Bay Update - We've Moved!!

 

So, sorry for the loads of quiet! We were working with Emma on an upgrade for the blog!!

Here goes: Our New Home!!

Feel free to join us there to keep up with things - it allows us more freedom to do what we like with our blog and layout.

Don't mind the imperfections; we're still working out a few details of the site.

Side note: It currently works better on an actual computer than it does on mobile until we finish up fixing the faulty coding.

-Bay & Friends

Kate PSA - AliExpress - Why Not?

 

Hey guys, Kate here. Normally, I'd let Ange go off about this in one of her tangent posts or something, but I've decided this warrants education more than it does venting, if we're all being honest. So I'm going to delve a little into the world of AliExpress and why I choose not to go there 

I'd like to preface this by saying if you want to order from AliExpress, that's on you entirely and I'm not going to tell you that you can't. You absolutely can. I just don't recommend it and never will.

AliExpress is based in China. Which in and of itself is not a bad thing. What makes it bad is that a lot of the dolls and doll parts, craft supplies etc. that you're seeing will ship from China and take a month or longer to arrive. That, however, is the simplest of the reasons for not ordering from AliExpress.

If I'm ordering something that's going to take that long to come, I want it to be worth the money I'm spending. Is it going to be worth it from AliExpress? Probably not. AliExpress doesn't tend to carry official branded products. You're either getting the factory rejects that have defects enough to keep them from making it past what little quality control there is or you're getting cheap knockoffs of the actual products.

I haven't ordered from them myself, but I have heard the stories. Rainbow High heads with wonky paint, bodies with jacked up joints. Papercrafting dies that don't cut through the way the official branded ones do. And I just don't want to wait more than a month for less than quality items that I could have bought on Amazon or at Target and had by the next day at the latest.

The  bigger issue though is the amount of blatant art theft that is allowed on AliExpress. I have personally seen copies of rubber stamps and dies that were made by small companies listed there, as well as recast BJD dolls. These are the work of artists for whom their business is their income. When we buy stolen art off AliExpress, we're not supporting the artist. We're taking away from them. And I can't support that.

That said, I'm not going to run you off my blog or be unfriendly toward you for owning a recast BJD - I don't approve of it, but I'm not going to get angry because you have one. They are a more affordable alternative and admittedly if you're going to have one in an environment with kids or animals, the recast might actually be the better option so that you're not risking an excessively expensive doll. I can't really be mad at that logic. I just choose not to go that route myself.

It's just really hard for me to watch people recommend AliExpress for everything doll related when I know for a fact that most of the dolls and doll parts on the site are either defective factory rejects (in the case of large company parts like Rainbow High, Barbie etc.) or flat out stolen artwork being reproduced in lower quality en masse.

If you can afford the actual product and don't have a circumstantial reason for buying the knockoff, I ask you to reconsider before you purchase from AliExpress and actually buy from the artist/company in question if possible instead of buying the knockoff. You're doing a good thing for the artists who put their time into creating these things if you can buy directly from them. 

--Kate--

Angela's Collection Spotlight - American Girls

American Girls...Why do they hold a special place in my collection and in my heart? Well, it's a long story that starts in about 1996 or 97 when I was maybe four years old.

My cousin owned several dolls. She had Samantha, Molly, Kirsten, Felicity, Josefina and Addy and she later added Kit to the gang. But this story starts before Kit's joining the family. With Molly, Kirsten, Felicity and Samantha.

I would go with my dad and brother to visit my cousins and I did love to see her beautiful American Girl dolls on their little clothes trunk display bench in the hallway. My cousin used to let me play with her dolls sometimes - She taught me which clothes went to which character, which brush I was allowed to use for their hair...and that I was never to take Kirsten's hair out of the loops in which it came because they were tricky to put back in. This, I disobeyed once, and I got her hair back into the braid loop without my cousin ever knowing I'd taken it down.

