Jane Fonda Jenny

This Denver-era doll has the "Caitie" face mold and is another doll who I was working on before I started the blog, so I don't have a great picture log of her transformation.

I found her on eBay, and was very fortunate that the seller agreed to let me post one of her big auction photos at the top of this post.  This will have to serve as the "before" picture:

My Twinn Caitie.  Photo courtesy of RosesMadeofAshes on eBay.

My first thought when I saw this girl was that her green eyes are gorgeous!  This color is hard to find in the older dolls and I love it.

My second thought was that she reminded me of Jane Fonda--especially Jane Fonda in the early '80s.  There's just something about her short, layered blonde hair.

Here's a snippet of Ms. Fonda from her role in Nine to Five (1980):

Do you see what I mean?  Maybe I'm crazy.

Anyway, I would have named this doll Jane, but then when she was finished she looked more like a Jenny to me...so I call her Jenny.  In fact, the My Twinn name for this face mold (as opposed to the names bestowed by collectors, which are more commonly used) is "Jennifer," so that's another good argument for the name Jenny.

I knew Jenny would need a new wig and some repair to her face because the auction photos clearly showed scuffs and areas of missing paint:

My Twinn Caitie.  Photo courtesy of RosesMadeofAshes on eBay.

But I was really hoping her beautiful eyes and eyebrows would be salvageable!

When Jenny arrived, I immediately removed her musty wig.  I also used some RemoveZit to take all of the paint off her lips and cheeks so that I could have a fresh start with my painting.  RemoveZit takes a long time to work, so that was all I did with Jenny for several weeks.

Here's a somewhat dark series of pictures after the RemoveZit did its job and I cleaned Jenny's face off:

One of her arms was really loose, her neck was wobbly, and she had quite a bit of dirt on her limbs:

The wonderful thing is that her eyes remain crystal clear and her eyebrows look great:

She had a few scuffs and shiny spots on her face, most notably a white scuff through her left eyebrow:

And some shiny spots and dark marks on her left cheek:

I was able to remove the streak through her left eyebrow, but the shiny spot on her cheek was more stubborn.  Here's the eyebrow after the scuff removal:

I also had to remove the stitches from the back of Jenny's cloth torso so that I could access the top of her loose arm.  The vinyl of the arm joint was not damaged, but I added some glue around the edges of the armature to keep the arm more solidly in place:

Jenny's head was also coming loose from the armature:

There was hardly any glue in there at all!

So I decided to just remove her head while I painted it and then re-glue it later.

Here's Jenny's head all ready for new face paint:

I gave her rosy cheeks and lips:

With a light sprinkle of freckles across her nose:

I also gave her dark eyelashes because I knew I wanted her to be a brunette.  The lashes make her face look a lot more grown-up, I think!

Jenny's medium skin tone has a bit of a yellow tinge to it.  I've noticed that these dolls tend to look best with dark hair.  So, I chose a gorgeous chocolate brown wig for Jenny:

This wig is from Doll of a Kind.  It doesn't have the mix of colors that Emma's wig has, but it's a gorgeous natural dark sable brown.  Of all the realistic dark brown wigs I've purchased for My Twinn dolls, this is the best.

Here it is from the back:

It's wonderfully heavy and thick.

And, once again, I've managed to assemble a light-eyed doll with dark hair:

Jenny's body is in reasonably good condition.  The white cloth torso means that she's from 1997, which is the Denver era of production.  I love the white bodies because they're quite slender and fit into all My Twinn clothing really well.

Jenny's back seam has been re-sewn by me and she has a few picks in the fabric:

Here's a better look:

Jenny's limbs have some scuffs and shiny spots that I did not fix, like this shiny spot on her ankle:

And some roughened vinyl on the tips of her fingers:

Because of her green eyes, Jenny got the green dress from Doll Clothes by Carole:

I like how Jenny looks with her thick hair pulled back...

...but I also took several shots of her with her wig down around her face:

She doesn't look much like Jane Fonda anymore!

The Caitie face is fairly common, as is this skin tone, but I think Jenny is made special by her brilliant eyes and her wonderful new wig:

It was hard to stop photographing Jenny, so I'll share a few more of the different poses she struck for me!

I'll end with a reminder of Jenny's appearance before her makeover...

...and a close-up after:

Here's a summary of everything that was done to Jenny:

*her eyes are original

-re-gluing of one arm at the joint

-re-gluing of the neck joint

-re-sewing of back seam after armature repairs

-new face paint, including lips but excluding eyebrows.  The eyebrows are original.

-new wig by Doll of a Kind

-new eyelashes

-mild vinyl cleaning

She has a few scuffs here and there (most notably a faint shiny area on her left cheek) and her armature is pretty squeaky.  Other than that, she's all fixed up and ready for the next chapter in her adventure!

Jenny has found a wonderful new home!