Barbie's Goth Transformation

Barbie is a bit...overdone. Blonde hair, blue eyes, curves in all the (ugh) right spots...it gets real old real fast. So what does she do when life gets challenging? She keeps smiling that sickening pink-lipsticky smile. So how about we give her a goth-inspired look? Barbie won't even need to dig very far into her (pink) purse!

TOTAL COST: if you buy all the ingredients on the list (wow, I made it sound like a meal) it will be around the $20-$30 range.

If you only buy the Barbie: $1-$5 if you are buying from a thrift store, $15+ if you buy from any other store.

IF (if!) you happen to already have a Barbie to sacrifice to our project (plus everything else), this project will be FREE!

(sorry about the poor image quality y'all, my cam is kinda weird. It takes FOREVER to take a picture and when I finally make it work, the pic comes out all grainy and strange. These are the best ones I took.)

you will need:

1. any not-too-broken Barbie (thrift stores help)
2. washable marker (or permanent, if you want) for makeup in a dark colour similar to the fabric for her clothes
3. black fabric (or any dark fabric, like dark purple, green, blue, or brown)
4. small (like really small) safety pins or a hair elastic
5. small-link necklace chain
6. material scissors
7. wire cutters (optional if the chain is already at the length you need)
8. thread (preferably gold or yellow)

Any Barbie is good as long as it's not broken!

Find them at thrift stores for $1-$5.

I wouldn't mind if the Barbie you're using is missing a hand...(OK OK RAQUEL CALM DOWN I WON'T TEAR YOU APART)

My Barbie has lovely black hair already so no need to change!

If your model has blonde hair, you can choose to colour it or leave it.

If your model has reddish or brown hair, I would recommend leaving it.

Any weird hair colours, like blue, pink, green, or orange, MUST GO. The scandal of Goth Barbie with bright neon hair...I shudder to think of it!

If your Barbie has had horrible luck in the ways of hair (a choppy haircut! dreadful!), play around with some scissors and make it look Gothic...somehow.

If your lovely model already has semi-gothic makeup, don't change it unless you feel that you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. Almost all Barbies have makeup so this step should be easy!

1. Using a black marker, trace the outline of the eyeshadow.
2. Fill in the outline you just traced.
3. For the lipstick, VERY CAREFULLY fill the lips in with a black (or very dark red) marker.

You can even put dark red chalk on Barbie's cheekbones if you want to. (I know it's not in the material list, but it'll look good.)

Whip out your material scissors, because it's time to make Barbie some new clothes! (and no, Raquel, I won't promise to keep your old ones. Not that you had any before) You don't need skill, because all we're doing is wrapping some material (artistically) around her and securing it with a safety pin. (or 2. or 5. or 20.) You can also tie a hair elastic or elastic band around your Barbies' waist to secure the fabric.

1. Cut the necklace chain to the length you want.
2. Put it around your Barbies' neck and tie it with a piece of thread.
3. MAKE SURE YOU TIE LOTS OF KNOTS SO IT DOES NOT UNTIE!
4. cut off excess thread close (but not too close) to the chain.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have turned pinky-pink, fainting-all-over-the-place, breathy-voiced Barbie into talk-to-the-hand Punk Rock Goth Barbie! Who knows, maybe she'll ditch Ken and run off with Max Steel! (foreshadowing to the Barbie Car Alarm Instructable)