Miss Willow "Porsha" Milele Carver

I was going to label this post “Dyeing an AG doll” but good glory that sounds wrong. 

Anyway! We are committing more crimes against AG in the name of… well… I guess the RestlessRoseDolls Collection. 

Creating Miss. Porsha Carver

This is going to be a long post, bear with me.  

Hi guys!  So.  If you can remember many many moons ago, I had a post about my collecting goals!  We're checking another goal off that list.  

I have a few spare dolls, so we took one... her name used to be Lily, and she was used for my project, because why buy a new doll when I have one on hand, you know?  Besides, she was genuinely a little creepy.  

so here she is all dissembled.  (I really don't understand why I had to remove the neck string... but all the tutorials said to do it... so... I did! Usually I love going against society, but for this we just followed along)

I learned so many new skills with this project... and for the first time in my life, I de-limbed a doll.  

So I got all the supplies (you can find the dye at Hobby Lobby, in the fabric section ♡), and I set up my little voodoo shop on our brand new stove (I love you mom, please don't get upset!!) 

I had each limb sit in the boiling dye for 2 1/2 minutes before I pulled it out... resulting in the absolutely most perfect color: 

(yes.  I wanted her that dark.  Sue me.) 

Color matching was a little tiny bit difficult, but I think I did really well, considering I had no clue what I was doing, and these are the first few limbs!

and then everything else: 

I was a little ticked off though, because in all the tutorials people said “oh ya, all her previous paint will disappear with the dye, so you’ll have to repaint her” … y’all…. I chose this doll SPECIFICALLY because I wanted to cover up her bad repaint. Turns out, the dye is NOT a concealer. Her face paint is still plain as day. 

But! 

I worked past it.  And overall, it was just a learning experience and minor bump in the road. 

After scrubbing everything down, she went and caught some nice fresh breeze for a bit, while I stained our sink brownish red trying to clean up the dye.  (It's okay.  It's mostly faded by now)  

Full disclosure, she isn't actually the color pictured, as my camera can not find a way to do her skin tone justice yet.  

A few days... I think 2 or 3 later... I decided to ATTEMPT to put eyes in.  Uhm.  Say no to eye swaps y'all.  Say no to drugs.  And say no to eye swaps.  

I did NOT want to have to buy new eyes, so I used some I had on hand... 

As you can tell... it turned out really poorly (it doesn't help that both eyes I used were broken to begin with) 

So.  We have attempt #2.

I took some eyes out of an Our Generation doll I had... because they look like Caroline's eyes and they are just SO pretty.  

Here is the comparison between OG and AG eyes.  

The black backing was way too deep so I just put the metal around the eye and... put it in.  

Which looked.... okay.  But uhm.... not the right vibe.  

So.

We went to ebay. *Yes, I usually refer to myself in the third person, please don’t ask why, as I don’t know* 

And I was able to find 2 pairs of AG brown eyes, for $10.  (yay me!) so ya... I bought those.  They will arrive on Monday!  And I have now been working on Porsha for 2 weeks. 

In the meantime, I decided to restring the body after she had been lying around amputated for at least 13 days.  

(I honestly don't know why I took the neck string out... I wish it would've dyed black tbh.) 

And since I'm really really cheap, and did NOT want to buy a restringing kit... I was able to reuse two of the previous strings.  And I used a shoelace for the other limbs and literally just tied a knot, and reinforced it with a hair tie.  (Most of my dolls have loose limbs, this body initially couldn't stand on it's own, so I honestly do not care how tight the limbs are) 

First leg!! I'm honestly so proud of myself for getting the right leg in the right spot and being able to secure it 😂

I did so good with that last knot.  Not to flex or anything.... 

And then my new eyes arrived, which are absolutely gorgeous and amazing quality.

But y'all... I am so ticked.... 

So I got one eye in, absolutely no issues.

The other eye, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it into the head... I had a blister forming on my thumb... and *ugh*

And then after I finally finally get the eye in??? The eye malfunctions.  And it will not open.  Like.  It just completely decided to break and glue itself shut.  

And I was kinda fuming.  

And I kinda gave up.

Soooooo.... that's where we're at! 

I also have no clue what we're doing for the wig.  (Then again, there is a bit of lore in my fantasy vampire book around veils and headscarfs so... I might just tap into that)

There may be a part two for this.

I don't know.  

Okay!!

You didn’t really think I’d leave a post on THAT negative of a note, did you?? 

Besides, you’ve seen the cover photo, and you know this can’t be the end. 

I’ve taken a few days, and regrouped. 

And now! We can end this on a happy note, with the official introduction of Miss Porsha. Also. Wildflower by 5SOS is currently playing so I think that will now be her official playlist song, because I’m totally vibing with it for her, lol 

All of these pictures, are accurate to her skin tone, which makes me so happy!  I've learned I can't photograph her during the day when it's sunny, because then she photographs reddish purple.  We gotta wait until a tiny bit before dusk.  

I also had so so much fun experimenting with different head wrap styles!  I used a pink napkin, a purple scarf, and some unused veils and I just love all of it.  Pairing different scarfs with different earrings is also a lot of fun for me too! 

I think this above photo is my favorite, idk I just love it.  

 

I actually really loved the way purple looked on her, and just this entire outfit.  Especially the earrings. 

Okay!! Two maybe three week later update!! We have parted with the headscarves and she officially has hair! 

So I think I’m just in my hair beading phase, but I had a Kavi wig lying around and I decided 

✨I would braid it✨

So hours

And hours

And hours + a movie later 

We officially have Porsha: 

Andddd ya!  That about sums it up! 

I'll be dyeing my next doll this weekend 💕 

As always, thanks for reading!

- RestlessRoseDolls