Modification Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (Fixing up an Oldskin Volks MSD Mary)

You might've seen my post in the arrivals gallery. If not, that's totally cool! I recently got an Oldskin Volks doll very cheaply and wanted to breathe some life into her.

Here she is in all her unmodified glory:





Current plan of attack is to:

Clean her up! She's got some tape residue on her headcap that I'd very much like to remove. Plus some grodiness in her legs and torso.

Restring her! I've ordered some elastic straight from Volks as well as some kips to try my hand at it. I've only (somewhat) successfully strung tiny and YOSD dolls before so this will be a challenge.

Redo or renew her faceup! I'd like to erase the pinkness around her eyes and bring back some of that classic Volks look. Her eyebrows are already there, and she just needs a few adjustments to really bring that early 2000s vibe to the table.

Find her new eyes! I respect the acrylic look but I'd like smaller irises even more.

Make her less nekkid! This will require digging through my stash for some vintage Volks clothes. If possible, I'd like to find her original outfit but that's a pie in the sky dream.

Wash her box pillows! More of a preference but she's got some stains on them that don't look so nice. I might resort to spot cleaning.

 

I washed her today but am still struggling with her tape residue. To be fair, all I did was give her a quick rinse in warm water with some Dawn dish soap. I might need to attack the residue with alcohol.



I made a strange discovery while pulling her apart. She's wired! That explains her legs being better off than her arms.

Speaking of pulling her apart, her hands and feet were a nightmare to detach. It might be the work of the previous owner but the little hooks were very "closed off," if you know what I mean. Very little wiggle room to maneuver the elastic off. I had to cut her hands free!



Next order of business was to remove this nasty eye putty. I doubt it's original (as the eyes probably aren't) but it was stained and shriveled.



Much better! I went over the inside of her head with a damp cloth to rub away those stray marks. I didn't want to risk ruining her eyelashes.



Here she is, already for the bath!



And here she is drying out. I was able to remove a lot of dirt through dish soap, water, and a toothbrush.

Now that I've cleaned her up a bit, I need to wait for my restringing materials to arrive. Tomorrow I'll take a look at her faceup and note places to improve.

 

Current faceup inspiration includes these older Volks dolls I found pictures of on Ningyo Bingo. (All faceups are directly by Volks.)






I'm currently looking to add those painted lashes, maybe clean up her brows, and repaint her lips for a smoother look.

 

Well, I did my best...



I definitely got the amateur faceup style down pat! This is the first time I've painted lips and it actually looks okay. Unfortunately, her previous lip makeup left some staining around her mouth but it's not particularly noticeable in artificial light.

I had to get rid of her retro eyelashes because they kept getting in the way of cleaning her up, and they completely crumbled when I removed them!

The brows are original to her previous owner but everything else... I am held accountable for

I have all my restringing tools ready to go. Just need to find the time.

 

Thanks! I'm really starting to bond with her. I'm going to revise her face-up some more, sharpen and smooth her painted eyelashes and touch up her mouth, but I think I've got the aesthetic down!