Sentimentality August 28: Farinelli's Rescue Doll Day

Farinelli is really lucky! I don't understand why or how people abuse or abandon their pets but I am very glad there are those out there ready to pick those animals up and give them the happy lives they deserve!

I'm a sucker for damaged dolls although I haven't finished working on any of the ones I've adopted yet. They become projects here but are very much deeply enjoyed. I won't share all of them because non of them are finished but I will share my current best!

This is a Bobobie Ariel who has a big transformation a head of her!


Bobobie Ariel Before, After by fleeting_image, on Flickr

Modified BBB Ariel Almost Done by fleeting_image, on Flickr

I saw this doll on the marketplace here and watched it languish for several days. Honestly this is not a mold I am attracted to but I saw what she could be. The colors, a dye job that was partially removed really inspired me. Once she was home I carefully assessed the damage then got to work cleaning and sanding her. Using Tamiya smooth type epoxy I reshaped her facial features, filled in any deep scratches or holes, gave her a hearty coat of primer and then finished her off with a final spray of a dusty tan color.

My dream is to one day purchase an airbrush system so I can make seamless repairs, especially to older dolls. Rescuing dolls is one of the biggest attractions to me in this hobby. I love seeing what other images reveal themselves within the resin!

 

I kept watching an older MSD Ken (from a kit) languishing in the Marketplace. I didn't keep the earliest pictures of him, but he had a carroty-coloured wig that was a bit too big for him and bright blue glass eyes. I love rescues and I'd wanted a Ken, and this sweetie was very inexpensively-priced.

When he arrived, I first played around with various styles to see who he might be.



Wyn desperately needed restringing and cleaning--including cleaning the head, which necessitated wiping the face--so those came first. I also gave him a thorough sanding. The wonderful thing about restoring is how you wind up feeling closer to the doll. I'm not talented in most of the esthetics/modding arts, so I sent him off to cifr in Thailand for the final phase of his reincarnation.



And this is who he became:



I just adore this little guy. He's my favourite of all the rescues here, even though his rescue wasn't the most complicated.

 

Farinelli is definitely lucky to have found his way into such a great home! Even if his sister has a bit of a superiority complex, I'm sure she still likes having him around to play with anyways.


Like FairEmma's little rescue boy, mine wasn't a really difficult job or anything, but I am glad I got the chance to bring my boy home and polish him up a bit.

Back at the very end of Dec. 2009/beginning of Jan. 2010, I saw a thread in the box opening gallery of someone who had bought an old Volks Lucas from Mandarake Japan. I was familiar with the website from back when I used to collect anime cels, and went looking to see what other treasures they had listed.

I saw a 1st version Volks Chris for a very, very low price, and impulse bought him. He arrived home a very quick 3 or 4 days later, via EMS.

He was actually in very good condition, as rescues go. In fact, he was in pristine condition - fullset outfit & wig intact and never opened. He'd had the Volks Satogaeri services done and was sueded with seams removed. Absolutely no yellowing. In fact, it looked like he'd lived his first eight years in a box, since he was released in early 2002. (In fact, now it makes me think of the Crobidoll Tragedy doll - Caged Ara story. )

Anyways, I felt bad for him that he'd lived so long in a box, and I wanted to have him prettied up so he could be played with. I don't paint faceups myself (that would have been a step backwards, honestly) but I sent him off to be repainted, and ever since he came back, he's become one of my favorites to take photos of, and I love his adorable face so much.


Here is a picture of him shortly after I took him out of his box, with his old-school default Volks faceup intact and his Zoukeimura eyes still hotglued in his head~




And after I sent him to cifr for a faceup, and got him refreshed and ready for his new life as my sweet boy, Precious.




(I also got him his very own SD17 Williams. )

 

This was before DoA, so please excuse the missing information of the sculpt. I don't have any pictures left because I sold my rescue doll, but she had a big blue stain on the top of her head and indents of where her eyebrows were. The face-up was a combination of paint and sharpie. So I cleaned off the face-up, which was really hard to do. The doll was around 27cm tall. It took me weeks to remove the blue spots from her head from blue sticky tack. But I was really patient and eventually I got it to come off. Normally I would never use oxiclean or bleach on a doll, but there was no other way to get the stain out (besides I diluted it a lot). I was able to clean her up completely and the skin tone still pretty much matched.

