Starting with two 5" dolls from DOLLar Tree...

Found patterns at Chellywood.com. They helped immensely, since I have no idea how to make doll clothing.

Double-sided tape helped hold the pattern onto an old tee shirt while I cut out the pattern with scissors.

The preliminary fit. Liz's getup was OK, given my (lack of) sewing skills. Lou's - a more intricate design - changed three times during the course of the build.

We needed heads! I did the best I could in Blender to sculpt them. They stand 1" tall and were printed in PLA.

Only after priming with an acrylic flesh color, I discovered that it was a mistake.

I found some great tutorials on painting miniature heads and gave it a try.

The tutorials instructions included starting with a grey primer, a shadow base, and lighter layers of a flesh color.

This was SUCH a challenge since I've never done it before.

Painting the eyes was a NIGHTMARE... for several reasons.

I must have redone them five times each. I kept messing up and having to add white then the irises again.

Oh, and never mind the hot glue under the neck to attach them to a dowel for ease of painting.

A 6" doll donated her hair to this project.

No matter what I did, I had a really hard time with how the hair was laying. I tried to install it in wefts, but it was super impossible to work with.

Apparently, I just ended up making Kung Fu Lou and The Flying Nun at this point.

I designed the pieces parts for the case in Design Space and cut them out of light cardboard on the Cricut Maker.

Various parts sorted out...

Lots of circular offcuts were left in the layered rings' wake, so I stacked them to create a heavier, more stable base.

Here is the layered top of the lighted case with Christmas lights sandwiched in between. I had to cut six of them off the string in order to fit them in here.

They're in there. It wasn't easy, but they're in there (with lots of hot glue).

Trying to lay out the "spine" or "backbone", dry fitting the panels.

Panels were printed on glossy cardstock.

Each panel needed to be curved. Here I'm just using a dowel to facilitate that.

This is the first iteration of the base. I did end up changing it down the line, but sturdiness was of utmost importance.

I made the shelf rings slightly different sizes so they'd layer up and create "ridges". HVAC foil tape was used to cover the edges to simulate metal.

Each "shelf" was coated with nail polish for a metallic look, since my chrome pens didn't look that great on cardboard.

Probably from Dollar Tree, nothing fancy.

Cutting a sheet of acetate to size to wrap around the structure like a "glass" case.

Trying to get a good idea of the layout. I ended up having to add some height to the bottom of the "legs".

I didn't have round styrene rods, so I had to settle for square ones for the "legs".

The back panel is all one piece. Here, I'm just shaping it with a dowel. Probably should have thought to do that before attaching it all, but I digress...

I was originally going to use bamboo skewers for the "legs", but a lot of them were warped and skinny.

I used a small silicone mold I have with air dry clay to make a frame for The Dark Mirror, which is included in the bottom of the display case. I'm using antique bronze wax here to coat it.

Another Blender sculpt, this time for the mask of The Restless Face.

Red gloss nail polish was perfect for it.

While it was drying, my OCD kicked in and I had to repaint the frame with acrylic paint.

This wasn't too bad to paint vs the ventriloquist replica faces. Two white dots and four black dots of paint did the trick.

I glued a tiny rubber band to the back of the mask so it can attach to its "stand".

The stand is just shaped aluminum foil with black electrical tape covering it.

These were glued to an acetate "shelf" so they wouldn't fall over.

In goes Lou first...

Then Liz... and the camera work is off because I'm holding it with one hand whilst trying to position the figures with the other. SMH... I'm sorry.

And here they are before being sealed in.