Hollywood Dolls

I previously wrote that I was very disappointed with VS Alex. I purchased her impulsively and I was really sorry about that. There wasn't one thing I liked about her except her body.  I cut off all her hair and accidentally tore her scalp in the process. At that point I just wanted to throw the head away. I tried other heads on the body but her neck is huge and she is quite tall. Nothing looked right.
Using acetone, I removed her lips, cheek and eyebrow screening and some of the eyeshadow. I started liking the look immediately.
The third picture shows the current appearance of the head. I still would like to soften the eyeshadow somewhat and do something a little more defined with the lips. I used pastels and water color pencils the same way I learned to do a faceup on a resin doll. I sealed my work with a matte spray.
When I reheated her head to put it back on her body, I held my fingers on her cheeks and pushed in while it was cooling. This gave her more defined cheekbones.
She is wearing the same wig as the middle picture. The colors are different as I changed some internal settings on my camera to improve the quality of the pictures. The bangs were thinned.
I'm pleased with the progress. She looks less cartoon-like and I didn't completely ruin her and that's not an easy task. ;-)

Original Virtually Stunning Alex

After she was balded.

Now

I have to admit that I still do not like her face but it's much better IMO. What do you think?

This week's featured photo was taken by Veronica Hage who posts on Doll Divas and the W Club. The doll was originally an Aerodynamic Vanessa Fashion Royalty. She is dressed in the fashion from Bewitching Luchia.

Click on the picture to see it full-sized.

The re-root and styling is by Marina. Veronica enhanced the eyes and eyebrows and repainted the lips.

I asked Veronica how she set up the photo and about the camera she uses. This is her reply:

"I used a black velvet background made from an old skirt. I have to keep props to a minimum for quick cleanup as I don't have a lot of time with three young kids. I use two lights for my setup. One at each side. My camera is a Canon Rebel XSi. This is my first SLR and I took a short evening class on the basics at my local community college. I've been using it for about six months now and love it."

Her suggestions for other collectors regarding doll photography:

Look at the doll carefully before shooting. Look for stray hairs, little bits of fuzz, hand position, hair position. Look from the level at which you're going to take the photo. If you see something distracting remove it or fix it. Look again to double-check. Most of one's time taking pictures is setting up.

You can see more of Veronica's collection and photography on Flickr  and on her website.

This is a Tonner doll named Hypnotic Antoinette. James Griffen, aka Paradise Blue on the doll boards, has captured her beauty in this photograph.He repainted her eye-makeup and liner, deepened the shade of her lips and glossed them using Golden Fluid Acrylic paints and then sealed his work with "Golden Varnish".
For the photograph he wet her hair to deepen the color and tame the fly-aways.

James has added the following information:
"Her earrings are something I made from bits of craft pieces that I bought at a dollar store. Her jacket belongs to a Gene Marshall centerpiece doll from the Kentucky "Derby Dreams Gene Convention." Her skirt is a hand-knitted popcorn cape made by a friend which I decided to use as a skirt."
Any photo suggestions to others?
"I use natural light when I can. I like to photograph my dolls by a window. Sunlight coupled and vertical blinds as shadow work well together. Always use the view finder on your camera, (if your camera comes with one.) It helps keep your focus on the prize."

See more of Hypnotic Antoinette and James' work at http://www.thedollpage2.com/photopost/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/417

Congratulations, James, on your Picture of the Week Award!

A classic beauty for this week's Picture of the Week Award is a repainted Scarlett "Return to Tara" doll from the Tonner Doll Co. Her hair has been restyled and the gown is a OOAK creation by Alana Bennett of dollfashionsbyalana.com. The photographer/repainter is Boots Villavecer from the Philippines.


When I find a candidate for the Picture of the Week I always send several questions for the artist to answer. Boots was very generous with his time and response so I am going to paste his response here.

I had her rerooted by Susan Korba about 2 years ago.
She was magnificent and then I had the brilliant idea that I would enhance her eyes. FAIL.
Do you know how it goes? Do just a little more when it looks good...and then maybe a little here and a little there and then BAM. Messed up completely.

This was not in my plan. So I sent her off to Jon Copeland to repaint her face and this is what she looks like now.

We are wrapping up the POW Awards this year with a gorgeous repaint of a Sybarite Seville by Idrusa. It's obvious that there's a lot of talent here! The repaint and the photograph are beautiful.

If you would like to see more of Idrusa's work, here is the link to her flickr photostream.

Congratulations on the Picture of the Week Award, Idrusa.

This is the final part of the Chewin Chronicles, he he. In the photos that follow, the outfits Chewin has auctioned off at e bay in the last year or so. We get two in one though, as all the dolls that model for these are his repaints too - you will recognize some of the faces you have seen in previous posts.I hope everyone enjoyed his work as much as I did. I am certain we will see more great things from him in the future.


A repainted Hypnotic Francisco Leon wears a jeans outfit similar to that of my Francisco in a previous post. Only the colors differ.