Marina the Mermaid
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:10 amAbout a month ago I swung by Savers because my train was delayed and I happened upon this mermaid doll that had an articulated tail! It had a joint system under a vinyl tube but it’s much better than anything I could hope for so I got her.
Turns out the joint there was a gimmick where you press down on the sides of the tal, it kicks, so the joint was loose. So I peeled away the tail and poured in super glue and worked the joint back and forth until it became stiff and held a pose.
I wanted her to have jointed arms and no molded top so I cut it in half. I used to think “Oh no I need to perfectly split this torso by the seams to swap out limbs to get an articulated doll” but nowadays I find it’s much easier to cut the torso up and ensure the articulated limbs already fit well in their sockets.
I keep forgetting how ridiculous the Liv torso joint is but it’s super big and annoying but I managed to pry the body apart so that’s a thing now and glued it onto the mermaid tail stump.
I've wanted to put a Francie mold head onto this body because I'm stubborn so I found a clone doll online and got her.
It wasn’t easy but I managed to detangle and comb out Clone Francie’s hair and surprisingly what was on top was super thick. I was tempted to make it into a beehive but I figured a simple ponytail would suffice. I painted over the white dots in her eyes and painted new ones so she looks closer to what she’s copying and repainted the faded lips to rosy ones. I was going to reroot her but I think short, frizzy hair is what a realistic mermaid would have lol.
Since she had the huge ball and socket neck joint I decided she can go onto my mermaid body as my last two Francies were meant for it but they ended up as humans. Her wide neck meant I could bulk up the liv neck and not have to alter this head lol.
Turns out the joint there was a gimmick where you press down on the sides of the tal, it kicks, so the joint was loose. So I peeled away the tail and poured in super glue and worked the joint back and forth until it became stiff and held a pose.
I wanted her to have jointed arms and no molded top so I cut it in half. I used to think “Oh no I need to perfectly split this torso by the seams to swap out limbs to get an articulated doll” but nowadays I find it’s much easier to cut the torso up and ensure the articulated limbs already fit well in their sockets.
I keep forgetting how ridiculous the Liv torso joint is but it’s super big and annoying but I managed to pry the body apart so that’s a thing now and glued it onto the mermaid tail stump.
I've wanted to put a Francie mold head onto this body because I'm stubborn so I found a clone doll online and got her.
It wasn’t easy but I managed to detangle and comb out Clone Francie’s hair and surprisingly what was on top was super thick. I was tempted to make it into a beehive but I figured a simple ponytail would suffice. I painted over the white dots in her eyes and painted new ones so she looks closer to what she’s copying and repainted the faded lips to rosy ones. I was going to reroot her but I think short, frizzy hair is what a realistic mermaid would have lol.
Since she had the huge ball and socket neck joint I decided she can go onto my mermaid body as my last two Francies were meant for it but they ended up as humans. Her wide neck meant I could bulk up the liv neck and not have to alter this head lol.
