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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Big Root-Haired Dolls





Here is my first large root-haired doll; her "hair" is a wild blackberry's root which I wrenched from the earth only with great effort!! Every single blackberry root is like that--they do NOT come out easily, and there are always more to pull up, as one never "gets it all."
 

 
Of course, one is never enough, so now I have three of the larger root hair dolls in progress:


 
Here is the top one with her face partly painted. She has very large eyes, which makes her a child:

 

 
All of these root heads began with the root and on most, I used aluminum foil bunched around the "stem" of the root, although one has one of those paper-wrapped Styrofoam balls you can buy at craft stores. You could use just about anything for the basic head. Sometimes you need to use masking tap to hold all the "inner head" together. Then I use Das or Paper Clay to cover the head and make the features. Both these products air dry fairly quickly (it helps to keep them in a warm place).
Once the paper clay is dry, I cover the head with a "skin" of old tee shirt fabric. It can be any color--I just grab one from my rag bag. The smaller the head, the thinner fabric you will need, but it's always easy to find old shirts (or even underwear!) around the house to use. Some people prefer the cotton shirts with 5% lycra, but I'm not that picky.
 
With the smaller root-hairs, I don't give them tee shirt "skin" due to the smallness of their features. Here is my latest one, still in progress:
 
 
 
That's all for today. There will be more root-haired news to come.
 

Big Gourd-Head in Progress and My China Girls

                      https://twitter.com/DollMakerBarb


This big gourd head doll is on her third face!! But I like this one, so I think it will be her forever face. I'm not sure she'll keep this hair, though.
 
She has been "in progress" for so long I hate to even say. I have a couple pair of antique, high-button baby shoes that I think she will get to wear. If I sell her, I will need to remember that I paid $25 a pair for them and add it on to the price. I HATE pricing my dolls--somehow it just seems wrong, but no matter how much I like them, I can't keep them all--especially the ones as big as she is. She''ll be close to 30 inches tall when she is done.
 
 
This is my collection of "China Girls," which I plan to share with my grandgirls. As you can see, the shelf I keep them on is FULL, so I will need to share soon or I won't have room for any new ones!!
 
It definitely feels like winter today, here in the Pacific Northwest. It's very sunny, very breezy, and about 40 degrees! Brrr!!
 
Today is Veterans' Day and I'm remembering all those who served and are serving now.  My four House uncles all served in World War II, as did my Uncle George Evans. So if any of you reading this are in active service or veterans, thank you so much for your service and I'm glad you are still with us!! Have a great day!!