DIY Custom WellieWisher BOY Doll

My son asked for a custom WellieWishers boy doll.  He loves all of his 18' buddies, but wanted someone who could do all of the same things that the girls' WellieWishers could.  Namely, to have a boy doll that could engage in water play.  Previously he used his superhero action figures for water play, but wanted a kid doll like him.

Brandy, from Brandy's Happy Home blog, recently created a boy WellieWisher from an Ashlyn doll, and that gave me helpful directions and the confidence to try my hand at creating a boy WellieWisher for my son.

For his custom boy doll, my son chose a WellieWisher Kendall doll from Kohls.  Our own WellieWisher Kendall was very excited at the prospect of getting a brother.

We spent a fair bit of time on the Monique website looking at available wigs in size 8-9.  They had some really cute options, like the Bebe, Cotton, Dutch Boy, Frankie, and Tomo wigs.  My son chose the Johnny wig (size 8-9) in Dark Brown.

Getting the wig off of the doll was pretty easy.  A metal baby spoon really helped get the leverage needed to lift the wig cap off the doll without damaging the wig.  Once we had Kendall's wig off, we tried different placements of the Johnny wig to find the style my son liked the best.  I then followed the video tutorial by Beautifully Custom Wigs on rewigging a boy doll's wig with super glue, and that worked like a charm.  However, we recently learned that the superglue is not strong enough for water play (the wig loosened after a bath), so I will be redoing his wig with E6000.

  

Because we take our WellieWishers into water, we drilled holes for water drainage.  I used a 5/64 drill bit and put holes just behind both ears; the holes are covered by his wig.  He also has holes in the soles of his feet near his heels.

It became apparent that the doll had very feminine features, including long eyelashes, dark cheek paint and dark pink lips.  I used some 100% Acetone (after unsuccessfully trying non-acetone and partial acetone nail polish removers) and was able to easily remove or shorten most of the doll's eyelashes.  I muted the cheek paint and the lip paint with a Magic Eraser, and used acetone to change the shape of the lips.  Our boy WellieWisher, Mack, was joining our family!

We were incredibly fortunate and had a whole team of talented Etsy sellers create a custom wardrobe for Mack.  Larisa from Symbidollclothes created amazing jeans, tan corduroy pants, t-shirts and a hoodie. Julie from SewDolledUp81 created some fantastic cargo pants in khaki and camo fabric, dark chocolate brown corduroy pants, and some t-shirts and underwear.  

Amanda from FreekyChicBootique made us a custom Lawrence Taylor New York Giants jersey. Sandra from AbygailElizabeth made us the cutest spring hooded jacket in blue and green. And Laurie from JenAshleyDollDesigns made Mack a khaki hooded anorak jacket. These ladies were amazing to work with!  We found shoes on eBay from 2debsadorables, ds*dolls, and jujus5gkids.

It's been a joy to see how much my son has enjoyed having Mack as part of our family.