Sunday, July 9, 2017

And Then There Were 3

I have previously shared the story about how my husband acquired his first Barbie doll. Now I will share the story of how he got his second and third Barbies.

Last week, I had asked my husband to look for the cornrows Fashionistas Ken at Walmart for me. I even texted him a photo and everything. Walmart did not have the Ken that I was looking for. So, I ordered Ken online. He has not arrived yet.

This evening my husband came home, Walmart bag in hand, and said that if I don't want both items in the bag, he would take the one that I don't want. I saw a Barbie box peeking out of the bag, and started clapping. He took the dolls out of the bag, and he had purchased the cornrows Ken and Zig & Zag Barbie Fashionistas.

I told him that I had ordered the Ken online and that the doll was on the way, and that I already own Zig & Zag. He told me "Well, that means I get to keep both of them then." I agreed. He said "That means that they stay in the box." I agreed again. So now my husband has a collection of 3 Mattel dolls, in addition to his Ripcord action figure. His doll collection is becoming quite impressive indeed.

A couple of days ago, I made a slight modification to my Zig & Zag doll. I removed her pink lip color and gave her a more neutral lip color. 

I removed the pink lips with acetone, put lipstick on her, and used top coat nail polish on top of that.

While I had the acetone and clear polish out, I decide to tackle a couple of other small projects that I'd been meaning to get around to. 

The black frames of Calista's glasses had faded and chipped over time. I repainted them with black nail polish and painted over that with clear polish. They look better, but not satisfactory to me. One day (when I finally buy some acrylic paint), I will completely remove all of the nail polish and paint and do a proper repaint of her glasses.

For my Bessie Coleman doll, I did the same thing that I did for Zig & Zag to replace her lip color.

Here is what Bessie looked like before.

 I showed my husband my altered Zig & Zag doll. He was unimpressed. Maybe he prefers his own Zig & Zag doll. I do appreciate him bringing dolls home "for me" tonight, though. That brought a huge smile to my face.

27 comments:

  1. I love what you have done with their lipstick! It took me several tries to get Ms Zig-Zag's lips to a state I liked. And what a great husband! Mine tolerates my doll collecting but grumbles every time a new one arrives.

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    1. Thanks Wendy! I'm not completely satisfied with my Zig & Zag's lips either, so I can see another lip repaint in her future. I like the way that Bessie's lips turned out, though. And yes, my husband is my biggest enabler.

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  2. OMGoodness, first off I am bowing down to you for showing Bessie the much needed love she's needed regarding that hideous pink lip color the manufacturer gave her. Poor Bessie has had to suffer through this for how many years? Thank you, thank you, thank you on Bessie's behalf.

    Clever idea to use lipstick for the lip color and to seal it with clear fingernail polish. I worry, though, if the vinyl and fingernail polish will have some sort of reaction with time. I once used actual fingernail polish to color over the fangs of Monster High Dolls, which worked, but after a year or so, the fingernail polish appeared to be melting on the sides of the lips. I removed it and painted the lips with acrylic paint.

    I'd have the same worries about the fingernail polish and Calista's face. I'd suggest to just watch it or go ahead and purchase several bottles of acrylic paint the next time you're in walmart. They are under a dollar each. I keep a variety of browns and tan, black, white, and maroon on hand.

    Your husband's collection is getting quite impressive. It's amazing that he and my husband were "attracted" somehow to Zig and Zag. It was my husband who convinced me to buy her. I didn't have any intentions of buying her before. Now she is my favorite curvy Barbie (after her lip color modification, that is). You did a great job with yours.

    dbg

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    1. LOL Debbie! It's only been 5 years that I've had Bessie. :D And yes, she is quite happy with the change. Hopefully she will not have melted lips in the future due to this change. I definitely need to get some acrylic paints, and I need to get those glasses off of Calista's face. I wonder what it is about Zig & Zag that caught our husbands' eyes? I wasn't going to buy her at first either, until I saw the modifications that you and others made.

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    2. I hope Bessie's lip color remains intact.

      I'm not sure what it was about Z&Z that caught my husband's attention. It might have been her complexion. The last time we were in Walmart together he asked me if I had Blue Brocade, the dark skinned petite Fashionista. I think he just probably sees brown in any shade and asks. :-)

      dbg

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    3. Whenever I get some acrylic paint, I'll redo Bessie's lips. Hopefully that won't be 5 years from now. :)

      The only thing that my husband said about Zig & Zag was that she was curvy. Maybe that's what caught his attention.

