Dyeing to be Black Part 3 - Hair and Painting

Twistee Totsy's hair color fix

After assessing the initial results and what each doll would need, I worked on restyling the dolls' hair and painting those areas that required it.

Twistee Totsy's hair was pulled back into a ponytail.  The hair was darkened using a brown Sharpie marker as illustrated above.  Her soft-vinyl arms and head dyed well, but her gray-toned body required painting.  The Davtex head also required painting as did Adam's torso and neck.

All clones' hair has been combed and/or is in the process of being set.  One clone's head has been repainted as well as the Totsy body.  Adam's torso and neck have also been painted.  Several more layers of paint were required for all painted surfaces.

In the above photo, Babette's ponytail has been restyled with swirl bangs added.  The Davtex (splotchy-faced) doll's ponytail was restyled and repainting of her face has begun.  Both dolls' ponytails, from top to bottom, are held in place with several rubber bands.

After the dye bath, the unmarked  clone's original blonde bubble cut turned brunette with blonde highlights.

Upon removing her from the dye, the unmarked clone's hair was "all over her head."  I saturated the hair with mousse, brushed it down into a style, then wrapped the head with a ribbon that was taped into place, as seen above.   I left the ribbon in place for several days while I worked on other dolls.

 

After the Davtex doll's face was painted, mousse was applied to her bangs, which were then wrapped with a paper towel.  The paper towel was taped into place to allow the bangs to reset and remain flat (they, too, were sticking straight up after the dye bath and needed some serious retraining).

Completed heads:  Babette, unmarked former blonde bubble cut clone, and Davtex clone

In the photo above, the hair has been restyled on the clone heads, whites of the eyes repainted, the Davtex face repainted, and lip color freshened.  (While writing this post, I realized I did not repaint the Davtex doll's eyebrows when this photo was taken.  Yikes!)

The Davtex head now has painted eyebrows.  Black eyeliner has been painted on the lower eyes as it was originally.

Two clone heads have been placed onto the two Barbie bodies that were dyed a deeper color.

Babette and the unmarked clone use the dyed bodies.  The Davtex doll found another body later.   The arms of these more recent Mattel bodies, because they are made of different material than the bodies and legs, did not dye the same color as the other parts.  A remedy was found for this as well.

Unless they perm or "conk" it, Adam's original molded hair is not a style typically worn by African American males now or in the '70s era he represents.  I knew I would have to give him a new 'do.  I used my saved hair to create a rooted Afro. The beginning stages of that process are captured in the above image.  (I began by first gluing the hair to his head, but ended by rooting the rest with my rooting tool.)

The painting has been completed on Adam's eyes, torso, and neck.  Painting such tiny areas is tedious with a paint brush.  I use the tip of a toothpick or a straight pin, which is dipped into paint, then dabbed onto the desired area.  Rooting of Adam's Afro has been completed.  It was later trimmed with fingernail clippers.  Twistee Totsy's body has been painted and her head and arms placed onto it. At the time this photo was taken, her detailing was finished.  She just needed redressing.

Joe now has brown painted eyes.  After the areas of his joints and feet that did not dye were painted and sealed with matte varnish, I opted to paint his molded hair black.  The writing on his shirt was painted black and sealed.

35th Anniversary Barbie's hair only required replacement of the original rubber band, which had broken prior to the dye bath, and finger combing her bangs.   Her eyebrows were later repainted as well as the white area of her eyes.  Her complete detailing will be discussed in the next post.


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