A New Look for Cookie

First things first: I apologize for not enabling comments on this site sooner.  I thought it would be automatic, but I actually had to go and chance a bunch of settings.  I've had a few people message me through Etsy with wonderful tips and suggestions, and I'd love to be able to share that kind of information right here for everyone to see.  Now that should be possible.

Also, I'm nearing the end of my first wave of dolls.  I have a sweet Cookie to show you today and then just one more doll to sell before I start fixing up a new batch of girls (with new outfits!). 

This 1997 Cookie is a doll I was working on way back in the Toy Box Philosopher days.  I never thought I would sell her, but I need to make some tough choices to get my doll room down to a reasonable number of inhabitants.

The Cookie face isn't ridiculously rare, but it's much harder to find than the faces I've featured on this blog so far.  In addition, this Cookie has the very pale skin tone, which can be elusive.

The only downside to this Cookie is that she came to me in pretty bad shape, with holes in her cloth body, a thinning wig, fading eyes, missing eyelashes, a loose arm, a lot of stains, and a lot of dirt!  She even had dirt wedged into her eye sockets.  I still thought she was adorable, though:

1997 My Twinn Cookie.

Here's a full-body picture of her when she first arrived:

I moved a few pictures over from Toy Box Philosopher to show you my first attempt at giving this girl a new look.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the makeover process.

I fixed and cleaned Cookie's body, changed her wig, gave her dark blue eyes, accented her eyebrows, and added some blush...but I was not very happy with the outcome:

She was hard to photograph against my grey backdrop, but that was only part of the problem.  As much as I love redheads, her coloration just wasn't working for me.  She looked too washed-out and almost clown-like.

She'd certainly lost all of her cute, spunky appeal:

The red hair and purple sweater make her complexion look SO sickly pale!  Argh!

After some wonderful suggestions from my TBP readers, I re-attempted Cookie's makeover with chestnut brown hair, lots of freckles, and bangs.

I think she's worlds better now, which is why I never thought I'd sell her:

I got her out the other day to take a few more pictures.  These pictures are so dark--sorry.  I still haven't found a great way to replace the nice lights from my old studio.

I repaired all of the holes in Cookie's body and surfaced-cleaned all of the stains.  There are still some very faint discolored areas on the white fabric, but for the most part the body looks (and smells) clean:

The armature is really squeaky, though.

I had to open the back seam in order to fix Cookie's arm and repair the holes in the fabric, so she has a re-sewn seam in back:

Along with a modest number of pulls and snags:

I gave her quite a ruddy complexion, so even though she's very pale, she has a lot of color in her cheeks now.  I think this makes her look more vibrant and child-like:

I love these dark blue Secrist eyes.  The color almost perfectly matches the actual color of one of my own kids' eyes:

Here's a look at Cookie's face paint with the bangs moved out of the way:

The right side of her wig has a bit of visible glue, but this style of hair hides the defect well:

The purple My Twinn sweater was not doing Cookie's complexion any favors, so I redressed her in the lovely striped blue dress from Doll Clothes by Carole...and my favorite Simply for Dolls shoes:

I think this dress makes Cookie's eyes look especially nice:

I should mention that Cookie is sporting a brown Monique Patience wig in size 13-14.  I straightened this wig because I wanted a silkier texture for her hair.  The wig has slight reddish tones, but it's not as red as it appears in some of my photos.  It's a beautiful, natural brown color:

The wig is still shedding a bit of hair, which is common with new wigs, especially if I've washed them.

Here are a few more pictures of Cookie and her sweet face:

I thought Cookie would look really cute in ponytails, but I didn't have any appropriate elastics, and the wig is not very conducive to this hairstyle!

Hairstyle fail.

So instead I just asked Cookie to hold her hair up like it was in ponytails!

Good try, kiddo.

Cookie relaxed into the photo shoot after that:

And we had a bit of fun:

I was pretty unhappy with the indoor lighting again, so I took Cookie outside for some sunny-day pictures in natural light:

Her coloring is exaggerated in the sun... 

...and a little washed out in the shade:

But I think she's adorable either way.

This doll has such a sweet expression.  She's happy, but with a bit of a serious side, too.  I tend to think of her as a sister to the Caitie-faced dolls.  The two have a lot of similarities.

Here's list of everything that was done to Cookie while she was in my care:
-surface cleaning and stain removal on the body
-cleaning of vinyl parts and eye sockets
-repair of rips and holes in the cloth body
-loose arm repair
-a new Monique 13-14" wig in chestnut brown
-new Secrist acrylic eyes in dark blue
-face paint, including eyebrows, freckles, and lip paint enhancement/repair
-new eyelashes (I actually changed the eyelashes twice--the second time to reduce the amount of visible glue)
-new dress from Doll Clothes by Carole

Cookie still has some discolored spots on her cloth torso, but they're faint.  She also has a re-sewn back seam with some picks and snags in the fabric on her back.  Her armature is quite squeaky, but she still poses beautifully.

I have a special place in my heart for this sweetie.  Her earlier makeover might have been a bit of a train wreck, but I think she's recaptured some of her previous spunk and personality, and is ready to share all of those qualities with someone new.

Cookie is off to her new home!  Thank you!