Ebay Disease

If we are lucky, in 6 days, I'm going to come in and say, "this week, on ebay, I lost two auctions."

Fabric Softener Foils and the new Wardrobe

So here's Ali's cute bath robe, which was a craft fair find, and in her hand's the tint brush I used.
Like most of her non-MAC clothes, the bathrobe's built for an American Girl size, which is a fair bit bigger than the slim body of the Magic Attic girls. I usually pin it in place like you see here, but I'm going to sew a snap there in the future.

I really with I knew who made this. I remember it was at the Lincoln Craft Fair in Lincoln CA and about ten years ago, but don't know anything else about it. It's got matching slipper slides, which I'm going to put some clear strap on so Alison can wear them without them falling off.

Tint brush hadn't been used on human hair before. It's brand new. If it was one of my old used ones, it would have made her hair pink from the residual dye.

Foils go on fast when your hair's as thin as hers. It was about three per layer, and the final product is 16 foils for a whole head.

As we went up, I found a spot where her hair had been pulled out or broken off.

Almost done, and looking pretty, Ali.
The foil I'm using is standard kitchen foil, and they're keeping her robe neat and tidy and keeping the softener from drying out. It's several hours later, now, and it's still moist in there.

And, since I don't want the foils to make a stress point that can rip her hair out (which is a much bigger concern with bleach and human hair, but it doesn't hurt to worry), here she is with her pretty and oversized towel turban.

The downside of this method is that I don't get to soak the top of her head. If this does good things for her lengths, I'll try painting the softener on her scalp and see if that helps too. For now, time to wait and see.

The major upside is that I don't have to leave a doll soaking in water (which doesn't feel like a good idea), that the foils keep everything neat, and that I can use pure fabric softener without adding water.

I know that I did at one point soak Alison in a lot of water, because tiny me definitely took a bath with her more than once. Unlike some of the really nice dolls that my grandma gave me, I don't feel bad about the fact that it definitely caused damage (I think that's how she lost her left index finger). These dolls were built for being played with, and knowing that she fulfilled her purpose and made little (and present!) me happy writing stories and playing and dressing her up and brushing her hair until it wore out doesn't make me sad at all. Every time I see a MAC girl on ebay that says "never been played with," I just want to buy her and play with her a little bit. Every doll built for play deserves that. Wearing a few pretty outfits with different hair styles and sitting with other dolls and enjoying fake tea.
I know they're not alive and they can't feel that, but I think caring about something inanimate gives it a little echo of a soul, and honoring that echo isn't a bad thing.
Toy Story and all that shit.

Speaking of pretty outfits, though, Toys R Us put the Journey Girl's Wooden Armoire on clearance today, and I bought one. I'm going to buy a second tomorrow and stack it on top, because I don't have enough space in this one for even half of Alison's clothes. As for now, I just put all of the made-for-Ali MAC clothes that I have in it. The coat hangers that the wardrobe comes with aren't my favorite, so I got some from the Springfield Girls, because I get 20% off and there are two 60% off one item coupons at Joann, and they carry them. Sadly, the original purple Magic Attic hangers that I have don't fit in the wardrobe. All in all, I'm really impressed with the quality of the wardrobe for the price.
Assembly was required, and it took me an hour and a half to set it up, including a lunch break and finding a #1 phillips screwdriver.

Looking at the Journey Girls, they're MUCH prettier than the American Girls (in my opinion). If I'm going to start collecting more dolls, I'll get them. I think Alison's made me biased, but I really like the look of non-closing eyes better than the recessed sleep eyes most dolls this size have. It's weird when they're lying down in bed, though. Alison has a towel I put over her face when I'm pretending she's asleep, just for that reason.

Anyway, that's enough for tonight. Tomorrow will be an update about how the Fabric Softerner Foils go. Maybe it'll catch on and overcome the popularity of the Downy Dunk. Who knows.

Alison's hair struggles (and more!)

Careful and not-so-careful observers alike will notice that Alison has some hair problems.

It's very frizzed (I think heat damaged) and has a couple of short spots in the back where a younger me cut pieces off. I was also doing this to my own hair, at the time, but doll hair doesn't grow back.

My main plan is to rewig her, but the idea of fixing up her hair in the meantime is one that I'm entertaining

That stuff in the bottle down there is Katie Bair's miracle in a bottle Wig Conditioner. It's a leave in conditioner she formulated for cosplay wigs, which are usually long and straight and smooth and a lot like what Alison's hair should be like. I've used this on long cosplay wigs and it's amazing, so it was time to give it a shot.

Kanekalon is kanekalon, when you get down to it.

You just rub it on, let it dry, and detangle. Going up Alison's head in layers, there's a lot of places where there's nice and smooth hair, especially at the roots. There's also a nearly-bald spot at the direct back of her head.

The wig conditioner helped a LOT, but not enough to fix all the damage. Once everything's as smooth as I can get it, it's all going to need a trim to even it out, especially her bangs.


I know that for cosplay wigs, fabric softener can work miracles. However, I don't know what kind of miracles it can do to vinyl bodies and 20 year faceups. I sure didn't want to un-wig her and glue it back on unless I have to. 

So, the challenge was to get a product onto hair, without that product getting onto faces or hands or bodies or clothing, and to have it remain on the hair for hours without drying out or falling off.

And then I found a tint brush. I used to use these on my hair, back when I only dyed the front locks and left the back plain.


