Rebuilt dolls in action

I have written several posts on rebuilding dolls with wire and gauze. Out-of-the-box Breyers are often hard to make sit or much of anything else. But with plenty of surgery they can become productive members of doll society.
The first doll I want to talk about today is the youth doll. Right from the box the youth doll can't hold her arms close to her body, sit down in a saddle or do much besides make you want to rip your hair out. This little gal has had her thighs and upper arms removed and rebuild with wire, gauze and medical tape. An explanation of that process can be found here. Once this little gal came out of surgery she was ready to be dressed and detailed. Now she is ready for the show ring. I did a couple of new things with this doll. The first is she has a repainted face (hard to see in these photos). The youth dolls come with some scary faces. I have never been particularly confident in my painting skills but I think she came out pretty well. She is even wearing real eye shadow and blush! I got a big kick out of that. Another new detail is her jeans. I never made youth doll jeans and wanted to try it. Then I thought about the gold stitching that is on 99% of jeans I have ever seen and added that detail. I think the finished result is a really cool little doll who is ready to work. She is currently for sale on MH$P.

The next doll we will be talking about today is this guy, Rob. Rob is a rebuilt Breyer cowboy. His arms were reasonable so I left them along but he has had his thighs replaced with wire, gauze and medical tape. He also has some extra wire bracing so he can not only bend, but really hold the poses.

It's important not to have your body parts flailing around when bulldogging...

...or calf tying.

You may have noticed there is something not quite right about the cow Rob is working with. Well, it was early when we did the photo shoot and the "real" cows were nowhere to be found (they are in a box in my closet, don't tell Rob). So he made do with this foil cow shaped object. What does this "cow" and these dolls have in common? They are all partially put together with wire. The cow however hasn't been dressed yet.