Where are all the octo-pies?

More dolls. A while ago I decided to create some dolls to sell. I wanted them small, but interesting. I first thought of using Kelly's (Little Barbies), but they're just so commercial, you know? I settled on McDonalds Happy Meal dolls. You remember the little collector dolls you used to get whenyou bought a hamburger or chicken nuggets? Well, they were made by Madame Alexander. They have the Madame Alexander small doll face, but even smaller. So I bought a bunch from Ebay. I wanted to buy the opened and played with ones, not the collector ones still in packages. Since I was going to tear them down and redress them, I didn't want to interrupt an afficionado's wish list. I mostly bought lots, because that's cheaper. Unfortunately, I ended up with a couple of blue-flaced and brown-furred ones. The blue ones are flying monkeys, I think, and the furry ones are Cowardly Lions. They're all from the Wizard of Oz. Those got to stay just as they are. The rest got disassembled. And I mean disassembled. The hats, or headdresses, on most of these dolls, is permanently attached. I wanted to change all that. I had to burr their hats off with a dremel tool. Unfortunately, I caught the hair of some of them, which engendered an immediate hair cut, to the poor dolls' detriment. You have to be careful removing the hats, because sometimes the doll's internal structure is tied to it. If you grind down too far, the head, and maybe the arms and legs, will fall off. I also discovered that the ones with hats are pretty much bald on top. Others come with a crown type thing, like an uber-hairband made from plastic. That kind of headdress attaches at the side and back of the head. If you're careful, you can grind down the attachment bits so the hair covers them. Almost all of them have a seam running around their heads, under their bangs. I had to hide that in many cases, usually with a ribbon tied around their heads. The bald-top ones get a new hat permanently glued on. I wanted them to be fairies. My first attempts at creating a dress failed miserably. You just can't set a sleeve in a bodice that small. Ask any Barbie tailor. I didn't want them sleeveless - that's the current Barbie solution, which results in total bare-arm wardrobe. I ended up crocheting the bodices of the dresses, and attaching frill-sleeves made from lace. I wanted them different colors, so I started dying my string. And my lace. And eventually, my fabric. That was fun, and kind of messy. It now takes me only a few minutes to crochet a bodice - I have the pattern mmemorized. For the skirts I wanted silk flower petals. I raided all my rather dated stock (which had been relegated to the dusty attic in plastic bins), and started pulling flowers apart. I also went to the local thrift stores. They always have fake flowers in dubious arrangements. I wanted the skirts to have a couple of layers. The top layer is netting, to which the flower petals are sewed. The second layer is usually a colored solid with lace sewed on the bottom. I then sew the top layer to the bottom layer with a long running stitch that I can gather. The rest of the assembly is hand work. The puff sleeves get stitched to the bodice, then the skirt. Then you tug it around the doll and stitch the bodice up the back. Yeah, these fairies can't have an interchangable wardrobe, more's the pity. If the lady is bald on the top, she either gets a flower headdress (matching the skir) -glued on - or a crochetted cap with flowers. Wings. I've tried several different wing methods. I've sort of settled on the wired organza one. I like the look of the burn-out film, but until I can figure out how to make the wires stick to the film better, I'll stick with organza. I make them by bending wire loops into wing shapes. Since these dolls are so small, I make one upper wing and one lower wing, each with two lobes. Then they get glued to the organza. I've tried about everything to glue them down: White glue, tacky glue. hot melt glue. I now use E-6000. It's still a bit messy, but at least it's reliable. I spread the organza over a table, and glue wire loops all over it. I usually leave it overnight before I cut the organza away from the outer edge of the wires. I always have to reglue spots, so it takes a couple of days to make the wings. When they're dry, I decorate them with glitter. I now have a large collection of glitter. A whole bin full, with every color. I have a tendancy to overbuy when I get crafty. Glittering is messy. People have told me glitter is like craft herpes: It gets everywhere. It doesn't do to get too precise with the glue. I have tried putting artisticly thin lines on my wings, but the glitter always globs, it's such a small canvas. One day I'll make some gigantic wings and go all crazy with the curlycues, but for these dolls I just do the best I can. The important thing is to cover the edges where the wires are. I attach the wings to each other with hot glue and two little pieces of cardboard, like from a cereal box. I then cover the cardboard with ribbon, glue velcro bits on the back of the doll's bodice,and on the wings, and Voila! a five inch fairy. And since I live by the motto: 'There's never time to do it over, but there's always time to over do it', I made a bunch of them and put them for sale on Etsy. I even made them a unicorn to ride.