Transition

I should be out walking in this wonderful weather we are having here in MI.  It's currently 72º and sunny today after a light rain through the night.  Last night was the first this year where it has been warm enough in the house to have the fan blowing on me ever so gently.  Waking up with cool, crisp sheets around me is one of my absolute favorite things.

The wild things are really beginning to take hold and move into their blossoming phase.  I have some supercharged hot pink creeping phlox in the front yard that is starting to rear it's blossomy heads.  When that stuff blooms it appears to be exploding onto the lawn as if someone purposefully overturned a bucket of paint in large, bountiful globs.  Walkers-by often stop and ogle it and, if I'm out when they're near, they'll ask me what it is.  I often respond with, "Magic."

I've been entirely preoccupied with things in my personal life unfolding, which I will refrain from going into in any great detail here.  But, all this mindfulness has rallied me away from doll painting.   I will try and salvage my absence by posting a few of my most recent doll works:

I hope that things are idling nicely where you are.  I can only hope to be coasting some place soon myself.

Midge More MOD

Had the pleasure of working on a customer's Midge doll.  Her only requests were to make her have rosy pink hair with matching lips and turquoise-green eyes.  Here's how her doll turned out:

It always amazes me how much better the Midge doll can look with more thoughtful painting.

Monsters In The Making

Was able to get these dolls painted over the weekend and styled their hair.  I am happy with these little monsters and hope to find more Monster High dolls out and about now that I know how to remake them.  Still need to make their custom dresses.

I am pleased with how they turned out as this was a new way of painting on vinyl for me.  I am used to painting on resin cast dolls for bjds, but painting on vinyl with chalk pastels and water color pencils is a whole different ball game.  It's all about building up "tooth" on the surface and building colors in layers.  Trying to force the pencils to lay down color only results in waxy buildup and tiny bits of the pencils breaking off - or worse - cutting into the layers you've already put down and sealed. D:

I really enjoy the ethereal appearance that chalk pastel lends to a doll's facial surface.  I often see when people take the time to wipe off all the factory paint, only to then repaint the doll similar to the way it was originally painted and while I applaud anyone's time and energy used to be creative and paint something, it seems like it's done in vain if only done to repaint it similarly.  These Monster High dolls have such beautiful facial sculpting with their wide eyes, button noses and pursed lips, it's a shame not to emphasize their sweet expressions without using a ton of garish painting.

Stain Master

Here's a doll that came to me with terrible bright pink stains on her ears.  I'd gotten ink stains out of vinyl before, so I was pretty confident that I could get these out as well.

I am pleased with the results.

Update: after one more week of treating, the stains are gone:

Nose and Finger Repair Work

Here are some examples of nose tip and finger repairs I've done.

Chip Off The Old Toe

I usually only blog about the faces of the dolls that I restore/repaint.  So, I thought today would be as good as any to blog about the nails that I repaint.  I recently repaired a toe chip on a vintage Barbie doll for a customer.  The first two images are the repair BEFORE being painted, but the missing area had been filled.

 And here is the AFTER with the area painted and the nails done, too.

I have plans to try my hand at repairing nose nips and missing chins on dolls.  It's quite a process though and having the knack for sculpting tiny areas is a skill that you must have in order to wind up with the results you were looking for - not to mention the ability to color match the skin tone by blending paint.

I also added some toe nails to one of this customer's American Girl dolls.  I actually really enjoy painting these tiny digits.