Recently, I asked around for dolls to turn into witches, and got a number of vintage ones from a friend, as well as finding some while junking. Some were ideal to turn into witches, some were just too nice. The ones in excellent condition with perfect hair will be Christmas angels, and the ones that were a little scruffy became my Halloween witches.
But the beat up beyond repair gals?
ZOMBIES!
Witches can be cute, but zombies need to be creepy. So anyone missing limbs, or with big cracks was ideal to use.
Adorablely cute dolls made sweet witches.
But a crack like this is hard to get past.
I discovered that the cracked face on these old dolls could peel off like the shell of a boiled egg.
Underneath was a rough, porous material that needed just a little sanding to make sure the glue was off before painting.
With appendages, I cracked off some of the “shell” and painted those like wounds.
Same with the torso. I left most of the hard layer on and painted the edges to look like cuts.
After painting the doll, I use old, tattered doll clothes along with some vintage elements to dress her. The clothing gets some tears and cuts plus dirty and bloody paint splotches.
I glued her legs on at odd angles so she would look stiff, like a zombie shuffling around.
All of the dolls were fun to recreate into new looks, but I have to admit, I really got into the zombies!
The Witchie girls were a similar process, but I made sure to use smooth skinned dolls without cracks. If the skin tone was discolored or stained, I painted them green.
They were hard to stop working on, I could’ve made dozens. I can’t wait til it’s time to make the angels too. But for now, I’ll just make a pile of witch hats to sell, the ones I took to the mall were gone quickly. I sold a couple dolls, but mostly, they just got photographed a lot. I think that means people were going to try to create their own? Well, if so, here are the steps to follow.