1 Giving Patsy an Eye Change Tonner s newly restyled Effanbee Patsy is a doll (literally and figuratively). She has a gorgeous inquisitive face. I fell in love with the basic Patsy promotional photos and I ordered her immediately. From Tonner s website here: http://www.tonnerdoll.com/effanbee-classics When she finally arrived, with eager anticipation, I opened her box. And I found that while she was beautiful, her eyes had been changed in manufacturing. Where the promotional photos had shown clear, bright green eyes, my Patsy had sort of muddy, mottled turquoise eyes with ginormous black eyelashes. I could see she was a beautiful doll, but I really wanted true green eyes. So, I did what any sane person would do minutes after opening the box of her new $90 doll I cut open her head, took out her eyes and replaced
2 them with green glass eyes. ;] If this is your first doll customization, it might seem a bit scary at first, but I will tell you exactly how I did it. First, most of us know that Patsy is quite similar to Tonner s 10 Ann Estelle line. So, I looked for an Ann Estelle how-to and I found this great article: http://www.thelifeandtimesofannestelle.com/seeing-through-new-eyes.html Guess what?! The process for Patsy is the same! Much thank you to R. of The Life and Times of Ann Estelle for sharing your methods! Here are my results: The full eye-change project took me 1.5 hours to complete including the camera fussing time. Want new eyes for your Patsy? Read on.
3 Here is What You ll Need Other than your new Patsy doll, of course :]. New 16mm eyes flat back. I prefer these glass eyes in green, blue or gray (Patsy did not look good in the hazel, which surprised me) http://www.dollsupply.com/shop/product_info.php?cpath=53&produc ts_id=151 I have not tried other eye sizes, but if you have them, you could experiment to see what fits. A spoon from the kitchen Sharp exacto knife with nice pointy blade Small towel Standard hair blow dryer Optional: new eyelashes, glue/scissors for old eyelashes Ready? Let s go! To start, note Patsy s hair is not rooted, but is a wig either glued onto the head or left loose. If your wig is glued on, you will need to remove it first. Be gentle when removing the wig and you won t harm it it can go right back onto Patsy s head when you are finished. To remove the wig, lift her hair to expose the edge of the glued wig cap. If you do this around her head, you
4 will find a loose portion. This will be your access point. If the wig is pretty firmly glued all the way around, then create an access point at the back by pulling the edge of the wig cap off the vinyl head. Use a finger tip to pry the cap loose about 1.5 inches along the edge of the vinyl. Next, insert a spoon into the opening and wiggle it around to loosen the cap the rest of the way. As you work the spoon around, the wig will come loose, like this (right). Just follow the curve of the head with the spoon.
5 If your basic Patsy has a bow, like mine does, the bow actually runs all the way through her head, so you will have a black thread knot on one side and some thread coming through the other side. Snip this with sharp scissors or a blade. Note: if losing the bow makes you sad, don t fret you can sew it back onto the wig later or add a little clip to the back to make it removable. Patsy isn t sure how she feels about this arrangement
6 But see? As long as you are gentle with the wig, it will go back on just fine. And now she can even wear other size 7 wigs :].
7 Moving right along time to apply some heat! The heat will help soften the vinyl head, making it easier to cut. I am using a standard blow dryer on the low setting. I don t use this dryer, ever as evidenced by the fact that I just now read this sticker which says the cord is retractable. The whole thing has just been wadded up in a cord tangled ball for the last 2-3 years!
8 Put a small folded towel under Patsy s face to help support her head/lashes while you are mashing on them. Make sure your blow dryer is set to low and then heat up the circular area along the head should take around 90 seconds. Squish the head a little with the hand not holding the blow dryer so you can tell when it is softer. You want to slice all the way around this circle. Push the knife straight down into the seam, pull it up and then push it back down again rather than sawing your way through this will result in a more precise cut. Note: It is very important that your blade be sharp. My cut here is rather jagged because the tip of my blade had broken off. Once I switched to a whole blade, the cutting was much easier and more precise. Once you cut all the way around, the inside of Patsy s head looks like this (right):
9 Her eyes are encased inside two thin vinyl blobs. You need to cut around the outside of these blobs to access the eyes. Use a sharp blade and cut in a downward motion about 2mm in from the edge of the eye blob. It will be a bit awkward working in a small space, so take your time. Use the blow dryer on the low heat setting to soften up the vinyl eye covers prior to cutting them. The little vinyl blobs you remove will look like this:
10 Right: both eye blobs have been removed. See that light edge around the plastic eyes? They look like the background showing through, but it is not! The plastic eyes Patsy comes with have clear silvery rings around the outer edge, so you are just seeing the edges of the eye. The eye holes are much deeper and not in danger of being punctured as long as you work with patience :]. To remove Patsy s eyes, poke inward from the front. The little vinyl eye pocket will allow the eye to pop right out. Those long black lashes are actually attached to the eye rather than Patsy s lids interesting!
11 Now the fun part! Try some eyes out. The vinyl eye cups inside Patsy s head will hold the eyes, so you don t need glue. Placing the eyes can be kind of tricky in such a small space, so here is how I did it. Drop the eye into the vinyl cup so that it lands iris side down you may need to drop it in there a few times to get it facing the right way. Once the eye is inside, use one finger inside the head and one outside to push, turn and wiggle the eyes into place back and forth until they line up. If you want, you can use some glue such as e6000 around the eyes to hold
12 them in place permanently, or you can let the vinyl cups hold them in place to make it easy to change the eyes anytime you wish. Use a strong white glue like Crafter s Pick the Ultimate to glue the head circle back in place, or you can just leave it off and cover it with a wig if you want to keep playing with the eyes :]. Here are some fun images of finished Patsy! Optional: Use the white glue to add her eyelashes back on or add new eyelashes or you can just leave them off. I like her eyes plain for now! She looks great as a brunette or a ginger! I ll bet she looks great in a blonde wig too :].
13
14
15
16 This is a Doll Project Tutorial from Jessica Hamilton I send out free projects (mostly doll-related) on the first Friday of every month. If you are not a subscriber and would like to join my free email newsletter list, you can sign up at http://dollproject.com :]. Copyright and Usage 2012 Jessica Hamilton, dba Doll Project All rights reserved. No part of this tutorial may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without prior written permission of Jessica Hamilton. If you link to this document on a blog, website or other, please use this link: http://dollproject.squarespace.com/blog/2012/12/11/how-to-change-the-newtonner-effanbee-patsy-doll-eyes.html Note: I have no affiliation with the Tonner company. You complete this project at your own risk. Although I am happy to help you with your project, I am not responsible for any damages inflicted upon your dolls modifications are at your discretion. Likewise I make no claims to the methods used within this tutorial or your rights to create or sell a doll using these methods go for it! :]