Christmas Sweater Ornaments From Target

Sweater, shirt, and hat ornaments from Target

This year Target is offering the above sweater, shirt, and hat ornaments for $3 each.  These were the only styles the Target nearest me had, but I have seen photos of other styles as well.

The hangers can be used as hangers for Barbie-size clothing or refashioned into jewelry.  The gold and silvertone hangers are made of soft wire.  The black hanger is firmer.

The hangers were easily removed by snipping away a loose stitch inside the sweaters and shirt.  Before snipping it off the top of the hat, a faux suede string created the ornament hook.  The same type string was attached to the hook of the black hanger.  I saved the hangers and even the string to use later.

The sweaters, shirt, and hat were tried on a Tall and Curvy Barbie and are a nice fit.  Classic Cool (Caleb Craig) can wear the shirt but the sweaters are too small for him.  The flannel hat is a little large for all.  It will probably fit the head of a 16-inch doll much better.  Everything is modeled below:

I removed the hot glue that once held the flannel shirt permanently closed.  Above left, Emoji Fun Curvy Barbie wears the shirt over her Black Dolls Matter T-shirt.  Above right, she added the matching hat.

Caleb tried the shirt on for size, which he keeps closed with double-sided tape; it fits well.  He exchanged his Chuck Taylors (worn in the photo on the left) for a pair of black boots (worn in the photo on the right).

Fab Fringe (needs a name), Nina (Music Barbie), and Rainbow (Glam Boho) were eager to model the sweaters.  I was surprised that Rainbow could wears the ivory leggings, which were made to fit more slender Barbies, Fashion Royalty, and Momoko.  Stretch fabric is so forgiving!

Nina wears the green/white/gray Target sweater with a pair of gray leggings and black boots.  She presents her new love interest, Caleb, with an early wrapped Christmas present.  He seemed a little disinterested at first but eventually warmed up to her.

After Caleb claimed the flannel shirt, Emoji Fun felt left out.  Since the other three Target sweaters were spoken for, she found a sweater from Michaels that was purchased a couple of years ago.   The opportunity to wear a sweater and one with a red-nosed reindeer motif cheered her up.

Looking festive and dressed for Christmas, they all posed for one final photo.

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This year Michaels store has a nice assortment of ornaments fashioned in the style of winter coats, vests, and sweater hats that playscale dolls can wear.  These are only sold in Michaels stores, not online.  If there is a Michaels near you and you're interested in dressing playscale dolls in wintry fashions, see what your Michaels has in stock and don't forget to visit Target to check out their sweater ornaments.  

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More Classic Cool

Classic Cool's new hairline

Still toying with Classic Cool Ken, I have again updated his look to add a hairline, stud earrings, a new shirt and shoes.

The hairline was inspired by a google search for "men with cornrows" where I saw this photo of English soccer player Glen Johnson and decided, yes, I think I can do that to add more realism.  So I did.

Hairline Photos

I used brown Pentel oil pastel to shade in the hairline.  To lend the appearance of actual strands of hair, I used a brown colored pencil to drawn fine, short strokes into the shaded area.  (The same colored pencil was used to deepen the failed dye color of 35th Anniversary Barbie's torso.)

During the time the hairline was added, I asked my husband which of Classic Cool's earlobes should have an ear stud.  He answered, "Both.  Men wear earrings in both ears now."  Fresh out of nail art bling, I made a mental note to purchase another package from the beauty supply store the next time I visited.

Last week I went there for hair color (no, I have not fully embraced my gray and too much hairline gray was visible).  I knew there was something else I needed to buy but couldn't think of it.  While taking the above photos of Classic Cool's new hairline, I remembered the nail art needed for his ears.  The next day I returned to purchase it.

Ear Stud Placement

I placed a dab of Aleene's Tacky Glue on one earlobe, moistened the tip of my index finger, picked up the top side the tiny rhinestone and placed it on the glue.  This process was repeated for the other earlobe.

New Shirt and Shoes

Classic Cool Ken exchanged his white shirt and mock necktie for Denim Ken #17's black long-sleeve T-shirt.  His silver sneakers were replaced with the low-top black and white "Chucks" from Denim Ken's accessory pack.  Attire-wise, this is not the exact style I want for him, but it's an improvement from the original.




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Preordered Classic Cool Ken

Preordered Classic Cool Ken arrived in mid-July.

This past June when Classic Cool Ken became available as a preorder from the ShopMattel website, I ordered one along with Boho Glam (the latter doll has yet to arrive).  The preordered Ken did not arrive until mid-July.  

I purchased another Classic Cool at a Walmart store a week or so after the preorder.   If you follow this blog, you have probably seen the results of the "parts" I painted in between the first doll's cornrows.  As a comment to one of the posts, Jewell suggested in lieu of painting the scalp, I could have used a fine-pointed Q-tip and acetone to remove the original paint.  A member of a Facebook group made the same suggestion. 

