✿｡•*¨*•｡ VIP Pets Anthropomorphic Hybrid Custom Dolls •*¨*•｡✿

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I spotted The VIP Pets series of toys, when they were released a few years back, I really liked their vibrant hair colours and one or two of their faces, but not their bodies, so I decided to add them to my list of possible customs when and if the inspiration struck me.

A couple of weeks ago, I found two for sale on Ebay at a good price, so I decided finally bring my ideas into fruition and snapped them up.

After a little research, as I had only seen these toys in passing, I discovered the orange haired one is called Alex and the blue haired is called Taylor.

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Taylor has a more natural coloured skin tone, compared to Alex's more orangey tone (I'm thinking she'll likely have a Monster High body once finished.

I had a spare Azone Body in my victim's box so I thought I'd see how well Taylor's head matched and if it would work well with that body, and so this little girl was born.

I was pleasantly surprised to find I didn't need to tweak or alter the neck or neck hole in anyway, her head just popped straight on, turns fine with no wobbling and is a really good match colour wise too!

I thought the little collar she originally came with was so cute so I put it onto her new body, where it looks even cuter!

The little dress she is wearing was made by a very talented Ebay Seller called spider8lesley who makes very cute outfits for Blythe / Azone sized and Monster High Dolls... If you'd like to check her out, click the link in her name above.

As she now has an Azone body, she has the full functionality those bodies offer.

Unfortunately, these bodies only come in natural skin tones, which mostly is a good thing but sometimes an unnatural colour is required, like for Alex's orange skin tone which is why I'm thinking of putting her on a Monster High Body, hopefully her head won't be too heavy for the body.

At the moment I'm working on giving her a new face, I was originally going to do the same with Taylor, but once I saw how cute she looked on the Azone Body, there was no way I could bring myself to strip off her face and repaint her.

I'll be sharing her photographs once I've finished her, so watch this space I guess!

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🐰 Littlest Pet Shop Hybrid Doll - My Latest Custom 🐰

I finally got around to getting this little girl together, I've had the idea for this little lady for years but it's crazy hard to not only find the right sized Littlest Pet Shop toy to hybrid but also the right kind of cute faced toy to use.

I've done a few of these funny little hybrids in the past, you may recall my dog, monkey, frog, bunny and panda girl minis and my Pingi the Chicken Lady - large bird faced girl on a Liv doll body.

If not, or you'd like to check them out you can find the posts by clicking on the following links...

LPS Hybrid Minis: `https://heresherbie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/littlest-pet-shop-anthropomorphic.html 

Chicken Lady: https://heresherbie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/meet-pingie-chicken-lady.html.   

So anyway, I managed to get this large flop eared rabbit Littlest Pet Shop pet, I knew she would be absolutely perfect for what I had in mind - something very kitsch looking obviously!

 I had the idea it would be easy as I could just use another Liv body for her like I did for Chicken Lady but I failed to take into account her long ears which it turned out obstructed her shoulders so much I had to rethink this option. 

After trying out several other jointed bodies (I really wanted her to be as posable as possible) I decided the best type of body would be an Azone one, although its much smaller than a Liv doll's body and more childlike in appearance it seemed a much better choice as it would allow me to dress and redress the doll without having to squeeze the clothing past her ears.

To strip the factory paint and repaint her as I envisaged her I decided it would be easier to remove her ears, this also gave me the ability to paint and seal her ears without worrying about the paint getting onto her face or having to find some way to prop her up while the layers were drying.

Once stripped, repainted and sealed, I reattached her ears and attatched her head it's new body, much Milliput, waiting and super glue later, I finally had her finished.  The beauty of the Milliput and glue method I devised - I have no idea how I managed this, actually allows her head to move from side to side, which adds so much to posing and photographing her.

I found her cute little outfit from a seller / doll clothes maker called spider8lesley on Ebay which suited her perfectly. The outfit is very well made and a perfect fit for her Azone body, if you'd like to check out her other items click on her name for a link to her Ebay page.

Just for funs, here's a before and after of my little girl...

I love how she turned out, she makes me smile every time I look at her!

