Starfire: it starts

Me (watching YouTube videos): wow, but who has the patience for that? That’s too finicky for me.

Me (months later): Well, I guess now I do this too.

And so it was with rerooting doll hair.

I’ve been on the lookout for a “Clawdeen Wolf” 17inch tall Monster High doll to make into a Teen Titans Go Starfire to pair with the Raven I made.

While in America, shopping at Tuesday Morning for random dolls, I bought a regular sized version of Clawdeen as a test doll.

I also thought, “Cool! Her hair is kinda the right color!”

Silly me.

I didn’t realize the need to make Starfire would lead me to learning how to plunge needles into a doll’s naked head, sowing rows of synthetic hair.

Once back in Japan I realized some obvious issues.

• Starfire doesn’t have wolf ears on top of her head.

• Starfire does have noticeable ears though, in a location Clawdeen doesn’t.

• Even if I remove Clawdeen’s ears, fill the existing holes, and reattach those ears lower as Starfire ears….Clawdeen is going to have bald head spots

I think this is where normal people decide that 8$USD spent on a doll is no great loss. It is where >I< decided to learn how to fill skull holes, move ears, and reroot a whole head.

Time to Google things!

What did I do before I learned to teach myself from the wisdom of the internet?

Libraries. I know I taught myself interior faux finishes from library books. Just as my mother learned she could check out books on refinishing floors….and rent heavy duty tools.

In my day the neck of a Barbie or similar doll was a simple affair with a simple nodule the head would fit onto. If that nodule broke, or the neck hole in the head suffered structural damage, you had a head that popped off easily and needed to be shoved so far onto the neck as to be absurd.

Now Barbie and similar fashion dolls have a more complex plastic inner head rack that is less likely to be damaged by ill meaning playmates and bad choices.

It reminds me of an IUD.

Game on.

I cut off Clawdeen’s perfectly crimped hair, warmed her head, and eased her off her skull hooks.

Then I took tweezers and a needle nosed pliers to remove the remaining hair plugs from the inside and outside of her head.

Then, it was time for a setback.

The internet recommends a non-toxic glue called Liquid Fusion for plugging the holes left behind when cutting off the doll’s ears. Liquid Fusion would have been easy to buy in America but I was back in Japan.

I was able, with much google power, to find in available in a Japanese online store dedicated to fly-fishing. They didn’t have an online checkout but I emailed them for an invoice, transferred the money, and would soon be back in business.