Excuse us for one minute, please, while we get Raito ready for his trip back home to Pleasant Island. He’s been here so long that it’s going to be very lonely without him. His sister and friends are missing him, though, so it only seems fair that he leave for a bit. (Besides, he has no more room in his bag for souvenirs.) We made him promise to return soon but were sorry to hear that he won’t be back in time for Bunty’s Annual Wool Week celebration. Maybe after the holidays . . . “Nanea, we’re already late! Come on!” Sorry if we seem a bit distracted today. My sister’s gone all weepy on us . . . girls.
Note from the Editor: I’m away on assignment right now, so Benny’s agreed to step in and finish the story. Excuse us for one minute, please, while we get Raito ready for his trip back home to Pleasant Island. He’s been here so long that it’s going to be very lonely without him. His sister and friends are missing him, though, so it only seems fair that he leave for a bit. (Besides, he has no more room in his bag for souvenirs.) We made him promise to return soon but were sorry to hear that he won’t be back in time for Bunty’s Annual Wool Week celebration. Maybe after the holidays . . . “Nanea, we’re already late! Come on!” Sorry if we seem a bit distracted today. My sister’s gone all weepy on us . . . girls. We’ve got to hurry to get Raito to the dock, where Nachito’s waiting to take our friend to the mainland to catch his train for Pleasant Island. “Hey, Nachito! Sorry to be late. We had to re-pack his souvenir bag three times before it would stay closed. Before you guys leave, would you mind taking our picture for us? Nanea says we don’t have a good ‘frame photo’ of the three of us together.” Say Cheese! Perfect first time . . . “Nanea, you’ve already given him seventeen good-by hugs this morning. Okay, one more, but then he has to leave. Let me hand you the bag, Nachito, but be careful. My sister filled it with so many gifts that it doesn’t wanna stay closed.” “Oh, Raito! It’s going to be ever so lonely around here without you. No, I’m not crying. I just don’t feel like smiling right now. Okay, one smile. Please, oh, please come back soon! Aloha!” “Hey, man. Have fun, and make sure you hold that suitcase closed. Come back soon, and we’ll take you to another secret fishing spot. What about Nanea? Nanea, if you don’t stop crying, your face is going to freeze like that.” “Aloha, Nanea! Don’t be sad. You’ve still got Flossie, and I’ll come back again. Oh, I almost forgot. I left a piece of cornbread for Flossie’s dinner in my hammock. Tell her it’s from me, okay? Boy, they aren’t going to believe this back home. I’m going to miss that chicken.” “Aloha, Benny! You’ve got to let me know if you catch that giant fish in the lagoon. Nah, the suitcase’ll be fine. I just won’t check it this time. Boy, your sister knows how to pack ’em . . . Gotta go, or I’m gonna be late for the train. Does Nachito know the shark story, or can I tell him while we’re heading to the mainland? Oh, well . . . my friends back home haven’t heard it. See ya soon!” “So, Raito, d’you enjoy your time with Benny and Nanea? Yep. They are great. I bet you can’t wait to get back home and share your own adventure stories. Do you have a sister? Does she have a grand-champion chicken? I agree. Flossie is hard to explain, but you didn’t really believe that bit about the shark attack, did you? Nah, I didn’t think so. But Benny gets a kick outta all the drama. Hey, we’re almost to the dock. You ready?” “What I wanna know is . . . how is Nanea going to take care of that chicken without me?”
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Playing with Evette and all these red wigs have been a lot of fun. I was de-wigging a doll for someone today, and it turned out to be a TM #61 (which has a long red wig) -- making a perfect opportunity to compare that wig with the long red wig from Girl of the Year Blaire Wilson. I thought that #61 was slightly longer, but it's actually not. In fact, these wigs look to be the exact same. Allowing for having been made for different dolls, they really look the same! In these two photos (taken with camera flash, which is why the color is a bit funky), Blaire's wig is on the left and #61's wig is on the right. And to show how similar they are on a doll, here is Evette modelling both of them. First, she's wearing the TM #61 wig: And now some photos of Evette wearing the Blaire wig: I know that my Blaire wig has never been brushed (just released from the original hair style), and I'm pretty sure that this #61 wig has never been brushed either! I would recommend either wig.
