Problem Solving: Josephine Part 1

For the second week of February dolls I’ve turned to Josephine Baker.

Look, I don’t have the time to tell you how amazing she was. She was a Black entertainer, singer, dancer, spy, cheetah mama, activist, civil rights icon, and more. OK? She did all of that in a time, not unlike today, when simply existing as a Black woman was difficult.

Yes, Cheetah. Like I don’t condone having wild animals as pets but Josephine gets a pass.

For my base doll I’m using a SnapStar doll.

These were dolls released in 2018 by Yulu and each of them were social media influencers. They are 10 inches tall. They came with green stands and a small green-screen you could pose them in front of (and use an app to give them different backgrounds), a wig, so-so clothing, inset acrylic eyes and 14 points of articulation.

Their faces and wigs are super-similar to Liv Dolls…which I have never seen in person and have no opinions on!

So if you want more info on those dolls..I’ve included this reviewer.

I bought Dawn on a trip to Seattle/California in 2019. I popped off her wig, I love her short hair, and she’s hung out in dress I made her ever since… looking like a friend of Prudence from Sabrina .

The eyes look great but they could be better.

Because they are acrylic, if I kept them in and covered them while working on the face, the chances of some of the acetone I’d use to remove her face damaging the eyes was great.

I went to the internet. A few people have done repaints on these dolls. Some have opened up their heads to remove/replace the eyes. That’s how I learned their dimensions. They’re 10mm.

I had some BJD eyes the same size in my collection BUT not in brown.

I ordered 10mm glass cabochons.

Blythe 14mmeye-chips are >just< the irises. These eyes needed to be 10mm BUT white with a 5mm iris. I checked my doll patterns for some eye-chip digital files I’d ordered for Blythe eyes and printed then at a reduced size of 35%.

There are better ways to do this than by printing two pages to get enough space around each eye but Apple upgrades have disabled my Photoshop.

I opened up the head to remove the eyes and started making Josphines iconic Eton crop hairstyle.

I used Apoxie Sculpt in black so it will need minimal painting.

I only sculpted around her face and will finish the whole head after her face and eyes are done, sealing the head back shut.

The biggest problem in making Josephine is picking an outfit and being able to sew it for a 10” doll.

I didn’t want to make The Banana Skirt. Everyone knows the banana skirt. It’s ALWAYS The Banana Skirt. Even if it wasn’t played out, the banana skirt is playing with loaded themes that aren’t really for a white creator like me to play with. No Banana Skirt.

I love the idea of making her in uniform but hated the prospect of that many tiny layers of fabric and detail when I don’t have an existing pattern in her size. Maybe in the future.

Her showgirl outfits posed other issues.

Some of them would have to be sculpted to her, making it impossible to change her outfits and Josephine deserves many outfits.

I love some of the beaded and feathered outfits but I didn’t have any brown power mesh in my stash. Ordering it online required more forethought than I had AND wouldn’t have allowed me to check the match to the doll.

I DID have power mesh, from my own costume making, but it matches my skin and I’m Steve Martin Level White.

Why working from my stash has limitations.

I could have dyed it but that would take experimentation and there’s always the risk of dyed items staining a doll’s skin.

I decided to make my >version< of this gold dress.

In copper…because I didn’t have a gold fabric that draped well but I had a whole container of copper fabrics for a future dance costume (if performing dance returns to my life on the regular.)

With great patience I slowly draped and pinned and beaded.

I even finished it!

I was….unhappy.

That’s a lovely dress but it blends in too much with her skin tone, making her one-note. She needs to have contrast and POP more. It’s Josephine Fucking Baker.

Thursday evening I posted the above image and tagged three local women who I know who have huge sewing stashes they have offered to let me explore in the past. I let them know I was looking for a small amount of drapey GOLD fabric.

My co-worker Enid, provider of the trim stash I used last week, told me to come over and look…and when the tornado warnings were over, I did.

I brought back a similar fabric in gold and a gold satin.

Time to make the dress in the colors the dress originally was.

I did have to simplify it, because the satin was just thick enough that rushing and layers made it too bulky, but I now have a whole new dress.

It lays more smoothly when she’s upright.

I’m not completely finished with the dress. The hem is too bulky. I’ll be removing the machine stitching and hand stitching it so it’s nearly invisible.

It’s now Friday and I’m hoping to finish Josephines face tonight…and maybe sculpt her hair.

Who knows what other complications will arise.

Problem Solving: Josephine Part 1

Paris Died Young.

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