So, fabric softener foils it is! Process is easy, just sectioned off chunks of hair and applied straight fabric softener to it, no diluting. Perks of doing this with fabric softener and not neon pink dye is that I could apply it with the hair in my hand and feel the underside to know when it's saturated. Once it was on the foil, I could add an extra blob on the ends to make sure they're covered.

I have some damn pictures of this but my google drive folder won't refresh and there's no manual way to force it to refresh, so this post is going to sit open on my computer for a while.

Nope, been three hours and fuck all has happened. We'll catch up with Alison and her cute green bath robe tomorrow.

Alison clothing, progressing

Quick summary of today's progress. Here's Ali in her new pants and most of her new shirt.

First, the pants. They're still lacking a back closure because guess who forgot to buy velcro DESPITE WORKING AT A CRAFT FUCKING STORE

As you can see, the pockets are wanky as fuck, but I'm letting myself get away with this.
I haven't faded the jeans, though I'd like to. I had some fun adding distressed patches, but I'm also keeping track of the fact that these are for a canonically 10-13 year old, so I'm being careful to not let any distressed patch get too high up on the leg. I'm sort of shooting with the clothes for around age 13-14, because that's freshman year of high school, which was when I started really making choices about my own clothes, and I'm working a lot of Alison's personality (both from the books and from what I made up as a kid) into her clothes.
Wow, that was a long sentence. I should stop writing htese when I"m so tired.
What we do know, all canon aside, we do know from the dolls themselves that none of them have developed chests, or wear bras. I didn't have boobs till I was in like my junior year of high school, so I'm saying that's a passable thing for 14. I developed way later than most girls but shhh whatever.

Something I'd forgotten is that her t-shirt (from her starter outfit) snaps in the back so she can get it on. When I realized this, I had to adjust my plans.

I went from plans to do a full jersey shirt to making it raglan sleeved. Raglan sleeves aren't super 'in' right now with the cool kids in freshman high school who are hip to the jive and go to the sock hops. They're still very associated with modern sporty things, and they'll be fun to put on a graphic tee.
Bonus point about raglan sleeves: I can put a snap closure on the back of one sleeve, and make a discrete connection for a closure to let her head in. The black fabric is something I had hanging around after the Lin Beifong cosplay. It's an athletic semi-mesh, which wasn't intentional, but I like it.

I'm still not sure what to put on the shirt. I'm tempted to copy the polyvore I originally used as an inspiration, and just put, "weirdo," but I also might put "dyslexics UNTIE" on it. In canon, Alison is dyslexic, and has to come to accept how getting after school tutoring affects her social life, so I want to represent the way she comes to terms with that. I saw the shirt in person and thought it was funny, but it's always tough for me to represent a disability that I don't have. I need to think this one over more.

Also, found her hat that I made her yesterday when I was at work today.
I'm going to work the teal/blue color theme into the outfit more than it currently is. Wouldn't be the Magic Attic Club without the girls being color coded for our convenience. To be fair, I love the color coded thing.

And a last and final shout out to Sergestiel, my serger, making that shirt much easier.

in the continuing theme of pants

Background's dirty because the background's always dirty, and these pants need a closure in the back (fake fly in the front because lazy). They're not patterned any more than tracing the pieces of her old jeans, but it's kind of nice to give her something new. There's faux western pockets in the front and patch pockets in the back, all of which are lopsided or different between one and another, because haha who needs patterns.
The pants still need a waistband, too. But hey, at least she's got something. Distressing will happen later.

They look pretty silly with her heavily 90's jean jacket.

I knitted her a hat today, too, but I think I dropped it in the fabric store. Handily, I work at the fabric store, so I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow.

I used the same yarn I used for Helena's hat, so they just have matching ones and y'all have to deal with it.

I'm sleepy, so that's all you get for tonight.

Alison McCann: Project registration

The first doll that I had and was really attached to was Alison McCann, a Magic Attic Club doll.
I still have her, and all her original outfit (minus hair bow, shoes, and underpants, for some reason). I was looking at my Alison and thinking it was time she get upgraded from her 1994 style.
Google gave me a rough, if tacky and OTT, concept for a more modern Ali, so here goes.

I grabbed these shoes off Amazon, and I'm going to make her that beanie in the same yarn I used for Helena's hat, getting the teal color on top and bottom. My Alison's hair is also extremely destroyed on top, so having a hat to cover it will be a nice idea.

This picture doesn't capture the fullness of the damage. Last night, I sat down and put some of Katie Bair's wig conditioner (okay, a lot of Katie Bair's wig conditioner) on it, and it did a huge amount of good, but it can't fix the parts where tiny me cut her hair. Hat, until I get off my ass and buy her a new wig entirely.

I even know what wig. I just haven't ordered it. (Denise wig by Monique, size 12)


After making an art guitar with my last paycheck and trashing a bunch of money, it'll be nice to have a 1:3.5 scale (aka cheap) project to work on. 1/3 of a yard of denim or jersey with my employee discount is still affordable as heck. I threw away some trashed jeans today, and I'm kind of regretting that, but whatever. Update: denim and jersey and a pair of premade socks set me back about $8

The real thing is going to be making sure that Alison's personality and recognizability aren't lost in the new outfit. It'll be a fun exercize in color and scale.

Another project in mind is to make a wardrobe to hang her clothes up in. I have a lot of her clothes.

Typos galore. I'm almost asleep and it's 1:30am.