dollmaking Archives - ChipInHead.com

Stairs to Ororos attic X Men dollhouse by Suzanne Forbes July 2022

I had to scratch-build a lot of this, which I hate!

So it took two years longer than expected to physically finish the X-Mansion. I got blocked by the final detail, the stairs leading up to the attic, which of course is Ororo’s. The dollhouse I used wasn’t designed to have stairs to the roof, but I thought it would be fine to have a trap door and a smaller staircase. Finding one that nearly fit, cutting it down, building the trap door and banisters and miter-cutting and painting… well I hated all that.

Tim Burton stripes are back, big time, and I’m also in love with bustles again!

Not that I ever stopped loving the bustle silhouette, but wow I am suddenly so excited to wear it and draw it and see it again. The goth and burner fashions of San Francisco in the Oughts were absolutely marvelous, and I am personally ready to bring these looks back in Berlin. It’s gonna be cold drawing at outside events this Fall and I am happy to wear some layers 🙂

Like this little commercial maid doll who I radically upgraded into the goth maid my dollhouses need!

I used fourteen different trims, ribbons and micro-picots plus three fabrics to do this customizing! Of course all the original articulation of the doll is preserved, and a cool bonus to narrowing her skirt silhouette and loading it with ruffles is that she now stands on her own!

I hadn’t touched my black-and-white trims bin in years and it was marvelous to see how many cool things I had saved every scrap of.

Below, the doll (I have named her Myrtle the Maid) with my biggest Little Shop of Horrors Audrey Two, made last year. The last image is the original doll before mods.