Okay, so we're actually talking about my doll Kitty and not Rapunzel, but I think you get the idea. I decided that she needed a new look. Her big upswept hair and all of the tiny ringlets didn't exactly say saloon owner to me. Here's what she looks like so far - and trust me there is lots more work to be done!
Doesn't she look lovely with her hair hanging down over her shoulder? If her hair was straight it would be longer than my real hair (if I were 5-1/2 inches tall that is). I think she looks younger with her hair down as well.
Just to remind you here's how Kitty started out before her trip to the hair salon. If you remember from earlier pictures she had a series of beads hanging down from one side. I removed those and also the pink ribbon that was around her neck. As I mentioned before she has requested a pearl choker so that will be one of my next projects.
As you can see from the back Kitty really does have quite a lot of hair. It's rolled up and then curled on the ends and then glued to the back of her head. Oh how I hate hot glue on dolls hair!!!
This is a side view after I cut off as many of the beads as possible.
And this is Kitty with no beads. I searched on Greenleaf and the only method of removing glue that I could find was to use a hair dryer. I tried that and it just didn't seem to do anything. I guess you would have to sit there for a really long time for it to work. So anyway, I thought "I need to get the heat right where the glue is." And suddenly I had the great idea of using my hot glue gun. I heated up the gun and removed all of the glue from the inside and on the nozzle. I then used the gun and pressed it against the glue. The beads slid off very easily and then I would sort of just use the gun to scoop the extra glue away. I had a towel nearby and sometimes dabbed at her hair with that. I won't say that it got everything, but it definitely got enough to make me happy. And it didn't damage her hair in any way, which was another one of my worries - and I didn't lose or pull out any hair either. The gun seems to be just hot enough to melt the glue and not mess with the hair in any way.
Next I removed her pink rose. Kitty asked that I keep it just in case. In this picture you can see some of the glue still on her hair where I removed the beads.
As I pulled her hair down and out of the roll it was in I did discover that it was actually hiding a bald spot on the back of her head. I wish doll makers would wig the entire doll regardless of the hair style. I think after working some more of the glue out I'll be able to either hide the bald spot or will make a small hat or apply her rose to the back of her hair. Kitty says she would just prefer to wear her cowboy hat anyway. I'm using the towel you see in the picture to take individual stands of hair and heat them with the glue gun to remove any remaining glue. It's a very slow process - no joke - I may still be doing this next year! The strand of hair that you see in the top picture is mostly glue free, everything that I strategically hid behind her still needs some work. I wish there was some sort of glue remover. Something that would soften the glue (other than heat) and just sort of make it dissolve out of her hair. There has to be ways other than glue for doll makers to add hairstyles. Tiny removable pins or something. If anyone out there in blogland has any suggestions I kindly welcome them. This is quite a job!
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