Painting Tristan with Hunnybuns "Art & Magic of Reborns ©" Water Borne Colors

I have been painting on a little Jessica Schenk kit here called Tristan using the new paints, "Art & Magic of Reborns ©" Water Borne Colors, by Stephanie Sullivan.  I mixed the paints according to the ratios on the tutorial that Debbie Henshaw made to go with these paints.  I found them easy to use and true to color.  They go on easily and dry pretty quickly.   I do think air dry paint users will love these paints.

Now for your sneak peak of the baby in progess.  Little Tristan is a comical looking little preemie sized baby.  She will be a production from my Simply Baby line of reborns.  She still has some work to be done but here are some pictures taken in my home with a flash. 

Having a little fun collecting Middletons and Doll High Chairs!

Today's post will be a fun post about my doll collecting.  I  recently found a doll high chair on Ebay that was very similar to one I had as a kid.  The only difference was that it had a red back where mine had been wood stained.  This chair has a decal of a dutch girl and boy dancing on the back.  Once I got it home I decided the idea of doll hich chairs was a neat thing to display dolls because it holds them up well and they don't take up a huge amount of room.  So now I am looking for them everywhere I go!

As some of you may already know, I LOVE Lee Middleton dolls!  I used to spend hours looking at them in the JCPenney Christmas catalog when I was a kid but just never got one because back then they just seemed to expensive for my wish list.  Middletons have virtually stayed the same in price over the years but now days $150 for a new doll doesn't seem as unreachable as it did back then.  As an adult I bought my first Middleton new on sale for $65 from The Doll Market.  Since then I have bought several pre-owned Middletons either off Ebay or from other collectors on doll chat boards.  A few I bought in pieces and reassembled myself.  I have gotten some great deals.  Last week a girl on a doll chat board was cleaning out her dolls and was selling them for $20-$30 each shipped!  She had several Middletons.  I had just sold my micro preemie reborn on Ebay and decided to treat myself to some dolls.  I bought 4 Middletons and 1 Ashton Drake doll from her.  It was like Christmas this week at my house when they came!

The first baby came earlier than the others, arriving on Wednesday.  Baby Boo!  I have always wanted this one but could never afford one as they seem to go high and fast on Ebay.   Here is how Boo looked when baby arrived.

 

After much thought I decided that serious face just looked more like a boy to me and since I don't have that many boy dolls I gave Boo a change of clothing and made him a boy!  Here he is now.  I also took his photo with my other Eva Helland doll, Buddy Bear who got changed to a girl when I got her.  She is one I bought in parts and refurbished a copule years ago. 







Friday my husband Mark took the day off and we decided to go to Monroe to the antique mall. We spent over 2 hours there! I bought 2 items.   I found another doll high chair only this one is just like mine as a kid! I was so excited! I also found this adorable little wooden chair with green upholstered cushions. Here are my 2 finds.







When I got home I had 4 doll boxes on my front porch! My other dolls I had purchased had arrived!

First out the box was my Mongolia Middleton. I love her so much and she was perfectly content to sit in the new little chair.  I can't believe I got her for only $30!



Next up was the AD Fagan Peach Blossom. Her body was pretty worn out and her stuffing all collapsed. I happened to have a body here that I thought would be perfect for her. It is a little smaller than her original body making her a smaller baby but I think it looks better proportioned with her limbs and it is new.    I removed her sand bags (I don't know why Ashton Drake uses cheap plastic bags of sand in their dolls!) and reweighted her but left her limbs stuffed with the poly fill for the softness. Here is her new body and her after she got dressed. One interesting thing I noticed about this sculpt is her right arm is shorter and a tad smaller than her left arm.  Probably no one but me would notice that kind of thing, LOL!  She is such a sweetie I think in her new body all dressed up!





The next baby I opened was little Peanut. Oh he is such a darling little boy! I felt sure the farm animals sleeper I had would be perfect with his eyes and it is! It is a tad snug so I think I will go back to TJMaxx where I recently got it and try to find it in a larger size later on.



Last baby to be opened was the Middleton Club doll.  I was told by another collector that they think she is  Baby's First Prayer from 2003.   She came in her original lavender and white striped bubble suit but I wanted to redress her and just decided on Christmas because I love this dress! She is a precious  baby.  Isn't she pretty all ready for Christmas?



