Noob question about swapping a head

[kenaiqueen]

I've finally found a Disney Aurora doll that I like the face, the Sparkle Princess one. However, I'm not so thrilled with the stiff body. I haven't had my Barbies out for years and I've never done any modding on dolls, so I'm totally in the dark. I was hoping for some enlightenment before I spend any money. Could the Disney head be put onto a more posable body like one of the Barbie Fashionistas? And if I do that, can she still wear the Disney outfits?

I also saw the 'swapping heads' Barbies around here and our new Walmart has some of the heads on sale. Do you just change the head or is it the whole little neck/bust area that it's mounted on?

Thanks for any information. I'm still fairly new to doll collecting after many years of doing other things, but I love sewing the little outfits for them.

[Wardah]

I think you would be better off using a Liv body since I think Aurora's head is too light for the regular Fashionistas because they have a permatan. Livs come in more skintones and fit into Disney Princess dresses. I found a pic on Flickr of dolls with Liv bodies wearing Tiana dresses.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40867480@N ... otostream/

[DollyKim]

The skin tones don't match but the head swapping Barbies fit all the regular Barbie and Mattel Disney Princess clothes. With the spare heads you can pull the head off the neck as you would with any other Barbie. Recently I bought a bunch of swappers on sale and put some older heads on them. The bodies are about a shade darker than the princesses so it looks like she's got a lot of face powder on.

[ArtCresc]

I'm in total agreement with what's already been said. I swap heads all the time to the point of it being nearly a skill, so long as I have the right tool available. I collect 1/6 scale action figures which are designed to be customizable, including ease of head-swapping.

None of the Princesses are going to match up with the Fashionistas' suntan. Your best bet, and honestly preferred, is to pick up Liv doll Hayden, Sophie, or Katie to match up with Aurora; you may still be able to find the spring break line on clearance at some Wal-M*** or Targ**, or the formal wear exclusives at Targ** that are currently marked down. Liv are preferable because the neck posts on Liv dolls do not have dual hooks like Barbie does, which makes head removable so much easier and removes the risk of damage to the neck post. Heat up the head around the neck slightly with hot water or a blow-dryer to soften the vinyl. The bodies are a little bit more age accurate, too, so far as the Princesses are in their teens.

The Fashionistas, and all other Barbs, have a disc that stops the head from slipping of and the hooks to prevent the head from coming off completely if it gets past that disc, a perfect design to discourage modification. You can find pics of this on image searches. If you're tossing Aurora's body after removing the head, you probably can just give it a yank or clip it off, pulling the neck post out of the head later. To keep the body usable, especially the nicer ones like model muses, I use a thin metal sculpting tool that is 3mm slightly rounded at the tip (sharp edges like on a flat-head screwdriver can damage the head if you're not careful and use too much force.) and widens towards the base to 5mm in order to get the base of the head past the stopping disc; then clip off the hooks base from the disc, removing the hooks from inside the head afterwards. The body is ready for reuse, with ease of switching out heads later. I have removed heads before without removing the hooks, but found it only serves to make future head swaps difficult. There should to be a detailed tutorial available somewhere.

If you're patient, and really really love Aurora enough to pay more for the body in order to modify it, you could try a Barbie Basics 2.5. I think they are supposed to come on a modified Pivotal body, I believe the one piece torso used with Basics Jeans #5 and #7 (which is more slender that the normal Barbie torsos including Fashionistas) and Pivotal legs and Fashionistas arms. I've already swapped out the arms and legs from a Fashionistas to a #7 torso, and found it's really a matter of personal preference to go through the trouble.

Incidentally, Liv heads fit Moxie Teenz bodies; you don't need to cut off the hooks (which are too thick to do so anyway), but may need to cut a notch on the inside of the Liv head's neck that matches the one on the MT heads in order to get it on and off more easily. Again, a matter of personal preferences.

[Studio 126]

I have a Barbie head removal tutorial at http://babs-poser.u.yuku.com/bloggy/post/pid/1276.

If you don't have a Yuku account, you can log in with your Facebook, Google, Twitter or Yahoo! ID.

edit: Now, openly available on Blogger.

[Wardah]

There are rumors of a pale Fashionista coming in the next Fashionista wave.

[djhirokun]

Speaking of Fashionistas, the new waves will return to the older non head swapping versions. I saw a photo on flickr. If I can find the photo on flickr, I will post.

[Glace Leau]

Speaking of Fashionistas, the new waves will return to the older non head swapping versions. I saw a photo on flickr. If I can find the photo on flickr, I will post.

Right here. =>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smh223837/6175360671

[KatyaR]

Mackie faced girl!! Woohoo!

[kenaiqueen]

Thanks for all the info! It was very helpful and the head swap came off well, I think. The skin tone isn't too far off and I'm happy with her look. I used a fashionista Barbie as there are no Basic Barbies available around here and I didn't want to wait to order one. Her hair was very stiff, so I washed it but the bangs still need a trim. There was a buy one, get one free sale going on, so I got Snow to keep her company altho I haven't swapped out her head yet. (She's got bendy legs at least.)

By kenaiqueen2007 at 2011-09-29