Adventures in doll care- hair repair

Saige and Mckenna's hair was absolutely whack. Even though they had been brushed responsibly, stuff happens with long hair. Both of them were enormous, bushy, and tangled. The synthetic fibers had curled up on themselves and made strange squiggles that interlocked and made terrible knots.

For mckenna's hair, which was reasonably short and incredibly thick I just pulled apart sections and brushed them individually, working from bottom to top, trying not to pull it out and trying to ignore the noises the brush made going through the tangles. It took more strength than anticipated.

I bunched all the sections together to see what it would do and got this lovely... to me it looks kind of like flames shooting out the end of a rocket or a really cool motorcycle. It could also be a haystack. Anyway, the hair stuck straight out and was still insanely frizzy at the end. I stuck her aside and tried to do the same for Saige's hair.

Here are the crazy, frizzy, interlocking squiggles. This was a nightmare to brush through, and it poofed right back out and bunched itself together when I was through.

Heres how it was when I got done. Still very frizzy and you can see all the hair this poor doll lost in the bottom right corner. There was even more of it out of frame.
BUT WORRY NOT! There was hope for this hair, and hope that did not lie in scissors. (In fact, scissors are for when you lose all hope.)
Our hope here lies in boiling water. Plastic heated up will bend to your will. Or straighten to your will.
So I boiled some water in the teakettle, poured it into a big bowl, and let it cool for 5 minutes lest I melt their hair.

After several dunkings and brushings, saige's hair was getting more manageable. The crazy squiggles straightened out and the brush positively glided through.

I did the same for mckenna.

After several more brushings to ensure everything was perfectly straight and not tangled, I left them to dry.
Now let's see how Maddie is doing

Maddie has had a little strand of wig hanging off for quite some time now, and her part was weird on top so it showed the seams and cap.

I pulled up the hair, showing the wig cap, so I could find where our dangly strand belongs. I'm always amazed at the cleverness of wigs.

My sewing job was messy, but the strand is now back on securely. The white thread is mine

Doll care adventures- limb tightening

My younger cousin Barrett just turned 13 and does not play with her dolls much anymore, and her family is going to remodel some parts of the house, which means a lot of stuff must be stored or purged. I, being the weirdo 17 year old who still enjoys dolls, offered (or really, requested) to let Barrett's dolls stay with me for a few months until she wants them back.
There are 4 dolls from her-

From left to right:
Maddie, a Just Like You with blue pinwheel eyes, lined brows, and platinum blond hair.
Saige, Girl Of The Year 2013
Mckenna, Girl Of The Year 2012
Kaya, a BeForever bought in 2014.
Saige and Kaya are in the best condition since they are the newest. Bear has always treated her dolls well, even when she was little, but things happen with little children and over time.
My orders of buisness were: tighten Maddie and McKenna's legs, fix Saige and Mckenna's hair. Kaya got to chill on the floor with my dolls while her crew got intensive hospital and spa treatment.

Loose string makes for loose legs!

 My Simple Limb Tightening Process:

1. Untie neck string and remove head

2. Use two clawed fingers to scoop out stuffing

3. Find the socket joint for one of the legs, pull it out the neck hole or as close to the neck hole as you can so you can see what you're doing while you work on it.

4. Pull on the elastic string sticking out of the socket joint. This pulls the limb further in and doesn't let it flop around anymore.
5. Use a hair tie to keep the elastic string tight, which just means keeping the knot pulled up from the white thing.
6. Now do it to the other leg!
7. Begin putting stuffing back in. Use a pencil to pack it down, especially in the butt and hip area, where a lack of stuffing will either look weird or cause the joint casing to wiggle around or fabric to fold.
8. Make sure the knotted ends of the string aren't poking at the body fabric, that'll look weird too.
9. As you get close to the top, pack the stuffing tightly around the arm joints.
10. Slide the head lip back under the neck hole, and tie the string tightly. Admire your handiwork.

Ta Da! 

We're destroying things, as it turns out.

"All right girls, listen up! I have out first mission. We've been hired by a person named Mr. P to take down Portable 9, a storage facility for unusual artifacts. We're supposed to set off an electromagnetic pulse, which will permanently disable all of the computers and robot guards in the building, as well as everything else electronic in a ten mile radius. We won't bring our phones."

Andie slouched in her seat a little bit. "Robots aren't very easy to stab. Are we sure this is going to be fun?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Stabbing people is nowhere near as fun as you might think," She said. "Just think about it."

Andie thought about it. And then made a face. She decided not to think about it anymore, and instead asked Rylan, "What's the rest of the plan?"

Rylan scribbled on the whiteboard, pointing out where they would pick up the EMP, the weakest points of entry in Portable 9, alternate escape plans, and where they would rendezvous with Mr.P

[Camera sweeps out over grass plain. Characters stride purposefully to an unknown destination. Intense rock music plays.]