Hours were spent brushing their hair, carefully changing them into their other outfits (I loved Kirsten's Santa Lucia dress and Felicity's blue party gown) and otherwise carefully and adoringly playing with my cousin's dolls while I was visiting. She would get one every year for Christmas until Kaya's release, then the collection was put on hold and soon, into storage as she grew up.

When I was a little older, maybe seven or eight, while my cousin still had her dolls out for me to play with them, I also had a friend who had American Girl dolls. She had Felicity and her sister had Josefina. Her mother would babysit me sometimes while the girls were at school (I was home schooled) and I would always go take those two beautiful girls out of their toy closet and fix their hair, put them back in their own clothes.

I loved those dolls (found the MyTwinn a little creepy back then, but I was a kid, what can I say?) and I took the best care of them I could while I was at her house. Felicity was my baby girl when we played house. The memories are precious to me.

Every Christmas up to the year I turned 25, my brother and my mom would order me the American Girl catalog just to see the way I pored over the pages, trying to decide what I would want if I could have something. I would spend hours staring at the dolls, marking the pages that had what I wanted most. But never once did I actually ask for an American Girl doll. I knew they were expensive as heck even when I was a little girl.

Fast forward to 2018, I'm twenty-five and making a plan to go into New York City with my sister for a day while she's visiting the area and it dawns on me all at once that American Girl Place isn't a far off walk from where we're going to be. So...for the first time in like a decade, I'll  get to handle an American Girl doll again.

I found myself digging into their website and the history of the dolls, finding the old, familiar characters and looking for the new ones too. I discovered the Girl of the Year for 2018 was Luciana Vega, a little Latina girl whose dream was to be an Astronaut and whose lesson was one in leadership while she was at Space Camp. Irony? She shared a name, ethnicity, looks and love of Space with my character Martina's little girl, Luciana.

So, that day at AG Place in New York City, I went home with my brand new Luciana Vega doll. My first American Girl doll to truly call my own and my favorite to this day because of that. Luciana will forever hold a place of honor in my collection as a childhood dream come true in the best way possible.

I wasn't entirely sure at the time if she would be as amazing as I'd hoped. I was worried after I bought her that taking her out of the box and holding her for the first time would be anticlimactic...maybe my childhood memories were just exaggerated by what it had felt like when I was seven, eight years old and I'd be disappointed by the dolls as an adult. Luciana proved me so, so wrong. And opened a rabbit hole I hadn't meant to fall into...

See the next Collection Spotlight/Storytime entry for more on my AG dolls though - this entry is already so long.

--Angela--

Angela's Tangents - Doll Hair Types & Care

So, lately, I've been seeing a lot of people using human hair products to wash and care for their dolls' hair...and I mean, I will preface this by saying you do you and I'm not going to stop you from doing whatever you want with your own dolls.

But I will give you the lowdown on why this is a really bad idea for most dolls and which playline dolls have which hair fibers.

You want to be very careful which dolls you use human shampoos on and which shampoos you choose to use on them.

Synthetic doll hair is plastic. Coated plastic. Nylon, Saran, Kanekalon etc.

Human shampoos, particularly cheap ones, are apt to be very, very harsh and will in fact strip the coating of the synthetic hair. This will dry it out and leave you with frizz.  Specifically if you're using shampoos from the dollar store. If you want to spend the money on salon grade shampoos to wash your dolls' hair, be my guest. I do, I have high quality conditioners I use on my American Girls and baby shampoos I use for some of my porcelains and vintage dolls with more delicate hair.

If you have a doll like Rainbow High that has an absolutely ridiculous amount of gel in the hair, you can use:

• Dawn or other dish washing detergent, this will take out any unwanted crap without ruining the hair.
• Turpenoid Natural paint brush cleaner that has a conditioner built in - this will take the glue and gel out and eliminate the conditioning step from your routine. Stay away from straight turpentine and other paint thinners unless you're trying to remove your doll's facepaint though. 
• Goo gone - While this does work for getting stubborn "goo" off your dolls, it does have an odor to it and it can be harsh. Use this one sparingly, don't make it your go to unless you have no other choice.
• Hand soap...it will actually clean the hair although it's more mild and less likely to work on things like Mattel's glue-hair-syndrome.
• Fabric softener in place of conditioner, it's literally meant for use on synthetic fibers...Just avoid this one on dolls with human hair, mohair or human grade Kanekalon hair, it doesn't rinse out as nicely as it does other fibers. Sticking to actual human hair conditioners for these guys is probably best.

