My Way Evie

Well, this is going to be a busy fall.  After what was surely not enough deliberation, I decided to start writing over at Toy Box Philosopher again.  This decision probably seems odd and sudden to you, and it seems odd and sudden to me, too.  All I know is that it makes me ridiculously happy to think about reviewing dolls again!  My goal is to start this Sunday with a Sunday Surprise review and take it from there.  I'm already planning about twenty reviews--some of which are underway.  There's a lot of catching up to be done!

Before that project takes over my week (and my life), I have two My Way Kids that I want to show you.  These two are probably my very favorites so far!  They'll join the Belle dolls over in the Etsy shop as soon as they can.  For Evie, that will mean later this week.

The first girl has the pale skin tone and the Mischievous face.  She came with brown eyes and a red wig:

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

This is only the second pale doll that I've ever worked on.  The first was Mary, the custom cutie I made for a friend.  The pale vinyl is very hard to find, so I probably won't be able to make too many of these girls.

The pale vinyl can also look really strange and ghostly in photographs, especially on a doll without much face color, but in reality I think it's just beautiful.  I love working with it.

I decided to name this girl Evie.  It follows my four letter naming rule, and it also suits the look I had in mind for the finished doll.

Evie is one of the dirtier My Way Kids that I've ever bought.  She came with dark spots all over her torso. I think you can even see them in the full-body pictures:

Here's a better look:

The cable tie around her neck was also really pronounced:

The cable tie looks like that because the large, leftover end of the tie was tucked into the neck seam instead of being cut.

There was also a large gap at the side of the neck seam, and some of the surrounding stitches looked strained:

Here's Evie from the back:

Her midline seam was coming undone half way down her back:

When I took Evie's body apart to clean it, I noticed that she (like Pria) had mismatched arms.  She has seven armature links in her left arm and only six in her right:

The missing link in the right arm had slipped into the lower part of the arm because of a small tear in the vinyl:

I pulled the armature out, repositioned it correctly, and then filled the well at the top of the arm with hot glue.  I actually did this to all of the limbs in order to strengthen those areas.

I also glued the edges of the fabric at all of the fabric-vinyl joints to hold those stitches in place.  I do this on all of the Kids now.

Once the glue was dry, I washed the body in the sink and washed the stuffing in the washing machine.  I also cleaned all of the vinyl parts with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

As I was cleaning Evie's head, I noticed that she had a hairline molding defect running the length of the right side of her face:

I sanded this down until it was practically invisible:

Here's Evie with her eyes removed and her face cleaned, sealed, and ready for paint!

I gave her grey glass eyes (like Brie's eyes):

I love these eyes so much.  They look like a beautiful dark grey-blue color in most light:

I gave Evie some spunky little two-toned eyebrows:

I also gave her face a lot of blush (finally she doesn't look like an alien!) and lips that are full on top and thinner on the bottom:

And of course I gave her some freckles and beauty marks:

I did all of the painting with the idea that I would use a cute bobbed blonde wig for Evie's hair.  This wig is very pale--nearly platinum blonde--and so I really wanted to use it on a pale-vinyl doll.

I think it suits her:

The reassembly of the body went smoothly, although my hand stitching is never quite as tidy as I wish it were.

There's a still a little gap in the neck seam:

Despite the little piece of extension fabric that I added to the neck.

There's a slo a little bit of Fabric-tac residue around Evie's neck.  This is because I like to line the edges of the fabric with glue to avoid fraying.  Usually this is invisible, but I also had to re-position Evie's neck ring fabric one time because I sewed it so that it was too short and wouldn't completely reach up over the vinyl neck.  I had to rip out the stitches and sew it again with a smaller seam allowance--exposing the glue.

The indoor pictures of Evie aren't great.  I knew they wouldn't be because she's so pale.  But I'll show you a few of them anyway.

Here she is without her clothing:

You can see that the body is nice and clean and that the waist darts have been let out:

The back is carefully hand-stitched back together:

Bad lighting or not, she's a cutie:

I tried a few different outfits on Evie, and decided that this delicate blue party dress from Fairy Tale Blessings was a perfect fit:

This is one of my favorites dresses.  And the dark blue is a great match for Evie's eyes!

