Sunday, April 20, 2014

Jayhouse Rock

As I mentioned in my last post I bought the doll to make Sam's brother! He arrived this week and I got to immediately got to work on him. But before we talk about the doll I kind of want to talk about the character.

This is my favorite picture of Jay Guthrie (aka Icarus)

He is the third Guthrie kid and his older siblings are Sam Guthrie (aka Cannonball) and Paige Guthrie (aka Husk) X-Men staples. At least three more of his siblings did/will/could have (if M-day hadn't happened) develop powers. Jay has a pretty big place in my heart because he was an awesome character that got seriously short changed by Marvel and is currently dead. Probably never to return. Actually I have a big soft spot for all the Guthries. Anyway the doll I'm making will be a little kid version of that guy up there and let's talk about that doll now!


Jay is usually listed as having green eyes however in most of the comics he has blue or blueish/green eyes. That being the case I went with this tlc Kit.
Yes that is Sam's hand in the corner! He was excited to see his brother!
I chose light blue eyes for Sam so I wanted the dark blue for his brother.

And here is the doll out of the packaging:
The wig was a mess but since I had a new wig for him I didn't really care!

He has a little bit of ink on his body.

Around the neck and a bit on his shoulder. He also has a small hole on his back.

His hands are a bit banged up!

There are a few small scratches on his right hand and his left will have to be replaced. I might replace both but it depends on if I can find a set of hands for a decent price.

He also has a couple of scratches on his left ankle.
 And a few light bite marks on the bottoms of his feet.
I'm betting dog attack!

Nothing too terrible. Except the one thing that I didn't see in the pictures the seller had up for the listing. This dolls face was smashed in a bit. It was such a subtle thing that even holding him I didn't notice for several minutes so I don't fault the seller at all!

I'll put this picture here again so you don't have to scroll up to look:
It's so subtle! Of course now that I have if figured out I can easily spot it in this picture. So I panicked and flailed a bit and then I remembered a comment I got a few weeks back on one of my posts about Molly. A commenter named cupcakebunny said, "I was just thinking, but if you hadn't thought of it yet, you might be able to make Molly's head go back to normal by pouring hot water in. For a lot of plastic things, I found that they seem to remember their original shape, and if you use hot water, you can often get them to come back to normal."

ahHA! I'm a bit reluctant to try it with Molly because she's so old and I'm worried about causing silver eye but here I didn't have anything to lose! The doll was useless to me like this and at worst it wouldn't work and I would just have to try and get my money back in someway. So I decided to give it a go.

First I had to cut this stupid thing.
I REALLY hate the zip-ties.

I boiled water in my tea kettle, poured it in and let the head soften for about three minutes with the head slightly tilted face-side down.

The before is on the left and the results are on the right:
 



I think you can see the change the best from the profile shots!

It worked! Thank you cupcakebunny! I hope you read this because you saved this project's butt!

With his face fixed what is left to do for Jay? Well I've already removed and replaced his wig. I've started removing his freckles but I need to finish that and remove the rest of his face-paint so he can be repainted. He'll get his scratches sanded smooth and at least one arm replaced. He'll also get a good washing to try and remove the ink stains on his body and then he will be done!

And here is a little peek:
I can't wait to get these boys done! I have to admit I'm 100% in love with both of them but I'm very excited to get them to their new home. This will probably be the last update for a bit on Sam and Jay. I need to find Jay an arm and finish buying their clothes but I would say they'll be done around the end of next month. You will get a unveiling post as soon as my bff gets them. Of course Jay won't really be finished till he gets his wings, but I will let my bestie tell you guys all about that over on her blog when they are done!

Till next time!

9 comments:

  1. I'm so excited you can probably hear me shrieking! He is amazing and I think you picked the perfect wig! That's my favorite Jay picture too and it's my current wallpaper at work (which pretty much never gets seen; I always have it covered).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know I've sent you a ton of pictures but they are even more adorable in person! Jay's hairs look so good! I think You'll love them!

      Delete
    2. I already love them and I've never met them!

      Delete
    3. It's so dumb but they have such personality for me! I swear Jay looks a little mischievous.

      Delete
  2. How did you remove the freckles? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used a magic eraser and a lot of elbow grease! It took a lot of patience!

      Delete
    2. You're very welcome! I'm always happy to answer questions!

      Delete
  3. I jumped over to this blog....I can't believe how great these little boys look after the work you did on them. I am not sure I could paint a face but may try at some point. I have a question though: apparently a little sanding can remove some cuts or dents in the body skin of a doll? I had no idea that would work!! Does the sanding leave the color of that body part looking lighter or sanded- looking, or does it remain the same in "skin" color? Thanks, Pj

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you :) In my experience sanding does slightly lighten the area but it's barely noticeable! You would want to use a very fine grain!

      Delete