Practicing doll painting this week.

It has really been hot and humid this week in NC. So after work everyday I worked on small things to stay out of the heat and just relax. 

I got my hands on a Tonner Tyler doll secondhand that needed a new face up. Wow. I wanted one but not one so fancy I was afraid to touch her hair. So I sold my other one and got one to fix myself. That's the kind of doll I really love. I cleaned the paint off with rubbing alcohol and used my artist pencils and pastels to fix her up. 

I also found an old Making Memories black pencil in my pencil collection that holds a nice fine point when sharpened. I started using my old Verithin pencils for fine lines last week. I looked up Verithin pencils to see if I can still buy them and voila, they are still being made. Although, many of the customer reviews claim the quality of the pencils were not the same as the old ones. I managed to get a box of vintage Verithins for myself, because I want more colors. I still might try the newer colors. I noticed that the color palette has changed over the past few decades. I read that Verithins are made of hardened wax. That makes them safe for the dolls I am sure. But I need to keep in mind that wax and watercolors don't exactly mix. That would mean the pencils would be a resist to the water based paints. 

The artist who sold Tonner doll to me gave her highlights in her hair. I love the highlights. They make her hair look so realistic. I want to try the Bo Derek braids on her next. I gave her thicker eyebrows kind of like the Brooke Shields from the 1980 movie Blue Lagoon. Her dark hair and tan skin made me think of this for her face up. I chose green eyes because I just wanted to try out my green Conte pastel stick. I haven't used it on the dolls yet. I glossed her eyes and mouth. The gloss is still curing and gets smoother over time. It is a resin gloss. I think I really want to name her Brooke. 

She came completely nude, so I made her some jewelry and undies so far. 

The glasses were included free with my purchase. 

I painted some tiny dolls for my 1/8th scale dollhouse. I really love tinies and fairies and elves. I don't need so many and feel tempted to sell some to a new home. But I get to practice face ups and making things till I do. Some of the 1/8th scale dolls really are too big for 1/8th scale even. 

For instance, this little doll's head is so big, she's wearing a 1/6th scale wig. Her head is so big that I had trouble making her sit up. I painted her freckles on her face, neck, top of hands and top of feet like she had some summer sun. 

The next little dollie I did came with magnetic kitty ears. I am not too much into the fantasy parts but at least I don't have to use them. She's more the size of doll that fits into my collection though.  I used the white eyelashes and permanent marker to shade the lashes into the colors I want for my dolls. I like this better than having to buy more than one color of lashes and they look so natural. Though it is quite tedious coloring them. I tinted her ears a little and sprayed them even though I don't intend to use them really. 

She was really hard to paint because she is so tiny.  I will probably work on her some more. Once I do the close ups I see more than I could do to them. She's good for now.

My Tonner Annora Doll Gets Ears Pierced

It is really hot here in North Carolina. I decided to chill out in the shade and work on some of my dolls yesterday.

I pierced Annora's ears. I usually do that before I paint my dolls. The earrings I use on my dolls fit well. I was a little wounded when one of the bits broke in the ear and I had to bypass it. That made one of the ear holes a little larger than the other, but it doesn't show.

Next I painted her with my Conte pastels. I used a Berol Verithin Sienna Brown pencil to make her brows and lashes. I don't even know if anyone can buy Berol pencils anymore. I have had these for years. I just liked how the pencil holds a very sharp point and is not soft like the watercolor pencils. I liked the sienna color as well. I think it will look good with hair and eyelashes in the blonde to auburn range.

I'm so excited. I already feel inspired to make her clothes and things that are just her own. I already bought her a camera before I even read her story on the Phyn and Aero website. I loved the story.

Her skin is so smooth it was scary to work on her. I finally just said "She's my doll and I will do as I please".  I chose pink for her make up. She just looks like the girl who needs her pink colors. I like pale makeup on my dolls. I am not real fond of the dark black eyeliner unless she is a model that looks good in dark black eyeliner and such. Annora is a young teen model  to me. I want her to look fresh and wholesome without too much drama.

I had to borrow the eyes out of a 1/12th scale doll and they still look a bit too big. That's just to show how small the eyes are for these dolls. I probably should have purchased the set of eyes that fit the dolls.

I still don't have her proper shoes. I will have to practice making doll shoes until I come up with something good.

I borrowed the Delilah Noir wig for her again, because I wanted to see her in blonde hair. I liked the blonde. Then I took the white doll eyelashes I have on hand and colored them with permanent markers to look more blonde than platinum. The permanent marker won't bleed and damage the doll. I just use Elmer's school glue to fix the lashes in place. I put brown marker on the edge of the lashes that go under the eye lids to make a faint stay line.

I colored her nails. I just love her tiny fingers. I won't to make her some rings to wear.

I put little magnets inside her head to hold her earrings. I found that it helps to keep up with the earrings and not have them falling out or dangling in some weird position out the side of her head.

I worked on some tiny dolls that I bought secondhand for dollhouses. I will make pictures of them when they are dried and dressed. So cute!

Last picture of my alabaster doll for a while

 This is the last post of my Topaz for a while. I told a few folks I would make some pictures of her with her costume. So here she is.

I gave her Bo Derek type of braids to help manage her hair. I used putty to hold on her wig. 

She's shorter than I had originally anticipated. So after all the hours I spent on making the shoes, I can't see them. She shrunk from her aging I suppose. I really need a doll stand for her. I worry she is going to fall down and become injured.

Posing alabaster doll

Topaz is in her final stages of development. I made her some hands and attachments this week. She is unique since she is made of stone and has to be posed differently from the usual jointed dolls. I decided to call her an articulated doll.  What I learned making this doll is that alabaster would be far better for 1/12 and 1/8 scale dolls due to the weight of the stone and the limit on how thin I can possible grind down the pieces. But she is my most favorite doll in the world and she really makes me laugh. 

I had to remove the extra neck joint. I like it because it made her bobble like a bobble head doll. It was just also making it easier for her to fall over. I decided to save the joint for playing around with stop motion ideas. 

Her clothes fit and are currently being washed and sized. This blog is about posing the doll. 

What I ended up doing to attach her hands was stripping the steel wire that comes inside the package wires I was using to string her at first. Then I made tiny coils that would hold a magnet. I made a hook on the other end to crimp onto the doll's stringing cord inside her arm. Then I put magnets in her hands to fit the magnet in her arms. It made it really easy to dress her too. The coils are replaceable. 

I had to hollow out her head cap to make it stay on better. She is still so heavy the bungee cord had to be changed after I finished her arms. I am going to change some more of her cords that wore out during the experiment of making her parts.

I made her hands so they can hold her things. I really liked the craggy old look of her hands. I have enough stone and magnets left to make her a series of hands. That will be fun. I can still see a bit of the coil in her hands but it works out so that there is some room to play with her hands too. 

The elbows have notches that hold the string and position her arms. The only thing about it was when she has on her costume, I had to roll up her sleeves to pose her arms. I will take that into account the next time I make her new costumes.

I signed my crafts signature to the head cap. It is also dated 6-2-18 but just hard to see.

To pose her pull down on the forearm and wrap the cord around the notches.  She has been hardened but still scuffs a bit. I can always polish her more. I plan on putting some moleskin wherever I can to help with the scuffing too. The same goes for her legs and knees. Pull down first before repositioning the joints. They are not ball joints but more peg jointed and tongue and groove.

She does stand but since I took out the extra neck joint, I will probably have to tighten or restring her. She says she's tired and needs a rest now. After all she is millions of years old. I will try to get some photos of her when I redress her.