[Rock music fades to lighthearted banjo as it is realized that walking isn't anywhere near as intense as driving a car too fast while off to go do something illegal.]

Our heroes (or villains, depending on who you are) reached the EMP pickup spot in a comfortable count of time, with the next-preferred method of light jogging and fast walking, as the first-preferred method of transport- the telekinetically powered Radio Flyer wagon from last May- was nowhere to be found.

Exactly as promised by Mr. P, the item was prepared and ready for pickup, laying inconspicuously among bricks and rubble from a long-demolished play fortress from the big people.

Just as Andie scooped it up and put it in her backpack, Rylan began to realize that two girls in bright clothes, plus one in a cartoonish yellow sombrero would attract some attention. Here they were out in the open, a grass field on their right and thick bushes on their left, standing in a tight bunch, fiddling with backpacks and foreign objects. She frowned at her own bad planning, and that no one else had noticed it was bad planning.

Rylan looked over her shoulder.

how many employees have fallen to the corn syrups's sticky regime?

preview:
 I illegally acquired a sprig of rosemary from the bush next to me, and made plans to speak to the ghosts in the study. (More on that later.) from there we walked to a fancy grocery store that does not like corn syrup. I think there might be epic battles being waged under the streets between the employees of the grocery store and corn syrup. how many employees have fallen to the corn syrups's sticky regime?
I feel like it is important to mention that I had string lights tied around my hat for the whole walk.

THREE posts in the space of ONE! WhAt A dEaL!

For today's post, we have many special features, including skewed timelines, uninteresting anecdotes, crude scribbles, monochromatic geek tees, and so much more!

We'll start off the trip with the mildly interesting anecdotes concerning things that have happened in my life the past few months.

Mildly interesting thing #1

     I had to go to high school orientation on the 3rd. The welcome presentation was more than a little bit lackluster, in which the principal attempted to read meaningless quotes from the Internet through a coughing fit. Then we separated into groups with name tags to be led around the school, which is huge by my standards. So I wandered around with my fellow freshmen, none of whom I particularly liked and all of whom were being so loud that I couldn't hear the tour guides so I still don't know where any of my classes are. I had cut my nails specially in case anyone I don't like needed to Dealt With.

*deranged cackling*

the tomatoes are coming

So earlier this week Barrett's doll Saige came out to visit. She and lilly had been planning this elegant tea party and meeting of sorts for months. They made for fancy teas and matching cups and cute dresses and flowers, etc.etc.etc... 

Anyway, Saige arrived at the door at about 2 in the afternoon, and Lilly skipped over to the door and did an excelent job at showing proper manners, full of prim exuberance that plainly said "I want to be a princess, and I'd be darn good at it too." Saige, seeing how the game was to be played, replied to Lilly's chattering with an eloquent display of posh conduct.

Kaya

Today I decided to take a couple last pictures of Kaya before  my mom takes her back to Barrett's house, where she is staying before her teacher class thingie. Kaya is very glad to be going back to her sisters, though her cousins will miss her. It has been 5 weeks, after all.

In which an improbable wagon ride occurs

We would all do well to remember that Doll World is one very different from our own, where the earth itself is of great proportion, while the inhabitants are smaller than we would consider average. It is a place with more peace and happiness than we would find possible on this earth, but also more evil creatures, such as the wicked bow fairy. It is a world where magic is conducted on a regular basis, where stories are written of bravery and quirkiness, and where anything is possible in front of the lens of a camera.

Rylan had finally managed to drag her housemates outside to enjoy the morning sunshine, and while wandering sleepily around the yard Lilly discovered a large red vehicle lying on it's side. She called the rest of the girls over. (Who were admiring the rose garden, which was just starting to bloom {It was really just Rylan doing the admiring- Andie and Kaya were sprawled on the grass trying to go back to sleep. Perhaps it was too early in the morning.})  The strangeness of the object, when they gathered around it, inspired further inspection.

Such investigations led to the conclusions that it was a kind of wagon, and that discovery caused the dire need to sit in it and perhaps ask the BFG to pull them around. Kaya sugested that they at least put the wagon right side up so the desire to sit in it could be satisfied.

So Lilly and Rylan got on one side and pushed...

And Kaya and Andie, who were braver, got on the other side and pulled. The reason for the bravery was that they were unafraid of being a little squished by the wagon if it happened to slip. More than bravery they needed patience to deal with Rylan constantly reminding them to stay clear of the wheels. Rylan was very worried about having to deal with squished bodies, and knowing that her friends were still sleepy and therefore less aware of their surroundings made her especially anxious.

But the wagon was righted without anyone being squished, punctured, scratched or maimed in any other way, so Rylan breathed a sigh of relief.

Now with all four wheels planted firmly on the ground, the fun could begin.

