Dolls

I'm a doll hobbyist, and while I was looking for doll parts on AliExpress, I stumbled upon this head. I showed it to my wife, and she quickly recognized the Barbie Mermaid sculpt. This is how I discovered that this head is from the Barbie Star Trek 50th Anniversary doll. Originally, she looks like this:

I think they somehow managed to get unused heads from the factory, because I saw several listings of this head, and some of them even had (badly) handmade hair.

So I decided to buy one. Among doll hobbyists, it's common to buy blank heads to paint them and add hair (the process is called "rooting"). Except in this case, the head is already painted, I just need to root it. I won't be able to replicate the original hairstyle, but it should be fun 🙂

I also found this author on Flickr who purchased and rooted several heads (you can scroll two pages). Originally, I was planning to use black hair, but from the pictures above, white also looks kinda nice 🤔

I also think a dark red color will look great, similar to Poison Ivy from DC. I also considered a dark green head, but couldn't find saran in this color (it's the best material for doll heads). What color would you use?

The original body doesn't have many joints, so I bought a custom one from AliExpress. I used MengF New Brown. The head is a bit lighter, but the difference isn't very noticeable in reality. This body is also more detailed and feels better in hands.

Original body for comparison:

Closeup for the color difference between the head and the body:

My most versatile doll. I think she looks great in any style.

Crocheted by my wife 🙂

Received her today 🙂

Blouse made by a local master. The buttons on the front are decorative - it actually closes at the back 🙂

Doll: Barbie Looks #13 (Victoria mold). I named her Agnes in my collection. The top is sewn by me, the jeans and bag are made by local creators.

Bought from a local master 🙂 It's so detailed!

Even has a functional magnetic closing:

More photos on a doll:

Clothes sewn by a local master 🙂

Together with my other gals:

Today I received a 12-jointed MengF body for my Barbie Looks #15. The skintone is MengF New Brown 2021. I don't have this doll's original body - I bought only the head for rerooting, and I'm also planning to repaint her lips. There is a slight skintone mismatch, but in real life it's minimal and looks quite natural, almost like she's just wearing makeup.

Here is how she looks originally.

I love the head sculpt, but the body is not very articulated, so I ordered a third-party body from AliExpress. I just really love the ability to pose.

I ordered the MengF Black with 26 joints. Some listings include "2023" or "2022" in the title, but I think it's the same body. I ordered the one marked as "2023", but on the back of the body it says "MengF 2021". I think 2021 is the year the mold was designed. Mattel does something similar. This Simone has "Mattel 2021" on the back, but the doll was created in 2025. So as of right now the year doesn't matter, all these 26-joint bodies have only a single revision (unlike the 22-jointed ones!).

This body is not a perfect color match, but it's not very noticeable. In the photo below, you can see that the original body (3rd) is darker than the MengF (2nd).

On the far left you can also see Claudette from Barbie Basics 3. I saw some people on the Internet mention that this body fits Claudette, but I think she is too light for it. On the far right is Simone from Barbie Looks 10. She has the exact same color. These two dolls aren't mine, but maybe someone will find this information useful 🙂

Here is a close-up of the head on the new body:

And here are a few more photos just for fun:

Socks knitted by my wife 🙂

I'm not a native English speaker, so I hope I called this piece of clothing correctly. It was her first attempt. The sweater turned out to be a little big, but I think it looks nice 🙂

The skirt was made by a local maker.

The clothes are on a Barbie Dreamtopia Mermaid Odile with a human body from AliExpress called MengF.