Hugs,

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Toy Soldier - Living Dead Doll - Ooak Custom Repaint

I've just discovered this stunning piece of custom work while wandering around eBay and I'm just so in awe of it, I have no choice but to blog about it right now...

The doll used for the base is one that I've disregarded several times as I just think it's rather silly looking. The costume is nice and like most Living Dead Doll clothing has wonderful attention to detail... However the doll it'self just seemed off to me.

I think this is due in part to most  Living Dead Dolls having a face moulded from only one or two sculpts, this of course means that any differentiating characteristics have to be expressed through a combination of paint and costume design.

Toy Soldier Living Dead Doll is one of the few Christmas themed dolls released by Mezco, he's based on the wooden nutcracker style dolls from Babes in Toyland and wears the same calvary style uniform. 

While innocently wandering around eBay I discovered an Ooak Repaint by an artist called KMIRO J.K from California... I couldn't believe it was the same doll, this talented artist has really breathed life into him... Just look at those eyes!

   His factory paint has been completely stripped and he has been repainted using acrylic paint and sealed, he was then redressed in his original costume - which now suits him a hell of a lot better - a slight modding was done to the uniform,blood was added and a single button was removed - I can't tell where though...

He is priced at $200.00 and is available on a Buy It Now basis, by clicking the link to the listing.

He has been returned to his coffin and comes with all his original accessories, hat included.

The artist has removed the original blood from the doll's face, which is symbolic of his death and has added a couple of bullet holes to his forehead to symbolise that he died as a result of warfare instead.

                           

For some reason the above photograph of the doll reminds me of Jack Nicholson's character, Lt. Andre Duvalier, in the 1963 film The Terror, in which he stars alongside Boris Karloff.

Before I go, here's one last image of the doll in all his glory, standing besides his red coffin box.

Like most Living Dead Dolls he comes in a coffin shaped box with a Death Certificate and these are all included in the listing.

Enjoy,

Meet Pingie...The Chicken Lady - Littlest Pet Shop hybrid Doll

Since I've been unable to post most in recent months I've been keeping myself busy with making myself some new customs and hybrids when time has permitted.

A while back I posted about my Littlest Pet Shop hybrid minis which were really just test pieces until I could get my hands on a large Littlest Pet Shop animal to make myself a "Barbie" sized version... 

Sorry for the dodgy image it was the only one I could find :(

Well I finally got my hands on one - not a cute little kitty, puppy or bunny as I had envisioned but living in the U.K it's really not easy to find the larger versions so I had to make do with whatever I could find on Ebay.

About a month ago I found several listed (they seem to come in waves - nothing for months, then 5 or 6 come along at once) so I luckily had quite a good choice of "heads" with which to build my new girl to be.

Ebay listing Photo'

I couldn't resist this little purple penguin when I discovered her for sale as I could imagine her on her human body and how cute she'd look so I placed my bid and waited.

Ebay Listing Photo'

Thankfully I won, but as I hadn't gotten my hopes up and allowed my mind to fully explore how I was going to go about turning her into a 12 inch doll, I really hadn't considered what body I would use for her, I decided the best thing to do would be to wait until she arrived and once I have an idea how heavy that head is I'd have a better idea of what type of body would have a neck strong enough to support it.

See what I mean? Those eyes are just adorable.

 I decided to let the body problem wait a while longer as I just couldn't wait to start painting her up with a new "face"!

 Several coats later I finally had her looking just right, sealed the paint job and was still raring to go, only now I had to wait for the paint to dry!!

I experimented with Barbie, Pullip and Obitsu bodies but none of them pleased me, one thing I didn't want was for her to have a long neck, my plan was to try to keep her as proportional as possible, well as proportional as she can be with a big giant head!

I lowered her head slightly before securing it onto her neck as I really have a problem with neck length - don't get me started on "Gail Platt's" giraffe features... Seriously just look at that thing, 

I can't tell if her shoulders are pushed down or if her neck is elongated, or both - either way, it's too much for my little mind to deal with so I guess I better move swiftly on!

Anyhoo, I guess it's time to show you how she turned out now huh?, so without further ado, here she is...

