Honey, I shrunk Abby!

I recently created a mini wardrobe for a Peak's Woods Cue, at the request of friend, and fellow FDR blogger, Kathie. The doll was a Christmas present for Kathie's daughter, Sarah, who loves the show NCIS, and especially the character Abby Sciuto. As soon as a wig and boots were found by Kathie, it was up to me to dress her in clothes that Abby would wear.

Before and after: personalizing a doll display case

Before: gold lining and all.

I inherited this glass display case from my friend, Alison (aka Alington) several months ago, probably because she switched over to 6-foot-tall IKEA bookcases to house her ever-growing doll collection. Luckily, I'm a little sister and I learned early in life the beauty of hand-me-downs!

Giving a new look to a BJD-sized wooden dresser

The finished dresser

I started with a $5 wooden doll dresser (about 10" high) from a garage sale. I think it might have been a jewelery box at one time, but it needed a little aesthetic help.

You don't need a fancy workshop for this project - the entire thing was done on the balcony of my apartment with things I already had, or picked up from Home Depot. Safety first, though - remember to protect your mouth and eyes from sawdust and paint fumes. Oh, and don't hammer your thumb, either.

The dresser: before

Step 1: Peel off yucky gold velvet lining from the inside of the drawers. Throw velvet in the trash and hope never to see it again.

Step 2: Remove hardware from drawer fronts. A flat screwdriver worked well for me, but feel free to use a crowbar if they're not cooperating.

Step 3: Sand old paint off. (In retrospect, I would have just spraypainted right over top of it to save time - and arm muscle.) Wipe off sawdust for a clean painting surface.

Step 4: Spray paint surfaces with white glossy spray paint, to give it a smooth coating. Let dry. (I know it's hard, but be patient and let it dry.)

Step 5: Spray paint over with matte black spray paint. Let dry. My paint crackled as it dried to reveal the white paint beneath, which I actually like. If you don't want this look, you'll have to ask somebody else because I don't know how this happened!

Step 6: Spray paint hardware. If you want to spray paint the nails, push them half-way in to a piece of styrofoam or corrugated cardboard to told them upright.

Step 7: Re-attach hardware to drawer fronts.

Some "before" shots:

The inside of the drawers, rid of their YUCKY velvet!

Before shot of the detail on the top.

The dresser without its drawers - oh my!

Back of the old dresser

Some "after" shots:

The beautiful carved edges.

A beautiful pattern that looks like it's stamped into the wood, but could be carved.

A close-up of the entirely unintentional (but delightful) "crackle-effect"

The original dresser had 2 drawer pulls the large drawers, but was missing a couple of them, so I moved the large drawer pulls to the center, so that I only needed one per drawer. One nail was missing, so I found a similarly-sized screw in my glasses repair it!

Showing the replacement screw.

 Now, it's ready for one of my BJDs to store their stuff, use as a photography prop, or a display. And all for less than $10!

Yeru the Soul, re-bodied

Yeru the Soul head (SD) on Fairy of Bug (MSD) Lady Bee's body, both by Peak's Woods.

I happened to read on the Peak's Woods post at Den of Angels this morning of a BJD collector who would like to order a Briana head sculpt, which is an SD-size doll, and would like to put her on a smaller, MSD-sized body. At first, I have to say I thought that would look strange, as Peak's Woods girls have such huge heads to begin with.

However, as I'm recently a recipient of my first Pullip and today, my first Blythe doll, I thought I'd give it a try and post a photo or two. I have to admit--it's a fabulous idea! It gives the doll a completely different look, similar to Leekeworld Florence, a BJD I have been resisting for quite some time. Plus, it also gave me an excuse to take photos of Yeru the Soul, who is a wake-up version of Yeru, yet has a completely different feel.

At any rate, I'm in love. Now, I think I need a different body for her, and I'm noticing Peak's Woods only sells the boy body online. But I might email them and ask if they might consider making a girl body for me. I'd prefer a large bust version, I think.

For the fun of it, I'll post a larger photo of Yeru here, too, so you can see her lovely face-up. Isn't she adorable?