tsubasahome

I think that Lauren talked about it in her LJ, but the two of us have been working on customizing Takara Jenny dolls. I'm in the middle of rerooting a brown box Mille-feuille. She's going to be a character from the book I'm working on(not the main character). It feels strange to be able to reroot a doll and do something that's completely my idea. As of recently, I've only been able to do commissioned work.

It's been an interesting job because about 90% of the characters in my book are dark-skinned. Luckily, Mille-feuille was a doll that we've had for a while and her default look really didn't suit her. Tanned Jenny dolls are both not easy to find and not very popular, so I kind of flew into a panic to find the ones that were still available. Right now, I have Annie(still being held by Celga), an Elise with absolutely horrible hair, Rosana, the original Juliana(why is she still around?), and Laura. And a brown box Rie for one of the few light-skinned characters. A lot of the dolls' eyes will have to be repainted, due to the nature of the characters...

So I'm in the middle of rerooting Mille-feuille with red-pink hair. Actually, it's a blend of Caddy Red and Hot Pink hair from Restoredoll. It looks kind of like the inside of a Cara Cara orange. It sounds strange but actually looks good. The character's eyes are supposed to be dark red. I could go on and on about why these girls have such strange coloring, but that's a secret for now.

Anyway, I've been waffling over what kind of hair to use for the rest of the dolls, and I've come to the decision that I really do prefer saran to nylon hair. I know nylon hair has this great reputation, and comes in some really interesting colors, but I wouldn't say it's 100% better than saran. Since I use the needle/knot method of rooting(and have no intention of changing), it's a little more difficult to work with--it's slippery, attracts a lot of static, and generally doesn't hold a knot as well. I've worked with it enough so that I've figured out how to change my technique when I use it. (like make the hair plugs smaller) Nylon hair, as a whole, is shinier than saran, but the shine looks a little artificial to me. Saran has more of an opalescent shine, and some of the colors almost appear to change color in different lighting(the lavender color comes to mind) Nylon hair has more of a pure white shine to it. Maybe I'm not making any sense. ::laughs::

I haven't tried extensive heat styling with nylon hair. I've heard that some colors don't curl too well. Of course, with saran, certain colors of hair can tolerate different amounts of heat. I'm not sure if nylon is the same way, because of all of the colors I have have the same texture.

I still have several colors of nylon hair in my stash. I'll probably use them some day. The colors are really nice, after all. I think I'll stick to saran for my own dolls after I use it up, though. Even if I have to do blended colors to get the shade I want.