"Hi"

She's a funny little thing, she tries so hard to be stylish and hip but that big head of hers and those chicken features are just too funny for her to be able to pull it off very well, bless!

I finally settled on a Liv body as it had all the posability that a Obitsu one does, but is heavier so is better placed to carry the weight of her head.

The other reason I went with the Liv body is because it is so much easier to dress them, her clothing size is pretty generic and so she can were most Barbie sized clothes, as for shoes, she fits Monster High and Ever After High perfectly so she gets to have a really cool shoe collection!

Another cool thing about those shoes is that they allow her to stand in her pose by herself.  

Also, proportionally she looks pretty good, the bulkier size of the Liv body carries her head size really well.

Now I'm reaching the end of this post, I've finally realised I should probably have taken a "nudie" photograph of her, so you can see that neck of hers and her proportions better, instead of covering it up in that high necked sweater. 

Unfortunately, I really don't have much time right now so another time maybe, for now I think I'll just give you a "before and after" recap instead...

I decided against giving her eyes a "little white dot" to indicate light source as I wanted to highly glaze her eyes instead, that way, the light source which shows in her eyes will move depending on it's direction at the time of the photograph, Which in turn gives a more natural feel to them, if natural is an adequate word to describe a human / chicken faced hybrid lady!

That's about it for now, so until the next time, take care,

I have a confession ...

My recent post about Pendle got me not only obsessing over Makies again but also flitting backwards and forwards between my photographs, Makies account where I have 26 Makies that I designed and the Makie Shop...

I guess it was inevitable that I would end up parting with some money if I didn't hurry up and finish my post, well I wasn't quick enough and I did end up spending and oh my gawd, my Makie family is about to expand!

This is how it happened ... I noticed there were two Limited Edition Makie Dolls for sale, quite a bit cheaper than the "Designed by You" ones I have saved, one of them really caught my eye - she's called June (short for Juniper, apparently) - well for now anyway...

She comes in Cocoa Bean skin tone and looks like this:

Now I can't say I'm too impressed with her puckered looking mouth, but I loved that hair of hers and hue of her skin, and that in turn got me thinking...

I went back to My Account and started comparing her with a Makie I designed last year who I called "Rainy Daze" she looks like this, I only have a computerized image of her as she hasn't been made real yet:  

Now I have to admit, I really do love this little girl, she has eleven ears like Pendle and a similar grumpy expression, for some reason I like to make mostly "Grumble Guts" Makies, which may possibly be another reason why a certain idea popped into my head while I was comparing both these girls

 And that idea was; how different an experience is it between designing and receiving a "Designed by You" Makie and receiving an off the shelf designed by someone else Makie so I decided to experiment

How's that for justification?! Lol

I'll be posting my feelings on this once both girls arrive and I have a chance to compare, photograph & play with them both!

Keep Ya Posted...

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*•*¨*•｡✿ The long awaited Pendle Makie arrives!! ✿｡•*¨*•｡

Or rather she doesn't ...

She's been here for months and sadly I got so caught up in playing with her, making little outfits and buying her cute stuff that I totally forgot that I'd started this post in readiness for arrival then over the months it got buried in my draft folder, only to be found today while I was going through the sixty-seven posts I have there waiting to be finished and posted.

 I have resolved to do this even if it's just two drafts a week  and I just can't believe my beautiful Makie girl hasn't been given her online brag time, so here goes, but first look at this:

I found this on MakieLabs an hour or so ago and omg - She was "Made Real" on 31st Jan. 2014 - I received her around a week later - so for over a year I've owned and loved this girl and still haven't given her her own post - I'm so ashamed *hangs head*

Since she's been made real her display picture on the site has changed, prior to that she looked like this:

                                             It's one hell of a difference ain't it?!

I didn't order a face up for her, so I was quite surprised to discover when she arrived that she had been given a light one, I kept it as it was subtle but sadly it hadn't been sealed and my "I love you Pendle Play Time" was obviously too much for it, so I was forced to give her my own face up instead.

