Glasses & Sandals for Sophie

Posted in Custom Workstation

Here are some sandals and glasses I handmade as accessories for my Spin Master Liv: School's Out Sophie doll, who stands 11.6" (29.4 cm) tall (without a wig). Please note that I only made the glasses and sandals, nothing else.

Materials:
Glasses (wire twist ties, newsprint, white glue, acrylic paint, and transparent plastic)
Sandals (cardboard, brown paper grocery bag, white lined notebook paper, white glue, and acrylic paint)

Time:
Two days; the glasses on 6/7/14 and the sandals on 6/8/14.




GLASSES:



Preliminary paper test pattern.



Test pattern on Sophie's head. The size checks out, so it's full steam ahead!



Wire armature with the arms of the glasses covered with strips of newsprint.
Aside from providing support and defining the shape of the glasses, said wire is what allows the arms to bend/fold.



Test fit on Sophie's head. The arms are the proper length to reach behind her ears, so all is well.



Glass frames completely covered in newsprint.
A second wire segment was added to create the shape of the bottom half of the lens holes.
Aside from some sanding and final adjustments, they're ready to paint.



Final check on Sophie's head before finishing adjustments and painting.
They're a bit asymmetrical, but the overall fit is good and she looks classier already!
After the glasses were painted, I cut out lenses from a sheet of transparent plastic and embedded them in the
frames, completing the accessory.



The finished product.

SANDALS:



The first thing I did was trace the outline of Sophie's foot to make a pattern for the soles of the sandals.
The bottoms of the sandals are 4-ply thick cardboard: three layers glued back-to-back, and then the sandal straps sandwiched in between that stack and one more layer.



In order to work on the shoes without damaging Sophie's feet, I covered them in plastic and transparent tape.
That thin protective layer also ensures that there will be enough wiggle room so that the sandals won't become too tight after they're painted.



I wrapped strips of paper, from a brown grocery bag, around her feet to create the sandal straps, and then glued the soles onto those.



Here are the rough sandals on a doll's bare feet. The fit is pretty good--loose enough to slip them on-and-off, but not so loose as to fall off.



These are the finished sandals, with small decorative bows added to the front straps, just prior to painting.



The finished product.