Box Philosopher




I asked Lenora not to get her beautiful velvet dress too dirty, but of course it was impossible to keep her from treasure hunting on the beach!

She was very proud of finding this large clam shell:



Although I had to put a stop to the beach combing when she started collecting wet, sandy seaweed and asking if she could put it in her hair!


Lenora is a reasonable, easy-going girl, so she put the seaweed down and agreed to just watch the waves and the birds until it was time to go home.

Toy Box Philosopher


So, that's the update on my never-ending My Twinn Project!  I love Lenora's new look, so I want to thank everyone who encouraged me to persist with her makeover.  Another special thank-you goes out to Janet.  Janet: I really want to know what you think of the finished doll, since I only have her because of you!

If you'd told me ten years ago that My Twinn dolls would be among my most enduring doll collection obsessions, I wouldn't have believed you.  But it actually makes a lot of sense, given how these dolls have always had an uncanny ability to grab (and keep) my attention.  Lately, my fixation with them is based on a few simple things.  First of all, the Denver dolls are all at least 20 years old now, and some of them are in dire need of repair.  I see auction pictures of unclothed, wide-eyed dolls staring out at me from behind masses of scraggly, unkempt hair, and I immediately start to imagine what they could become.  I see so much potential in all of those scuffed-up, timeworn faces.  Also, the Denver dolls are so incredibly well-made, it's actually possible to restore them to like-new condition.  This feels miraculous to me, especially given the increasing number of poorly-made dolls on the market.

Basically, the older My Twinns offer a challenging art project with an engaging, durable doll at the end.  That's pretty much the golden ticket in my world.  Every step of these makeovers is rewarding to me at some level.  I love painting faces and picking a fun mix of hair and eye colors.  I like cleaning away the dirt and marks of several decades of play--exploring little remnants of a doll's history in the process.  I may not love washing bodies or molding fingers, but that final moment--when the face is painted, the wig is glued back on, the freshly-washed clothing is in place, and I can finally see the doll's new personality emerge--well, that moment makes it all worthwhile.  And it makes me want to rescue another forgotten doll and start the process all over again.

Toy Box Philosopher

24 comments:

  1. You're so good at this! I love these kinds of posts because it's like you're giving them a second chance.

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  2. I think Maddie looks cute, especially since you put her together out of items you didn't like much. I'm also glad to see that Lenora will live, and that she became such a little beauty. She'd make a good witch for the Halloween season, with that dark hair.

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  3. Wow, the difference in Lenora is astonishing! On the subject of her eyebrows, have you tried using a damp brush on the watercolor pencil to get the color to make more consistent strokes?

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  4. I didn't like the Lenora face at first, but with everything you did I fell more and more in love. She's so fantastic.

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  5. Madison's face is so cute! Her face is very endearing and she looks extremely happy (I totally never liked freckles until I started reading your blog and now I'm in love with them!) and freckled. Lenora turned out lovely and I was a but worried the black hair would be too extreme but it goes very well with her vinyl and hair. I'm very glad you kept Wendy. There's something about her face that looks so real (probably because she reminds me of a couple of past school mates!) and the wig looks so wonderful and silky.

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  6. Lenora is a real beauty, Who knew looking at her original photos that she could turn into a real gem? The new hairstyle changes her face shape dramatically. Wendy is lovely with her mini makeover, too. Her new wig is so pretty in the light. Now, Maddie just grows on you the more you look at her. She has quite a little personality and I am glad the she didn't get thrown out. Thank you so much for sharing Lenora's story and I am glad you didn't give up on her. You worked a miracle there.

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  7. I'm very impressed!

    Also, I'd like to see your eBay sales. Which seller are you?

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  8. Great job! I liked Lenora in red dress best, but Madison, the "experimental" doll, also came out really well.

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  9. I am fairly new to your blog,but I am amazed at all the creativity used to fix/update these dolls! I am not brave enough to try any of these repairs, and I mainly into Barbie dolls, but look for new ideas. I try to keep the dolls I have as original as possible, mainly due to lack of skills. I wouldn't have done much to Lenora but wash her,trim her hair, and figure out what to do to fix her finger. Wendy, she is wonderful fixed up! Madison, I think the extra freckles is a very natural look for alot of girls-my sister had freckles like that. A great job! Definitely, was alot of work, but you really do fantastic work!

