Dawgestyle

I finally had some time to sit down and finish these long-overdue repaint commissions. Enjoy.

It’s been a long time since I felt this same level of excitement over a new figure. Believe me when I say that after a few years working in the industry, there are very few times when you see or get a product that gets your creative juices flowing – especially one that you’re involved in creating from start to finish. So when I find myself feeling all giddy inside, I’m quite surprised because I have not felt something like this in a very long time. All the nostalgia of first getting into the hobby sets in and I’m reminded why I chose the profession I did. If there’s ever a reason to tell someone why you enjoy this hobby. . . this is it. It’s the ability to take something (a figure) and reworking and customizing it to a point where it’s so unique that someone can look at it and know that you’ve left your footprint on. With the ever advancing technology in today’s figures, we seem to have lost that urge of creativity that makes this 1/6th hobby so enjoyable because we fear that what we do cannot live up to the manufacturer’s standard. Yet, we miss the point. . . and that is it’s about the creativity and uniqueness of your individuality. Collectors collect. Customizers customize. When you collect, your collection is limited to your wallet. When you customize, you’re only limited to your willingness and mind. And that, my friend, is what makes this hobby so great.

This is a custom repainted Triad Toys Helga figure. It took me a total of probably about 4 hours. I removed all the factory paint, dremeled out a litle part of her mouth, braided and curled her hair within the first hour. After that, I waited a day for the curls to set in a little, then I started to repaint, which took about 2 hours here and there. Sealed her and glossed her eyes and lips and whoalah.

Playing around with sculpey and sculpted this head for my werewolf custom. Her are some WIPs. I’ll add more photos after he’s painted and assembled up.  I plan to make him some sort of elite human hunting squad or something.

I get a lot of questions concerning hair control so here it is. It’s no secret that doll hair is synthetic (most of them anyways) so it needs to be heat treated to soften up. Most methods require you to dunk the head in boiling water. I’m super impatient so I actually use the steam from a kettle instead. The heat is instant and you don’t have to wait twice as long for it to dry. Whatever you do, don’t use a heat gun or hairdryer to try and dry doll hair. It will melt it away.

The picture is pretty self-explanatory. The idea is to put the head into the steam to get the hair to soften, get a brush and brush it through while it’s wet, then hold the hair in a position to how you want it. Ever see your Aunt May curl her hair with a curling iron? Same philosophy applies to straightening frizzed up hair, restyling it, or combing pigtails (Triad Toys’ Lola, cough).

All these things you should already have in your house, but you’ll need:

1) Straw or wooden dowel to prop the head up so you don’t get burned from the steam. Don’t leave your doll head on the body because the body is plastic and may react to heat.

2) Sandwich bag, cut out into small strips that should cover from the forehead to right below the nose.

3) Tape to secure the sandwich bag. We will make the hairguard so the hair doesn’t frizz out again before it sets.

4) Kettle – make sure you get one that has a small hole. The smaller the hole, the more steam comes out. Just make sure you control your heat and don’t use an open flame heat source. Electric is better so it doesn’t burn the hair if it gets too close.

5) Small rubber band to hold the lower end of the hair (if the hair is long) straight when setting.

I’ll be back with more tutorials soon. Now that I’m getting a little more time to stay in. Let me know if this type of picture/instructions help.