Xena! Yay! OK, I've got a ToyBiz to Cy Girl head swap tutorial just for you. I've done this a couple of times.
The Toy Biz heads are made for a skinnier neck, they won't sit right on a CG neck. You have to enlarge the neck opening a lot to get it to sit low enough on the neck. Once you've done that, the hole will be too large to grab onto the neck post. The pink line shows about where I cut them with an X-Acto knife.
I used a strong needle to sew four threads through the head. These threads tie in two knots, one on each side, and hold the head on. It's sturdy, and the head has a full range of motion. The thread and knots will be hidden in the hair.
Push the needle inward from the outside of the head and out the neck hole. You'll have 4 separate threads around the neck knob. I simplified it a little in the drawing. I should have shown them going through the head first before the threads tie onto the neck post. Cut your threads LONG. So you can easily handle everything without the threads pulling out.
Poke new holes in the head. Don't sew through the hair rooting holes. The thread could pull through if you do that, since the hair rooting holes are all in a row like the perforated line around a postage stamp. Most dolls have horizontal rows of hair rooting, so you should have a clear space above both ears.
Push the head down onto the neck and pull the threads taut.
Then tie the knots. You'll have to part the hair aside to do that so you don't trap any hair under your threads.
This last picture (the profile) shows what I think is the best placement. The front view drawing isn't quite accurate.
Tie the knots tightly so the head will hold poses and not flop around. My best technique for getting a really tight knot is to tie one as a slipknot over the other thread, and then do a double knot on top of that. Then just cut the strings short so they won't show.
Hope this helps. It's not as hard as it looks and it works like a charm.
The Toy Biz heads are made for a skinnier neck, they won't sit right on a CG neck. You have to enlarge the neck opening a lot to get it to sit low enough on the neck. Once you've done that, the hole will be too large to grab onto the neck post. The pink line shows about where I cut them with an X-Acto knife.
I used a strong needle to sew four threads through the head. These threads tie in two knots, one on each side, and hold the head on. It's sturdy, and the head has a full range of motion. The thread and knots will be hidden in the hair.
Push the needle inward from the outside of the head and out the neck hole. You'll have 4 separate threads around the neck knob. I simplified it a little in the drawing. I should have shown them going through the head first before the threads tie onto the neck post. Cut your threads LONG. So you can easily handle everything without the threads pulling out.
Poke new holes in the head. Don't sew through the hair rooting holes. The thread could pull through if you do that, since the hair rooting holes are all in a row like the perforated line around a postage stamp. Most dolls have horizontal rows of hair rooting, so you should have a clear space above both ears.
Push the head down onto the neck and pull the threads taut.
Then tie the knots. You'll have to part the hair aside to do that so you don't trap any hair under your threads.
This last picture (the profile) shows what I think is the best placement. The front view drawing isn't quite accurate.
Tie the knots tightly so the head will hold poses and not flop around. My best technique for getting a really tight knot is to tie one as a slipknot over the other thread, and then do a double knot on top of that. Then just cut the strings short so they won't show.
Hope this helps. It's not as hard as it looks and it works like a charm.
