Petite LPS Blythe custom... a little steampunk girl

So, you remember the little lady that I posted last time? Well, she got quite the makeover! And boy was it a pain in my bum, and fingers, and pretty much just a pain! But totally worth it =). This was my first time working with a LPS (littlest pet shop) Blythe... so I wasn't totally sure what I was getting myself into, and there really is not much out there for tutorials on customizing them. So I decided to go for it and see what happens... seeing as I found these dolls on clearance it wasn't going to be a huge loss if I completely screwed up.

I had read that the easiest way to do a reroot on these dolls is to actually cut the scalp open, and that seems to be the only way to get to the eyes to change them at all, as they are encased in rubber inside the head. So, I did a little surgery =).

After getting her opened up, eyes removed, and makeup removed I did a bit of sculpting on her mouth and nose to give her more personality. That blue eyeshadow did not want to come off for anything though!

I removed the chips from her eyes and sanded off the blue color, then added my own hand painted paper pieces for her new eye color. Pretty sparkly golden hazel. I also removed the hideous lashes, then secured the chips back in, and popped her eyes back in, with a slightly higher gaze to hide the gaps from the eyelashes.

Next I started rooting in some black cherry alpaca wool that I dyed myself using curly brown alpaca wool, and cherry koolaid. I used the knot method, and a large sewing needle to insert all the hair... which took forever! I then carefully glued her scalp back together, and fixed her hair to hide the seam.

I made her dress and corset from scraps of fabric I had laying around. Her "petticoat" is made from wire that I formed to resemble a birdcage. I painted her eye makeup to resemble gears. My little steampunk princess =).