Luna

Here I am--at last--with the final doll in the Harry Potter series!  I'm nowhere near the end of re-watching all of the Harry Potter movies, though.  With five adults all trying to get work done in this house, there's not a ton of time for watching movies.  Still, just thinking about the characters and watching a few of the movies has been really fun.

When I first got the Audrey doll that I used for Sterling, I thought she'd make an excellent Luna Lovegood.  Maybe it was just because she was super-pale and came with a long, slightly messy blonde wig?  However, a doll from my personal collection kept calling out to me, insisting that she was a better choice:

1997 My Twinn doll with the Wendy face.

I think that the Wendy face mold is similar to the Audrey mold in many ways, but the Wendy face has a bit more of a smile--which fits Luna's character really well.  It didn't take long before I felt certain that Luna had to have the Wendy face.

This particular Wendy also has a very pale skin tone, which is perfect for Luna and can be hard to find.

Despite feeling certain that I wanted a pale Wendy for this project, it took me a while to come around to the idea of giving this particular doll a makeover.  She was in excellent condition when she came to me, which is one of the reasons that I moved her into my own collection and never considered making any modifications to her.

Her 1997 body is in nearly-perfect condition, with no squeaks, very few pulls, and practically no dirt or dust:

Dating her body was a bit difficult, though, because her tag does not have a date on it:

If you look really closely, you can see where the date was supposed to be embroidered, but there's no pink thread to define the numbers:

I can see a pretty clear indentation of "(c)1997," so that's when I'm assuming she's from, but it's definitely strange!  Fortunately, her clothing and box corroborated that time period.

Here's a look at her back:

And a close-up view of her cloth torso:

She's a really pretty doll and I remember being thrilled to get her in such beautiful condition.

I've had her around for a while now, though, and I guess I never really bonded with her the way I've bonded with my other dolls.  She's a little bland.

She wasn't in *completely* pristine condition, either.  

For example, her eyes look gorgeously dark blue in photos, but they were actually the pseudo-purple color that I'm not crazy about:

Also, her factory blushing was a bit sloppy.  She had subtle areas of red around her mouth and eyes that I thought looked bad.  These are hard to see in photos, but maybe you can see them faintly in this shot:

It's like she just ate a red popsicle.

Anyway, despite these little flaws, she wasn't a doll in need of a makeover.

Still, she seemed like the best candidate for Luna that I was likely to find, so--against my better judgement--I launched into her makeover transformation.

I removed the wig (it came off easily and is in great shape!), and inspected the head up-close:

I love her little sprinkling of freckles!

I removed the eyelashes next:

These must have been replaced or re-glued at some point because there was a lot of sticky residue on the eyes:

With the eyelashes removed, I also noticed that the eyes had lost a considerable amount of definition in the irises.  They're really blurry:

I was feeling a lot better about replacing the eyes at this point!

Here's another close-up of the mouth, but I still think it's hard to make out the extra red areas:

In the Harry Potter books, Luna is described as having "silver blue" eyes.  I love the metallic silver-blue silicone eyes that I chose for Lumi the winter fairy, but the shade of blue in those eyes seemed a little too dark for Luna.

Instead, I ordered some light blue glass eyes from my favorite place: Hand Glass Craft.

This color looked shockingly pale and a bit strange when I first saw it, but I think it's appropriate for Luna to have strange eyes!

I just love the swirling detail in these irises, too:

Powder Blue D400 Low Lens Flat Back eyes from Hand Glass Craft.

Once I had the eyes safely in place, I stripped away Luna's original face paint, leaving only the freckles behind.  This was not a great look for Luna:

More Game of Thrones than Harry Potter.

As an aside: Luna's neck seam is open in these pictures because I always check this joint to make sure the glue is still in place and the connection is secure.  Luna's neck joint was nice and strong, so I left her head in place and did all of the painting with the body attached.

First I added some new lip and cheek color:

She's alive again!

She looks much better with a bit of color in her cheeks (and no color on her upper lip)!

Evanna Lynch, who portrays Luna in the Harry Potter movies, has very distinct eyebrows.  They have a wonderful high arch that is very expressive.  I wanted to try and recreate this eyebrow shape on my Luna.

First I sketched in the rough shape with watercolor pencil:

And then I filled in the shape with acrylics:

The color seemed a little too dark to me at this stage, but I charged ahead:

Next I gave Luna some new blonde eyelashes:

The lashes were quite a bit lighter than the eyebrows, but--again--I didn't think too much about it.

I also gave Luna her new wig (a lovely blonde Dollmore wig called Vallin) and dressed her in the complete Hogwarts outfit.

At this point I uploaded some photos to my computer and started to look at what I had done.  The eyebrows looked absolutely ridiculous.  It wasn't even just that they were the wrong color, but they were way too long, with the arch occurring about where the entire eyebrow should end.

Take another look:

Facepalm.

So, I wrapped Luna in a clean pillow case (to protect her outfit) and repainted her eyebrows.  

I think they're better this time, although I was so worried about making her look angry that I didn't achieve the exaggerated arch that I was hoping for:

You can get a glimpse of the wig in this picture, too, and see that it has a visible wig cap along the hairline (as all Dollmore wigs do).

