Makeover: Meet Gwenni Damico

Meet Gwenivere Ruth Damico.

So in my last post I mentioned that I was doing a makeover. Well, she's all cleaned up and ready to debut. Meet Gwenivere Ruth Damico. Not bad, huh?

Picture heavy under the cut. Hold on to your hats.

Before. Woof.

Ah yes, one of the the first shot I ever saw of her. Messed up cut and scraggly hair, scratched up cheek, and grubby all over. The auction said "gently played with" which is utter total bullshit. Gentle play does not result in a half bald head, thank you.

From the back.

Oh my god, the hairs. Pitiful little dear. I maybe shouldn't have, being unemployed, but there's something about a miserable black doll that screamed "please gimme a good home." No guilt. So after I got her, I went and picked out a nice wig, and came across this one:

Curly curls.

A dark brown curly wig. I'd dickered about with ideas between another historical or a moddie, but this one seemed the nicest so I went for it. So she would have a super perm. Works for me.

Right out of the box. Bonus footgear!

And her first day out of the box, before I got her to the photo corner. Bonus foot gear--the ugly I Like Your Style boots. (Yes, my floor is grubby. No I don't care.)

Dolly abuse.

Observations of hair line found that bangs had been there at some point, meaning that she was a #18. And considering she has a body tag, that meant she was semi-new. Such gross abuse in such a short time. I'm more than a touch pissed at the unknown person who did this and/or let this happen. Some people's children.

There is no way to salvage that.

 There's nothing to do with the wig but to take it off her head. It was thin, scraggly, and shorn. That and technically I have a #18 that looks like a #18 for the most part, so I don't need two.

Limp legs. Always a sign of restringing needed.

I also found loose legs--yep, restringing. Looked like I was going to be giving all my repair skills a workout on her.

Good thing I have a hospital gown.

Into the makeover hospital.

Spoon the wig off.

Anyways, the first damn thing I did was start to get that no longer salvageable wig off her head. Spoon and peel method, always successful.

Starting to come off.

 The first easing away. Some people use patience and tugging and patience, especially when keeping the wig.

Apply directly to the head.

I am a fan of the blow dryer method. Heat loosens and softens a lot of things, and doll wig glue is one of them.

Bald head~

All bald. Unlike the bald ones you get from AG, there's a line and circle at the back, not a smooth back.

Scraggles.

There's a few stray hairs but those were clipped and rubbed off.

Headscarf.

 Temporary headscarf out of red cloth.

Oh, really?

And then I discovered the "polish". Oh for fuck's sake. All the cleaning methods.

Wigging out.

Oh well. Time to test the wig.

It looks good on her.

I never glue a wig before I am sure of it. And even though I was sure, I still had clean up and restringing, and so left the wig off so that it wouldn't be in the way while I worked.

Restringing is boring. Trust me on this. I didn't take pics, it's the same damn thing I did years ago needing to fix up Josefina a while back. After going in and redoing all four limbs (Hell, I was already in there, might as well fix everything at once), I painted on some freckles and retinted her lips to be a little more two tone.

Freckley freckles.

AG never does freckles for anyone but white girls. Yeah, brown girls with freckles are a nice thing. So I did that. A wig gluing later and...

Ta da~!

Ta-da! A beautiful makeover. She came out gorgeous, there is no question about it. I've got her in the Snooze Shirt and AG Bear Slippers. The curls are so bouncy and free. She's also got a hairbow...

Pierced ears.

She's also got pierced ears--I used the heated pin method, and she's wearing my Fluttershy earrings until I get her some earrings of her own.

A pretty princess.

Gwenivere "Gwenni" Ruth Damico, from what I can tell so far, likes fairy tales, princess stories, and fancy dresses. I have the feeling I'm going to be using a lot of lace and bows with her, and swishy skirts. Her and Marisol should get along great with the princess love.

And that, my precious people, is how you do an AG makeover. Like I said, I'm the Doll Whisperer.

--Neth