Hi I'm Barb and I'm Alex and we're Enchanterium In today's video we'll be making our Christmas doll, Ina, the post-apocalyptic ice dancer. This doll is going to be an ice skater, because I really like figure skating. Wintertime is my favorite because my classes are every weekend and I have something to look forward to. This video is also a part of a holiday collaboration with our doll making friends, so make sure to take a peek into the description below and see what they created this holiday season. We’re also going to answer some of your questions from instagram, so let's get started! Post apo is not my thing and I haven’t seen much of this genre so I spend a lot of time doing research. We wanted to stick to the tradition of doing a Jinafire Long custom for Christmas like our two festive sisters Irmina the Christmas Tree and Nova the First Star and I was making the sketches with the golden complexion in mind. All the concepts were about earthy tones combined with light teal details and yellow accents, but then we realized that we don’t have any Jinafire dolls in our stock box. After a huge brainstorm we decided to customize Twyla but no matter how hard I tried to fit her in the previous designs it just didn't work. But maybe post apo doesn’t have to be about earthy and dirty tones? Adventure Time and Kipo are post apo cartoons and they are pretty colorful, right? Maybe her world is a cold place covered with ice and is full of pastel rainbow mutants? So I changed the approach and designed a cyberpunk slash dieselpunk slash pastelpunk post apo ice skater with christmasy themed touches. To reroot her hair I’m going to use Nylon hair from Retro Dolls UK. Somebody asked us if we can show our rerooting tool and it’s just a needle cut at an angle and placed in an old compas. I’m placing a small strand of the hair into each hole and then do the part. After all the hair is done I’m securing it with a polymer glue. She’s going to have a mask and I want it to be magnetic. I could cut the head but I decided to try glueing the magnet through the neck hole using hot glue and another magnet. I’m going to make the mask from Apoxie Sculpt but first I’m covering the head with cloth and a few layers of glue to have a smooth surface to work. I made some sketches on the mask and while I’m attaching the antlers’ armature let’s answer this question: What is your favourite fibre for hair and why? Every fiber can have pros and cons. For light, easy to style and also short hair I like acrylic yarn. It holds the shape nicely, and you can have a much slicker hairstyle. It’s cheap but requires a lot of preparing. For voluminous, long and shiny hair I definitely recommend nylon fibre. It looks very pretty and silky and you can make really long hair with it. It’s more expensive but no preparation is required. Nothing revolutionary, sorry! I’m covering the armature with apoxie sculpt and when the first layer is dry I’m adding another one. Usually the first layer is a bit messy and the next one is the polished one. The next question is: What is the most challenging and fun part of working together? The most challenging part will come soon as I’m going to move out from our flat. It will be a problem to solve, like how do we share the materials?, but my new place is nearby and we’ll be able to visit each other often. The fun part is when we’re really making things together, like putting the Smart Doll cortex kit together in our previous video or brainstorming about cool ideas. Using the same technique as on Akali’s top I’m painting the goggles with a shiny top coat for nail art and curing it for 1 minute in a UV lamp. Then I’m rubbing in a sparkly cameleon powder and adding the next layer of top coat. Now the goggles are purple and blue with a golden reflection. Although I like how she looks in the mask we decided that she may look even better with the top part only. She reminds me a bit of Angemon with Daft Punk vibes. The antlers are the perfect surface to throw some post apo and Christmas decorations. First I’m adding craft foam strips to imitate some metal pieces and painting it with silver and golden paint. I wanted to make a lot of chain decorations to imitate christmas tree tinsel chains but I didn’t like the result so I switched to making glass balls from beads and wire and this is how it looks. We’re going to start the outfit with the trousers. I cut my normal pants pattern out of a stretchy jersey and I’m going to sew them right sides together along the front. Before I stitch the back, I’m hemming the waist with a zigzag stitch. Since this is a pattern for the regular Monster high dolls, I’m roughly pinning the back seam and a part of the leg seam to see how much I should take in at the back. It turned out to be not that much so I’m proceeding with sewing the back seam, all the way up. Since the fabric is stretchy, it should have no problem going over her tiny butt. Next, I’m fitting the trousers on the doll and pining it tightly around the legs, cause I know they’re too big. I’m marking my new sewing lines with a chalk pencil and this weird soapy thing my grandma gave me. While I pin that and sew it in place, let’s answer a question: how many dolls have