Rapunzel 1

My goal was to get this Rapunzel done before the end of May, which seemed like no problem, but suddenly I'm at the point where if I don't get this entry posted today, it'll be June!  I can't believe how fast time is flying these days--perhaps in part because we're all starting to venture out into the world again in ways that have been hard for the past year. It feels truly amazing and liberating.

What better way to celebrate venturing out into the world than by making a Rapunzel doll? Not that anyone needs a good excuse to make a Rapunzel doll.  She's such a fun character.  Tangled is also my favorite Disney movie, so I felt a lot of extra pressure while I was making this girl.  I adore how Disney portrays Rapunzel.  She's such a delight in that film, and I had a great time watching the movie (several times) as I planned this doll.

Choosing the right My Twinn face for Rapunzel was the first step.  Last summer I ran a poll to see which face molds everyone thought would suit each princess character, and Rapunzel was one of the tricky ones.  The Denika face ended up winning by a small margin--37% as I recall.  Still, I think this was a good choice since the Denika mold has a smile to convey Rapunzel's bright personality.

Rapunzel started out as this beautiful pale-skinned, purple-eyed Denika from 2000:

2000 My Twinn doll with the Denika face.

My Way Mary

I don't usually do custom work (I'm way too slow and I worry about people being disappointed), but I had a neat opportunity a few weeks ago to make a custom My Way Kid doll for a person who has been really supportive and dear to me over the last few years.

The My Way Kids do not have realistic features, so it's a little hard to make a portrait doll with them, but because they were originally designed to be customized, I was excited to try my own version of this process.

My friend wanted a doll that resembled her daughter, Mary.  The real Mary is fair with light freckles, hazel-green eyes, and wavy brown hair.  The doll version of Mary started out as this Mischievous-faced My Way Kid with grey eyes, pale skin, patchy blushing, and messy blonde hair:

My Way Kid doll with pale skin and the Mischievous face.