Laurel Gets A Head

Headless Laurel has been a sewing form for a while, but I always wanted to get some sort of head on her--originally I thought she'd need a male head, since she is quite large, but as I was digging through the Den of Angels Marketplace, I saw a Fairyland Chloe 65 for sale! Shadowed Force wanted a body for something, and had put the head on the Marketplace. Disclaimer: the faceup she is wearing is my own--Shadowed Force is on hiatus because of school, otherwise I would have asked about a professional faceup. Also the eyes are homemade. Anyway, as Laurel is an Impldoll Idol body, I knew there would be some challenges getting a Fairyland head on, since Fairyland uses a locking key in the neck to keep the heads on. What I hadn't realized, is that the newest Fairyland heads also have a prong on the faceplate to discourage using a jury-rigged S hook. The answer was (sort of hilariously) a Soom "banana". (I need to make a custom one out of sculpey, reinforced with 14 gauge wire, and about 1/2 cm shorter on the faceplate side because the faceplate still doesn't quite sit flat against the headback.) Her head stays on securely, and she has a full range of motion.

I put a circle of felt under the neck as well just to cushion it a little and prevent wear as she moves her head. I also took a photo of the writing Fairyland puts inside their genuine heads, something useful to know as certificates sometimes get lost:

You can also see where there are 3 slots for magnets on her forehead, the headback has two magnets installed already. And the inconvenient prong.:D Here is what the certificates should look like--a holographic CP sticker, a signature, and a sku-type barcode with a serial number.

While I sympathize with Fairyland not wanting people to slap their heads on something that doesn't match their aesthetic; the 65 body isn't a particularily great body--it's very heavy and sits poorly, at least in my experience, and I am not a fan of how the knees work, or of magnet feet, or shoulders. I thought the engineering of the old 70 cm body was more successful, even if it had a very alien aesthetic (very wide, thin shoulders, a compressed small bust, and extremely long legs). It was quite elegant and posable without the extra weight of magnets and interior resin.

So here is Laurel with a head, and she is not derpy. She wears a size 9 wig and roughly 16mm eyes, and Eyecos fit her best--she has a long, flat eyewell.