Disney Princess and Me Rapunzel Braid Tutorial

I'm finally getting around to my tutorial for my Disney Princess and Me Rapunzel's braid.  Sorry it took me so long to get to this post! :{

To do this braid, you'll need a wire doll or wig brush, a doll-sized spray bottle (I really like the American Girl one pictured here...it gives out just the right amount of spray), and some hair rubber bands.  I picked these ones up at Dollar Tree.  However, I've found that these bands are sometimes better quality if you pay a little more for them.  It depends on the batch, too.  Some of my Dollar Tree ones work great, while the ones I purchased recently tend to break easily and only last for a week or so.  :(

Here's a before picture of Rapunzel's hair, right after I'd gotten it as detangled as I could.

I took a couple of pictures to show her one dark strand of hair.  Not entirely movie accurate; in the movie it was shorter than the rest of her hair.  But whatever.  Moving on. ;)

A side view of her dark strand.

After all the time I'd spent working on her hair, I wanted it to stay nice (and pretty much NEVER wanted to have to brush through it to that extent again!!), so I decided to braid it.  I wanted it to be a special braid, though.  I was hoping I could get it to look as close to the movie version as possible.

After searching Google images for pictures of Rapunzel's braid and getting a feel for what it looked like in the movie, I found some pictures of humans and Rapunzel dolls with braids like the one in the film.  After I saw the above picture, I had my inspiration and got started.  (You can see the original site this picture was taken from HERE.)

I started by separating the left side of Rapunzel's hair.   I wanted to leave some hair in the front for her swoopy, side-bang look, so I started with that.  Then I took a smallish section from behind the front hair...

...and braided it into a small, tight braid.  (Here's where the brush and spray bottle came in.  Too keep things as untangled as possible, I spritzed her hair lightly and then brushed it before braiding, and repeated this process throughout this entire hairstyle. )

I braided it down as far as I could and secured it with a rubber band.

Then I turned Rapunzel around and did the same thing on her right side, trying to get the braid on this side as close to the same spot as the previous one as I could.

Just like I did with the first braid, I made this one small and tight.  I braided it as far as I could and secured it with a rubber band.

I knew that I wanted one more small braid on each side of her head, so I gathered a small section of hair just a little farther down from the first braid, about in line with Rapunzel's ear.

As before, I braided it as far down as it would go and then secured it with another rubber band.

I then repeated this step on the other side.  (I think this second braid ended up a little higher than the other side!) :}

This next part took some trial and error, but I finally figured out how to get the look I wanted. ;)  Starting on one side of her head, I took three sections of hair from the front so that I could do a bigger, thicker braid.

I included the top tiny braid in these sections, always making sure to keep it in view as I braided the hair.

The end result looked like this.  You'll notice that I kept the second tiny braid behind the thick, side braid.  I'd use that later.

I continued the thick side braid until I couldn't go any farther, and then secured it with a rubber band.

Then I repeated this step on the second side of her head (the small braid in this picture is the one I included in the thick braid...the one that would hang loose is behind her hair and not visible in this picture).

And here's the finished braid on the second side.

Next, I took a large section of hair from the back of her head and pulled it behind her, keeping both the thick braid and the tiny braid in the back.

Here's another picture for clarity.

I did the same thing on the other side as well.

When I was happy with the amount of hair I had, I twisted it ever so slightly...

...and attached a rubber band.

This is how it looked.  And now, I was ready for the main braid.  I divided the hair into three sections, keeping the thick braids on the two outside strands of hair.  I did NOT include the small braids in this big main braid.

From there I braided, once again trying to keep the thick braids as visible as possible in the main braid.

When I had braided as far as I could, I secured the (slightly crooked) braid with a rubber band. :}

As a finishing touch, I took the two leftover tiny braids and wrapped them around the main braid in a criss-cross fashion.

And here's what it looked like when I was done!

To dress it up even more, I added these fake flowers to her braid.  I found these on a bouquet at Goodwill, as I mentioned in my earlier post.

I think it adds the perfect touch. :)

I hope this tutorial was understandable.  Sometimes it's hard to explain how you did something after the fact. :}  Feel free to comment if I wasn't clear enough on some parts or if you have any further questions.  If you try this on some of your dolls, I'd love to hear about it! :)  You could even email me a picture at nevergrowup.beastsbelle@gmail.com! :)

To see my original Rapunzel review, you can click HERE.

Charlie's Regency Hairstyle Tutorial

I had at least one reader request a "how to" post on the Regency hairstyle I did on Charlie for The Doll Wardrobe's photo contest (which I didn't win, by the way...but that's okay.  I had a great time taking the pics and being involved.). :)  Thankfully, I had the foresight to take pics as I worked on her hair, so I didn't have to go back and try to figure out how on earth I'd done it. ;)

I drew inspiration for this hairstyle partially from the way Catherine Morland, as played by Felicity Jones, wore her hair in the 2007 version of "Northanger Abbey". 

I also took some ideas from this YouTube hair tutorial. 

I started by choosing a piece of ribbon that matched Charlie's outfit and was long enough to go around her head.  I put it on her head like a headband, leaving some hair in the front:

I put the extra hair in claws so it would stay put: 

After the claws were in, I turned Charlie upside down and secured the ribbon with 2 mini bobby pins.  I found these doll-sized bobby pins at Dollar Tree several months ago.  They work really well for doll hairstyles...they even have the nice ceramic-type coating so they don't pull the hair as much.  I stocked up on several packages of these, and I'm so glad I did, because I haven't seen them there in a while. 

