Excellence in Doll Ownership

I’ve never really liked the glittery nails that my 4Woods came with.  I bought her slightly used so I didn’t have a choice.

The problem has been that i was afraid to paint over the glitter thinking it’s rough texture would turn things into a mess.  Not so.  But it requires two coats of polish; one color coat and one clear coat (my choice to use the clear after getting that bit of advice from CJD).

Below you can see the original nails with one nail painted with a single red coat.  Notice that it has good color coverage but is rough in texture due to the glitter beneath it.

Later I painted the other 9 fingernails, plus a coat of Hard As Nails “Top Coat” (clear) on the ring finger.  Look close and you can see the difference.

Finally,

…..what do you say we show off her pretty toenails (still not glued on, and still not the final set or final color)

Two photos here that demonstrate what I’ve been working on for toenails for the 4Woods Evolution.

I’m still not satisfied.  I used fake fingernails, and I plan to go find fake toenails and try those.  Once I get results I really like, I’ll do a more comprehensive tutorial on this.  But this is a good start.

update I found some wider nails at Wal-Mart.  Things are looking better.  Too bad Evolution has such long toenails.  this is as big a nail as I could find, so far. (note: the previous toenail is resting there on the base of her big toe, for comparison)

Yes, Virginia it CAN be done!  But it is dangerous.  And I don’t recommend this unless you are ok with potentially damaging your doll’s eyelids….I did on one of the dolls.  Damn!

There is nothing tricky about how the eyes are set in the 4Woods heads (at least the two that I played with)….with one exception.  Inside the eye socket there is a thin plastic ‘half dome’ that the eyeball rests in.  This has been lubricated with dry powder…probably talc.

I *REALLY* wanted blue eyes in my Elina head, and *REALLY* wanted brown eyes in the other head (forget her name), so I decided to swap them.  And VOILA! I love the new look.

The eye openings on the Elina head are VERY narrow.  I damaged both of the upper lids doing this.  Not bad, and it can be fixed.  But still……