Dahlia's Surgery

Here we have before and after - All in all she now has -
- sandmatted face
- new make up
-carved lips
- boggled eyes
- sleep eyes
- new pale blue eyechips with silver backing paper
- new eyelashes

And now the process.

Unscrewing her face plates

Unhooking spring

Cracking faceplate off!

...in which I remember you often have to take the scalp off of SBLs to get the faceplate off. This is so in my case and I begin to cut it.

After some soaking, the faceplate comes off easily

The eyemech was a beast to get out!!
I cut off a 1mm section of plastic to boggle the eyes.

Soaking orange eyechips and the eyelashes

Finally! An eyechip came out...seen while still on the gluestick held by a very relieved Cait.

Sadly while getting the eyemech out (which was the hardest part aside from getting it back in again!) I scratched one of the blue stock chips, which are my favourite. So taking it out... I then sanded it down and put varnish on, like the repair tutorial said, but it still isn't great. I've ordered some new stock blue as they were my absolute favourite.

My 'worktable'

Sand-matting (no more shiny and no more gross stock MM make up!) and lip-carving

Painted lips

Eyeliner, blush, brown eyeshadow, new eyelashes, lips varnished

Adding string for sleep eyes

Cutting out flange and bumps in the dome

Glueing scalp back on!

Finished girl.

The carved lips, which I am extremely proud of - exactly how I'd hoped, pretty and more realistic.

Customising really did help me bond with her more, as people have said. She is so different now that she is almost a completely different doll, but still very much Dahlia Oz Vanderbilt - though perhaps a bit more sophisticated than quirky now.

Finished! She is so beautiful.