Rainbow Brite CPK Reroot Tutorial

Here is the candidate, a #9 with lemon yellow hair and green eyes. I am putting the date and time of the photos to get an idea of how long each thing took. I didn’t work on her continuously, but here and there. I also watched movies while I was working. LOL.

5/25/12 2:57 pm~ Took the head off, using Cuticle Cutters to snip the zip tie, then ran the neck part over hot water to soften the plastic, then used a butter knife to get the plug out of the neck.

2:59pm ~ cut the hair.

6:56 pm ~ using long needle-nose pliers, pulled out all the hair from the inside out, and the last part on the lower back of the head from the outside because it’s difficult.

9:04pm ~ using a mini dremel, drilled the holes for the new hair-do

This is the yarn I used:

9:16pm ~ I wrapped the yarn around my dresser drawer knobs, then cut on one side of one of the knobs.

9:25pm ~ using a yarn needle, thread the first holes with a piece of yarn.

Then poke the next thread in one hole that already has a piece of yarn.

Then pull it out through a hole that has no yarn, using pliers to save your hands from blisters.

5/26/12, 8:36 am ~ got the first front row of yarn done.

12:36pm ~ got the rest of the outer row finished.

12:48pm ~ now for the bangs.

4:08pm ~ Finished with the bangs. I was going to try to curl the yarn, which is why you see strands of yarn hanging down. I decided to do it a different way, so I ended up putting them back with the rest of the bangs.

I used a dowel to wrap the yarn around. I wrapped the dowel with aluminum foil so that it would come off easily. There’s really no need to do this. Dip the yarn in liquid starch with a little bit of water, then squeeze out the excess water with a towel. If you have too much liquid starch, it will make the yarn too stiff and it will be yucky with chunks of starch on it. Less is better. Anyway, bake in the oven on 225 for 2 hours.

10:53 pm ~ got the first three curls in. You can either put them in like the rest of the yarn, in one hole and out the other, or use a pin vise to poke them in. If you use the pin vise, you will have to make a way to keep the curls from coming out easily. I used the first method, not the pin vise.

5/31/12, 6:19pm ~ Repainting the eyes. I used acrylic paint. First I mixed lavender with a tiny amount of black, but it was too dark, so then I mixed equal amounts of basic red and blue with the mixture and it was perfect. I painted the main color part of the eye (I didn't touch the white or the black outline). Then I mixed a tiny bit of that mixture with lavender to do the next color. Then I used just lavender to do the light color. Then I painted the pupil black, and added white for the reflections. Then I used gloss varnish to seal it. I bought the paint and varnish at Joann's. It was the Americana brand. I used a 3/0 Round brush for everything except the lavender and white, which I used a 10/0 brush.
Here's some photos of the process:

6/1/12 12:48am ~ got the eyes finished, the star painted, and the hair fixed.

6/8/12, 5:49pm ~ the customer wanted the hair to be thicker, so I added yarn to each hole that didn’t have yarn. You can see in the first photos at the top of this post where the holes are, that there are two rows of holes from the original factory.

Now for the Outfit . . .

For all my sewing, I use my favorite Singer 9960 . For my embroidery, I use my Singer XL-400 .
I used these patterns to work with, but had to modify them quite a bit:

b5902, ”B”, the green apron and the skirt part of the dress.

m743/9238


6/18/12 10:59pm ~ Sewed the apron pieces together.

6/20/12 4:55pm ~ Embroidering the stars on the fabric for the cuffs.

7:42pm ~ Sewed the stripes together for the sleeves.

11:58pm ~ I wasn’t sure what to use for the stuffing in the sleeves. The pattern called for cotton, but that would be sooooo difficult and lumpy, so I decided to use yarn. I put about 9-12 strands of yarn together, then tied them together at the end with another piece of yarn and tied that piece to a safety pin. Then I worked the pin through one of the channels, then pulled the rest of the pieces through.

6/21/12 12:28am ~ I cut the yarn close to the ends. I had to pull the ends back a bit so that I could cut a little shorter than the ends so that it would be easier to sew.

I used tweezers and stork scissors.

6/21/12 1:32 AM ~ Finished with the blouse.

6/25/12 2:53 pm ~ embroidering the rainbow on the apron.

Embroidered the star.

For some reason I didn’t take photos of the rest of my progress, but here’s the finished product:

I didn't realize how much work this little gal would be. I had to re-draft the pattern to fit her because the pattern that I had was for a lot thinner doll. The boots were the most difficult to draft. I also used my own embroidery rather than purchasing appliques from the store. That took a lot of time because it had to be the right size, in the right place, with the right stabilizer, etc. I spent approximately 78 hours on her from start to finish. Most of that time was drafting and figuring out how to do stuff. If I were to do it again, it would probably take me about 12-24 hours, start to finish.