After the ribbon was secured with the bobby pins, I put all of Charlie's hair (except for the two front portions in the claws) into a ponytail. 

Once her hair was in the ponytail, I twisted it into a bun and secured it with several more mini bobby pins. 

Next, I took one of the front strands of hair and twisted it: 

Once it was completely twisted, I brought it around her head and rested it on top of her bun.  Then I tucked it around her bun and secured it with more bobby pins. 

I then repeated the process on the other side. 

And here's the finished result: 

A bit messy, I know. :}  Next time, I think I'll probably spritz her hair down with my little spray bottle from American Girl.  That should help with the flyaway hairs.

Still, it was just right for a Regency photo shoot. :) 

Craigslist Christmas Barbie Project Part 2

Yay!  They're finally done! :)  It took a really long time for everyone's hair to dry enough to be styled, but all 20 dolls are now officially finished.  So here's the group photo:

I'm getting ahead of myself, though.  You'd probably like to see how I did some of the hairstyles, right? 

For starters, here are some of my favorite Barbie hair accessories:

I found most of these things at Wal-mart, but you can find them at Target, Kmart, and other places, too.  Check in the hair accessories aisle or the baby section.  I didn't take a pic, but I also use the rubber band-type hair things to do ponytails ( the ones that actually look like little colored rubber bands...they were Goody brand as well).  I really like Goody and Faded Glory because they're fun and cute but fairly inexpensive.  

As I'm getting ready to style my Barbie hair, I try to think about several things.  For example, how did the curls turn out?  If the curls are really luscious and beautiful, I'll usually just pull part of the Barbie's hair back and secure it with a claw, like I did here. 

Sometimes I gently separate the curls with my fingers (don't ever run your fingers all the way through the curls, though-you'll end up with a big mess and have to start all over again).  Other times, I like the look of the curls just the way they are, so I leave them.

If Barbie's curls didn't turn out so hot, I usually decide to do a little more with her hair to make it as pretty as possible.

I also want to think about variety.  I try to do up-dos and long, flowing hair so that there's plenty of choices for my customers. 

I'll go through just a few of the hairstyles I did this time around.

First off, we have Sara (I name each of my dolls that I renovate...it makes it more fun).  For her hair, I took a piece on the side and twisted it up over her head.

Then I took another strand of hair and did the same thing.  

I continued this around her head until all of her hair was on one side. 

Next, I took a section of hair from the front and wrapped it around the rest of the hair. 

I finished by securing everything with a ponytail holder. 

Here's her final photo.  I think she turned out really cute, although she kinda got stuck in the 80s with the whole side ponytail thing. :)

Now I'll show you 3 variations of the same style:

First, I took most of the doll's hair and put it in a ponytail, leaving a section free on the bottom. 

Next, I took the free section and twisted it around the ponytail.  This covered up the ponytail holder and also looked a little more elegant. 

 

 

I secured the twisted hair in the back with a mini claw. 

If you decide to try this style, then at this point you have several options.  You can leave it just like it is and have a style like Lily's:

You can also use mini claws to secure the curls against the head, like I did with Bailey:

Or, you can take the remaining curls and twist them around into a big bun, like I did here with Lucy:

One of the main reasons I chose to do Lucy's hair this way is that her hair is a little more played with and the curls weren't as pretty.  I thought this would be a more complementary look. 

Another simple style I like to do is to pull all the hair up into a ponytail and then secure the curls in various spots with mini claws or other hair accessories.  It's basically the same as the last style without the twist of hair over the ponytail holder.  I think it gives almost a Jane Austen type look. :)

 

A quick note on hair:  when I first started this 3 years ago, I was worried that the curls wouldn't stay in, so I used gel or hairspray to help keep the curls in place.  One year, I even used glitter hairspray to make the dolls prettier.  The problem with this is that it leaves a yucky residue in the Barbie's hair.  It's much better to let the curls stay natural.  When they get unbearably frizzy or messed up, you can always downy dunk and start again! :)

Once their hair is done, it's time to dress them up!  You can find fancy Barbie dresses at thrift stores or yard sales.  Most of my really fancy dresses came from the eBay seller flyingannalee.  I was disappointed when I looked her up the other day, because she doesn't have the same selection she did earlier this year when I bought the dresses from her.  I got several dresses for 1-2 dollars each and free shipping.  Now she sells her dresses in lots of 4 for $9 with free shipping, which is still a good deal. 

Out of all the overseas sellers that I've bought Barbie dresses from, flyingannalee's the most consistent at making dresses that fit my Barbie dolls well.  As some of you may know, there are 3 basic Barbie body sizes (there are more than that, but 3 are the most common), so buying dresses for your dolls can be tricky.  Some dresses fit only 1 or 2 body styles.  When I get a chance, I'll try to post a pic of the different Barbie body styles.

Here are some more close-ups of finished dolls.  I won't do all of them because it takes forever to upload that many pics on Blogger.  I did take pics of everyone, though, so if you have other dolls you'd like to see up close, let me know in the comment box and I'll put them in another post.

                                                            Jade~front and back

Madelynn~front and back

Scarlett~front and back

                                                               Coral~front and back

Hope you enjoyed these posts.  Let me know what you think!  And like I said before, if you try any of this, I'd love to hear how it went for you. :) 

P.S. After I posted this, I realized how dirty my fingernails look in some of the pics...sorry about that! :}