Modification There's Trouble Afoot (DC Marguerita mods)

Doll Chateau completely captured my heart with their Y-06 bodies, but GOOD NIGHT does the original have some issues. For context, I have a DC Marguerita with this body that I purchased in-stock some years ago, and she's gorgeous but has 2 glaring issues; the first is that her knees have a nasty habit of popping out of socket and buckling, and the other is that the default feet she came with are such an extreme shape that it looks like someone broke the poor thing's arches and re-set them so she can only wear the most extreme of high heels. With both of these issues combined, she hasn't been able to stand at all since I got her. Obviously standing is a pretty basic thing for a doll to do, so I had some work ahead of me.

I decided to start with modifying her feet. I want to make her a satyr-like creature with cloven hooves, so the first step (hehe) was to, you know, cut her feet in half:


The first foot, with a dotted line I drew to get a rough idea of where the bottom would be after carving.


The arch side, where you can truly see just how sharply the arch curves in the original design.


WELP, no going back now! Bye-bye tootsies!


The ball of the foot after the first little bit of sanding. I used a combination of a dremel and hack saw to cut both of the feet in half, so there was a little unevenness that needed smoothing.


After the initial smoothing, the feet sat straight enough that I was able to draw a straight line for the hoof split.


The first bit of sanding to define the hoof split. I sanded it more to add a deeper groove later on, but this was a great start!


The sun went down so I had to turn to my trusty sewing light for some illumination, but this shows the arch side of the foot after the first major round of sanding. I added some milliput to the arches for more stability, but that will be documented as I update this thread.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy seeing this fun (but intimidating) adventure in dolly mods!

 

Thanks! I'm still debating on what to do with the tootsies, as it feels weird to throw them out? I also expect that she will be able to stand with the hooves, as I've made sure her feet are straight and stable on the bottom.

 

Good news everyone! MORE PROGRESS!

So with all of the carving and sanding done to one foot, I just had to do it all again on the other side.


A fun caveat of projects like these is that it really helps you notice how asymmetrical a lot of dolls are- but symmetry isn't everything, and my main concern is making sure this girl can actually stand on her own 2 feet after all of this.


I put one of the feet in sunlight for a brief minute so I could get a good photo of the Milliput I added to the arches. Before this addition the feet kinda wanted to roll inward because there was no material to stop them, so I did this to make them more stable.

Speaking of stability, it was time to get to work on the knee parts and see what needed to be done to get them to stay in place so this girl won't fold like an accordion the second I put her back together. I would also like to mention that Doll Chateau did fix the buckling issues, and the green girl in my pfp (Lotus, my DC Ona) stands like a rock without worry. Having the fixed version of the body on-hand proved to be super helpful, as I was able to look at those knees as a guide to help me fix these.
(That being said, if you happen to order a doll from DC with the Y-06 body, make sure to specify that you want flat feet when you order, as I believe they still send the heel feet by default.)

I got so caught up in working on this that I completely forgot to take before pics, but trust me when I say that much sanding was done to both the knee peanut and the sockets in which it sits. The mods to the knees basically consisted of making room in the front for the peanut to sit deeper in the socket, while also adding a little bit of bulk to the sides to keep it from wiggling back and forth.


This is the knee socket of the thigh piece, complete with Milliput added on the sides to really help the knee-nut stay in place.


Same with the calves. You can't see much of these mods from the outside, but boy do they make a difference.


And lastly, the knee-nut. The mods I did to this piece were twofold- the first part consisted of sanding down the front to make more of a "lip" for the other pieces to catch on, and the second was adding a little ridge to the top so the kneecap area catches the outside of the thigh. (I still need to work on her right side, so I will get some pics of the unmodded pieces for clarity.)

Stay tuned folks!