Modification A Dullahan Plan (Facial Modding, Dyeing, Etc.)

Good crafternoon, Den of Angels!

Some of you may remember me as someone who was being generally clownish in the dollshe waiting room for a while there, riding my little clown tricycle around and wailing about a Bermann. Well, they arrived!



They're a Dollshe Bermann in what was called a fashion mini on the mystic pose+ body when I ordered it, and then they changed all of their naming conventions in the nine months they took to get here and the little walnut that rattles about in my skull wasn't able to keep up. Whatever, they're the MSD sized one, you get it. Anyway, this is Lorcan! Here they are, admiring fine cast iron cookware.

Lorcan, both the doll and the character, belong to my roommate Finn! He doesn't have a DoA account and isn't really looking to make one just yet, but I was the one who paid for the doll, and i'm doing the modding, so he said it's cool to post this thread tracking the progress.

Lorcan is a dullahan, and you can read up about those in this incredibly stumpy wikipedia article. They're an absolute menace and I positively adore them with all of my foolish heart.

Here is how they should look when it's all said and done:

(art by me, ignore the dour man standing next to them; he's an oc of mine that Lorcan menaces-- i mean-- is good friends with :} !)

(art by Finn! This is actually a more accurate representation of them, since he's their creator and the final authority on them. Why didn't I put this one first? My bad, but I don't feel like rearranging these photos. Whatever, I'll clean that up in post.)

So, we've got some work to do:

1. Lorcan has had one of their eyes gouged out -- it's a long story, Hozier wept -- so we bought them with the EN head. One eye is going to be carved open, while the other is going to be left mostly-shut, with a black marble instead of an eyeball placed behind it.
2. Long gasglow-type smile carved in
3. Full body dye
4. Body blushing to add scars, freckles, nasty disgusting hands, and 'neck line'
5. Faceup done
6. Wig made
7. Eyes bought
8. Clothes made/bought.
9. Props made/bought. Particular props include spine whip, banjo, book, and an entire horse. The horse is likely going to be bought and then modded to look like a horrible death steed, but I'm not sure if you all even want to see that process.

To part the curtain, I've actually already done a few of these steps, but I'll separate them into their own post to keep this one from being too long and loquacious.

 

Okay, I've spent money on this doll, time to carve their face all to hell! Hooray!


Prepped for surgery, featuring Babycat. The Y on their chest/stomach was originally going to be a scar from a time they accidentally got an autopsy -- again, a long story, they got better -- but I was worried that carving into the thin part of that top torso joint would leave it susceptible to chips and cracks in the resin itself. We're going to paint the scar on instead, which, I know, will mean that that paint will chip away as the torso moves, but I'd rather chipped paint than chipped resin, as I'm sure you'd understand.



No in-progress shots because I took them outside for better ventilation, but it was also dark out there and not optimal for photos, even though I could see. Remember to wear masks and goggles and all of that jazz when you're hacking into resin, lads! This is prior to being cleaned up and sanded, but here's the progress so far on their facial modification. Eye opened and mouth pulled into the beginnings of a big ol' smile. If you were hoping for a much more dramatic gash to their mouth, it is going to be a bit disappointing, since it's mostly going to be....well, a line. We are going to achieve most of the look of their yucky maw through faceup magic, but we wanted to enhance the feel of it by carving. I did all of this with an exacto knife, both the eye opening and the smile. I started very slowly on the mouth, working in long, soft strokes with the knife until I'd pitted out what I needed, sometimes going in at an angle. The cut is much deeper near the corners of the doll's original mouth.

Meanwhile, progress is being made on their clothes, and they watch my roommate with one-eyed fae scrutiny.

 

@TheKidAbroad Thank you!!

I had to take a little break from modding for a bit here, but Lorcan found gainful employment being an example of the differences between different MSD sizes in a photo that is so blurry that it almost feels like my camera was tearing up,


they moonlighted as a microphone stand,


and, bereft of their horse, they tried their hand at wrangling other manner of beasts.


And it was all going fine...until one day, they completely fell apart:

No, Lorcan, I EXPECT YOU TO DYE

Saddle up partners, it's time for my first dolly dye job! I unstrung them and gave every piece a good cleaning with a magic eraser, going in first with a wet side and then scrubbing hard with the dry one. I knoooooooow some sources say to go in and sand the entire body first, but the truth of the matter is that I didn't have the proper respiratory equipment to undergo a full sanding. I had a disposable mask when I gave their eye a quick sanding to clean it up, but that's it! So, we went in unsanded.


We bought a stainless steel pot from Goodwill to designate as The Dye Pot, and slugged in some RIT Dyemore. I have heard here and there that Dyemore can have mixed results, with things being spotty or blotchy, and that the new en vogue dye to use with dolls is ipoly or somesuch. But, the thing is, Lorcan is supposed to be a bit mottled and splotchy. They're dead and gross! So, Dyemore it is. We also had a bowl of cool water set aside to rinse the pieces off, and to cool them enough for my sensitive toddler-like hands to be able to handle them and get them laid out on a surface to dry.

Sidebar, I apologize for the items on the counter there behind the bowl. I promise that my apartment is not a huge mess, but it is incredibly small, and our counter space is unfortunately limited. Imagine a tiny apartment. No, it's smaller than that. We more or less live in a Ritz Cracker box that's been given some lovely paint and wood flooring. Our bathroom door can't even open all the way without bumping into the sink. You're just going to have to live with seeing our maple syrup in the background, folks!!!!

No in progress shots, I was a little too nervous about timing everything just right to take a moment to snap a photo, but;


And there it is! A couple of notes;

• Their top and bottom torso joints are lighter than the midsection, and a bit lighter than the rest of the parts all together. This is because, after the test piece, which is the hand in the second picture that is a bit off from the rest, I dunked those first. I don't think the water had been QUITE hot enough yet when we did the hand, and as it got hotter it seemed to shorten the dip time, so by the end I was counting the time manually rather than using the timer. Because, as you can see by our top of the line paper plates, I am a professional.
• This is actually a bit darker than Lorcan is intended to be, and less somewhat-yellowish. That hand that is different from the rest, the test hand, is actually a more accurate representation of the color they're supposed to be. My roommate's idea is that we can perhaps go over them with a light coating of a yellowish grey chalk pastel to give them a bit of a pallor and a touch of blotchyness, but I'm not too sure. I am worried about the potential for chipping with that. I've heard that scrubbing a dyed doll with a magic eraser can also lighten the dye. Is there any consensus on this?

Finally:
When some of y'all dye your dolls, do you go over the entire body with a sealant, such as MSC? We do have a can handy, but I'm not sure if it would be a worthy investment of a fairly expensive material. Should I? (Obviously, this is pastel-application nonwithstanding; if we're going to be coughing up a miasma of yellowish pallor on them, I'm going to seal the devilfuckin dickens out of it.)

And....how do you get rid of a pot full of dye water?

(Edit: by the way! If you're referring to Lorcan as a character, please use they/them pronouns. thanks folx )