Little Hotaru Custom Made Doll
While Sailor Saturn a.k.a Tomoe Hotaru has made an appearance in the Sailor Moon Stars anime (90’s version), where’s almost nothing with her in terms of merchandise. So I decided to make my own.
Not being an artist, for someone like me it’s easier to make a doll if I start with an already made doll and simply slightly alter it. Since it’s easier to work on a larger doll I chose a 35 cm doll (approximately 15 inches). So what do you do if you want to make a doll yet are not confident in your customizing skills?
Step 1: Get a suitable doll as close to the character as possible. In my case I chose a Before Once Upon a Time Snow White toddler doll. Of course it’s cheaper to get a doll like that in a “used” condition. In my case I got her on eBay.
Step 2: Adjust her hair. In my case it was merely giving her a hair cut so that the black hair reaches just below her ears. It takes time and patience but it’s not all that hard to do. Just make sure to do everything slowly, separating hair into small groups.
Step 3: Adjust her eyes with oil paint markers. In my case I used medium-tipped purple and white markers and a fine-tipped black marker to make her eyes more “anime-round” and purple.
Step 4: Re-dress her in a more appropriate attire. Since I’m no seamstress I decided to buy the already made doll clothes. I ended up choosing a Molly P Apparel for 13 inch dolls (approximately 33 cm) consisting of the purple jumper dress and white shirt. Since she came dressed in an almost complete original outfit I kept her white tights and purple cloth shoes. Though no outfit like that made an appearance in the anime or manga, the color suits. An accessory can be added as desired. I’ve chosen a Christmas ornament shaped similarly to Sailor Saturn’s brooch. It can also pass for the Sailor Moon S “pure heart crystal”.
And the dolls is done! Little Hotaru is ready to take on the world…or at least take her rightful place in the collection