Fix Up a Rare AG Doll With Me

Y’all loved my last restoration post (I don’t know that actually, I’m just making things up), so we’re back! I’ve been searching for another good project doll for quite some time now, and I finally stumbled upon a good candidate. 

(This time, I have pictures of a disassembled AG doll, so consider this my viewer discretion warning.)

This is Miss Jly 2! 

She was begging for a good spa day when I picked her up, and even though $50 is a diabolical price for a doll in this condition, I couldn’t deny her! Once upon a time, #2 was a doll on my wishlist, and she’s very difficult to find secondhand. So I consider the $50 an investment. This is the first time I've seen #2 in person, so it was kinda surreal. And yes, this was the same flea market (and same seller) I got the Anna doll at last time. I don't know where this person gets these abused dolls.

She was in MUCH worse condition than I thought… HOWEVER, that just made me more excited. Her limbs were loose in her sockets, she had a gash on her nose, and she needed a good cleaning.

I couldn’t tell from the bag she was in, but her hair was awful. 

And here's my obligatory apology for the pictures. I tend to use my phone camera for posts like this, and I still have an iPhone 11. Yes, the 18 just came out. Leave me alone. The camera on my phone is in really poor shape and takes the world's worst photos. Yes, I am a photographer. No, I don't care enough to make any changes. 

I started by taking her head off, since I was going to have to disassemble her for restringing anyway. She has a 2008 body tag with a Pleasant Company neck stamp, so I knew she was a 2000s era doll. Her inner shoulder tag dates her to May of 2003! 

I also noticed that she had some holes in her ears. I couldn’t tell if these were for human-sized earrings, or if she might have worn AG earrings once and the vinyl closed up. I decided to pierce her ears for standard AG earrings.

I started with her hair. Last time, I talked about how and why I wash doll hair, even though it’s controversial. Every doll is different, but I was definitely wary of allergens and needed a good starting point with this girl. The wash helped me assess the situation. 

I started trying to detangle, and my brush broke! This is the second AG brush that has done this to me… ugh. Sure, all of my AG brushes are 10+ years old, but this was not great timing. 

So anyway, I popped that bad boy back on and kept detangling. This is definitely one of the cases where I use conditioner. 

I made progress! I actually think she looks worse in this picture than she did at the start, but you have to trust the process. 

So then, I tried a new method for doll hair, which is using a clothes steamer. I couldn’t get the hair detangled enough for a flat iron or boil wash, so this seemed like a great strategy for the situation. 

I ended up doing a few passes over with the steamer, alternating between the sink for more rinsing and conditioning, and the steamer.

It worked great for getting the basic untangling done, but I decided it was time to resort to the trusty hair straightener method. The flat iron always works great. I’ll admit that mine is way hotter than I’m supposed to use, but I think that’s why it works so well. Also my straightener is just really good for some reason?? 

That got her hair nice and smooth again. (I guess I put the same photo in twice, but I'm just gonna leave it lol)

So, then I neglected to take pictures for the next parts. I used a tooth brush dipped in boiling water to smooth down the frizzy bits in her bangs and on the top of her head.

I also then trimmed the jagged ends of her hair.

With that finished, I decided to clean her. I went ahead and took apart the rest of her body and gave her vinyl parts a good scrub with magic eraser. 

She wasn't as dirty as I feared she would be. I did discover that she had a lot of shine marks, which is pretty on-par with the nose problem. As for stains, she didn't have too many! Just a few small pen marks that needed an acne cream treatment. (That I'm just realizing I forgot to do??)

Then it was getting late, so I decided to do her piercings. For this, I'm pretty low-tech, and since I like to use things I have easy access to, I use an awl.

I know. Who just has an awl lying around?

Me, apparently. 

I used my probably-a-fire-hazard blow dryer (I tried to tape a diffuser end on to it once? I'm not sure what my thinking was, but the melted tape is still there.) to help soften her vinyl. Otherwise, the method is just... a lot of elbow grease to force the awl through her ear.

I find that it's very similar to how human needle piercings are done. This must be the doll equivalent of going to Claire's.

Literally up until this point in the post is the first day I had her. I am very motivated when there's a project doll to do. I ended the night with a doll head that I thought looked great! Her hair is now soft and shiny, and the earrings suit her so well. 

Next, I restrung her. It's an involved process, so I didn't take pictures, but she was finally back together and looking great! (Is my poster crooked or is it just the photo angle??)

Then I discovered that I misplaced my sandpaper, so this project got placed on the back burner. I did start reorganizing my doll room, so that was a pretty great accomplishment. Even if, you know, I'm hoping from one project to another without finishing the first.

I told myself that I would try to pass this doll on to another home eventually, BUT I did already name her. So this is Ophelia. Ophelia is here to stay until further notice.

Finally, I rebought my fine sandpaper and was able to tackle her scratches. Then, of course, I decided I didn't feel like taking pictures. The gash on her nose didn't come out completely, but it was much better after.

Then, I decided to give some color back to her face. I used chalk pastels, mostly in bright pink. It made a world of difference! Her lip color should be more brown, but I did my best with what I had. I think she looks nice.

And she's done!

I'm really satisfied with how Ophelia turned out!

I don't know why her eyes kinda look red in this picture. I digress.

That's all for today! Have a great week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3