 

This girl is one of my all time favorites because of the journey we've taken together. I'd never done a restoration and had only been in the hobby for a few months so it was really nerve wracking. There wasn't much to do except clean her up so I got off easy. I bought her because I'd been watching her bumping around the MP for weeks and it didn't look like anyone was going to buy her. I felt sorry for her and thought she deserved a chance to be pretty. I wouldn't part with her for the world now.

So this is her when I bought her:



And this is her now (faceup by me):

Elise by Xhanthi, on Flickr

 

Xhanthi, Your Elise is so pretty -- great job!

 

Wow! Such gorgeous restorations!

Unfortunately I haven't yet rescued a doll, although much like Farinelli, my BorderxKelpie was a rescued pup. The poor dear was so starved for both food and affection when we found him in the shelter (He'd been found wandering the streets only two days before) that he ate and snuggled up to pretty much everything and everyone when we got him home. (Not respectively, he was just as willing to gnaw on my fingers as he was to sleep on my shoes.)

It didn't take him long to settle in and prove what a beautiful, intelligent boy he was though, he learns tricks really quickly and is truly the most beautiful, placid collie I've ever come across.

 

I've never rescued a doll as of yet before, well have had chances but owner had changed their mind on selling. I have rescued severeal dollhouses and done restorations on them. I feel the same way about the dollhouses & the TLC they need as some of the dolls here- remarkable restorations!

 

Thanks Starlady!

 

Xhanthi whats very odd is I had a vampire woosoo girl I also saved from a pretty bad faceup, I didn't have any before photos or I would have put her up. and her name is Elise too!!!!

 

I'm really glad Farinelli adjusted! Some poor rescue animals never get past being abused. >:

All of your rescue dolls look so lovely! I don't have a rescue of my own (I tried to purchase one earlier last month, but the sale fell through), but I'm always on the lookout for one. ^_^ I think it would be a really fun experience to bring a doll from disrepair to the lovely presence all of yours have in this thread.

Sims: I think you should still post an after picture! Just tell us what you did to "rescue her". :C

 

It's lovely to see the rescues in their new homes and new incarnations Xhanthi, Elise is stunning, I've always liked Woosoos!

I've only just started my own restoration project - I bought an old F-05 (now FCS F-03) on the Marketplace who had her eyes opened and then closed slightly. I decided to restore her to her former sleeping glory - perhaps by next year's anniversary she'll be finished and I can show her in a thread like this.

Huggles and chin tickles for Farinelli

 

aw I love this...seeing the outcomes of rescues is so nice. I just got my first a couple weeks ago at a dollmeet in a trade.



Elf Chiwoo WS. Uneven greening all over, he had almost white patches on his nose, cheeks and forehead where he'd been previously sanded. there was a line of white/green where that tattoo was drawn (I cleaned that off as soon as I got home lol) Lots of scratches on his jaw, forehead and cheeks, some of them were very stubborn and i had to work to get them out. There was something screwy with his mouth too, I tried to fix it but didn't have the right tools. It still looks better than it did (and of course now I have tools XD too late!!). I'm guessing he'd been modded due to all the sand marks but since I've never owned any kind of Chiwoo before I can't be sure.

I also "rescued" the body...from me. I was selling it (not anymore XD) and decided to clean it up for the head. It's a 2008 B&G Type 2 in WS...pretty yellowed, with some scratches and a couple wrist chips. And talk about shiny!! Sadly I'm the only owner of this poor thing...so I have no one to blame...I at least know where all the damage came from. With some of it I got hurt worse than the doll. Darn restringing accidents!!!



after I fixed them up and blushed the head to match the (no longer yellowed!!) body


and here he be! All finished

 

Ooh, those are really nicely expressive eyebrows, VampireAngel!

 

*cue spooky theme from twilight zone* All I have to say is that smart minds think alike! lol

Thank yo! Woosoos are love, but then again I'm very biases lol

It's been great seeing and hearing about everyone's rescues. There's something very uplifting when you see a dolly get a new lease on life. Thanks for the shares everyone!

 

This is an awesome thread! Keep posting up more, everyone!

As for me, I haven't really rescued any hurt dolls, but both my dolls were bought second hand, given new face-ups and body blushing by me, new names and new personalities. For my girl, I had to buy her head and her body separately and wait for her to be a full doll, but she was so worth the wait. Is that enough of a rescue? xD

 

I love this thread.

I wouldn't call any of my second-hand dolls "rescues," per say (I have three in my current collection that are second-hand but none were abused). But my Mythdoll Leroi Twin ("Phoebe") has been around the block a few times. From what I've gathered, I'm her fifth owner. When I learned how many homes she has seen over the past few years, I couldn't help but snatch her up.

The Leroi Twin sculpt is unisex, and when I bought her, the previous owner had used her as a boy doll. I bought her with the intention on keeping her that way, but when she arrived I couldn't help but try some spare girl clothes I had on her. My husband and I agreed: this doll was a girl in our presence.

I bathed her, cleaned her up, gave her a mani/pedi and modded her lower extremities so she is no longer "unisex" but truly "female." After that, I sent her off to the awesome Isabella to get a feminine face-up, full of neon flair. She fits in with my other '80s-themed dolls wonderfully, and she doesn't have to worry about jumping house to house anymore.

Before:



After:



(above photo taken by Isabella)

 

I don't have "Before" pictures for all of my rescues (like the garishly-painted F-01 with the broken knee, who is now my Eris), but I do have a before/after pic of Grigori, my Vamp Woosoo:

Before: Girly face-up, eyes opened way *below* the natural line (not obvious from this photo, but very much so in person), hacked-up mod job.



After (pardon the non-closeup, I haven't taken many pictures of him because he's been packed up since my move): Eyes modded partially closed and back to "Woosoo shape" by Belladonna and Morbidollz, new face-up, CP Type 1 body ^__^



And even though I don't have a "before" shot, here is Eris, after her knee repair by Ravendolls and face-up by Kittymaru!



I've rescued quite a few dolls over the years, but those two really come to mind as ones that came from inauspicious beginnings but turned out to be among my favorites!

-- A

 

I don't know if this counts as rescuing, but I got a Asleep Eidolon Lian Rong at a doll show. When I took him home and undressed him, I saw that his legs were pretty blackened from being left in his dark pants for too long. I scrubbed at him with a Magic Eraser for an hour, lol. But now he hasn't left his "cupboard" for months, and I'm seriously considering selling him. So, not such a happy rescue story after all.

 

I've never rescued a doll but i would love too. Took me a whileto get into the swing of things with the doll i bought but i dont understand how someone could buy a doll and let it get into a state of disrepair. Worst that's ever happened to me was when my boy fell down when he was posing and his finger snapped off T___T luckily i had spare hands....

 

wow she is really beautiful!

 

I'm kind of sad I missed this thread completely, but the work here is really nice.

I don't see Walter much of a rescue doll and more of a finished up the mods doll. I was very happy to have been able to get this head (Elf Chiwoo) so I could do mods without having to burn resin myself (bad fumes and such).
I'm posting links in case people don't like to see burned doll heads and horror mods:
This is Walter before.
And this is after.

 

Poor little tings, you've all done such wonderful jobs on them! Muisje, he's gorgeous! I don't know if I'd have the guts to take on something that badly damaged. What's his character's backstory?

 

Thanks, BernardMcSmeg. ^_^ There isn't much background other than this snippet I wrote for the Elf Chiwoo database: "Walter is very much loved by his mother as only a mother could love a face like that. He likes science, fashion and pies."

 

Those are three very respectable interests XD

 

I'm enjoying looking at everyone's rescue dolls! I hope more are posted!

I've been looking for my own doll to rescue, but so far I have not had luck! Hopefully someday though!

For animal rescues though, we used to rescue pets all the time when I was growing up. One memorable one was a guinea pig who came to us with his hair all matted up and a bad eye infection. We got him all patched up and found him a new home.

Another was my wonderful and much loved dog Gesundheit. I adopted him from a friend of the family (not long after the adoption we were no longer friends though!) who knew we were looking for a dog. They let their male and female dog breed every year, though I found out later that they didn't always find homes for the pups. The unlucky ones got taken out into the woods and shot.

My dog might have shared that fate as he was already almost a year old. They took him and his brother out to us to see if we'd like one of them. Gesundheit let my little siblings go squeeing at him, and his brother ended up lunging and snarling and barking at them. Both of them had been brushed for the occasion, but when we got him inside... His fur was a giant matt. They'd gotten the surface fur somewhat presentable but everything underneath was terrible! The fur behind his ears was tangled so bad we had to cut it out and it had been pulling his ears back, and after working at his fur for quite a while we finally had to get him shaved. He had never been played with so at first he had no idea what to do with toys, and because he'd been kept only in the basement or outside he was afraid of basements. He had a poorly healed broken rib and had epilepsy possibly from a head injury.

He was the sweetest, smartest, and most wonderful dog I ever had and I think it's appalling how they treated him. He passed away in his sleep as an old dog a few years ago and I still miss him!