I'm on FIRE! (^_^)

 On fire for re-rooting!
(^_^)

I know, you must have envisioned me typing a blog entry while on fire....

No?

Yeah, neither did I. ;)

Okay, so I have completed quite a few re-roots in a short span of time. 

 And there doesn't appear to be an end in sight.

So here are some of the newest transformations...

 (She is for my personal collection, and started out as a Barbie Basics Model #4. I re-rooted her in "Bittersweet" from Restoredoll.com)

(I named her Gillian.)

She started as a Top Model Hair Wear Teresa, and she was re-rooted with Black Orchid from Restoredoll.com. 

Here are a couple more pictures of the finished re-root...

(This was a commission for April.)

(This gal is also for my personal collection, and was formerly a Rio de Janeiro Lea.)

Unfortunately I don't have a "Before and After" shot of her. 

Click here to see what she looked like before.

(Not my image.)

In the theme of Lea dolls....

(This is for my personal collection, and she was an Amazing Nails Lea.)

Here are a couple more shots of her...

(Her outfit was what I refer to as a fashion risk, but it grew on me.)

The next gal is more of a Kayla/Lea. To be more specific she was a Mermaid Kayla.

Here is her "Before" shot. 

And this is her after. 

I liked her in orange, but it was horrible quality hair.

So, I replaced her hair with saran, and made the length shorter. 

That covers most of my re-rooting craziness for now.

However, I have 4 in the works (commissions). 

I may try to squeeze another one of my own in, as I am STILL trying to play catch up.  lol

I hope everyone is having an awesome week!! 

(^_^) 

-Cat of A Doll Affinity

MIO Designs = Divine! (^_^)

Recently I won a drawing on facebook for a MIO Designs purse. 

I have loved MIO Designs for awhile, and was floored to have the opportunity to own such a beautiful peice of work.

(^_^)

The purse came neatly packaged with a lovely business card. 

The attention to detail on this purse is awe inducing.

The purse is Mickey Mouse themed and came with this adorable
 Mickey key charm attached to the strap.

Erin came along to model the bag for me. 

Upon seeing the purse in person I thought of her. 

(The other girls are jealous, but they will learn to cope.)

Another close look.

The inside is flawlessly lined, and everything is discreetly affixed.
The realism is on point!
(^_^)

Thank you so much MIO!!

My girls and I are over the moon for this little peice of art you sent our way. 

If you would like to find some MIO Designs for you and your dolls you can. 

Here is the link to her Etsy store.

She also has a blog and facebook.

Please take some time and support a fellow doll artist. 

Even if it is just a "like" or a hello. 

A little means a lot! 

(^_^)

-Cat of A Doll Affinity

Heads still roll...

 I recently completed a re-root and style for a fellow doll/action figure friend of mine. 

The re-root and style was done on a BBI perfect body AA Action Figure.

This was my 3rd time working with an action figure head. 

Here are the first 2 action figure re-roots I completed for those of you that may be new to my blog (welcome)...

 (This gal was for the AMAZING Danielle of Vita Plastica!)

*This picture was taken by Danielle once she returned home.*

*See her in action on Danielle's blog by clicking this link.*

This 3rd gal was unique because I was asked to do pigtails. 

I had never done pigtails before, but was completely up for the challenge. 

Here is the Before picture of the BBI perfect body AA Action Figure ...

Then the "prep" phase...

The in progress picture I took when I first began her part work...

And the Finished product (sorta)...

She is set to be a Native American character when she arrives home. 

Of course this isn't her body (that is at home with her owner). 

I balanced her head on a Liv body for this shot. 

There is no "neck peg" because these types of heads have VERY small neck holes. 

I am very pleased with the way she turned out. 

And luckily, so is her owner. 

(^_^)

 TIPS

  When rooting the part for pigtails, make sure you thatch the part. DO NOT "bulk" the part. It is way too risky, and you may split the head. It also helps to root from the outside-in to have a more precise (straight) part line. Re-rooting from the outside-in is also helpful when dealing with harder doll heads. 

How to Re-root from the outside in:

Make a plug with a knot on the end.

Thread through needle.

Fold (not tight) at the halfway point of the plug.

Press through the hole on the outside until the plug comes through on the other side.

Then tie a knot on the loose end sticking out of the neck hole.