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  10. Wow, what amazing make overs you gave these girls. They all have a new lease on life and are beautiful! Even the repaired hands look great and perhaps a bit scarred, but then there can be an harrowing tale of how the little girls got there scars. An opportunity to give them even more character!

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  11. I am continually amazed at your ability to see past the grungy state of these dolls and make them really, genuinely beautiful. If I saw Lenora or Madison in their original state, I would honestly throw the doll in the trash. I could never look past the stains and matted hair and wonky eyes and broken hands to see the potential the way you do. But then the finished product is always just amazing! You've got an artist's eye, and my mind if blown by the results of this project. Please continue to post before/after photos of these project dolls - it's like you're a magician!

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  12. Wspaniała praca! Lalka wygląda pięknie!
    Pozdrawiam serdecznie :-)

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  13. Awww, too bad that the blending wasn't as good for Madison but even she turned out really nice in the end! I love all of their faces and especially the freckles, though I feel Lenora's eyebrows could be a little darker if you ever decided to redo them. Anyway, I'm glad they all worked out so well even if it wasn't perfect. But hey, I agree with Phyllis, the scars can give these girls even more character! Lenora kind of reminds me of Wednesday Addams... just overall gothic look lol. I love the clips in her new hair btw. For some reason, that little attention to detail is just so cute and realistic.

    Not sure I'd have the motivation to replace a hand btw (though I have one or two small dolls who could use it... cats nibbling did some damage to their tiny fingers especially.) I feel like it's so much effort and I'd get frustrated easily but your patience on these projects has worked wonders. I bet if you decided to sell Maddie that someone else would still love her very much. :)

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  14. I think Lenora needs a Snow White costume.

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  15. That Wendi face looks startlingly like one of my daughter's best friends. It's actually freakishly uncanny.

    When dolls need such extensive hand-work, that could be a time to depend a doll's skin tone altogether, or to turn that doll into a doll with vitiligo. I grew up with several kills with that condition, and have never seen a doll represent kids with this condition.

    Of these three love dolls, I think Maddy might be my favorite just because she was the unloved little sweetheart who had to fight harder for affection. That endears her to me. <3

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  16. All three girls are great; thank you for sharing! One of my favorite 18 inch My Twinn dolls is a Wendi mold.
    I will have to keep that finger repair trick in mind. I'm a sucker for rescuing battered AG dolls, and I've mostly replaced limbs but it's good to know there's a backup option.

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  17. I think 4-22-8 is a date. It makes sense if it was sold in 2009 because dolls aren't sold the day after they are manufactured. They have to go through tests and there could have been delays. Also, that black hair and yellow skin looks like Edward Scissorhands when the Avon lady tried to cover his scars. All in all, the repairs look great. People aren't perfect so it's nice to see a doll that isn't perfect.

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  18. I've been exploring your blog for about 6 months or so. I love your posts and especially your makeover posts like this. I've replaced 2 pairs of eyes, mostly because of your detailed descriptions. I'd love to see your My Twinn dolls all together sometime!

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  19. Emily, I think you did a truly amazing job on Lenora! All of your My Twinn restorations are lovely, but you worked a miracle on her. I would have never imagined her turning out so beautifully, especially after all the difficulties your were having in the beginning. The finger you fixed looks pretty good too. You did a much better job than I could have, I'm sure of that. I'm so grateful you got my Lenora, and I want to thank you again for documenting her restoration. Interestingly enough, black hair and blue eyes is one of my favorite combinations in dolls and people, so I think it all worked out perfectly in the end.

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  20. IF you dont have your own doll hospital business you certainly should! Your repair is amazing and all of the dolls look great!

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  21. Would you happen to have any leads on long (close to waist) dark blonde mohair wigs that fit these dolls? Thanks.

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  22. Been reading on here since 2012, (When I was 13) and this is my first comment to you, haha.. Its weird that I lowkey grew up reading this blog? I just found it so cool that someone near where i was from liked dolls and wasnt a kid.
    And the my twinn project is so cute because you have such a talent with it and obviously love the dolls.
    Thank you for running this blog, I cant tell you what inspiration Ive gotten from you and how many after school snacks I ate while reading your posts.

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  23. Aww, I love Maddie! I'd love to see a picture of her in a better outfit, she's so adorable and smiley.

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