I also made Evie a little name bracelet:

None of the My Way Kids balance up on their own very well, but Evie gave me even more trouble than usual.  It was rare that I could get her to pose in anything other than a straight up-and-down position:

Here's a nice straight-on portrait of Evie:

And her comparison GIF:

In preparation for getting Toy Box Philosopher up and running again, I actually invested in some new lightbulbs.  I got these set up and tried a few test shots with Evie to see if she looked any better with the new set-up:

There are fewer shadows on her face now, which is nice, but her hair looks strange--almost like it was photoshopped.

Here are a few more shots that I took with the new lights:

The shots look weird to me.  It might be Evie's paleness, but I also might have positioned the lights wrong.  Photography is always a work in progress for me.

There's nothing like natural light, though.  So let's not waste any more time with indoor photos!  

Here's Evie out in my yard looking much more like she looks in real life:

This is the real me!

I think the short hairstyle really suits this face sculpt!

I almost made Evie into a fairy because of the ethereal glow she has.

She wanted to be a regular girl, though, and that's fine with me.

She just wanted to run and play in the yard!

Evie politely pointed out to me that her dress is a bit wrinkled.  I'll fix that for her before she goes to her new home.

Here's a look at her freckling in the natural light:

And here she is from a couple of different angles:

I have a lot of dolls with the Mischievous face mold, and it can be a challenge to make them all look distinct.  My idea with Evie was to lean in to her pale complexion by pairing it with a pale wig, and also to give her short hair to accentuate her young age.  I'm very happy with how she came out and I think she looks quite different from Pria, Mary, and Brie.

Here's a summary of all the work that was done on Evie:

-her head was separated from her body

-her old wig, eyelashes, and eyes were removed

-the detachable pate of the head was removed

-all dirt and factory paint was washed off

-a molding defect on the head was sanded down

-the head was coated with Mr. Super Clear UV cut matte sealant

-new grey glass eyes were inserted and glued into place with hot glue

-the pate was re-attached to the head and glued in place with hot glue

-the face was painted using artist grade acrylics

-the face was given another light coat of sealant

-the back midline seam of the body was opened and all stuffing was removed

-the piece of fabric at the neck was removed

-all stuffing was washed in the washing machine

-all vinyl-to-fabric connections were reinforced with vinyl glue

-an error in the construction of the arms was corrected and the arms were glued to the armature

-the fabric torso was washed and bleached by hand

-the body was re-stuffed and the back midline seam was re-sewn by hand

-the side seams in the torso were let out

-a section of fabric was added to the neck piece and it was sewn back into place by hand

-the vinyl in the ankles was heated and then cooled into a more flat-footed position

-the head was re-attached to the body

-a premium wig from ZaZou Custom Dolls was glued at the front and back with hot glue

-new eyelashes were secured with tacky glue (only on the top)

-Evie is wearing a handmade blue dress from Fairy Tale Blessings.  This dress is paired with white shoes and a beaded name bracelet.  The shoes have lifts in the heels to help Evie with balance.

Flaws: Evie has some holes in her fabric torso where the waist darts used to be.  She also has visible hand stitching on her back and around her neck.  There's a small amount of glue residue near her neck leftover from me reinforcing that area and then repositioning the neck fabric. There's a gap at the back of her neck seam with a visible cable tie.  Her vinyl limbs have factory paint (with some imperfections). Evie does not stand on her own and needs a doll stand for display.

Evie's good friend Nala is almost finished and just needs to have her picture taken.  I hope to be back before too long with her blog post!

In the meantime, wish me luck over on TBP.  My intent is to keep working on the Kids and the Twinns, so this blog will continue on as usual.  I have what I think is a good plan for keeping things sane with the doll reviews (mostly because of the advice many of you have given me over the years!) and I also have a more stable and uneventful life now that my kids are off in college (again).  I'm excited to get back to work.