Current commission (long post)
So since my arms are currently not upto to rerooting right now I thought i’d walk you through what i’ve been working on, maybe it’ll give some insights, maybe it’ll put you off rerooting LOL (I can point you to some very cheap or very high end rerooters if that’s the case =p) but typing this post is will maybe take my mind off a bunch of worries. press J to skip.
So it started with me receiving a confusing email - though that’s not all that unusual actually =p
Hi,I have a few brats I want rerooted, two are a partial reroots one is a Jade and I want her pink streaks made black and a few ashy light blonde the other a Megan where I'd like the shorter bits fixed to be the same length and a peach streak both of these have long hair, then is a short pixie sort of style possible in a neon yellow and a full reroot in an ombre or a soft brown and blonde mix and two boys, what would be the price roughly, sorry if I explained that badly I can also send pictures if it'd help?
Thank you, x
I pointed them to my commissions page and explained that I charge per hour and per price of hair and asked for photos and details. Got a reply that said there would be two partial reroots and two bratz boyz & how long do I take. I assumed the person was window shopping as playline folks tend to balk at the price of a full reroot and usually a commission that becomes reality is one where the person has already got a detailed plan in mind. Sometimes I’ll get an email from paypal saying money’s in my account with a note that a doll and hair is on the way: “center part hip length please”. Other times I’ll get an email with a picture of the OC and the person will ask which base doll would be good and which hair is a closest match to their chosen colours and we start from there.
In any case, I opened a txt file and tried to parse the information I had so far so I could give the person a quote.
The next email was 6 screenshots of instagram “if you could let me know if it's possible”
I froze for a moment, mostly as my mind cycled through the options for that rainbow on the right and how complex it could get... then replied that doll hair is unlike human hair so we’re limited to what’s available in terms of doll hair and a many dolls online have painted roots, temporary dip dyes or just plain photoshop. The next email exchange was a request for flock for the blonde guy and me explaining that I’m terrible at flocking and also green streaks in that colour would have to be nylon over the original bratz boyz brown saran as saran doesn’t come in that colour for us customizers yet [[ Release your emerald green saran as seen on Honey and Jinafire, pretty please AsahiKASEI ]]. then there was more confusing information delivered very kindly and then nothing for ten days. I kept the folder with the txt file and images just in case but put it away.
Then *bam* $132, friend to friend, in my paypal (not entirely sure how this number came about but it looks like it might be close to correct if not slightly over) and I go “Oh shoot! This is real!!” and scramble an email asking what dolls I’m working on exactly and when to expect them, where are they shipping from? Who do they want done first? I put together this image from a composite of two photos to try and keep it straight. spoiler alert: I did not keep it straight.
I explain that I’ll time the “full” reroots on the boyz as they’ll be different lengths so i’ll charge by the hour instead, same with the hair replacement. I’m searching the internet trying to figure out who dolls #4,5 and 6 are and what hair they use and if they nylon they’re coming with will be a mismatch. I didn’t find the relevant info.
So for reference: #4 Boutique Jade uses doll grade kanekalon and #5 Winter Meygan uses saran. #6 has not arrived yet.
The dolls arrived with three packets of dollyhair nylon (green, grey for the boyz and strawberry pink for meygan which won’t work with her saran) and 5 packets of dollplanet nylon. They are very different fibres despite being called nylon. The dollplanet stuff reminds me of retrodolls kiwi or toyokalon, it’s thinner, shinier, more translucent when dry. I will try to remember to keep tiny samples to do heat tests later.
I put together a spreadsheet (with details like: do I time or not?), make folders to put arrival (and reference) photos in as they had mods and paint and stains. First step is head prep. I do only 4 of the 6 as I havn’t confirmed/understood exactly what is going to happen for dolls #4 and #5. So hair removal, acetone the scalp if it doesn’t match the hair, document danger zones for rerooting, dip boil the heads, dip boil one of the heads in a baggie as it’s flocked (the flock is half gone and will be fully destroyed by flock attempt one of three), send photos to the client.
First snafu, I forgot that bratz boyz are on head anchors about as bad as Disney Descendants (aka the woooorst!🎵) . There are two scenarios to prepare for: 1/ the huge anchor bit snaps off, great! 2/ the huge anchor bit doesn’t break and you have to use a hair dryer, a thin widge like a tweezer or fork prong to try and pull the neck flange over it then cut it off with wire cutters while it’s still half in the head then fish it out later. You can see this anchor at https://dollycare.blogspot.com/2010/10/remove-dolls-head.html - the anchor part is entirely unncessary, just keep the round bit.