If you're just working with cleaning your dolls and don't really have stubborn gel, glue etc. to wash out, you can simply use:

• Hand soap; this one is a good all purpose disinfectant/cleaner for dolls in need of a little TLC
• Dish detergent in small amounts; this is just a good one in general with no ill effect on any of the dolls I've used it on.
• Baby shampoos; these are made to be far more gentle than adult shampoos, can be bought at the dollar store and work well for washing dolls' hair. They can also be used on mohair, human hair and human grade Kanekalon without hassle. This one I recommend without fail for reborn dolls, you only need a little bit and a soft bristle brush to clean a reborn doll's hair just like you would an actual baby's hair.
• Salon quality shampoos, these will cost more but as they're better for your hair and not meant to strip your hair, they're less likely to strip your dolls' hair and leave them frizzy. Especially if you happen to use the companion conditioner.
• White vinegar mixed with water; This one is good for the body more than the hair, but it can and will help eliminate odors and generally clean dolls both body and hair. Good for older dolls that you don't want to use harsh chemicals on.
• Oxy clean - Another good one for working on glue hair, but a soak in this also has the potential to deal with odors and take stubborn goop out of doll hair without ruining it.

If you can't identify your doll's hair to be human grade Kanekalon, human hair or high quality Nylon fibers, stay far away from heat styling. You'll want to use the boil methods for other fibers like Saran and lower end Kanekalons...the water keeps the heat from permanently damaging these more sensitive fibers.

For the fibers that can stand heat styling, you really should have a curling iron or straightener with adjustable settings and try to avoid going over about 250 degrees Fahrenheit and remember to move very quickly, don't let the heat sit too long on the hair. Anything above that still has potential to melt high quality Nylon and Kanekalon.

For certain Nylon haired dolls like Rainbow High and LOL OMG, you want to avoid boil washes - for whatever reason, high quality nylon hair doesn't love boil washing and will be apt to frizz a little if left in the hot water too long.

And for Barbies 2012-2018, Monster High, Ever After High and Disney in about the same time frame that are Mattel made, you want to avoid hot water/heat in general if the head can't be easily squeezed. These dolls are apt to have glue inside their heads which will seep out the rooting holes and cause the dreaded glue hair syndrome if heated whether it be water or dry. It can be washed out, but if you were heat styling, the wash out process will undo your style anyway.

For reference:

• Barbie (Wavy Hair 2000s and onward, straight hair 2015 onward) - Usually Saran
• Barbie (straight hair pre-2015, wavy hair 1980s-90s) - Usually Kanekalon
• Barbie Dreamtopia (Pre 2018) - Saran
• Barbie Dreamtopia (2019- and Fashionistas with fantasy hair) - Polypropelene
• Bratz (Pre-2010) - Saran
• Bratz (2010 onward) - Low Quality Nylon
• Moxie Girlz - Low Quality Nylon
• Moxie Teenz - Saran
• Liv World - Kanekalon
• Snapstars - Kanekalon/Nylon depending on the doll
• Creatable World - Saran
• My Scene (Wavy Hair except Barbie) -Saran
• My Scene (Wavy Hair Barbie; white blonde) -Kanekalon
• My Scene (Straight Hair) - Kanekalon
• LOL Surprise/OMG - High Quality Nylon
• Rainbow Surprise - High Quality Nylon
• Rainbow High - High Quality Nylon
• NaNaNa Surprise - High Quality Nylon
• Disney Princess (Mattel) - Saran
• Disney Princess (Hasbro) - Nylon
• Disney Princess (Disney Store/Parks) - Saran/Nylon depending on the doll
• Disney Attractionistas - Low Quality Nylon
• Disney  Animators - Nylon
• Disney Descendants - Nylon
• American Girl - High Quality Kanekalon
• Our Generation - Saran/Nylon depending on the doll
• My Life As... - Kanekalon
• Monster High - Almost Always Saran
• Ever After High - Almost Always Saran
• Fail Fix - Nylon
• WWE Superstars - Saran
• Superhero Girls - Saran

I'll add more to the list as time goes on and I remember more doll lines, but this is what I got for now. 

