Aesthetics Of Victorian Dolls & The Golden Railroad Age

I want to start this off by saying that I was gifted many dolls back in 2010, and, a lot of stuff happened in my life and I had to put away my love for them for a good amount of time. There, these dolls sat in boxes and were moved around as I traveled around North America.

I moved again and rediscovered these dolls a few months back, and, I thought about selling them, but I didn't have the heart to after a bit. I went through a period of working as a vintage toy auctioneer, and during that period, I discovered a love of vintage trains and car models. One of my favorite periods is the American Victorian era, and I thought to breathe life back into these dolls and set up a permanent display of them in my house for them to enjoy, and myself. I want to use the miniature train models I've collected as the "toys" for the dolls who are in the family of a railroad mogul.

Here is the link to the dolls I will be working on. There is currently one doll missing from the picture, a YoSD that I haven't located yet. [EDIT: Found her! ]

As far as I know the dolls are these models:
LeekeWorld SD sized Edgar
LUTS Ani Boy MSD
Dollmore Kid Sona MSD
LeekeWorld Honey YoSD

I'm personally not a fan of the Dollmore head on this particular model, so I may swap it out or get rid of the doll entirely. I'm not sure yet, but he is the lowest priority of the bunch. The Honey YoSA, from what I remember, is still in amazing condition and will not need a new faceup or anything, she just needs some new clothes.

Here is a checklist of things I need to do.

COMPLETE! - Wash/Clean Faces

- Restring dolls. They're floppy as all get-out, and the LUTS doll has no elastic at all.
LUTS Ani (Sorrel)
LeekeWorld Edgar (Alfons)

COMPLETE! - New Faceups. Quick Links Below!
These were done by the talented @bahboh and they're AMAZING!
LUTS Ani (Sorrel)
LeekeWorld Edgar (Alfons)

- Body Blushing. I'm still unsure if I wanted to do this? I'm not doing it for Alfons because he will be in a full suit, so it seems pointless. However, Sorrel may have exposed skin parts... not sure what I'm going to do just yet!
LUTS Ani (Sorrel)

- New Wigs. I am hoping to find a sort of short, curly/wavy messy look for Edgar and a short/mid-cut chocolate brown for Ani. I really love LeekeWorld wigs, but if it fits their style, I am not above it!
LUTS Ani
LeekeWorld Edgar

- Eyes. Boys need some new eyes. Looking for a pair of nice, vivid green for the Edgar doll.
DONE! LUTS Ani (Bought a 16mm Oscar Doll Eye pair in Sassy Red that is gonna look beautiful on him, aghh)
LeekeWorld Edgar

- Outfits. Looking for a three-piece suit for the SD Edgar. Not sure what color scheme I see, but maybe something on the lighter end, or a linen-type suit. I would imagine it would have been quite hot having to travel frequently. For the Honey, a cute Victoria-era style dress, but it doesn't have to be crazy accurate. Hopefully in a cream color or something. And last, the MSD, who I have no idea how I'm going to dress. Something that's a mix of frilly and boyish/girlish, since their gender needs to be hard to pinpoint, which is what I am going for with them.
LUTS Ani
LeekeWorld Edgar
LeekeWorld Honey

- DISPLAY (Luxury Victorian Pullman)
I'm aiming to make their display look like the inside of a luxury pullman. They were the sleeper vehicles of the era, made to be luxurious and fancy even though you were on a train. They looked a lot like very tightly compact luxury hotel rooms, some even with their own eating areas, chandeliers, and of course the beautiful view of the outside world! I'm going to be designing this first so I know just want I want inside, but for certain, it has to be enough seating for the characters that will be displayed on it. I'm actually considering getting a miniature bookcase to make as the whole display, which each shelf being a different car. Could be fun! I will update what I need on here as I go.

I also plan on doing vlogs about it on my Youtube channel, just to have something to show and put up there. I will link the playlist for the videos here when I have that done.

Anyway, Thank you! I'm super excited for this project. I'm so used to monetizing everything I do, I feel like it would be nice to just... do a project just to do it. Any tips or help will be greatly appreciated along the way!

 

@Teddy I am in LOVE with these pictures. And thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely look into it!

 

Update! I found the YoSD I had been trying to hunt down. She is still every bit as beautiful as I imagined!
Props to surviving locked up for a decade, tossed around, and still looking so good.


Today I received the eyes I wanted for the MSD and they look fabulous! Can't wait to slap them in that baby once the faceup is done! And I managed to find someone local to do the faceups for the boys. So I'm pretty hyped about that as well.

 

At the moment, the two dolls (LUTS Ani and the LeekeWorld Edgar) are in the middle of getting faceups! They are actually complete, now I just have to schedule a pick up time. Pictures will be included (as well as the name of the talented artist)!

I filmed the dolls before I sent them off, so I am eager to see the side-by-side comparison once I stitch the film together. Super exciting!

At the moment: I'm sad that my journey for finding eyes for the SD sized doll is proving to be so difficult! Pretty much on the first day I set out to do this project, I found the perfect pair for the MSD. However, now I'm looking for some nice green eyes and ugh, I am having difficulty.

LeekeWorld has also some of the best wigs I've had for my dolls, so I decided to host a group order so I can get my hands on what I want. The original wig I wanted for the SD is sold out (I am having terrible luck with him, I guess!), but I've found a decent replacement! Also, if the wigs are heat-resistant, then I can style this one a little and be fine.

Off to a weird start! But hopefully I will prevail. Pictures will be included next time!

 

I had some green acrylic eyes already that the dollhad, but the color didn't show up well in pictures. I'm aiming for a lighter green this time, though. I'm not picky about the material as long as they look good, but I tend to find myself leaning towards glass or urethane when I see pictures I like, haha!

 

Today I got my doll heads back from the talented and lovely @bahboh who did the boy's faceups. They are incredible!
First, for the LeekeWorld Edgar:



And this is for the LUTS Ani





I'm in love with the faceups they got. The contouring of the lashes and just the perfect layering of the faceup is just... it's just what good art is made of, haha. I was too embarrassed to say anything when I picked them up, but I could honestly go on about how lovely they are. I'm a huge fan of the handcrafted detailing, the blushing technique--just everything, really. I feel as though the spirit of the vision I had in mind really got captured. And how delicate the Ani looks... brilliant, really!

The eyes they have are the ones by the faceup artist, not what I'll be using.

At the moment, hosting a GO in hopes of getting the wigs I need! So when that happens (and if not, guess I'll just use something like Etsy for a wig!), I'll be taking some more pictures with the completed looks of wig and eyes included.

Anyway, superhype! If you're in the DFW area especially, check @bahboh out! Their work is phenomenal!

Until next update!