I made a point of saving the animations as I was creating her so I could do a comparison post just to see how close to the animations the finished doll is so I already had them uploaded to this post, waiting for "Made Real" photo's and words, which is great 'cos it saves me from going looking for them but kind of annoys me too as it means I stupidly could have had this post up online over a year ago *sigh*

Here she is with her original face up taken on the day she arrived at her new home, as you can see being Fairy Folk and never having used a seat that wasn't made of twigs and moss or toadstool caps before, she has no idea about having decorum when she sits down.

 I'm pleased to report she has gotten a lot better, but I fear she'll never quite get the hang of it!

I made that little dress she's wearing around a year before Makies were released, I made it for Blythe from a pattern I found a small jpg of in Google.

 I guessed the measurements and went for it (never again!) - it didn't fit her but I loved the fabric and was determined to find someone it fitted so I kept it and waited...

When Pendle moved in I thought "what the hoo, give it a try" so I did and it fitted like a glove - Yay!

The wig she's wearing is not the one she came in I bought it a while waiting for her to arrive  - although she mostly doesn't wear either, I'm not sure why but I think she much prefers the feeling of the wind on her bare head...

Here she is with the replacement face up I gave her,  I'm pretty pleased with how "alive" I've made her look especially when compared to the picture below, which shows her as she was when first designed and waiting to be "Made Real".

"Made Real" is definitely the right term to use, while it may have started out as a quirky way of saying the doll has now been made tangible there is something about these dolls - more than you get with mass produced dolls, these dolls really do have a "personality" and more than the imaginative play of yesteryear... There is a "realness" to them that's hard to explain to anyone who doesn't have one of their own.

I took photographs of her in each of the positions in which you can rotate your creation to see how you like your doll as you're making her, as I wanted to do comparison shots once she arrived  - I did too but unfortunately I have no idea what I've done with the blooming things!

 I did however have the Makilab ones saved in this post, so I dunno I guess I'll just have to take some more but of course they won't have her original "face up" 

 I'm quite struck by how different these to images are, but at the same time I'm very impressed by how close to my designed doll Pendle is, it's actually quite astounding to think that a few tweaks with a fun little online gadget can produce a doll that is exactly to my taste and not only that - a doll no one else has or ever will!

 The more I look at these images side by side the more impressed I am. Pendle really is an exact replica of my design not just having a resemblance too, like many Ooak dolls are but an actual, tangible representation of my design.

It's really an amazing experience to hold a doll that was designed not only for you but by you!

 To be honest I was a little worried about how she would come out and especially in the case of her ears the holes in the "Makiebot" images look really big and very high up her earlobes but I shouldn't have been concerned as on the finished doll they are exactly as I want them!

 I have to say for an artist, doll collector & customiser like myself, Makies have to be the perfect doll!

Not only has it always been my dream to design my own doll although to be honest I haven't a clue how to start hence my almost subconsciously becoming a customiser, but they also provides so much creative input that you actually feel like you really have made the doll yourself!

 I'm really pleased with the distance between her head and her ears, it's exactly the distance I wanted...

I really need to tidy up my "play pen" as I can't find which safe place I put her original wig in, so sadly I had to use the spare I bought for the following comparison pic's - the ones I took on the day she arrived were in her original wig but unfortunately my computer is as in need of a tidy as my play pen - ho hum!

 Pendle hates having to stay still for my photos so sadly they've come out pretty fuzzy but even so, it's still easy to make the comparisons between them and the "Makie Maker" images.

I didn't realise until after I'd uploaded that her eye's on the wonk, oh well I've fixed it now just a little too late for the photo shoot.

I would ask Pendle if she'd let me take some more but she's a bit busy right now...

Pendle is very sturdy and is able to hold onto her mischievous, wriggling imp of a son (who she caught scratching up the wall behind her and laughing maniacally) with one hand, unsupported.

I think from the look on her face she's beginning to regret Motherhood - Still I'm sure he'll calm down once his had his nap!

When Pendle is not having to deal with a naughty "Mudwamp" up to no good, she likes nothing better than entertaining everyone with her best impressions of Groucho Marx while I rue the day I ever let her watch Duck Soup!!