Here's a shot that shows the eye itself nicely:

And another close-up with the eyebrow a bit more in focus:

The color is a better match for the eyelashes now, too.

With that all sorted out, I can finally show you Luna in her full Hogwarts regalia!

I love the Ravenclaw cloak, and I especially love how the blue in the crest matches Luna's eyes!

It was pretty hard to find a super-long, slightly curly, pale blonde wig for this doll.  I'm very happy to have found the Vallin wig at Dollmore--and I'm especially glad that I found it a few months ago, since it's currently sold out.

This wig is silky and soft to the touch, but its extreme length can make it unruly during a posing session.  Fortunately, it's fairly thin and brushes out easily.

I don't think I've ever demonstrated how the hood on this robe is fully functional.  It pulls all of the way up to the top of Luna's head

The hood sticks up a bit in the back because of the stiffness of the fabric, but I think this looks good:

Here's how the hood looks from the front...and also a good example of how unruly Luna's hair can get!

The crest on this robe is beautifully done, too:

Luna is holding a metal replica of her second wand as it was depicted in the movies.  The wand is held in her hand with some clear elastic bands that I'll send along with her to her new home:

The wand is actually a stylus with the tip cut off:

Luna's hair and wand make her very fun to pose!

Underneath the Ravenclaw robe, Luna is wearing a white dress shirt, a tie (this loops around Luna's neck with an elastic band), a knitted sweater vest, a pleated skirt, black tights, and black shoes.

This is definitely my best sweater vest.  Everything came together nicely--especially in the neckline where some of the other sweaters got slightly wonky:

After seeing this sweater, I actually went back and knit Hermione another vest because I wasn't happy with hers anymore.

I like how Luna looks without the stark black of her robe.  I thought it would be good to take her official portrait while she was dressed like this:

I prefer this next version, though, with the hair fanned out a bit around Luna's shoulders:

Here's her transformation GIF:

The original doll was very pretty.  I think Luna is pretty in a completely new way, though, which is fun.  She certainly isn't bland anymore.  And now she has eyes that will never fade!

I played around with Luna's hair a little bit while she was wearing this simpler outfit:

  

I chose to glue the wig with the part off to one side because this is how Luna's hair looks in the movies.  I like the look of the side part (I've never tried this before!) but it makes the hair fall into Luna's eye on the left side.

Because of the visible wig cap, there aren't too many alternate hairstyles that work for this wig.  The only style I found that works for Luna is a small clip on the left side of her head, gently pulling the hair back from her face without exposing too much of the wig cap:

Most of the time I just left the hair down, though, because the long curls and side part are fun to play with!

Because my husband is now working from home and using various rooms in our house as his office, I've been moving my photography set-up around quite a bit.  As a result, I photographed Luna over the course of three days in three different locations.

You might notice that the coloring seems different in some of the shots.  In rooms without much ambient light, Luna's pale face and hair can make her look really washed out.

As an example, I like this pose but Luna's coloring is not especially vibrant:

I find myself squinting to try and see more definition in her face.

My best pictures were taken when there was some sunshine available.  This kind of lighting brightens Luna's eyes and makes her hair shine, although it also adds more color to her vinyl than she actually has.

Here are some of my pictures from the best lighting set-up:

These last pictures weren't all taken in optimal lighting, but they were taken while I was having a lot of fun!

In the Harry Potter books, Luna gets special recognition for being able to cast the elusive Patronus spell.  She decided that she wanted to try and cast that spell here, for all of you to see:

Expecto Patronum!

Whoa!  A bunny!

She seems proud of herself, doesn't she?

I asked Luna to work a bit more of her magic before we ended the photo session, and she was happy to oblige:

This particular project was so much fun for me.  Most of the dolls that I work on require some sort of core restoration work that can take a long time and isn't very creative.  With Luna, I got to focus on the fun things like paint, eyes, and hair...and then I had an amazing outfit to dress her in when my work was complete!  More than that, though, I got to reminisce about some of my favorite scenes and lines from the Harry Potter books and movies while I worked.

Luna's restoration was simple and smooth.  Here's a summary of the work that was done on her:

-her eyes were replaced with powder blue D400 low lens flat back eyes from Hand Glass Craft

-her face paint was stripped away (leaving her freckles in tact!)

-her face was sprayed with Mr. Super Clear sealant

-her features were repainted, including lips, blush, freckle enhancement, and eyebrows

-she was given new eyelashes

-she was given a new Dollmore Vallin Long wig in pale blonde, set with a side part

-her eyebrows were painted again :)

-she is dressed in a Hogwarts uniform made by Doll Clothes by Carole.  The outfit is enhanced with a hand-knitted sweater vest, a metal replica wand, black tights, and black shoes

Luna has very few flaws.  Her body has some minor picks and scuffs from being 23 years old.  The Dollmore wig has some thin areas and the wig cap is visible along the hairline, but it is a beautiful, new wig with no factory flaws.

Luna inspired a spark of fantasy in me, offering a welcome break from the harshness of our current reality.  I hope she can do the same for all of you!

Luna has sold.  Thank you!