The Hogwarts Girls!

I had some time over the weekend to get all four of my Harry Potter-themed dolls photographed as a group.  They were a well-behaved bunch for the most part, although Hermione has a bit of trouble looking straight at the camera and Luna is about three shades paler than the rest of the girls, which really confused my settings!  Here they are:

My Twinn Hogwarts dolls.

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.

Cho

Things have gotten interesting here in Maine this past week.  We've had a snowstorm, high winds, tree branches on the roof, and several power outages mixed in with the underlying pandemic situation.  The nice thing is that none of this actually slowed my progress on the next Harry Potter doll: Cho Chang.  However, Cho's makeover process did plenty to slow itself down!  I'll tell you the whole story, of course.

I added Cho to my mix of Hogwarts girls because I really like this character from the books and movies, and also because I had a re-pour Pearl head on my hands that I was excited to use:

My Twinn re-pour Pearl head.

Ginny

I can hardly believe it's April already!  Time has taken on a strange new way of passing and I barely know what day it is anymore.  Regardless of the day, spring has sprung here in Maine and it's lifting the spirits of everyone in my little town.  I hope you are all feeling a similar buoyancy amid the new restrictiveness of life.

In keeping with this bright weekend, I have a sunny redhead to share with you today!  Ginny Weasley is the second in a series of four Harry Potter-themed dolls that I'm currently working on.  Hermione can be seen here, while Cho Chang and Luna Lovegood are coming next (in that order).

With Ginny, I knew immediately what My Twinn mold I wanted to use.  Even though I'm trying to stick with the books' descriptions for hair and eye color choices, I can't help but be influenced by the movie actors when I'm choosing a face mold.  Danielle's features (especially her mouth) remind me of a young Bonnie Wright.

Here's the specific Danielle that I chose for this role:

2002 My Twinn doll with the Danielle face.

Hermione

For those of you who used to read the Toy Box Philosopher blog, you'll know that I love the Harry Potter books and movies.  I really enjoyed reviewing several Hermione Granger dolls (this one is my favorite).  Because of this obsession, I knew from the very first moment I visited Doll Clothes by Carole that I wanted to use Carole's amazing handmade Harry Potter costumes to create a small series of My Twinn dolls from this wonderful fantasy world.

The next four dolls that I'll share here will be based on Harry Potter characters.  Two of them (Hermione and Luna) will wear full Hogwarts robes while the other two (Ginny and Cho) will have simpler costumes to keep their prices lower.  These dolls will all be posted on Etsy at the same time--once the collection is complete.

I decided not to make Harry Potter himself mostly because I was unable to find appropriate glasses or a good wig.

I'm going to start this series with my favorite character, Hermione.  There isn't a My Twinn face mold that fully captures Hermione's sassy, expressive personality, but I settled on the Denika head because it has a bit more character than the other faces I have on hand:

1999 My Twinn doll with the Denika face mold.

And the Winner is...

Thank you to everyone who joined in for a chance to win Valerie for $2.20!  Here are all of the names that were entered:

The odds were pretty good this time!  See the video with the winner after the jump.

Virus-Free Valerie

Well, these are some crazy times, aren't they?  I've spent the last two weeks moving three sad and slightly overwhelmed kids out of their colleges and back into our tiny house.  We're having fun, but we rarely go outside.  I'd love to hear how all of you are doing--please tell your story in the comments if you feel like it.

I was photographing my next doll for the Etsy shop when it occurred to me that a better idea might be to hold another giveaway!  We all need something fun (and inexpensive) to cheer us up.  So this doll will be offered for $2.20 on Etsy to whoever wins my little raffle drawing (see the rules and how to enter at the bottom of this post).

I searched my doll stash for a girl who didn't need much work, and I found this lovely Rosemary.  I saw her on eBay and thought she was one of the most interesting versions of this face mold that I'd ever seen.  I named her Valerie because it means "strong and healthy," and that's what I'm wishing for all of us right now:

1997 My Twinn doll with the Rosemary face.

Snap Decision Safiya

I feel very fortunate to have been able to work on this lovely doll.  She is extremely rare.  I found her on eBay (with her sister, Orla the autumn fairy) at a $200 Buy it Now price.  By some lucky chance, I saw the auction shortly after it opened.  I knew, looking at those two beautiful black dolls, that they would sell in mere minutes, but $200 is a lot to invest at one time.  So I had to make a tough, split-second decision on whether or not to buy them.  My main concerns were if they'd be restorable (they were in pretty bad shape), and if I'd be able to find materials that would do them justice.

Needless to say, I clicked that tantalizing Buy it Now button, and it was definitely a good choice.  Orla is currently off ruling the fairy realm in another state, and this girl was able to reach her potential with the help of a custom-ordered ZaZou wig.

Meet Safiya (sah-fee-ah), whose name has African and Arabic roots and means pure and wise:

1997 My Twinn doll with the Catherine face.

Signing My Work

The other day a friend from Etsy mentioned that I should think about signing my dolls.  I was so flattered by this comment, but I'd never really thought much about it.  Maybe that's because most of the hard work and artistry on a My Twinn doll was done 20 years ago--and not by me!

But I love the idea of giving each doll I work on a little token to document their time here.  Maybe even something that could travel with the doll to future owners and point them back to all of the information in this blog.

Here's what I came up with:

My Twinn Project Shop necklace!

Elegant Elsie

I'm always on the lookout for a new source of wigs, since fun hair is a great way to add diversity to the dolls I restore.  A few months ago, I was admiring the 11" American Girl wigs at ZaZou Custom Dolls and decided to ask if they could make some 13" wigs for My Twinns.  To my delight, ZaZou's owner, Danielle, was happy to special order this size of wig for me!  She took a ton of time and effort to make sure the fit was exactly right, too.  I ordered five different styles of wig and they arrived just a few weeks ago.

Because Danielle had to order each wig in batches of 10, and because I only needed a few of each style, there are still some 13" wigs for sale over at ZaZou if you're interested!  The wigs are beautiful, and I highly recommend the shop.  One note: the 13" Merina wig is not as red as it looks in the photo.  It's the same color as the 11" Bohemian Gingersnap wig.

As you can imagine, I was eager to work on a few dolls who could model these new wigs!  One of the girls is a very special doll who needs a lot of work, so I wanted to select a second doll who could be completed fairly quickly.  This is where my elegant Elsie--who looks like she barely needs any work at all--came into the picture:

1997 My Twinn doll with the Kelsey face.