you made in total? Hmmm…. let’s see… It seems like 47 is the answer. After that I’m just trimming the extra fabric and turning the pants. It was easy to tailor the trouser pattern for a smaller doll, but I wasn't sure the same could be done with a shirt, so I’m seam ripping Twyla’s shirt to extract a pattern from it. I burned it a bit while pressing because of the print on it, but I’m just tracing it onto some paper. I elongated the front that was burned and lowered the neckline in the back to make sure the shirt can be put on through the legs, as it surely wouldn’t fit over her head. I traced the sleeve and cut the pattern out on a fold to make sure it's symmetrical. Then I cut it out of the same stretchy fabric. I start by hemming the neckline and I first basted it with a contrasting thread, to make it easier for me to zigzag on the machine. I took out the basting and attached the sleeves. Next I sewed the sleeves and side seams. The pattern was messy so I trimmed the bits that were uneven. I closed the back at the end. I put both of the pieces I’ve sewn on the doll and stitched them together, since the shirt was peeking out and I was going for that Yuri on Ice black whole body suit vibe. I tried a few skirt options, first out of satin, then out of this gathered ribbon, but I ended up on this lace thingy. Time to sparkle it up. Using iron on vinyl from arteza in black, I’m cutting various shard-looking pieces. While I cut these, let’s see what else you wanted to know: What dolls are you excited to do in the future? I’m currently really into Pokemon Go, so there’s definitely going to be some Pokemon related content. And I’m really excited about some collabs we have lined up, but it’s top secret for now. I will place the shards on the doll and gently touch them with the iron, just enough to make sure they stay on for the real ironing later. After I pressed it for real, I can peel off the protective layer to release the sparkle. I like the variety of black in different textures on this outfit. I want her face to look like she spent a lot of time in the cold so there will be a lot of pastel work to do here. I’m blushing her nose, cheeks, forehead and lips with pink pastel and then moving on to the eyes. This time I’m going for a cute and innocent expression to accentuate the cartoonish vibe of our post apo custom. While I draw the basic features on the first layer of the face up, one of you asked: What is your favorite doll you’ve made so far? My favorite doll has to be Alsioh, I know I haven’t done much on the doll itself but man, making the spaceship was super cool. I haven't made such a complex 3D printing project before, and to completely think this into existence was very rewarding to me. It’s difficult to pick just one doll because I like them for different reasons. I have a soft spot for Aurelion Sol because he was the first doll on our channel. I really like Darcy because of her fierce look. From our original designs I like Iolanthe, Nerine and Prima because I feel like their designs are well balanced and I really like fantasy creatures. To make her look even more cold I’m adding blue pastel above the brows, around the eyes and in the corners of her lips. When I’m happy with the eyes I add a black pencil on top of the sketch. Don’t forget about painting the ears! Even if this is a post-apocalyptic doll she still deserves a bit of sparkle on her cheeks. After drawing the pupils I’m moving on to acrylic paints to make the whites of the eyes brighter. I love tiny details in the eyes so I’m drawing white lines on the irises and then painting single catchlights. This makes her look so much more alive. I know I said she deserves a bit of sparkle but what I actually meant was a lot of sparkle. I’m using interference purple and blue pearlex powders to add that shine to the face and I’m repeating this three times, sealing each layer with MSC. She’s so sparkly! Next on my agenda is a furry jacket. I got this colorful fur on aliexpress and it seemed perfect for a warm winter jacket for a crazy skater. I’m cutting out the pieces, keeping the direction of the fibers in mind and sliding the scissors close to the backing fabric to avoid cutting the fur fibers short. While I’m on that task, somebody asked a multi part question: how did you get into this hobby? We answered that in our previous Q&A session in last year’s christmas video, so jump there if you want more tea on us. The other part of the question is how we met, and ummm, I don’t really remember the first time we met, but here’s a picture that was taken somewhere around the time we met, I was about a week old and Alex was 2 because we’re sisters, and I think that kind of also answers the how long have you been together question. As long as I’ve been alive. Oh those sweet 2 years before that… Anyway… The pattern is from Dollightul’s etsy store, it’s a modified version of her oversized hoodie. The fur was shedding everywhere so I had a lint roller on standby. I started by joining the fronts and back at the sleeve seam, trying to stick the fibers down, and I’m using a walking foot to help with this difficult material. Spreading the fur was kinda like parting hair, using some water and ironing it lightly helped to keep it tamed, I also used a comb to get as much advantage over the fibers I could possibly get. I added a collar piece that was not in the pattern, but it was basically just a strip of the fur that I added a ribbon to. I trimmed it flush with the front edges and got rid of any stray hairs as I went. I added my sleeves, and then installed a metal zipper, first basting it down with a contrasting thread. It works! And doesn't even get stuck in the fur! I managed to close the jacket sides and sleeves and I fitted the jacket on the doll. It required some trimming at the sleeves and along the bottom edge, but otherwise - it’s a perfect fit! I struggled a lot with her hair, I tried braiding it in a few different styles but it always looked kinda meh to me… not mentioning the fact that the doll wouldn't sit still even under some heavy things… Please excuse the extreme bondage I was very desperate to braid the hair somehow… To make the figure skates I decided to model something that would be quite accurate. I took a picture of the shoes we were going to be using, and I found a blade reference online. Then I just roughly traced the blade shape and added the mounting plates and some cute little bolts which no one is going to see on the doll… While I finish modelling this, let’s look at another question: Are you going to do any more Smart Doll clothes tutorials? Yes, I’m actually really excited about that, getting a Smart Doll was really a dream come true. There’s a few patterns I’ve been working on, but I’m in my last year of my Master's degree right now and the time is a bit tight. I also very quickly lose interest in re-sewing and refining one pattern over and over. I’m working on that shoe tutorial I mentioned in the previous video as well so hopefully I’ll have something for the big doll lovers soon! I’m going to quickly trim and straighten the hair and move on to the fun part - the accessories. Let’s start with the ice skates. We chose these Howleen shoes but something was missing to look like skates and it was the soles. I made them from 2 layers of thick craft foam. Something in the shape of the shoes was still not looking right to me so I took Apoxie Sculpt and changed the tip of the shoes. This is my idea for the skates. Some pipes, mechanical thingies, buttons, wires and everything that could look both futuristic and post apocalyptic. While I’m fiddling with the skates let’s see what else you want to know: favorite book series? For me it was always Discworld by Sir Terry Pratchett but I recently finished Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin and I really enjoyed reading it. Barb? Differential and Integral Calculus. It really gets weird in the third one. Painting these took me a lot of time because I couldn’t decide on colors. I thought it would be cool if the top part was a regular shoe with some electronic additions and the bottom was more mechanic. I added two different knee pads for a more chaotic vibe. They are made from craft foam and are very simple. As a last prop I decided to make a backpack with an unknown substance inside to power the skates. I’m stuffing the miniature glass bottle with brushed yarn that looks like some sort of thick gas. I didn’t have any concept sketch for this backpack so I just did what I thought was the best at that moment. I’m glueing foam here and there, making the straps using a broken hairband and painting the whole thing black and silver. To connect the backpack to the skates I’m using a broken hairband again but this time it’s wrapped with a wire. This part of the drinking straw is perfect for what I have in mind next. I glued it to the bottle, then attached the wire and added some thin foam to cover the edge. Painting is kinda self explanatory so let’s look at the questions again What are your day jobs and what are your favorite colors? By day I am a Materials Engineering student and I work in a small research team at my university, I also tutor, I really like to teach maths. My favorite color is blue. I am a graphic designer but my main job was henna painting until the 2020 came and made everything difficult. So now I’m a doll customizer I guess… and that’s why I really appreciate every view, like and comment! And my favourite color is green. I tried to make the backpack and the ice skates in the same style and even if the ice skates look like more advanced technology they match pretty well. I think this combo is my favourite part of this doll. This is how she turned out! Winter holiday dolls are always fun to make, everyone is in a festive mood and regardless of what’s happening in the world there is just that special joy in everyone around holiday time. We decided to name her Ina after the skating move, Ina Bauer. Do you have any new year's resolutions? Let us know in the comments down below. Make sure you check out the holiday videos made by Telle y Dollies, BlankSpaceDolls, Kyro’s Workshop, Valkitty’s World, hisnameisakin, SoDollCreations, and last but not least, jackyohhh. Make sure to Follow us on Instagram for some sneak peaks and subscribe for future videos! Have an enchanted day, Happy Holidays, and we'll see you in the New Year! Baii
