Another Unusual Doll

             School is still sort of a struggle, but things are starting to fall into place. I am still pretty tired when I get home, but I am still adjusting to getting up super early and getting less sleep. I keep telling myself that as long as I keep on going with the dolls, at least get a few bits of them done every day, sooner or later they will get finished. 

             I have another unusual doll in the works. I decided this was the doll where I needed to try the "upgrade" kit. The arms and legs have extra points of articulation so they are much more flexible. I have had the upgraded limb kits for probably a couple of years now and never tried them out. But I saw a comparison of one of the original type S bodies and and upgraded one and figured now was the time. 

           It's not particularly challenging to change the arms and legs (or head) on a type S doll. You just need a small screw driver. The first thing I did was to take the doll apart. And then of course photograph the carnage. 

                                       

       When I tried to put the new arms and legs on I discovered that the sockets were all just a bit too small. But I remembered a trick Craig (the creator of the Yvonne doll) told me. So I grabbed my hair dryer and heated up the sockets. This softened the plastic just enough that you can change out the parts without danger of breaking things. This was originally the recommendation for changing the hands on the doll. Works perfectly for limb changes, too. 

        I also brought the upgraded body outside and dremeled it so the finished doll would be a better rider. Next came the cutting out and sewing of a few items of clothing. I did not get a ton of work done, but it felt good to get at least a few things done. Finally. 

      I am still struggling to find energy and head space to get all the work done that I need to. But I think I am at least slowly making progress. This week we will start to have students in the building 4 days a week. That will be another bit of adjustment. The week after another group of students will start and the week after and so on and so on. Doing it that way we all get a bit of time to adjust to things, even though it sort of drags out the first-day-of-school feeling for a long time. Eventually though, we'll get there. And eventually I will finish the dolls.