Off With Her Head! And This Time I Really Mean It!

If you are familiar with Blythe dolls, you know that by pulling the string on the back of her head, her eyes will change color. There are four sets of eye chips, in different colors, set at different angles, that make this possible. Even with all this fun eye movement, the one thing that her eyes don't do is stay closed. The eye lids do close in between each eye color change, but that's it. A lot of dolls have eyes that close when they are laid down. Blythe doesn't do that.

If you do a Google search, you will find many tutorials on how to give Blythe sleep eyes. The problem is that you have to open up her head to do this. Frankly, that notion scared me. It had made me nervous enough when I scalped her, never mind opening up her head.

Finally I found a tutorial that didn't require Raleigh to undergo brain surgery. LOL You can find it here:
Sleep Eye Tutorial. I found this a few weeks ago, but was still hesitant about doing it. After all, Raleigh is an Ashton Drake Gallery doll and they are no longer made. Her value (price tag) has gone up substantially since I bought her. And besides, I could never really replace her if she got ruined. Sure I could get another doll, but she wouldn't be Raleigh.

So the tutorial said to use a crochet hook. I didn't have one, so I substituted this hook tool.

Next, I was to pull on the little wire, that is part of a spring, in the slot, on the back of her head, until I saw an eyelet or loop. I proceeded carefully, but instead of seeing a loop, I watched the tiny wire slide through the slot into her head. I freaked out! I tested her eyes and they still worked normally. YAY! I knew I had to fix the spring and they only way to do that was to open her head. YIKES! That is what I was trying to avoid in the first place.

So, I found a tutorial about how to make the sleep eyes with her head open. Tutorial for Sleep Eyes. I got a screwdriver and took out the two screws in the back of Raleigh's head. Unlike some other brands, the Ashton Drake Blythe dolls have 2 screws and not 3. First thing that happened when the screws came out was that her head fell off her body. Now I am in complete panic! They don't warn you about that.

The picture is blurry because my hands were shaking. I was hoping that I didn't do any damage to the neck. Nothing I could do but to keep going and fix the spring.

The front and back plates had to be separated to fully open her head. There is a seam, so this isn't too hard. Since I had scalped Raleigh, it wasn't difficult to do. I am not sure how manageable it would be if her scalp was intact, but in the tutorial, they didn't remove it.

So now you can see the spring above her eye mechanism. There is no eyelet or loop at the end of it, which is why the wire went inside her head. Ashton Drake dolls differ from other in this case too. The end of the spring is just a small piece of wire, which has a slight bend in it, to hook over the slot in the back of the head. The only way to do the sleep eye technique, on an Ashton Drake doll, in my opinion, is to open her head.

The next step is to feed a cord through the hole where the spring is attached. I used a cord which is meant for making jewelry. Then, to keep the spring from moving around too much, you tie the cord to the other end of the spring. This was tricky without a loop to tie it through.

You can actually remove the spring entirely, but if you want to put her eyes back to normal, you will need it. I wasn't going to fiddle with it and so I just left it tied off.

After feeding the new cord into the slot. It was time to put Raleigh's head and body back together and test things. Thankfully, her neck was fine and everything went back into place perfectly. I tested her new skill and Voila! it worked!

I had to put a pull ring on the new cord, but I decided to use a charm instead. Since I was doing that, I figure I would also put one on her original cord and take off the very plain pull ring. I also shortened the cord at that time. I always felt it was way too long and it was always getting in the wasy.

This funky glass star and heart were in my bead stash and thought they were perfect for Raleigh. Now, when you pull the heart cord, Raleigh's eyes close. Note: if you do this, make sure you pull hard enough to hear the "click" from the eye mechanism, at least in Ashton Drake models. When you pull the star cord, her eyes open and have changed to the next color chip.

I am very happy with the results of this, it was just a bit nerve wracking along the way.

I will close by sharing a new dress I made for Blythe this week. It is reversible, so you get 2 looks for the price of 1. You can purchase it here: Reversible Dress for Blythe

I have more of these versatile dresses cut out and ready to sew. You can look for them in the near future.

No Skeletons In This Closet

Raleigh has been accumulating a lot of things lately. Her latest are from Canada, but I will tell you more about that later. Right now, I had all of her clothes, jewelry and other things in plastic shoes boxes. It kept the dust and pet fur off, but it was hard to find things. I had to come up with a better storage idea.

If you read my other blog: Colleen's Cottage Crafts, this wine box will look familiar to you.

I found it in the garage when I moved in with my fiance. I wasn't quite sure what to use it for, but I knew it would come in handy at some point. Suddenly it came to me. This box was going to be the solution for Raleigh's storage problems and the closet project got under way.

Since Raleigh and my other dolls keep me company in my sewing/craft room, I wanted it to coordinate with the decor in there. I went shopping and found 2 different shades of aqua acrylic paint that would work perfectly. I decided to paint the outside of the box the darker of the two shades and do the lighter one inside.

I was going to do two coats of paint, but I decided I like the time worn look of the wood after just one coat.

As you know, I don't have much in the way of funds for doll things right now, so if I have something on hand I can make work, I am delighted. I didn't have a thin enough dowel for closet rods, but I had these heart things and I thought they might work if I took them apart.

The heart came off the top, after a bit of persuasion, but unfortunately, the dowel was to short to span the sides of the box. Once again I had to get creative. I cut squares of foam core and stacked them on each end of the dowel until it fit the box perfectly. I painted them the same color as the inside of the box.

I glued the dowel into the stacks of foam core and glued them into the box. I didn't like the way the edges of the foam core looked, so I found some ribbon that was a good color and glued it around the stack of squares.

I made some tiny hangers using jewelry wire and started to hang some clothes.

 

Her dresses and longer things will go on the top, while tops and skirts will go on the bottom. I put some of her shoes on the bottom, even though she has a big shoe organizer. They just looked cute there. Raleigh got a new skate board (Dollar Tree, scored a package of 2 boards and extra wheels) this week, so maybe I will store that there instead of her shoes.

I needed a place to store Raleigh's jewelry, hair accessories and glasses. On the door portion of the box, I attached a ribbon at the top and bottom with push pins. Glasses and hair accessories go on the top ribbon and earrings hang at the bottom. I also put some push pins on the slats to hold necklaces.

I really think this was a great way to use the wine box. 

My LPS Blythe dolls are jealous and want a closet too. I think I have something around here that just might work for their tiny things. I can even make hangers tiny enough. LOL!

Now, as for the new goodies from Canada. I belong to a group called Blythe Kingdom. They have swaps there that you can sign up for. Last month I participated in the Beach Babe Swap and my partner was from Canada.  You can see some of the things she sent by looking at my Flickr Album. I loved everything she sent, but I will share a sneak peek by showing you my favorite. Donna T., my partner, hand knit this mermaid outfit for my LPS doll.

Isn't it amazing! The stitches are so small and delicate. She did a wonderful job. I have left it on my doll and don't think she will ever have it off. I can't wait to sign up for another swap, if was so much fun!