Angela's Dolly Care Corner - Rerooting Tips #1

Hello again and welcome back to the blog - I've got some new tips and tricks for you with rerooting Barbie dolls specifically. Rerooting can be a wonderful thing when it turns out well, you can take an old friend from frizzy, dry, chopped off, etc. hair to a new head of luscious soft locks ready to be styled. Or just give her a color change if you think she'd look better brunette than blonde. You can also simply add highlights to an already existing color. 

Rerooting gives your hair customization new levels with Barbie and other dolls. Sure, applying a wig might be less work, but the satisfaction of putting your doll back together post-reroot and seeing her new look all put together is worth every second of the work it takes to do it.

Here are a few helpful hints and tips I've come upon over the course of about a dozen reroots, all compiled in one place. 

• Keep FabriTac fabric glue on hand, this will be your savior both for locking the new hair in place so that it doesn't pull out of the head and for patching holes in the vinyl if you find yourself in that sort of pickle.
  
• If you do rip the vinyl, it is what it is. You can go ahead and squeeze some fabriTac into the ripped spot and let it dry, it'll still be flexible and rubbery once dry so that you can poke your needle through and continue rooting afterward!
  
• If your rooting tool isn't going through the hole properly, try taking the hair off the needle and poking the needle by itself into the vinyl before trying to put hair in place. Otherwise, you can try either a thinner needle or a bit less hair per plug if the issue persists when you try to add hair again.
  
• You can also try a thicker needle without hair to widen the holes slightly, just be super careful of this in the part line and hair line where the holes are extra close together.
• Try your first root on a head you don't mind losing. Like the fifty-seventh Millie left over from body swapping. If it works, you can always repaint her face and keep her as your first reroot. Otherwise, you haven't lost a head you cared about if you decide it's not working or accidentally rip the vinyl further than a FabriTac patch can fix.
  
• A cheap pair of long nose/needle nose pliers or a pair of thin tweezers will be your best friend for removing the old hair. Don't use a scissor blade, it works well but it tears up the vinyl at the base of the head somewhat.
  
• Also! If you're going to repaint the face, reroot first unless you have intention of applying a sealant. Seal it and make sure the sealant is DRY before you start rooting...acrylics can and do stain vinyl if not sealed before you start messing with the head.
  
• Do you a favor and put the doll head first into a plastic ziploc, then dunk that in hot water before you try to pull the head off...it's a pain when you break the body by mistake while trying to take the head off, trust!
  
• You can repeat heating the head as you reroot, Barbies have soft vinyl heads but other dolls like Rainbow High, Bratz, LOL OMG all have harder heads. You will only hurt yourself trying to reroot these without softening the vinyl
• Keep a spray bottle of water on hand. When the loose hair is getting hard to separate, spritz it. Rooting wet hair is so much easier than rooting it dry.
• Don't hesitate to keep a couple small clips or hair ties on hand, when the hair you've already rooted in is getting out of hand you can tie it out of the way with a hair tie and keep going.
• Don't worry if it's not laying flat when you're done with the reroot. Boil up some water and do a basic boil dip on it, it'll lay nicer afterward. I promise.
• Make sure the hair is positioned just about how you want it before you boil though, because it will stay where it is after a boil and restyling how it lays will take another boil to set it all over again. Use a wide rubberband, a small sock or something else with elastic to hold the hair down if it won't stay where you want it to be when you boil dip.
• Don't use straight heat on the rerooted hair for styling if you're using saran, Kanekalon etc. --High quality nylons are the only ones that can take straight heat styling.

I might add more when I think of them, these are just lessons I've learned the hard way during reroots so you don't have to!