Doll Part 1 of however many it takes to finish her

Ever since I was a young girl, I've always loved dolls. I'm not entirely sure why, and I'm sure a psychologist would have a field day picking apart the reasons behind my doll affection. Or possibly go crazy in the process. One of my theories, however, is that growing up in a family of artists where all forms of art were encouraged, I soon identified dolls as being an affordable source of sculptural art celebrating the human form at it's purest, most innocent point.

Or it could be biological. My grandmother collected porcelain dolls, and I remember, as a child, staring in wide eyed fascination at her doll cabinet. She had dozens of stunningly beautiful dolls. Some of which were quite old. Others, like the Maori dolls I gave her when I first visited New Zealand when I was 13 years old, were important for more personal reasons. They all had very unique personalities, though, and it was always a joy to imagine what they would be like if they were to come to life.

It should come as no surprise, then, that when I discovered the art of doll making, I was instantly hooked! Making a doll really is like bringing it to life. You get to know it, infuse it with your own personality, and hopefully send it out into the world to bring joy to other people. My latest obsession has been resurrecting old, unwanted dolls. My first, Veronica, was a baby doll head Steve picked up at the dump a few years ago. It floated around the house until I arrived and decided to have a big spring clean out one day. "What the heck is this?" I asked. Steve said it could be tossed, he didn't even know what made him pick it up all those years ago. I found I couldn't throw her out, though. This disembodied head was all that remained of a child's treasured toy. What life had she once known?

I decided instead to have some fun. So, painted and pierced, she now sits on the dashboard of our people mover, a gothic guardian angel. I joke that the way our family is, we needed a kick azz angel to watch over us because any lesser deity would go mad! Veronica is now semi-infamous around our little city. Some people love her, some fear her, but she brings a smile to just about every one's face who sees her.

And I've done it again. This time to a doll I found in the super market one day.

She's not bad, obviously. But I was sure she could be better!

 Meet Samantha. My Steampunk Lass.

And sorry, she's not for sale. I need a kick azz angel in my little car.

Then, I went back to the supermarket, and here were more of the dolls, ON SALE. By the way, for any men reading this, "on sale" is translated to MUST BUY THIS NOW!

One of the dolls had her head detached from her body and I knew in my heart no one was going to give her a home. But I saw the potential! So, I brought her home, ripped out her hair (which had the side effect of taking the top of her head off as well, popped out her eyes, and painted her purple.






Beautiful!







Next, I used a white wax pencil to draw swirlies on her face. Well, technically I used a drawing pencil, but couldn't see it so Steve suggested using the wax pencil. It worked well. Even if it's hard to tell in the photo. Trust me, it worked.


Then I waited a few days while the idea festered in my head.
"What's that smell?"
"An idea forming."
"Oh! 'Cause I thought I smelled smoke."


The purple I mixed up was a combination of hot pink, blue, and white. So I used the same blue and white to mix up... imagine this- LIGHT BLUE. My powers of color mixing are only one of my lesser super abilities.

Look! Light blue! Some may even refer to it as Periwinkle. Hmmm....I sense a name forming....

 I painted the light blue over the swirly lines. You may notice that I've tried to mirror the design on both sides of the face. It's no where near perfect. But that's one of the charms of hand made crafts. They're human in their imperfections. Besides, did you know that the human face is not perfectly symmetrical? It's true! Take a picture, then digitally put the 2 halves together. Looks like 2 completely different people.

Try it!

Or not. Moving on.

I'm using acrylic paints and cheap brushes, because that's just how I roll. But the problem is it's really annoying when you're trying to fine details. So, I was quietly loosing whatever is left of my mind and getting frustrated with my shaking hands until I finally said to Steve how irritating it was getting. "Use a Retarder Medium," he says and hands me a bottle. Make note of this. It can save your sanity! Retarder Medium not only slows the drying process of the paint (acrylic dries very quickly without it) and makes the paint flow more smoothly so that the lines are much more even and easier to accomplish.

Despite this, that's still a lot of tiny lines to paint. So, now that my hand is permanently cramped into a claw like visage, I'm heading to the $2 store to get some rhinestones.

That was a quick trip.

And this is what the rhinestones are for. I used some craft glue to put one rhinestone onto the end of each swirly line.



Good times.