Click HERE to read Part I of Fixing Berkeley!

In part I of the My Twinn Rescue series, I wrote about 18" My Twinn Berkeley's complicated eye history and then related my two-day adventure to clean up, comb out, and flat-iron Berkeley's really long, really tangled curls.

At the end of it, her hair turned out quite nice, looks very thick, and is full of body. I have to say again how much it reminds me of human hair; it's slightly textured with a lot of volume and life. The photos probably can't really do it justice, but I absolutely love it!
 

Now it's time to start looking at Berkeley's face and deciding what to do about the existing paint, as well as finally getting her some eyelashes!
 

One thing I always really liked about this particular Berkeley was her well-crafted expressive eyebrows. With some 18" My Twinn dolls, especially the later ones, the eyebrows are kind of hit and miss. I lucked out with Berkeley who was part of My Twinn's closing out stock. She has nicely arched, finely-painted brows. I basically plan to keep them more or less as they are, maybe add a little darkening /enhancing.

Berkeley has a bigger problem than her brows however. Her factory blush has always been kind of uneven. One side of her face has color low on her cheek, while the other has it higher and further back on the side of her face, so that if you look at her from certain angles, it looks like only one side of her face is blushed.

I reasoned there's an easy way to solve it. Off came the factory blush! Now I have a clean slate to work with.

I wanted a more natural, all over blush, so I used a very subtle, light pink color and put it on her cheeks, chin, forehead, and nose.

I also gave her lips a little bit of color-in texture for a slightly more realistic look.
 

Then I went over her eyebrows in a rich brown-black color to make them look more natural and also to bring out the expressiveness of her face.

Next, I thinly outlined her eyes in the same color. The liner probably won't be very visible behind her eyelashes, but I'm hoping it will be enough to give her eyes a bit more definition in the finished product.

She's already looking much better!

Berkekey's eyebrows are nice, but I felt they ended too sharply at the inner edges over her nose. To make them look more natural, I lightly "erased" the inside edges.

I'd be lost without my Magic Eraser. :)
 

Then I added a few light brush strokes to suggest the inner eyebrows. I don't have some of the amazing mad skills that some doll artists do, but I can find ways around it with a little creativity. :)

I wanted the finished doll to look somewhere between wearing makeup and natural, so I opted for reddish brown color on her eyelids to give her eyes depth and polish without looking too overdone.

Now it's time to seal the new color on Berkeley's face.

One of the minor problems with some air-dry reborn paint is that it leaves a slightly shiny appearance and needs to be toned down. So the matte sealer I'm using does double duty in both sealing the color and leaving a natural matte finish on the vinyl skin. See the before and after.

Finally, it's time for Berkeley's new eyelashes, which she has gone without for way too long!

I recently switched from using E6000 glue to Gem-Tac for doll lashes. I was just really over the noxious fumes. I used E6000 for years because I wanted a permanent waterproof glue and the non-toxic glue types just weren't as waterproof, unfortunately.

Then I discovered Gem-Tac, and wondered where it was all my life!

Gem-Tac goes on like simple white glue (with no fumes) but then dries clear and waterproof like E6000.

So here at last is Berkeley getting her first eyelashes in 3 years. I bet she's pretty happy about it.

(Just saying, this Gem-Tac stuff is much easier to apply and much easier to position the eyelashes in place, IMO.)

While the upper eyelashes dry, I prepare the lower lashes. Amazing how eyelashes really make a doll come to life!

Normally I prefer painted lower lashes, but I really want Berkeley to have a genuine My Twinn aesthetic, so I opt for the glued lower lashes as well.

Here is Berk's eye with one set of lower lashes glued in. Wow, they really bring out her eyes!

Finally, both sets of upper and lower lashes done!

For a final polish, I gave Berk glossier lips which I feel matches the more dramatic look of her eyes.

With all of her basic restoration now done, I think Berkeley turned out quite beautiful. What a difference a little TLC makes.

My original intent in starting this project was to take the four 18" My Twinn Asian sculpt dolls and remake them to represent several different Asian cultures. At this point, Berkeley needs her cultural clothes and hairstyle, but I haven't quite yet decided what that will be. I think I need to finish restoring/ re-making the other three Twinns too before I can say for sure which culture each one will be.

But for now, I'm really happy with how Berkeley turned out; she's pretty much exactly what I was going for. :)

Later, I'll likely update this post with the fully dressed and styled version of Berk.

Meanwhile I'll be starting on the next Twinn restore, Cai, this week. Stand by for updates!

Fixing Cai Part I