Altered Barbies

About 20 years ago when I was collecting Barbie dolls (yes I have the #1 Barbie that came out in 1959 in the black and white bathing suit) I remember going to a Barbie convention and seeing a few "altered Barbies".  At that point I was teaching myself how to reroot hair on old Barbies and that's when the two ideas merged: reroot non traditional hair and design a non traditional outfit.  That weekend I tried to create my first altered Barbie and let me tell you that my vision was a lot more polished than what actually happened!  I will try anything once and I tried it but decided it wasn't for me... until last year.  I tried it again and this time I loved my results!

My forest Barbie was one of my first ones:

This was one of my favorite ones because of her wire skirt:

Zentangle inspired:

This one was inspired by the button on her back that, when pushed, lights up her torso and legs.  I'm not sure if I'm finished with this one yet.  I would like to paint more designs on her chest and maybe put some braids in her hair.  In the last picture you can see that her belly is lit up blue and one of her legs is lit up red, this is more more vibrant in person.

I also create one of a kind art dolls and in my mind these two go hand-in-hand, art dolls and altered dolls.