We just got a pair of these outfits from Target for Jill and Silver, and they are way too cute! We've had our fair share of Our Generation clothes for the dolls, and some are very nice and some are a bit cheap. These are very nice. In fact, the fabric quality is as good or better than the American Girl outfits that have been released this year. Before the outfits went in for a vinegar soak and hand-wash (precaution we take to avoid staining with all doll clothes), I thought I'd model them on an Evette doll, because this would be a great addition to Courtney's 1980s wardrobe. The set also comes with little pom-pom hair bands, but I didn't want to put them in Evette's hair. The sweatshirt is a nice thick knit with a soft lining inside (velcro on the back). The leggings are a thick stretchy knit with elastic waist. Shoes are solid plastic but fit the AG feet perfectly.
Stay tuned for more Islandshire fun! It seems that a lot of people are wondering what the World By Us girls would look like without the lower painted on eye makeup and lashes. While we haven't decided to remove it from our dolls yet, I did remove it digitally from the pictures below to give a feel for the effect. If you do want to remove some/all of the eye makeup, micromesh should work well. I've taken eye makeup like this off a number of Nanea dolls with micromesh, always with great results. First up is Makena without the bottom painted lashes: Next is Maritza with the bottom painted lashes digitally removed: And last-but-not-least, here's Evette without her lower lashes: Bonus image: Here's a request showing Evette wearing a Girl of the Year Lea wig and lower lashes removed.
As it seems that everyone's favorite has been the red-haired wigs on Evette, I thought I'd try a few more on her. She just really lends herself to the red hair! CYO Red Short and Curly Wig CYO Red Natural/Tight Short Curly Wig CYO Red Medium Straight with Bangs Wig
Next up in the continuing fun with the new World By Us doll trio are some photos showing Evette modelling a variety of wigs. She's the classic/normal medium vinyl skin tone (#20 in CYO generator), so she can really wear a variety of hair colors -- especially since this medium tone seems to have changed a bit in the last couple of years (more on that later). We've been dealing with a broken lawn mower, so it's taken a lot more time to get these photos done than I thought. However, Evette is finally getting a chance to show off her cuteness (and a lot more photos were also added to Maritza's wig slideshow)! This is one amazing doll! I totally did not expect to be so crazy about her -- complete with original wig. In fact, the cutie above is staying here just as she is. We decided to keep a second Evette for customizing, and she did a great job modelling for all the wig photos below. This doll looks amazing in everything! A few photos and thoughts on Evette's original wig before moving on to other options -- This is a very nice wig. Unlike the AG wigs from TM #44 or #26, or Gabriela or the CYO "medium tight/natural curly" option, this is a soft wig. It does not feel coated or hard in any way. While it photographs to look curly, it's really more like a perm. They're not ringlets at all. I haven't done anything to the original wig yet, so I'm not sure on the level of care needed. The color is the golden dark blonde two-tone of GOTY Lea's hair (with Evette having just a few more highlights). AG listed this as Caramel, which matches the wig of TM #81. Yes, that dark blonde/caramel color is the base, but this has the more highlighted two-tone look of Lea. Here are some photos in this slideshow that (hopefully) show the highlights and style of this wig. There are comparisons of Evette's wig to Lea's wig -- taken with and without flash, since it's hard to capture the amazingly beautiful color. (If the doll is wearing a grey/black striped sleeveless shirt, it's an Evette doll. If it's wearing Lea's dress, then it's a custom #82 with Lea's eyes and wig.) Something that I noticed about Evette while trying wigs on was the difference in her skin tone. She's sold and listed by AG as having the #20-tone classic/normal medium tone that has been used on dolls like Josefina, TM #26, Lea, Luciana, etc. What has surprised me since opening these three World By Us dolls, though, is that it's very hard to photograph her appearing with that tone. Well, when I tried on the red wigs, I realized that something was different. She looked very good in the red wigs, which is unusual for most AG dolls (it can be hard to get the tones matched well for the dark red wigs). That prompted me to pull out another #20-tone medium doll to compare. Photos here show Evette with my Bethany (a 2016 TM #62 head on a Lea body). In order for the camera to pick up the tonal difference, I have them both wearing dark red CYO wigs. Note how much redder and darker in tone Bethany (right) is from Evette. And these two dolls are sold as the same skin tone. I pulled out the Nanea doll that we purchased in May 2021 to compare, and it does seem as if the #20-tone medium skin vinyl has changed in tone this year. It's definitely lighter than previous dolls and with less red in it. This means that these dolls actually wear the lighter wig colors very well -- but in the same way, they look much paler in the dark wigs than I'm used to when modelling on a medium-tone doll. Okay, now it's on to the fun stuff -- wig photos! (If you've never changed wigs on a doll, now is a great time to start. It's addictive, and you'll never look at a doll the same way again.) I've got a LOT of photos showing Evette modelling various wigs, now uploaded into a slideshow album on the Customizing with Wigs page here (scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page, she's the 17th slideshow). But here are a few samples of the different wigs included on the wig page . . . TM #27 Wig Knock-off Nellie Wig CYO Dark Red "Medium Tight/Natural Curly" Wig Girl of the Year Grace Wig AG Ruthie Wig TM #82 Wig I hope these photos are helpful, and be sure to check out the Wig Photos page to more. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send them via the contact form or leave a comment on this entry.