Andie jumped in with particular zeal, and wound up causing herself some problems, eventually having to turn and awkward somersault roll style of thing to get her butt facing the proper direction. 

Kaya's method of boarding was much more efficent, simply standing on the wheel

and hoisting herself up.

Then Lilly and Rylan clambered in.

"So how are we going to make this go?" asked Kaya. "It isn't much fun just sitting here after all"

It was more of a rhetorical question, so she was surprised when Lilly actually had an answer for her.

"Telekinesis." was the unexpected answer. "I read about it in a book once and decided to try it myself. Iv'e never tried anything this big before, so it might not work."

This sudden piece of information sparked mad interest in Lilly's fellow wagon riders.

"What? How come I never knew this? Are you kidding us?" Andie asked excitedly

"Seriously! When did this happen? Can we all move things with our minds?" Rylan said, hoping that she could now get Andie up in the morning without having to run upstairs and and yell or tickle her feet. (Andie is not a morning person)

Kaya just kind of looked sideways at Lilly, not sure whether to be skeptical or impressed.

Lilly decided she better explain a teensy weency bit before demonstrating.

"Remember a couple weeks back when you kept hearing things crash to the floor and I locked myself in my room with piles of books?"

"Yeah. I thought you were throwing a fangirl tantrum or something." andie said

"Nope. I was practicing"

"Well show us!" All of them shouted

So lilly squinched her face up in concentration and the other three girls felt the wagon wheels slowly start to turn.

Andie and Rylan gasped.

Kaya jumped up and looked down the side of the wagon, shouting "HOLY MOTHER OF NACHOS!!!"

Pleased with herself, Lilly asked the others to help, explaining that all they needed to do was imagine the wheels moving,. 

Rylan tried it. With her added willpower, the wagon began to move faster. Andie was looking around in confusion at her sister and best friend. "How are you doing that?"

"Shhh," Rylan replied "you're wrecking my concentration."

Now that Lilly, Kaya and Rylan had the hang of it (Andie was still trying desperately, but to no avail.) the ride was quite smooth, and they could look at the grass and daisies whizzing past on either side of the wagon.

They emerged from the shadows into the morning sunshine, where the third person omniscient narrator felt the need to make an obscure connection between dolls in direct sunlight and vampires. Here, instead of melting or turning to dust or whatever it is these newfangled vampires do, dolls morph from their cute selves onto overexposed, awkwardly shadowed monsters, who, fortunately, bring humans no harm except to the eyeballs, and even that is not permanent damage. The third person omniscient narrator's inexplicable musings aside, the quartet of pint sized thrill seekers are pleased with their ride so far.

That is, until they hit a misplaced brick in the yard.

The wagon stopped with a jolt, causing everyone to lurch backwards.

"What are we going to do now?" Andie asked, still a little miffed that she didn't have telekinesis, "are you going to levitate us?"

Kaya looked pointedly back at her cousin. "Looks like someone needs to learn how to steer."

"What? but I don't know how! I've been trying the whole ride, and I'm pretty sure it's not working."

Lilly got up and stepped into the back seat to give Andie a talking-to.

"Stop touching my face."

"No. Look at me. You can. Stop being so negative. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. The wagon is a part of you, just an extra limb. Can you see the wheels turning past the brick? Can you feel it?"

She went back to her seat. "Give it a try."

Andie closed her eyes and did as Lilly said.

Slowly, shakily,

the wheels turned on their axles

And made it past the brick.

Then the entire wagon crew cheered for Andie and her success, even though she was opposed to cheering and attention of any sort. She couldn't decide of it was uncomfortable or exhilarating, but was nonetheless pleased that she had managed to use telekinesis.

They mentally and physically drove the wagon for another few minutes back into the shade. It was then that Rylan called for them to stop because she wanted to pick some flowers.

"Look, there's daisies, sweet peas, and dandelions! Who wants to help me make a bouquet?" She asked.

This idea turned out to be rather popular, because riding in a bumpy metal wagon makes one's butt sore and a good stretching of the legs was needed.

So everyone jumped out gleefully, albeit a little stiffly.

When all feet were steadily on the earth, they dispersed.

Andie went after some daisies. "Look! These are taller than me!"

Kaya saw some sweet peas in the tall grass to the right of the wagon, so she skipped over there.

Rylan found a clover that hadn't quite reached it's full purple beauty yet,

and Lilly inspected some scotch broom, which was too tough to pull out, and it causes sneezing among third person omniscient narrators anyway, so she refrained from picking any. 

Soon everyone was back in the wagon with their freshly uprooted flora.

Kaya was especaially proud of her sweet peas.

It was quickly decided, though, that immediately going back home would be silly, and that absorbing some sunshine would be much more prudent.

Of course, turning around and returning home was imminent, especially since it was almost lunchtime.