This was the original doll:
(Looks so very happy, doesn't she?)
This is Alba now....
Originally I had plans of making this doll into a serpentine character but unfortunately it was not to be. I knew practically from the first few minutes in my house that her green dye job was not going to stay put. I accidentally put her too close to a wet glass and liquid from the coaster had her dripping green all over my floor. Clearly she was not colorfast, lol, and I decided I was going to try to remove the dye. It took half a dozen good soaks in peroxide, Oxy and water, or alcohol to get most of the green dye off. For all that it wouldn't stay put and practically rinsed off most of the doll the green dye actually left a few stubborn spots of blue here and there (including one on her nose that wasn't pretty) that about drove me crazy. Her hands and feet were denim blue and that would not soak off at all. For a while she looked for all the world like she had been tie dyed blue, gray, and NS.
Finally today I put my little mask on and went after the last of it with a sanding block (Groan, sweat, SHIZ, ouch!) and 1 1/2 hours later it was "Tada!" and about 99% of the rest of the blue streaks were gone and she is now once more a (mostly) NS Resinsoul elf babe! She still has a little blue in between her toes and fingers and in her joints but it's mostly gone and I think it will be okay once she is blushed properly. If anything if I do it at all right it will look like it's supposed to be that way.
I restrung her, put in some glass eyes I had in my eye box, put on the wig I had in mind, cut that a little, and put some temporary clothes on her just so she could have something to wear while I took a quick pic and then what do you know I think she FINALLY smiled at me! She then told me her name something she had refused to do thus far the entire time she has been in my house. I don't know maybe I'm crazy but I could swear this little RS girl looks more than a wee bit happier, lol. I actually liked her green but I wasn't crazy about the costume, but you know in retrospect I don't think she much liked looking like a cannibal fairy from Kong Island.
She's definitely brightened up considerably since we began this little restoration project. She's Alba for Lord Byron who Shelly and his wife called Albe, the male version of that name. It's Celtic, it means sunrise and also refers back to old Scotland. She's also named for the late Angharad Rees who I always liked and because she rather reminds me of her when she was younger, and Kelly of course because she's Clan Kelly, like me.
Tomorrow I am going to fill up most of her body holes with epoxy and attempt a very simple face up and then the day after I may just get her into some better clothes and make her some jewelry. She may yet be getting wings but the costume I have in mind will take me a while so for now she may just be an elf and not a faery. She doesn't need the body holes for those so most of them are going except the ones on her tummy. I think I will make her jeweled belly chains for those. I have these little leaf beads that I think she will like a lot and that will match the costume I have in mind pretty well. The wings are the hardest part and if I still want to do them when I am done likely I will save them for last. Might not though. She just might end up being a little forest elf instead...
More pics as we get her together but for now just a quick "before"snap. As of now she's a blank slate so far as I am concerned so we proceed from here. Ugh, I love her more now but I have to say I have never worked so hard on a doll in my life. Even the stubborn Delilah was less work than Alba and I have yet to even do her face up. I've got near 20 hours into this doll and I am just exhausted from sanding et all today. I actually had to take Tylenol after. I have a feeling I am going to be feeling some major pain from doing this tomorrow. She might end up getting her face up this weekend if it turns out I can't actually move my tush tomorrow...
