#I need to stock up on thread and embroidery floss anyway because the last few patches I made cleared me out

[positivelyghastly]

Tiny reliquary update: I got toothpicks and now I can get the main body of this thing put together! I wish I had my callipers though, they’re in my toolbox back at my mum’s place and they would make taking these tiny measurements so much easier but at least I have my steel rules :’)

[my-plastic-life]

Behind the Scenes: Making Thumbelina

When I decided I wanted to do a fairy scene, this idea was bouncing around in my brain and I decided to take the plunge and attempt to make Thumbelina. She was a huge part of my childhood (along with Crysta, who is also in the scene - more on that later) and I’d seen some other people make their own version of her, so I wanted to give it a try.

Originally a Fox movie released in 1994, Thumbelina is now technically a Disney Princess since Disney now owns Fox. :D

For that reason, I knew I wanted this doll to have a Disney Princess face. So after checking out the bargain dolls on the Disney Store, I found two potential candidates: Ariel and Snow White. Ariel would have been a funny coincidence because Jodi Benson voiced both characters!

The Disney Princess dolls seem to have the same rounded eyes, though some are different sizes. Cinderella and Aurora could have also worked, but upon looking at pictures of Thumbelina from the movie, I made the decision to use Snow White. She has the same smaller round eyes, a soft smile, simple makeup, and a subtle hint of blush in her cheeks. Plus, if I wasn’t able to salvage her Disney Princess body (those things are very hard to decapitate without breaking!), I knew I could use a Barbie body that would match the skin tone. Here are the source photos:

Snow’s lips are more pink in person, which makes them even closer of a match. She also has the same black outline and eyelashes at the top of the eyes. I could just picture the beauty she’d become!

Before I bought the doll, I had to confirm that someone would be able to reroot the doll for me and make the dress since I’m terrible at both of those things. :D I first contacted a very talented seamstress who’s made a few outfits for me, including the outfit Crysta is wearing in the same diorama that Thumbelina is in:

Not bad considering I had to take the measurements for her, since she didn’t have a Disney Fairy doll to use as a model. :D She said she’d be able to make Thumbelina’s dress, so I did a victory dance and focused on the next part.

Next up was getting the doll rerooted. That was tricky because, A), I can’t reroot so I had to pay someone else to do it. I did get to choose the color, but not being able to physically see the color made me keep questioning whether or not the shade would be right.

The pictures make Thumbelina look like she has red hair, but compared to her true love Cornelius, it’s more of a strawberry blonde since his hair is red.

I finally settled on a color. The seller kept me posted on how the hair was going, sent me pictures, and even styled the hair for me so that Thumbelina had her bangs and “wisps” on the sides of her head.

When the doll and dress arrived, I was very pleased! Everything was perfect except one part - Snow White’s eyes are brown and Thumbelina’s eyes are blue. Fortunately, that’s one thing I can do - I broke out my acrylic paint, carefully changed the eye color, then sealed the paint with Mod Podge. Since this doll is meant for display/collecting and not play, that should be just fine.

Disney Princesses usually wear heals, but the dolls do not. They all have flat feet and flat shoes. In this case, that was perfect for Thumbelina. I took the yellow shoes that Snow White came with and repainted them with a color that matched the belt on her dress. That same color was also needed for her headband. See:

Might have gotten a bit darker than the picture, but I’m still happy with it. My first idea for making the headband was finding ribbon to match. You’d think it would be easy to match that color... wrong! My Walmart, the only place in this town that carries ribbon, was picked over and based on the stock photos, the right color wasn’t there anyway. And it’s something I have to see in person to know I have the right shade. Shopping online wasn’t an option, and I wasn’t going out of town with a pandemic going on.

I’d seen videos of people using rings from milk gallon jugs or pop bottles and turning them into headbands, so I tried that. The little spikes molded into the plastic were messing up Thumbelina’s hair, plus it stuck out too far away from her head. I wasn’t liking it.

Then I saw the red headband that Snow White had come with. The bow came off easily, and I thought I’d try to paint it with the same paint I used on the shoes. Wasn’t sure how it would work on fabric, but I knew at least the headband would fit properly since it was made for that head.

But alas, I needn’t have worried. It came out perfectly! The fabric became stiff, but that’s okay with me. So all the red got covered with the teal color, then sealed with Mod Podge, and BOOM! Headband!

Last were the flowers in Thumbelina’s hair. It was tricky finding small flowers, but I managed to find a few in the many that had been picked through at Walmart. They’re white lilacs, and they were cheap, so I grabbed a bundle. I knew I’d only need three little blossoms. The leftovers went into my wolf planter. :D

I first tried to glue the flowers onto some green embroidery floss that was holding the ponytail in place. The flowers didn’t like that. They kept slipping off, even with the Gorilla Super Glue. Plus I was afraid that would hurt the doll’s hair. Then I looked closer at the flowers and saw that they had little holes in the center that allowed them to be attached to the bunch. A lightbulb went on and I decided to thread the flowers through some green thread, then tie that thread around the ponytail holder (the embroidery floss was still there). I would then be able to maneuver the flowers as needed, and they’d be safe from icky glue.

And that was it! Thumbelina was complete! I’m very happy with how she looks. And she’s a great addition to my Disney Princess collection. Like I said, since Disney owns Fox now, Thumbelina is technically a Disney Princess (she married a prince, so in Disney’s eyes, that makes her a princess lol).

Here she is!

Dress made by Mariya Bridal on Etsy (Click here!)

Eyes painted blue

Painted headband, plus flowers

Original shoes repainted

Reroot done by NenasDolls on Etsy (Click here!)