Take care not to get water in your doll’s eyes, as they are metal, and water can cause them to rust. Avoid brushing your doll’s hair when it’s dry, as this can cause pieces of it to break.
Avoid using regular plastic brushes or combs on your doll’s hair, as they will make the hair more damaged. For bigger tangles and mats, simply continue working the wire through the knots until the hair is untangled. Avoid roughly pulling on the hair because you may break pieces of it off.
Unwrap the curl from the pencil and take another damp piece and wrap it around a pencil. Repeat this for all of your doll’s curls and allow them to air-dry. If you’d like to make looser curls, you can grab thicker pieces of hair to wrap around the pencil. Do not brush your doll’s hair after you curl it, as this will make the curls fall back out. If your doll had straight hair when you got it, it may not hold curls very well. This technique works best on dolls that were made with curly hair.
To make your doll’s hair very wavy, add lots of small braids throughout its hair instead of one large braid. If you leave your doll’s braids in for a long time, its hair may become permanently wavy. If you want the waves to be temporary, take your doll’s braids out after 1 night.
Children should ask for help with this project if they do not usually use measuring spoons or baking soda. If the paste is too thick, add a few more drops of water. If it is very runny, add another pinch of baking soda to thicken it. The ideal consistency should be that of toothpaste.
If the mark doesn’t disappear after the first cleaning, apply more baking soda to your washcloth and repeat rubbing the mark until it’s gone. This cleansing process works with most makeup, marker, and paint stains.
Rinse your washcloth frequently as you wipe your doll if there is a lot of paste left on the skin. Allow your doll to air-dry or use a clean towel to dry off its skin.
Clean your doll’s skin using the baking soda and washcloth technique. Do not use other products when wiping the skin.
Children should ask their parents to complete the steps of fixing their doll’s head.
If you’re using a safety pin, close the end of the safety pin back up after you’ve attached the cord. You don’t want a sharp end sticking out, or the end will come out of the doll’s fabric instead of around the neck casing. Be sure to use a small safety pin that can easily move through the neck casing.
Don’t throw the stuffing away; set it aside to put it back into the doll later.
Continue pushing the needle or pin through the casing until you reach the hole on the other side of the back of the doll’s neck.
You can now remove the needle or safety pin from the end of the string.
Leaving the stuffing out may cause your doll’s body to be too loose, and its head may fall off again more easily.
Test if you have the string tight enough by holding it between your fingers near the doll’s neck, and turning the doll upside down. If the head stays in place, you have the string pulled tight enough.
The string ends will be covered by your doll’s clothes. You’ll need to leave the string in place to keep your doll’s head on.
If the knot in the string is very tight, insert the sharp point of a push pin between the string pieces and wiggle it around to loosen the knot.
Repeat step for all the doll’s limbs if you’d like to restring all of them.
Don’t allow water to get inside the plastic bag or any of the doll limbs. Hold the limbs you’re not restringing up above the bag and the water, and dip only the bottom of the bag where the joint is inside the water. Repeat this step for each limb you would like to restring.
Pull the string taut as you crimp the metal sleeve into place with a wire crimper. Repeat this step for all of the limbs that you are restringing.
Clip the string with scissors after you have attached the tension cup and crimper to the inside. Leave about 1 in (2. 5 cm) beyond the metal crimping sleeve at the end inside the doll. Repeat this step for any other limbs you wish to restring.