Stay tuned for more fun with the World By Us dolls! Photos coming showing some fun customizing options using the three World By Us wigs. A quick addition to the previous posts about Maritza -- Sis is keeping the Maritza doll we've used in all the photos so far, and we were actually planning on keeping a second one that we brought home (Sis was having trouble picking out which one she wanted, because a Columbus store employee was so rude while we were there) to use them for Jill and Silver. This first Maritza came with a bit of an unstuffed shoulder, causing a head tilt. No big deal, because Sis has fixed a lot of those, and this was the face she really liked. Well, she decided to fix the stuffing in hers while I unboxed and dewigged the second. I took the second one out of her box and undressed it and noticed that it's body is so crooked that the shoulders were facing off to the side when the feet and head look straight ahead. At the same time, Sis got the stuffing fixed up in hers, and it now has the same exact body issue. They are quite crooked, and Sis found where the sewn seams are actually cut and sewn crooked on the body. We've got an extra medium-skin torso, so she's going to string her doll onto that. We actually brought home three Maritza dolls (one of whom is staying), and all three have this issue. We plan on returning the second doll as a defect next time we go back to Columbus. I would definitely unbox a Maritza at the store, if possible, because for all three of these to have the same exact defect in the body means there was a production issue somewhere. The photo above shows the doll when her head and feet face straight ahead to the camera. And this photo shows the doll when her shoulders are positioned to face the camera (which shows how her feet and head then face to the side). Click images above to view at full size. The two photos above show the crooked body seam and how the hips and shoulders are not even when the body is fully stuffed. Now for one more quick note about Marita's head when compared to a Joss doll -- This turned out to be very interesting! I was playing around with Jill and Silver's wigs on Maritza's head and noticed that the trimmed Joss wig did not fit on quite the same way. Not only did it feel a bit smaller (which I attributed to the glue residue on the stretchy part of the wig cap), but the trim appeared quite a bit shorter on Maritza than on Joss. As it turns out, the Joss face mold used on Maritza was definitely enlarged from the original Joss head. I hadn't noticed it really, because the only thing that I measured were the eye sockets -- which are the same, really. But the back of the head even changed shape from Joss to Maritza. Notice the size different in these photos. The head is longer and wider. The hearing aid from Joss did fit, but it's interesting that wigs are very different from one head to the other. The Joss dolls have much more of the Marie-Grace look about them, mixed with Josefina. This new Joss-mold used on Maritza (while still being the same face) definitely has a more Josefina feel to it. I would guess that they needed a larger head to support the very long full wig of Maritza, because the smaller heads like Joss, MG and Nanea don't always wear the larger wigs well.
Maritza does not need a new wig size, though -- the usual 10-11" AG size fits perfectly. She actually feels like re-wigging a Josefina doll, so anything that you would put on a Josefina doll would fit her without a problem. I have an untrimmed Joss wig (which is what I used for the photos modelling the hearing aid) that came off with virtually no glue residue at all. It stretched to fit onto Maritza without an noticeable difference. However, the one trimmed wig that I was playing with has a decent amount of glue residue on it, and between that and the fact that the hair is short, I noticed that something was up with the size of the head. I would say that Joss' head is more in line with re-wigging a Marie-Grace, Nanea or Sonali head. Maritza is more comparable to re-wigging a Josefina or Classic head. Stay tuned for more World By Us photos. Pics of Evette coming soon! |
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