I explain that I can do some destaining while they’re here and the supplies I use: alcohol, acetone, benzoyl peroxide, magic eraser.
And then I promptly reroot the wrong guy in the silver grey because i stuck the wrong reference pic in the wrong folder assuming that brown haired guy would be brown/green haired guy and didn’t double check.
so I gently use hemostats to roll-pull out the hair, re-boil (losing his darker blue eye paint), re-reroot in green. which stains. because dollyhair.com’s Tina is a neo-nazi and a bad business owner. I have not used her business since she switched from 12-14g hanks to 8-9g hanks overnight and then got angry at her customers for being upset over it years ago and yes, I kept receipts for all of it.
Here begins my week long attempts at removing dye from nylon. Vinegar soak, isopropyl alcohol soak, accidental dye removal for clothes soak: nothing works. Cameron’s reroot will be uncharged and he’ll have to keep his hair in a ponytail and away from plastics. He’s currently bleaching his original pink stains and greenish hue on my radiator and needs a blue eye and his piercings replaced with stainless steel.
Next: Eitan in silver grey. looks nice but I decide to move the hairline and give him a little more coverage at the back.
His flock is very worn down in the back: I try flocking with white glue, then uhu glue then water based nail varnish using black and blonde nylon chopped hair as flock. All three crystalize within hours and leave chunks of white. My desk still has tiny bits of stubble everywhere not matter how much I vaccuum. flock needs to be done in an enclosed box even if the flock goes static and sticks to the box: do it.
He’s now just got his painted sides and is bleaching some existing stains on the radiator.
The client agrees to swap nylon for saran for Meygan to match the existing hair. I used up all of my remaining pink gin for the first time in a long long time, I always have pale pink on hand and currently have two wips who need pink adding so that’ll be my first purchase when I finally consider this comission done and “cash” the money by adding it to my spending fund. Pink, pale blonde and black are the equivalent of red, blue and yellow paints for a rerooter in my humble opinion.
Now on to my first full reroot with this slippery dollplanet nylon stuff and I forgot to mention that I’m using a heating pad at full heat and pushing the Bratz in there as soon as it gets too hard for a minute or so which gives me time to seperate out some more hair, I keep only small amounts ‘out’ at a time as it so easily falls out of place and then you’re stuck with uneven lengths. Thankfully there’s tons of this stuff so I can afford to just toss any bits that snag and curl or get knotted.
Yasmin will be done over four sessions (pink, yellow, hairline adjustment for both, extra yellow to the parting). Despite a fast pace for the bulking she still takes six hours as hard heads are not forgiving and will crack in places you then have to work around.
Next, Boutique Jade, we’re gonna remove all the pink replace it with black and an ash blonde in a sort of ombré effect. Except it’s doll grade kanekalon streaks rooted over an already thick parting so it leaves a big hole that can’t be squeezed shut as is. I heat the head, add superglue, squeeze, glue my fingers to part of the hair, you know: the usual! I’ve got enough of this black and it blends ok-ish enough with it’s ultra fine texture with doll grade kanekalon to be able to do a whole new parting on the other side.
I reheat the now superglued part just enough to add some plugs to hide the empty spot. (hasty photos she’s a bit wet and unbrushed) I’ll probably forget to take nice ones for my portfolio LMAO. She looks like the reference photos and the client is delighted with all of them. so that’s a massive relief.
and here’s doll 6 of 7: Lilac Jade who I can’t work on today, she still needs a parting and her hairline is going to be tricky, it was double rooted in black then pink over the top with extra plugs for bangs (you’ll notice a tiny bit of backrooting there on the right as I havn’t brushed it out yet) and it's uneven (hence the pencil lines)
but daaaang this colour is amazing it’s called Whisper and it’s a deep lavender lilac colour that seems both matte and shiny at the same time. It works fantastically with her grey-blue eyeshadow. considering the foxglove lavender is only available at dollyhair and retrodolls lush has pink undertones, i’d recommend this annoying fibre if you want a true light purple.
Bratz heads contain a small amount of glue and bratz boyz have gel that turns into glue over time. You’ll want to put acetone on a cotton swab get it nice and full and rub it around the inside of the head. DO NOT put acetone directly into a head, you do not know where it’ll come out and it could damage the face.
You don’t have to boil the whole head, you can just dunk the part that needs sealing in rolling boil water (at least for hard headed dolls, for softer vinyl you can use pre boiled water). You can also boil a head inside a baggie to protect flock or paint.
