I really want to get back to fixing dolls a bit more this year but first I wanted to try an experiment. I wanted to create a same size friend for Stacey. All the Stacey dolls have more or less the same colouring and while I think she’s very pretty I wondered if it would be possible to create a brunette friend doll by doing a Skipper/Stacey head swap.

I bought used Skipper and Stacey dolls from eBay and this afternoon set about trying the experiment. Both of the dolls were in pretty good shape, very clean and dressed in useable clothing. Their hair was just a little mussed.

Whenever I see people on YouTube doing a head swap it always looks so easy to remove the doll’s head. I have done it with Barbie’s a few times and didn’t have a big problem with it but Stacey was really difficult to do. I warmed her head with my hairdryer to see if it would help. I wrapped her head in a towel first and just did short bursts. I did get it off in the end with the help of a tiny screwdriver but it was really hard work. I was so worried about breaking her neck knob. This is why I rarely frankendolly. Skipper was not as bad but not easy.

Finally, the girls were headless and I quickly washed and conditioned their hair to smooth it down. Then I swapped the heads.

I have to say that I am not thrilled with the results. Skipper’s head looks a little too big for the child body and it is a bit loose. I can probably fix that but that’s not going to make it look better. Stacey’s head on the bigger body looks a bit odd too. Anyway, I left them to dry their hair and will have another look at them later.

If I don’t leave them as they, are I have a couple of options.

• Put them back the way they were.
• Find different bodies to try the heads with

If I decide to rebody them I don’t think it will be hard to find another body for Skipper. I have an Olsen Twin who isa similar size, a Petite Barbie, although she’s not very different or even a Fashionista. I’ve seen Skipper rebodied to look older and it suits her but I was really hoping to create a younger child if I could find a suitable body.

As for Stacey I really don’t know what other sort of body I could put her on to make her look different. I guess another option would be to reroot Stacey. I haven’t rerooted a doll in years. I wasn’t very good at it but it is a way I could get a different hair colour.

I will let you know what I decide to do in a future post.