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  3. OMG, the change to Miss Coleman's lips is phenomenal! She looks so much better! I cannot understand why they gave her that terrible shade of pink! Your other alterations look good too. I also love that your husband has his own dolls -- what fun!

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    1. Thanks Phyllis! I don't understand Bessie's original lip color, either. I almost didn't buy her in part because of that awful color, but I'm glad that I did buy her. My husband is no fun with his dolls. He keeps them in their plastic and cardboard prisons.

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    2. Haha, you should put little sticky notes on the outside of the boxes with notes from the dolls! :"Help, I can't breathe!", "Let me out!" "It's like a sauna in here!" Any way, that would be funny unless it somehow discouraged him from getting more dolls!

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    3. LOL Phyllis - me doing that might prompt my husband to put these dolls into hiding with Ripcord, wherever he is. It would amuse me, though. :)

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  4. Thanks you for fixing Bessies lips. She looked like she was in a pie eating contest. Next again a nod to your hubby. I love that you two are growing a hobby together. The good thing is he sees the sense in buying dolls. Some folks think it is kind of silly.
    I have ZigZag and I have not done anything with her, but I know I need to. She is deboxed in in a party scene with other folks. I thought about flocking her braids and probably changing her lipstick. I think Calista is so cute!

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    1. ROFL The grandmommy @pie eating contest! What the heck kind of nasty pie was she eating to get that lip color, a Pepto-Bismol pie? LOL! Thank you for your comments and for giving me a good chuckle this evening.

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  5. Doll collecting sneaks up on you! I predict more dolls in his future. The Bessie change is HUGE. She looks younger now.

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    1. Thanks Muff! Hopefully me and my husband can keep our dolls together. He has been hiding his Ripcord action figure from me for years because I was teasing about releasing him from his packaging. I have my own Ripcord now, but my husband will not bring his out of hiding. His other dolls are hanging out with my dolls for now.

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  6. Wow, what a difference lip colour makes to the look of a doll. That pale pink had a real '60's vibe.
    It's interesting the difference between you and your husband in relation to your collections. You want to play, he wants them to stay in perfect condition to enjoy looking at them - but both ways are good.

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    1. Hi Carrickters! Yeah, he has tried to encourage me to keep my dolls in their boxes. That's not the kind of collector that I am at all (for the most part), so it's best that he has his own dolls that he can do with what he pleases.

      But in all honesty, with the exception of his Ripcord that I gave him, I consider "his" dolls to be my dolls as well. He's just holding them for me so that I won't open them. :)

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  7. It is awesome that your husband is an enabler!! I love it!
    Bessie looks better with the lipstick change. I agree with Muff, she does look younger. I changed the lip color (burgundy) on my ZigZag. I like her much better.

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    1. Hi Georgia Girl! Yes, my husband is a huge enabler! I had about 20 dolls when we first got together. Now, I don't really even know how many dolls that I have (20 x 20 maybe). I hope Bessie doesn't look too much younger. I still want her to be a mom to one of my adult dolls.

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  8. Great job on the modifications to your dolls! And the thought of your husband's growing doll collection makes me smile. Perhaps collecting is contagious?

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    1. Thanks Jewell! I think that collecting is definitely contagious. :)

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  9. Bessie Coleman looks much better. So does Zig Zag. Congratulations on having them and for "fixing" them. I like how you've re-dressed them, too.

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    1. Thanks D7ana! I have a few more pink lipped dolls that I want to fix, but I think I want to wait until I get some acrylic paints.

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    2. Good luck! I've got grumpies wanting to be fixed here, lol.

      Note to self: get acrylic paint in suitable rustic red colors.

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    3. Thanks D7ana! I think I need to get a variety of acrylic paints, because I have a few dolls that need their entire faces redone (I'm looking in Dragon Jennifer's general direction...).

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  10. I have her she was my first Fashionista when I saw the advertisement I was bothered by her hair and planned to do her right and Finnish her weave, Well......... I dun fell down the rabbit hole.

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    1. I'm not bothered by her hair. I've seen people with similar hairstyles. When I read that there was a lot of criticism and complaints regarding this doll's hair, that made me like her a little more. LOL

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    2. I fell in love with her for that reason too, but having done hair most my life it looked like she didn't have enough money or packs of Remy in a No*10 lol

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