First Doll of the Year

I looked over my planner/journals for the last few years as I set up my 2024 BuJo. I was alarmingly productive when working two job and some side hustles and as i looked at pages the ways I stayed on schedule, prepped myself for projects/teaching/dance/life are coming back to me.

Sometimes you need to carve out time for your art/joy/creations.

My first doll of the year is next to me as I type, to keep me on track.

This is where she started:

She’s a hybrid: Lol Surprise Body and a Hairdorables head

When I first saw the LOL Surprise bodies I loved how curvy they were (although I wanted articulated knees) but I wasn’t a fan of the face shape. It’s wide and flat and ehhhh. I have seven more in my stash so I’ll eventually come to terms with working on one of those faces.

Related confession: I never liked Betty Boop either.

I scored both of these dolls used in Japan. The LOL was either from Dollyterria or Mercari and I KNOW the Hairdorable was from the Hobby-Off in KitaSenju, one stop away from my mental healthcare provider. I’d always pop in before my appointment to see if they had any delightful friends for me.

Fun fact: I was on Lexapro for twelve years. Japan only prescribes a month of Lexapro at a time and makes you see your doctor to get the next script. Early on, getting my monthly prescription would eat up a whole evening per month. Nowadays in America I’m on Adderall for my ADHD. Being on a “controlled substance” here means a lot of extra steps to make sure you get your script each month…but I' got used to that sort of planning a decade ago.

The Hairdorable head isn’t an exact color match for the body, it’s slightly more reddish in hue, but I was determined to make my first doll of the year. I’ve intended to use this head and body for two years. It moved across an ocean with me. It was TIME.

Hairdorables have lovely hair, its kinda their thing, but I cut it all off. I want to do more dolls that have textured hair in general. I had some “super kinky” hair in my stash in black and violet I decided to use.

My friend Toya once had her hair colored these magical blue and green hues and I loved it. I only saw it in pictures but I think of it often. It served as inspiration.

Rooting the super kinky hair goes faster than straight hair because the volume of each strand means you need stab fewer holes of it into your doll.

To tell the truth, this is only my second doll using it and I’m still a bit unsure of how best to space it and style it.

Making doll clothing has also been an ongoing struggle for me. Too often I’d finish a face and then stall at the clothing, having not thought at all about it. I’ve decided I have to start brainstorming and making clothing earlier in my doll process.

This sort of planning isn’t my strong point. I like to just hope that if I’m a very good artist, inspiration will spark in my brain and see me through. That’s not realistic though.

If you want to have consistent output, you both have to feed your inspiration on the regular AND find ways to create and work when the Grand Inspiration isn’t inhabiting you.

I first made the fake fur jacket. God only knows how long I’ve had this small remnant of purple leopard fake fur. I’d made a jacket pattern for my Pris doll so this worked up quickly. The body (but not the arms) are lined.

Then I stalled…and made the face to keep on track

I was hoping for a Black Afropunk vibe for this girl.

The waist to hip ratio on these dolls is crazy so they are difficult to make bottoms for. I cruised the online patterns for LOL Surprise dolls, the free and ones for sale, and nothing called to me.

I do have some LOL Surprise clothes from the bag o’ dolls I bought, so I started sorting through them. Eventually I made a top based on one I had in my stash…and then failled making a few skirts.

Finally it hit me…stop with the skirts for a bit. 100% STOP trying to make non-stretch fabrics work for the hit/waist ratio until I’ve made a few more items for these dolls.

I turned to a pair of stretchy LOL trousers.

BINGO. I copied them the best I could and by the second pair I was there!

First pair, too bulky near the ankles so she couldn’t wear her shoes.

The final look

I wish I’d used a darker part of the fabric for the leggings/pants but I didn’t want to make a third pair this week.