Lately, I have thought a lot about the concept of dolls growing up. I’ve found that my dolls are continuously changing and developing– sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. The changes are often both wonderful and sad.
Since the beginning, I struggled with Lorelyn’s default Leekeworld body. Even with hotglue sueding, wiring, and restringing, it was floppy and couldn’t hold a pose. Standing was almost impossible at times. Nevertheless, the fragility was part of Lorelyn’s character, and I loved her small size and charisma. But, with time and my growing interest in photography and Lorelyn’s unexpected relationship with Ember, I found my enjoyment of her MSD body waning. I felt that she was maturing and needed to have a body that would reflect that change– and alleviate my struggles with the poorly-crafted Leekeworld body. A lucky find resulted in a very satisfying purchase: a 50cm girl body made by Oceanmoon, a fairly unknown Korean company (with exceptional customer service, I might add).
When the body first arrived, my emotions were mixed. The body is beautifully detailed and has great posing ability, but the neck was too thick for Lorelyn’s relatively small head. Unwilling to alter the head, I took a craft knife, dremel, and sandpaper to the neck and re-sculpted it to a size proportional with the head. My modding experiments paid off– Lorelyn now stands a head taller than before, poses and stands like a dream, and exudes an air not unlike a Rosette Doll. While it took some getting used to, her usual height makes her very striking beside other dolls.
Narrative aside, here are some images of the newly grown-up Lorelyn:
The dress was made by me– my first mostly-successful attempt at sewing for dolls. It is made entirely of creme chiffon.
She easily stands on one leg… an impossible feat for her old body.
OMAKE:
Here are a few (rather poor) pictures of how she looks on my doll shelf.
Oliver found an appropriately-sized teddy bear somewhere. ^^
Thanks for viewing!!
Oh, she’s beautiful! I think that even with her new, slightly matured body, she still looks appropriately delicate. She’s just lovely.