I had also been wanting to get Mark's doll Jack a new body that didn't have leg caps because his legs were too long for his outfit. I made him for Mark back in 2011.  Mark always loved this Berenguer face.  I ordered him a new custom body and it came today so he got a new body where he can wear just a diaper in the summer.  I decided he would be the baby who gets to sit in the new high chair!





The last thing I will share is a Holly Hobby high chair I got earlier this week from off Ebay. It was not much and so I bought it because I used to love Holly Hobby as a kid since I am into the doll high chairs now. When it arrived I was disappointed that the back had been cracked in 2 places in shipping. It was poorly packaged in 2 boxes taped together and not one bit of packaging inside. I filed an Ebay dispute and Ebay gave me a courtesy refund and said I don't have to send it back. So I am going to try to figure out a way to fix it maybe. The blue parts will be easily repainted I just have to figure out what to do about the back. In the mean time, my first reborn to ever own is sitting in it.  She was a gift from Linda Deskins.

 







Thank you for sharing my fun day of doll collecting finds and I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post!

NEW "Art & Magic of Reborns ©" Water Borne Colors

To those of you who are looking for air dry paints, made specifically for painting reborn dolls, that are permanent, easy to use and cost effective Stephanie Sullivan of Hunnybuns.com has come out with a new system.   It has been tested by Debbie Henshaw of TNGUN and Debbie has made a free tutorial/guide on how to use the paints that can be found at
 http://theynevergrowupnursery.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-and-magic-water-borne-air-dry.html

Debbie says they are just as easy to use as the LDC paints she has been using.  These paints are a bit more affordable.  There is a starter set of pre-blended colors for $22.99 that Debbie says is enough paints to paint 3-4 dolls.   If you prefer to mix your own there is a starter set of basic colors for $20.99.   Of course for those of you that are using them for touch ups only they will last even longer. 

I plan to order a set of these myself to try.  Here is the link: 
http://www.hunnybunsrebornsupply.com/_art___magic_of_reborns____water_borne_paints

Jo Sonjas Tutorial Baby is finished!

I finished her up this morning. She has her nails done, glossing and I touched up any shiny spots in the creases that I had missed with the FolkArt. I am going to let her sit and cure a while and then will wrap her in tissue and send her back to her Mommy to be finished out by her.  The sunlight was hitting her in a couple places in the pics. I took them with a flash though cause this room is darker.

Jo Sonjas with Liquitex UMG testing SEALING

Today I sealed my limb that has been painted with Jo Sonjas Paint mixed with Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel.  I used Genesis Heat Set Matte Varnish straight out of the jar.  I worked the matte varnish on my pallet until it became more pliable, spread it out very thin on my pallet with my pallet knife and then pounced a dry cosmetic wedge in the matte varnish.  From there I pounced the matte varnish onto my limb and pounced it out to a thin layer.  I heat set the limb at 265 degrees for 8 mins on one side, flipped it over and heat set for 5 minutes more.  Once the limb had cooled off I took these photos with a flash.

Keep in mind this limb only has some mottling and a few flesh layers on it.  It is now nicely matte and has good subtle coloring.  The paints did not go orange or suffer any visible damage from the heat setting process.  I have laid the limb aside to watch it over time. 

Jo Sonjas with Liquitex UMG testing (cont.)

Not much to report today.  Touched up the blushing a bit more today and paints are curing.  Will be sealing the vinyl  tomorrow perhaps.  I have decided to seal the vinyl with Genesis heat set matte varnish to see how things hold up under heat.  I know they will do fine with air dry sealers if those are used straight out of the bottle. 

Jo Sonjas with Liquitex UMG testing day 2

This is a quick post today.  I tried mixing the Liquitex UMG with some Jo Sonjas matte sealer to see if I could make an air dry matte sealer that is really matte.  Pounced it on the piece.  Piece still has a sheen so no go on that.   Next I tried pouncing straight UMG on top of that and it is matte looking but sticky.  I think that is a no go too.  So I washed it all off and the sealers took some of the paint off with them in the washing off.   Will have to paint limb again. 

Testing Jo Sonjas paints mixed with Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel

Although I have settled upon Genesis Heat Paints being my paint of choice for reborning I often get emails and questions about the Jo Sonjas requesting more information and an updated tutorial.  There are times when I still will pick up my Jo Sonjas and use them so I wanted to come up with some current information for those who have been asking. 

I have been hearing good reviews from my friend Debbie about the Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel.  She has been using it in with her LDC paints with satisfaction.  I finally got my order in to Dickblick for the Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel, that I will refer to here on out as UMG.  It came Saturday and tonight I finally sat down and played with it a little.

Basically what the gels are is the base product that is in acrylic paints without any added pigment and matting agent added to increase matte texture and appearance.  The use of these gels increase the binders in your paint mix thus making the paints adhere better and the matting agents help control sheen.  Anything that increases the ability of air dry paints to bind to vinyl is a good thing and so that is why I wanted to try this product.  

I have this test arm here that has been through it all. It has been painted and stripped, varnished and stripped, rooted on and who knows what else.  It was the only test piece I had on hand so once again I stripped it down and pulled all the hair out to use for this test.

I mixed some Jo Sonjas Plum Pink paint with the UMG at about 50/50 ratio.  I would say about a butter pea sized glob of each.  To that I just added some water, enough to bring the paint down to a liquid state that could be stirred around in the bottom of a stryrofoam bowl. Once I get all this down I will come up with measurements and such for you all but this is the truly experimental stage for now that you will get to witness.  I plucked and wet my cosmetic wedge then applied the plum pink mix to the sponge with a paint brush, blotted it and then pounced it all over the limb.  The first thing I noticed immediately was the paint color is very true and the paint does indeed stick much better to the vinyl than when not using the UMG.  I then mixed up some flesh colored JS with the UMG and water the same way.  This time I did not pluck my wedge, just wet and squeezed it out and applied the paint to it.  This I pounced over the top of the mottling.  I did not take care to paint all down in the creases, palms, fingers etc.  I just wanted to get a decent overall coverage to the largest surface area of the limb.  I let this sit for about 20 mins air dry time then applied a 2nd layer, let set 20 mins and applied a 3rd layer.  The subsequent layers of paint went on well and the layers already on seemed not to lift off while applying the newest layer.   The paint looks nicely matte.  The limb itself was very shiny from having had so much done to it prior to this so it is not totally matte looking but nice enough considering.  Keep in mind this overall paint application has not been with great care, just a test. 

I have taken 2 photos with flash and the flash does bounce off the piece giving it more shine.  Here is what the limb looks like as I leave it lay for the evening.  I will give you more updates as I play with this.

Reborn Baby Boy Nelson

 This is a new baby boy I named Nelson.  I am so in love with him!  I seem to be on a boy craze lately!  I tried a new painting technique on him, using the Secrist Authentic Reborn Paints strawberries and cream blushing colors.  I really like the outcome.  He has nice distinct mottling but is not overly red. 

Nelson is scheduled for Ebay and I hope he finds a new Mommy who is as taken with him as I am!

Nelson's link won't be active until 6pm PDT tonight (8/11/12)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290759459017

Our Visit to Babyland General Hospital

For those who might not know, Babyland General is the origin of Cabbage Patch kids in Cleveland, GA. It is about an hour away from us. We have visited a couple times over the years but it has been a long time ago. We had not been back since they had moved to their new larger facility.

The camp meeting revival for our church denomination started this weekend at the campground up in Cleveland, GA and my father was to receive an award pin for 25 years of service as a minister at last night's service. We decided to go up early and visit Babyland and then went over to the camp ground and had dinner with my father and attended services. Such memories as this is the camp ground that I attended so many youth camps as a kid. The visit to Babyland was lots of fun as well being that I love all kinds of dolls and Marissa has always been my biggest supporter in my reborning babies.

The new facility is just fabulous and I took lots of photos to share with those of you who have never been there. Since there are so many photos, I loaded them up at pbase and you can view them at this link: http://www.pbase.com/mox/visit_to_babyland_general

One of the things that is new since my kids were little and last there is that they now have 3 levels of dolls. They have the original all hand made babies/kids that start at $199 for a bald preemie and go up to $300 for a toddler kid. Then they have the boxed dolls that you see in all the toy stores and can buy most any place. The new to us thing is they have the Babyland Exclusive dolls now. These dolls are the more economical version of being able to adopt a baby. They have the cloth sculpted bodies and plastic heads that take a pacifier. They come in a nice baby outfit. These dolls are somewhat like the boxed dolls in the way they are made and are mass produced with the Xavier Roberts signature stamp on the tushy. However, you can not buy them any place other than Babyland General. Also, when you adopt one, you get to go register your baby's name with them and they give you a birth certificate and put your baby's registry in their book. These dolls were $49.99 and just adorable. Marissa decided she wanted to get one. They have these babies placed throughout one side of the store in little cabbage heads where you can "pick your baby from the cabble" and they also have them in cribs if you see one in a crib you would rather have. These are a great doll for kids and adults alike who want an affordable CP doll. If I had not just spent out all my PP monies I would have gotten one for myself! There was an original CP bald baby in the nursery for $225 that would have been my take home pick had I had that money too!

