Sally Monk Hicks has been doing a series of super heroines in a 6" size, based on the Mattel 6" doll body. I asked her if she'd like to share some tips with anyone else who'd like to try, and here's what she had to say:
These are customized from dolls in the three Mattel lines that have used the same 6" body molds: Family Corners, Princess Tenko, and the Disney Princesses. In the above photo: Wonder Woman has a Disney princess body and a Family Corners head (the asian girl), with a face repaint; Mary Marvel is a Family Corners brunette; Supergirl is a Cinderella; Wonder Girl is a Princess Tenko; and Action Girl has a Tenko-line "Ali" head, and a family corners body. I fitted the clothes by trial and error -- if you want to make these yourself, email me, and I'll send you the patterns (via US Mail, so include your address), it will save you lots of time!!! I have to say that the instructions are very minimal, only a few hints here and there, and you might need some help if you don't have much sewing experience.
Hair color is
critical in selection of base figure. I tried many paints, markers, and dyes,
and never succeeded at making a black-haired Belle doll, which I wanted for
Wonder Woman. Saran, the material used for the hair, is very difficult to
color, as the color tends to rub off the hair. Plus, it tends to get on the
doll's face and body, from where it often cannot be satisfactorily removed.
I gave up on it, and my WW is from the family corners Asian girl, with
face re-painted. I was trying for the look of the original, Harry Peters
WW, and I thought she came out pretty well. I may, one day, get around to
curling her hair, which can be done pretty easily, using the boiling-water
perm, well known in Barbie circles. If you haven't done it before, practise
on a cannon-fodder doll, any rooted-hair doll of a similar size will do.
It generally takes me a few tries to get the curl or wave I want. Here's
how the boil-perm basically works: undress the doll about to be styled.
Hair must be clean and tangle-free. Using the smallest size perm rods,
or any curling device of your own making (people have used pipe cleaners,
done variations of a pin curl, or braided hair to get a "crimped" look),
set the doll's dry hair. The doll now must be immersed in boiling water --
if the set is very simple, she can be hung upside-down into a measuring cup
or bowl that the water has been poured into (never, ever, use a pan you've
boiled water in!) Elaborate sets require that the doll be sitting upright
in some heat-proof container large enough for her to be completely immersed.
After soaking her in freshly boiled water for a few moments, take her out
and set her aside. Let her hair air-dry completely (this will take up to
a day) and then carefully undo the curlers. Her hair will now be restyled!
-- Sarah
On face re-painting: the factory paint can be easily removed, I use "Goof-off", available in hardware stores. Putting new paint on is a wee bit tougher. My favorite applicator is a felt pen with a teeny-tiny tip, but you have to be really careful, most of them use dye-based inks that cannot be completely removed to correct errors and smudges. I like a line of pens called "Micron Pigment Inks", which I get at Michael's craft stores, they are pigment based and come off easily. Acrylic paints are also good, but what to apply them with is the problem; I haven't been happy trying to do the tiny details of these faces with even the tiniest brushes, I'm sure it can be done, but not by me!! When I have to use acrylic, I generally use a pin to apply it.
Clothing: Fabrics need to be fairly thin and light for these little figures. Some of the outfits (Supergirl and Wondergirl's suits) are from stretch knits, the rest are from woven synthetics. On the woven fabrics, I'm in the habit of cutting out each piece, then saturating the entire piece with Dritz fray-check. With the tiny seam allowances, having a seam fray through is pretty easy, and the fray-check does change the color some, which is why I do the whole piece instead of the edges. It makes the fabric stiff, but it softens up after a while. In most areas, a facing works better (is easier to do) than a teeny-tiny hem. The stars and other decorations on the costumes are done with fabric paint. The boots are all made from fabric-backed vinyl or acrylic (ie fake leather). I tried several different ways to put soles on them and was never happy with the results, so these boots are all "upper only", ie, the sole is the existing molded-on shoe which all these lines have, painted a suitable color if necessary. The boots are also all sewn on to the doll -- I made one pair that were removable, with seed-bead buttons and thread loops, and they looked pretty great, but they were so much trouble to put on and off that I gave that up. As Sarah says, customizers mainly start because there's a figure they really, really want that no one makes......with me it was Wonder Woman, after I saw the pictures of the Wonder Woman and the Star Riders line that was never made. But once you get into it, you can get hooked, it is way more fun (although admittedly, way more trouble) than merely paying money for something!!!
Email Sally with questions or for more info.
Top picture: Wonder Woman, Mary Marvel, Supergirl, Wonder Girl, and Action
Girl.
Inset: Diana Prince and Wonder Woman