Last, pull the knot on top of head up until the new knot is securely on the inside of the head, then snip the outside knot off at the end. 

~~~~~~~

I may do a step by step (with pictures) "how to" on the steps above. 

Would any of you be interested in that? 

Thank you for stopping in! 

A Warm Welcome to all the new readers!!

May this find you well and smiling, 

-Cat of A Doll Affinity 

(^_^)

Dollyhair.com we are done.

 (A side by side shot of the same 38" Hanks in the first picture.)

My sister (Nikita) and I exchanged several e-mails with Tina of dollyhair.com. She made promises and still has not delivered. How someone runs a business this way is beyond me. 

If Tina would have followed through with her end of things and kept her promises, this blog entry would not have been posted. 

I made EVERY effort not to resort to this.

However, the specifics of mine and my sister Nikita's experience are as follows...

A month prior to our ordeal I ordered hair and it was more than enough to re-root a 1/6 size doll head. 

But the next order wasn't even close, and I waited nearly 3 weeks to receive it.  

Here is a comparison shot of  the hair that was received a month prior (on left) and then the one received a month later (on the right). Both are 38" hanks. 

 And yes, the one on the right came looking frizzy/tangled in places. 

And here are the same 38" Hanks weighed side by side.

Next up I have a comparison shot of the RD hanks.

They are smaller than the 38" hanks and generally good for ordering if you just need a little bit of a color or if you ran out of hair and just need a little more to finish.

The Left RD Hank was ordered before the RD Hank on the Right.

This is the weight difference between the same RD hanks.

Tina was informed of all of this information. 

Nikita and I even offered to send her these pictures. 

She didn't show an interest in seeing them. 

Instead she said it had something to do with an assistant quitting and that she would correct the problem by sending replacement hair and a few free 38" hanks.

That was in November of 2012.

We received nothing.

A good company should have INTEGRITY. 

That would include not lying to multiple customers over similar issues.

Customers that happen to know one another. 

I don't want anyone else to fall into the trap of ordering from this site and ending up in a similar situation.

If any of you have alternate doll hair providers to recommend, please leave them in the comment section of this entry, so that others can find a more reliable hair supplier.

Dollyhair.com has been my provider for 2 years. 

I referred countless people interested in re-rooting to this site, and now I am taking that recommendation back. 

I stuck it out even when the shipping time took 2 weeks to a MONTH to arrive.

I even stuck it out when fees were added for processing without warning.

But having a customer pay the same price for less hair is unacceptable. 

The site was once excellent. 

I'm very upset that this is no longer a place I trust. 

I, like many others, are NOT happy that dollyhair.com has gone down hill. 

We all kept hoping Tina of dollyhair.com would begin to value her customers again.

I can assure you that being lied to, seeing other doll friends and artists being lied to, and never having a resolution DOES NOT make a person OR a customer feel valued.

So, I have since taken my business to http://www.restoredoll.com/.

She gets back to you promptly, and is helpful in resolving issues (though I haven't had any as of yet.)

Yes, the prices are a little higher, but the shipping time is quick and you actually receive the RIGHT amount of hair. 

-Cat and Nikita of A Doll Affinity

Cheers to a New Year with new re-root pictures! (^_^)

2013 is here and I'm excited to share it with each of you.

*Finally got my London Mist Imogen grail doll!!* 

I hope to present more fun and entertaining material in the coming year.

A move is impending (not fast enough) and the packing continues. 

I'm excited to set up a place for all of my doll madness.

That is, a more functional place.

See FUN is in FUNctional...so cheesy. ;)

The getting there will be the bumpy part, but I'm ready. 

Thank you all for being patient with me in 2012. 

You're all an inspiration, and you keep me coming back!

(^_^) 

To start off my year of sharing I will showcase some pictures of dolls I worked on at the end of last year. 

(Note: I understand that those of you who follow me on facebook and Flickr may have already seen all or some of the following pictures. I try to keep up with all 3 sites, but sometimes life just doesn't allow for it. Again, thank you for being incredibly patient and sticking around.)

This is Allison....

 She was done for my personal collection, and had waited awhile to get her makeover. 

I always loved this doll, but over time, her hair just went to crap.

I originally planned to re-root her in a brown blend, but in a twist of odd timing 

and wild inspiration she went red.

As some of you may know, I LOVE  Japanese and Korean culture, movies, and music. 

It has quite a bit to do with my doll related creative endeavors.

Allison's makeover was inspired by some of the looks seen in various K-Pop girl groups. 

Such as Tiffany from Girls' Generation...

*These pictures are not mine.* 

Tiffany isn't the only gal with this hair color, but she was the one that came to mind first.

 I want Allison to have loose long curls in the future, but

I don't want them to fall out during the move. So that project will have to wait.

Allison's cute style is also a direct result of girl K-pop bands I've seen. 

Such as Hellovenus...

And here is Allison with her hat on...

(^_^) 

Next is a fella that was re-rooted by a fellow Flickr friend of mine.

 Some of you may know her as Elizabeth 1986. 

I re-rooted his part to accomodate the style I had planned for him, and I gave him a re-paint. 

Thank you again, for the help Elizabeth! 

You may remember him like this...

"Micah"

But now, he looks like this...

You'll see more of him in the coming year. These were just quick shots. The blue that was used is extremely dark, and I needed sunlight to showcase the contrast.

Most of my boys tend to be edgy bad boy types. *shrugs*

As long as it is just in fantasy land, right?  (^_^)

I also did a commission a few months ago for a fellow blogger. 

I give full creative credit to Sal, 

as he did something very similar to create his Blair Waldorf. 

There was one other commission I did, but I won't be revealing her just yet. 

(^_^) 

And last, I took some better pictures of Violet. You might remember her as this...

But now...

And I wanted to let everyone know that I now require comment approval so that I can make sure I respond to each and every comment. 

Many blessings to each of you in 2013!!!

-Cat of A Doll Affinity (^_^)