A while back I experimented with dyeing Monster High heads to get human skin tones. Due to how much I liked the way Obitsu heads looked on Ever After High bodies, I decided to subject a few Obitsu heads to get them to match Ever After High bodies.

The result: REALLY CUTE MAKOTO TAKAHASHI GIRLS, YAY!

There aren’t very many articles written that have a follow up on what happens to dyed heads over time but Obitsu seems to have a pretty good track record based on my own experience.

due to lacking some “orange” tones from the first dye batch consisting of Monster High heads, I decided to use tan and cocoa Rit dye. Adding just a little bit of cocoa color gives just that little hint of orange to match the Ever After High skin tones.

Unfortunately, it seems that the dye colors don’t absorb evenly and creates a faint marbling effect.

As seen in these progress photos for Cerise, there’s a very faint marbling effect on her forehead. It’s a good thing that part is going to be hidden under some bangs. There’s some faint marbling on her cheeks as well which will be hidden by a bit of blush work.

There are unfortunate casualties like Rose Red who dyed evenly everywhere but has dark spots which look like moles on her chin.

Skin tones vary even in the same exact doll. Above are both Maddy Hatter girls, the left being the original and the right from the Getting Fairest series. The original version of Maddy has a slightly lighter skin tone while the Getting Fairest version is a little more pinkish and dark.

It was complete luck that I managed to get heads that matched the skin color for these bodies perfectly. Out of the whole group, these two girls were the only ones to come out without any defects. Hurrah for short girls!

One of the girls used to be a perfect match for Raven Queen’s skin tone but took on a more yellowish tinge after a week. After the head had stopped changing color, I just blushed the body to match the head’s color instead which resulted in Juliet.

Rose Red is my favorite among this batch due to her HUGE hair! It’s really unfortunate that she has that minor defect on her chin.

The best results that came out of this batch are from heads that were in the dye bath between 1-2 hours (Maddy Hatter) but heads that were going to be slightly tinted for a pale coloring (Juliet) and darker skin which meant being in the bath between 4-8 hours were tricky. Tinting the heads or leaving them in the dye bath for a long time seems to trigger the marbling effect (using two different dye colors).

There was a 24 hour rest period for these heads before they go back in the dye bath to see if they were going to continue changing color and to make sure they matched with a body… in this case, I just matched them with whichever skin tone they happen to match with.

I can definitely say that although I got the results I was looking for from this batch, this isn’t something I will offer as a service. It’s too tedious and unpredictable! For now, here are more photos of the recent batch of Makoto Takahashi inspired girls!

These girls are currently available at Etsy!

Further Reading: