After many hours of rooting Zoey's Masterpiece Collection micro-rooted hair, I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. One more section to go!
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I enjoy having the opportunity to work on several custom orders at the same time. However, to feel like I'm really making progress, sometimes I just need to focus. Over the past few days I've been laser focused on Zoey's rooting. I still have a long way to go, but at least I can look at the photos and tell that I've made a difference. When you've got a lot of work to do, sometimes you've just got to focus.
Following my own rooting advice, I'm trying to see how many rooting sessions I can cram into a day before I start to feel it. So far so good. I'm also taking a break from trimming and styling the hair - which makes for much wackier progress photos. Oh, well, it'll be worth it! My goal this week is to make some serious headway on my rooting. So, in the interest of time, I won't be doing any trimming or styling for the progress photos. But don't worry - it will be worth it in the end because the end will come sooner!
Making my way up the back of Zoey's head... It's enough to make a grown woman cry. But I kept it together. When I sat down to root this morning, I discovered a bald spot. A bald spot where an hour of rooting used to be! This isn't the first time that's happened to me. And I have a few theories about the culprit: 1. A demon sneaks into my workshop at night and rips out the hair with his slimy little claws and a huge grin on his face
2. The hair gets caught on something and pulled out 3. The elasticity of the vinyl has been compromised I'm thinking it was #3 in this case. Check out my Rooting Watch Outs to avoid this issue in your rooting. Fortunately, I was able to get her warm enough to re-root that area. Now she's looking good. Today was Inventory Day. Even though I don't have updates on any of my dolls, I can still give you an update on what I'm working on. When you're juggling multiple custom orders, its critical to keep track of inventory. That way you avoid buying things you don't need, scrambling to acquire the things you forgot, or accidentally putting the wrong eyes in the wrong doll. To help me keep track of my inventory at CustomDollBaby.com, I developed a Microsoft Access database, CDB-CRM3 (Custom Doll Baby Customer Relationship Management, version 3) with the following functionality:
This video is a quick demo of how I track and manage my inventory at Custom Doll Baby.com. I'm happy to answer questions! Just Leave a Reply! I'm very excited that I finally started rooting Zoey. Zoey's mom and I spent a lot of time researching different kinds of hair and curl patterns to make sure we got the perfect curls for Zoey's beautiful newborn coiffure. I even sent her a Hair Sampler so she could handle the hair in person before having it rooted to her doll! After much deliberation, we eventually decided to use the same glamorously curly Yearling mohair that we're rooting on Britney. Its so soft and beautiful. I think she's going to get a lot of styling versatility out of this! So excited!
Today was Zoey's Interim Review. This was my opportunity to see her in different lighting and from different angles to make sure the painting was just right.
I think this little sweetheart is ready for rooting. Don't you? Two weird facts about me and reborning: 1. I'm always amazed by how lifelike the doll looks after the blushing layer. 2. I honestly don't know when I'm done painting until I'm done painting. The second one is especially awkward from a customer service perspective: Customer: "When's she going to be done?" Me: "Tuesday?" Customer: "Really?" Me: "I don't know" This isn't unique to reborning. Other painters and artists I've met likewise wait for the piece to tell them when the work is done. Well, Zoey finally told me she was ready for her finishing touches. So I painted her nails, applied my Matte Skin Sealant and added just a tiny bit of skin texturing to top off that perfectly lifelike look. Someone's getting her Interim Review soon! If you've been reading my blog for a while, you've probably noticed that no matter how many dolls I create, I'm always surprised by how much they are transformed by the blushing layer. It always amazes me how just the right amount of rosiness in the right places really brings the baby to life! Zoey is feeling GLAMOROUS. Now that I've finally achieved the skin complexion I need and the depth of shading required to make Zoey look just like a real baby, I'm now ready to do some detailing. The first detail is adding a fleshy color to the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Wondering how I paint the complexion layers of my hands & feet? Check out my Painting Hands and Feet Tutorial! I like to work my shading layers in concurrently with the flesh tone layers. This allows me to gradually build up the color of both without accidentally creating too much contrast.
Shading is a beautiful step on African-American dolls that bring richness and depth to the skin. The first few layers are subtle, but by the time I'm done, the colors will really pop. With all the under-the-skin work complete, I'm now ready to add the flesh tone layers. Complexion is built up in layers - which allows me to gradually darken the skin until we achieve the perfect complexion. I'm using a custom blend on Zoey rather than one of the premixed complexion colors. This gives me more control over the rose and gold tones in the colors. Once the mottling layers were completed and cured, I started painting veins. Its easy to make the veins too dark, so I like to paint them in layers - adding more and more color until I achieve that subtle look of veins under the baby's skin. Once veins are done, its time to cure and start the complexion layers. :) One of my favorite painting steps is mottling. Mottling is the process of adding several layers of color in random patterns to the dolls skin to create the appearance of blood flowing under the skin. For Zoey, I went through a minimum of 6 mottling layers so she will be as lifelike as possible. Before curing the mottling, I carefully inspect the parts to make sure there are no excessively blotchy areas. I also use a Q-tip and paint thinner to clean any paint from the mottling layers off the nails.
Inspired by Alaina Grace, beautiful little Zoey is based on Chanel by Donna RuBert. Here's my vlog of her early stage painting from Base Coat to the first Mottling Layer. |
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Reborn Doll ArtistHi! My name is Kim. I am a reborn artist based in NC. I have been creating dolls since I was a child. I discovered the art of life-like baby dolls in 2011 and have been reborning ever since. Archives
December 2016
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