The preordered doll arrived in time for me to try this technique and send that doll to my niece for her end-of-July birthday.  The lack of time, however, prevented me from completing that task, so I sent her the first Classic Cool, after repackaging him, of course.  I wrote her a note to let her know that I painted the doll’s scalp to give him a more realistic appearance. 

I finally found time to try the acetone technique (but I used fingernail polish) on the preordered Classic Cool Ken, which was for me a total failure.*  A fingernail polish-dipped Q-tip removed hair from the scalp as well as from the edges of the braided cornrows!  I needed to have used something thinner than the end of a Q-tip.  I even tried removing some of the cotton from the end of the Q-tip, but it was still too wide.  Since I did not have anything pointed and firm enough to both absorb the fingernail polish and remove the paint only from the desired areas,  I removed all the paint with fingernail polish and cotton swabs and repainted the braids and sideburns.

After-paint-removal and after-painting photos are shown next.

Kens braids are a lighter brown than the manufactured color as illustrated by the original color of his eyebrows.  He now has a facial mole that I added.  Take a closer look at the mole in the next image.

I was going to temporarily give him earrings (without piercing the lobes) using nail art crystals, which have an adhesive back, but I did not have any more on hand.  (I have used these before to add earrings to dolls, never for myself.  I rarely even polish my nails.)

*Acetone and fingernail polish both work well to remove manufactured paint from vinyl dolls, but if the desired area is tiny, the correct tool will be needed to only remove paint from the desired areas.  I even tried using a thin-bristled paint brush, but of course the bristles were not firm enough to allow the necessary pressure needed to remove the paint.  With that said, I must admit that the natural color scalp looks better than the painted scalp and both are far better than the manufactured black scalp.

Here's Classic Cool Ken dressed and ready to rejoin the doll family.  

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Closing in the Gaps

As illustrated in my previous post, I created parts in Classic Cool Ken #10's hair using toffee brown acrylic paint. The parts were wider than I desired, especially on the sides, so I closed those in using a mixture of Apple Barrel Coffee Bean and Jet Black acrylic paints. One drop of Jet Black with a couple drops of Coffee Bean paint were mixed in a water bottle top.  I used the tip of a toothpick to apply the paint to the edges of each braided area, which gives the illusion of narrower parts. A collage of the original painted parts is shown below followed by a collage of the closed in gaps.

The original painted parts were a little too wide.

The gaps have been successfully closed in to my liking.

The cornrows look more realistic to me now.


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First Look at #10 Classic Cool

Photos taken at Walmart of Ken #10, Classic Cool

During a quick trip to Walmart, I was amazed to find Ken #10, Classic Cool in stock.  I had already preordered from ShopMattel during their brief free shipping offer to avoid having to wait for the doll to arrive locally.  Because several of the ones at Walmart had faint facial smudges on the nose, near the hairline or the eye, I chose the best one available to purchase as a duplicate in the event the one Mattel ships has flaws, too.

Along with Classic Cool, I also purchased the Barbie dress shown above.  The dress fits all Barbie body types.  The Ken fashion does not indicate the cut, but the shirt looks wider than most Ken shirts. Classic Cool models it at the end of this post.

After his initial in-box photograph, I immediately freed this guy.  He's wearing a white pointed collar shirt, black skinny tie, dark gray pants, and gray sneakers.  The tie is fastened to his shirt with a plastic fastener.

I left the fastener in place and painted it black as illustrated above on the right.  Now it blends in with the color of the tie.

The shirt has a Velcro closure in back and the sneakers have a slit in back to aid in removing and putting them on.

He's a very handsome guy with nice facial features.  Initially, I thought his head sculpt was the same as Hip Hoodie's  I really like the shape of his lips, which are fuller than Hip Hoodie's.  His braids are a first for Ken, but like Zig and Zag's braids were initially, he has no visible parts.  I would have preferred hair over plastic/molded, but for $7.74 at Walmart ($9.99 at ShopMattel), it is what it is.

Complexion-wise, his skin tone is about the same as Texas A & M Ken's and Model 17's.

Those who desire articulation, could use Texas A & M Ken's body for Classic Cool.

I created parts in his hair using Toffee Brown acrylic paint, which blends in with his complexion.  The results are illustrated below:

Classic Cool's braids and invisible parts are illustrated on the left.  The painted parts are illustrated on the right.

The painted parts are shown from both sides and from the back view here.

Even though the braids are still plastic/molded, with parts, the hair looks more realistic.

Classic Cool tried on the $5 Ken fashion, which fits him well and shaves years off his appearance. I doubt that broad-body Ken can wear this fashion.

Hip Hoodie (Hakeem) and Classic Cool do have a similar appearance and could very well pass for brothers.

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