Friday, January 13, 2012

Details of a Rosie head surgery

I got some questions about details on altering a regular Barbie head to fit the Rosie ODonnell body, so I grabbed another spare head and took some closer, clearer pictures.  I'm bad about forgetting to take pictures while I do something, so maybe this will make the process easier to follow.  You have to start with one of the bigger headed barbies, otherwise the head will look too small.  I used Raquelle because the skin match is so good, but any big headed playline barbie head will fit. 
 I'll assume most of you have beheaded a Barbie before.  If not, How to Play with Barbies has a great tutorial that shows you what the inside of a Barbie head looks like (let's have a minute for the Pop Life Christie that was sacrificed).  So to make a regular barbie head fit Rosie, you have to remove part of her throat (the visible underside of her head) and part of the column of rubber inside her head. 
Where the green line is drawn is where you will be cutting.  You're basically cutting a crescent moon shape from her throat.  Stick the exacto knife in far enough to go through the rubber column in her head, OR shave the neck down and then saw the column out--neatness isn't really an issue here.  You can always neaten up the cut later, OR ignore it since it's under her neck.
Mine came out in two pieces, and it really looks like my finger in this picture, but the thing at the end of my thumbnail is the half of the plastic column with the piece of her throat at the top.  What you pull out of her head will look something like this, but it may be in pieces.
This is what the inside of her head should look like now.  The back of her head/neck is untouched, but the front has part of the skin removed and the front half of the rubber column inside her head.
Here you can see the difference between the new Rosie head and an uncut barbie.
This shows Barbie's carved out head sitting on Rosie's neck.  This head could probably stand to be shaved down a bit more, and is obviously the wrong color.  I also wrapped a bit of duct tape around the neck post to give the head something to grip to. 


And of course, here's Rosie's actual new head, the lovely Raquel. 

Now go forth and re-head those Rosies!

14 comments:

  1. I had to offically post about you now! I reboded my doll the other day and was enjoying her. When I saw your new post I thought the world you know about you!

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  2. Thanks for posting this information! Very informative!

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  3. This is great. Thanks for showing us the details.

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  4. Wonderful post Miss_Lola_77! I definitely plan to give this a try.

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  5. OK,now I'm off to find her just the right outfits!

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  6. Ms Leo, She can wear Ken pants and lots of the stretchy Barbie shirts. Sock dresses/sweaters also fit really well.

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  7. Hello from Spain: a very good job. Congratulations and keep in touch

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  8. Look at you!!, making things work. That's a great way to create a fresh, new doll. I will have to keep my eyes open for a Rosie doll.

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  9. Wow! Good job! You can send me an email at chyna67.cs@gmail.com and I will send you my mailing info :) thanks again.

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  10. I tried getting the Barbie head from my Hollywood Nails Barbie onto the Rosie and I failed. I'm going to buy another of the same so I can try again. Can you please have a look at the Hollywood Nails Barbie and give me some advice as to what I need to do to get this specific head on the Rosie body? I cut a triangular slit in the back of the head. This is a link to HW N Barbie. Does she have one of the larger heads you are talking about?

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HZ9LNK/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

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  11. I tried slits up the neck too, and they just don't work. You'll have to cut off a moon-shaped section of the neck hole. You also have to cut out part of the rubbery "column" that is inside her head. I can't tell if HWN Barbie's head is one of the bigger ones, but it doesn't seem to be one of the "smaller" ones I've seen on some dolls, so as long as you like the proportion then do it:D
    Good luck!

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    1. oh thank you. i'm more optimistic this time! :)

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  12. I created a survey and I am hoping to send the results to Mattel, in a plea for them to begin producing varied and articulated body-only dolls (no clothes, no accessories, no heads, no fancy packaging), in a variety of skin tones, for adults who rebody our Barbie dolls.)

    Would you please participate in my survey and tell as many others as possible? (Thanks so much!)

    http://mymisc.net/gms_survey.htm

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  13. This is a great resource! I wish I had it when I put my Flavas Happy D head onto Rosie. I like how she came out, but it took a lot of hard work, trial and error (and error), and I wound up having to glue her head in place. She's adorable, but not as expressive :/ Thanks again for sharing!

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