From Shadow High to Harley Quinn - An Original OOAK

I love Harley Quinn. I didn't always. The first Suicide Squad movie is when I liked her best. Crazy. Unashamedly so. Quirky and fun too. My mom recently asked me if I could create my own doll, what character would it be? I thought about the dolls I currently have and one that I don't... Harley Quinn! She would be so much fun. Right? I mean, she's also relatively simple. Maybe. So yes, Harley Quinn is one I wanted to make. 

So mom sent me a Shadow High doll for the purpose of redesigning her. If you have ever seen OOAK, you know where I'm going with this. OOAK means One Of A Kind. This version of HQ is going to be just that. My own design. I gave a lot of thought into her. Her hair, makeup, and clothing would all have to be redone.  

There are so many styles of Harley Quinn, but I wanted a classic of my own design. Something with a dress. And something stylish. I was leaning more towards a 50's style bombshell. But as it goes, things take shape on their own! If you are curious as to where I got the first hints towards my design, check out my Harley Quinn board on Pinterest.

I removed her from the box and took a good look at what I had to work with. Then I removed everything she came with, including taking her hair down. The hair should be done first. I bought RIT dye from Hobby Lobby. Turns out, it was cheaper there than at Walmart. I got two small boxes. I figured I'd ease myself into it. I've never even dyed my own hair, so it kinda scared me. However, it isn't like I'm doing some crazy unicorn colors. Yet. I have an idea for a future doll... 

I kinda skipped the hair for a while and worked on the skirt first. (Hair was making me anxious still.) Have you ever made a tutu skirt using elastic and tulle? No sewing, just looping the tulle. That is what I did for the underskirt. And I did so in a pattern with the black and red tulle. I measured out her legs and figured that something in the ballpark of 5 inches was how long they needed to be. However, you cut 10 inch strips to do the loop trick.

Not bad, I think. My goal was to create an over skirt that was some form of black and red that would allow the tulle skirt to peek out from under it. She looks like a gothic hula girl so far.

Back to the hair... 

I decided to test the dye on another dolls hair to see if it was even the color I wanted. Originally, I was thinking that a real dark red would be perfect, but after the crazy time I had trying to dye this ones hair...

well, I decided this red was fine too. After all, I suppose it is closer to the original Harley look, right? But then something crazy happened! Turns out that Rainbow High, or Shadow High, doll hair is a higher quality that works well with the dye. Truly soaks it in. Granted, I did some reading and I think the fact it was straight up white was why. It came out amazing! I also learned that RIT dye will not dye their faces! So you don't have to worry about getting some on them. For a Barbie doll, you have to strip the color out to get them to accept the dyed color deeper. And I'm not sure their faces or skin can handle the dye.

Now, you might be asking why her hair is this way. After all, Harley Quinn generally comes with her hair fully parted and each side is a different color or the tips are different. Well, when I first tried to part her hair fully, I couldn't seem to get it to lay just right over a rather large bald spot in the back. So I tried various styles and even thought I'd dye it but leave it down. Then I thought of trying it this way to leave the back white. Harley's natural color is white. So I figured having it styled like this gave her a bit more elegance, while showing the colors we love so much. There may come changes later, but I want to see where this goes. 

While working on these two dolls' hair, I even had an idea for my next custom job. Are you one of those crafters? You start a project and then it creates the next idea, so you kinda start prepping for that one too? Since starting on Harley Quinn, I now have 3 dolls in the works.... 

I did some of the makeup next. I'd seen this awesome style of lips before, but when my mom sent it to me again, I thought why not? It is also on the Pinterest board. And I admit, I'm impressed how well it came out. Her nails are alternating red and black. If you don't seal them with a clear coat, they will flake off! I had to redo them when I forgot that step.

I started on more of her clothes. Remember, I am no seamstress. I do it all by hand. And usually on the fly. I did use sleeve patterns from a Barbie trendy shirt pattern. I had to make them smaller though. Then eyeballed the rest of the shirt and the over skirt. I was slightly small on the skirt, but just barely made it work. Still debating on using seed beading to add designs to it.  I found a 3D print file on Thingiverse.com for a mallet. It was a super easy print. And then I painted over it. 

The details came out really well. Check out the photo at the top of this post again if you missed it.

Here was my finished look. I'm still feeling like more could be done. And I might make her a new dress later down the road. But I'm liking what I see enough to leave her be. For now.

I do realize as I look at her here, that she needs her shoes to match. So  I started painting the new ones.

I even gave her a pet dragon. Here she is with Lyra. They match so well!

I decided that I didn't like how the overskirt looked. So I took it away and found that it fit a normal-sized Barbie just fine! My mini-me now has a start to her HQ look. 

And perhaps some more bling should be added. What do you think? Leave me a comment below! I love hearing from you. And what doll makeover would you like to do or see next? I know I have a couple ideas I'm trying to work out in my head, but maybe yours will work out better?