My Lovely Lagoona Blue

Lagoona in progress... some shading

Customizing my first Monster High doll was so much fun that I just couldn't stop working on her throughout the weekend. I sat and carefully colored small areas with pastel and colored pencil, slowly building up the colors and shading... then putting her down for a while... staring at her... then picking her back up for more.

I spent some time online browsing images of customized MH dolls, especially Lagoona Blues, to see what details I liked the most... and made mental notes on how I wanted my Lagoona's face to look.

I eventually decided to keep her look very serene by keeping the lines and colors a bit soft, with blended shades of blues, greens and black. I'm not quite ready to tackle a re-root, so I wanted to keep the colors in the yellow/green/blue range to go with her hair.I also opted for adding back in her freckles and additional texturing along her hairline to help add to the undersea creature look.

After spray matting her body, I added some freckles and bluish blushing to her upper body. I also painted her nails black and teal, with some shading on the knuckles. Her belly button got some attention and more of the spotty texture was added to her belly. The final step to customizing her body was to add small aqua blue nipples and some shading under her breasts. It's funny, because years ago when I first got into Blythe dolls, I found painted nipples to be a bit disturbing and just didn't "get it" at all... but somehow these MH dolls seem older than Blythes (who always look very young to me, no matter how they're dressed and made up) so it just makes sense to me now.

After adding white acrylic highlights to her eyes I gave her a final coat of MSC Matte. I knew I wanted her to have some natural highlights on her upper cheeks and in the arches of her eye brows, so after glossing her eyes and lips I added just a touch of gloss to those areas as well so that the light will hit and give true highlights.

Now she's all done... just waiting for me to create some sort of clothing... perhaps something whispy and light that will still show off her belly. Overall, I'm in love with my new doll. I had so much fun customizing her that I literally cannot wait to do more!

I Took the Monster High Plunge

Lagoona Blue (Dance Class) BEFORE

Ever since the Monster High dolls came out I've pined over them, but held back because I'm a Blyther and previous attempts at collecting other dolls (i.e. Pullips) just didn't do it for me. BUT after obsessing over amazing custom MH work over the last few weeks I finally gave into the urge and got myself a lovely little Lagoona Blue (Dance Class version)... and I love her!

As soon as I got her deboxed, I stripped away the clothing and started imagining what kind of customizing I'd like to do... that was yesterday. Before the end of the night I had already wiped her makeup away and given her two hair washes. Today I got out the MSC and started working on her with chalk pastels, colored pencils and acrylic paint.

I've decided to make her eyes just about halfway open, looking to her left... slightly sad, but very soft and whimsical. I'm also considering some individual pieces of teal glitter here and there as shiny aquatic accents, but not totally sure on that yet.

Lagoona's stock paint mostly wiped away

So far I'm really having fun with this new doll and can't wait to get my hands on more of them. I will always love Blythe, but I can only customize my girls so much - and I definitely can't afford to keep buying more. Monster High girls are so much more affordable and I really love how each character has a different face shape, different features and of course the various fantasy skintones.

My Lagoona isn't done yet - these are pics of her progress so far and of course I will be posting more as I go!

Ready for her first spray-matting with MSC!

Porcelain in Progress

So I came into a box of porcelain dolls - not even remotely my kind of dolly, but I took them apart and started customizing the heads... the final results are still up in the air... I think I might end up making some of them into wall decor and some into candle stick holders or other such odds and ends.

So here are a couple of the dolly heads in progress. The sad part is that I actually started these two years ago (or so) and then put them away on a shelf to sit and collect dust. Last night I suddenly got an urge to work on them again and play with shading.

So far I'm pretty happy with the way the orange one is turning out, but the red/pink one is bothering me - I think the eye brows are too high/innocent/thick...? I don't know. But I definitely want to keep adding layers upon layers of beads and fabric and whatever strikes my fancy to build up their headgear. I'm also thinking of maybe flocking for the orange girl... somewhere.

Yeah - as with most of my art projects, these dolls are totally at the mercy of my passing whims and fleeting fits of creative energy, LOL. So where they end up...? I have no clue at this point. Whatever final images I may have had in mind when I first started these dolls have long since left my mind. But I'm excited to see where it goes... and soon I hope to get started with some other custom dolls, but THAT'S a subject for another blog post some other day.

Veruca Says Hello

Veruca in her custom VoxDolly necklace

This is my newest dolly girl, Veruca... a factory RBL with fair skin, special chips, ultra thick/soft lashes and long crazy curls in Thumpty Thump's bright purple. I haven't been able to do any customization yet, but I'm loving her as she is for now anyways. Eventually I'd like to do some sandmatting but will probably leave her makeup in tact - it's just too pretty! I also prefer girls who are boggled with sleep eyes so that's on the list, too.

She's wearing a custom heart necklace with her name engraved into it (something I can do for you through the VoxDolly shop!)... it's a bit large for a necklace, so eventually I'll use it as a pull charm for her with new strings. She's also in a shirt/dress I ordered custom made by the talented Maggie Ann of BlytheKingdom @ Etsy - I love the super simple lines and casual style... it's perfect for showing off the VoxDolly pendants. I also got one in white and will probably be going back for more when I can afford to!

So this is Veruca... I haven't figured out her personality yet, except that she's a bit more girly-girly than my other dolls. I can't wait for this broken finger situation to be over so I can get to work on her!

Meet Velusa

Of course I love all of my dolls, but Velusa is ridiculously special. Velusa was sort of my first Neo Blythe... she was originally a Prima Dolly Violet and came in a set of 3 along with PD Ginger and PD Ashlet, but somehow the seller sent me 2 Gingers and no Ashlet. Maybe this is why Velusa stood out to me... or maybe for the obvious reason - her bright purple hair? But she became my instant fave and has been the one dolly girl to stay with me since 2007, as countless other dolls came and went.

As my Blythe knowledge grew, my taste changed and I've become most enamored with the EBL (Excellent) Blythe face mold. So a few years ago I converted Velusa into an EBL custom, attaching her original PDV scalp onto an EBL Disco Boogie head, and then also fitted her with a Licca body. She's been sanded and has lightly carved lips with very subtle peach coloring. She also has has custom lashes and eyechips, sleep eyes and is boggled... and is currently awaiting some fun new purple pullstrings and custom VoxDolly charms.

Velusa isn't technically perfect by any means - her customizations aren't even remotely professional... but somehow she's just the most adorable doll I've ever seen. Here she is modeling for the VoxDolly shop:



The other dolly girls will definitely be making appearances in the shop as well, but I think Velusa will be the main spokesmodel and face of the VoxDolly brand ;D

Hizzah!! This is the first post... and what is there to say? Well, the VoxDolly website is officially up and running with links and info posted for the shop. Please feel free to go take a peek... it's located at VoxDolly.com AND if you're liking what you see so far, then I would absolutely LOVE to get a "LIKE" from you on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Voxdolly.

The VoxDolly shop is also up and running as of yesterday evening - it's being hosted at ETSY to ensure secure transactions. The shop features adorable little trinkets and charms for your dolls to wear, as well as lovely necklaces, earrings and other cute treasures for you! VoxDolly, while inspired by the dolly hobby, also offers lovely gifts for girls and young-at-heart ladies of all ages... so if you find yourself trying to think of a fun girly gift, then be sure to keep VoxDolly in mind!