Here is Marissa with her new baby, which can also been seen with the many other photos at the link above.

Here she is picking her baby from the cabbage.


In the lobby there is a large cabbage chair where you can take a photo with your baby.

Natalia goes to work.

My coworkers have mentioned they would like to see one of my dolls.  I work part time for a chiropractor and on Tuesday mornings we file insurance and such so we don't see patients till the afternoon.  Just the massage therapist has her clients coming in.   So since it is a laid back day today I took Natalia with me.

When I got there one lady I work with was already there.  She was the one who had asked to see her.  She is 72 years old and still works part time.  She was very impressed and said she and her hair looked so real.  After she held her a minute I set her up on the counter in our office where we do paperwork. 

I was out in the front office doing some work when the massage therapist came in later.  I had forgotten about Natalia being in the middle office until I heard this lady gasp "OMG, that baby totally freaked me out!"  She said she had come in to work in a bad mood, near tears because she had a fight with her parents that had left her very upset.  She said that seeing the doll was just what she needed to jolt her into a happy mood.   She was laughing at how real the baby looked and how she was freaked out that someone left a baby on the counter, just sitting up sucking a pacifier.  Several times between her clients she came back and held the baby and even showed her to one man who was blown away.  He is a local coach at the high school where my kids attend and he said I was crazy but then went on about how amazing he thought the baby is.

Next came in the girl who works the afternoon shift on Tuesdays just before I am getting ready to leave.  The baby is still on the counter in the middle office and she has the same reaction as the massage therapist.  She too was having an emotional day so once again the baby brought a minute of joy and lightheartedness to everyone's day. 

It was a nice feeling to cheer co-workers up and I was really glad I had brought her.  Also the massage therapist is asking questions about getting a custom baby in the future to look like one of her sons so maybe I will get a sale down the road.

Natalia is back in the crib now, still waiting to be adopted.

An Early Arrival

This little preemie baby has just made her early entrance into the world and as you can see from the expression in her eyes she is quite full of wonder.  She is a darling little sprite who just curls up in your arms for a snuggle!  She was created from a Lt. Edition sculpt by Brit Klinger.  I have named her Jaynie.  Jaynie is 17 inches long and weighs just at 3 lbs.  She was reborn on May 19, 2012 at 5 pm.  You can see more about Jaynie on my website by clicking this link:  REBORN PREEMIE BABY JAYNIE FOR SALE

 

Happy Mother's Day from Carly!

This is my Mother's Day present to myself!  After agonizing weeks of rooting I finally finished her up.  I got her together at 11:30 last night.  It is pouring rain here and dark but I got a few nice flash pics.   I have to find some shoes to fit her fat feet!  This dress just does make it to cover her shoulders and arm caps but I love smocked dresses so she will probably wear it a lot. 

Slowing rooting my big baby

This rooting is very S L O W going on such a big head ! I am about 2/3 of the way finished.  She looks pretty wild right now since it has no cut and style and is a bit all over the place from being handled.  Poor pouting girl is not happy right now!

We are making progress!

I have given Miss Pouty a coating of Genesis Matt Varnish, weighted her limbs, glossed her mouth and nose and put her together all but attaching her head.  I don't have a single outfit here that really fits her so I have to go shopping.  This dress is a little small in the shoulders but will do for now.  I tried to get a decent photo of her today.  Her mohair is being shipped out Monday so hopefully  next week sometime the rooting can begin. I will add her eyelashes after she is rooted. 
I do love her so far!

So Miss Pouty likes her body now.....

though you wouldn't know it from the look on her face!

Okay so now I have tapered the chest and neck area on the body and I like it better.  It is still full enough to blend well with the overall size of the body yet it doesn't make her neck look so dwarfed into her body.  Keep in mind she is loosely put together here for photos as I have yet to go back and GMV her all over.  These are flash pics. 
I do like her body better now. 

BEFORE:                      

AFTER:

Miss Pouty and her body

I did work on her coloring a bit more today. However, I wanted to see how she looks on her body and I am not pleased with this BB body. To me it is too fat in the chest area. I thought about seaming up that area a bit to make it slimmer but then I thought it might work to just run a gathering stitch at the top of the chest like some bodies have and see if that cinches it up enough.  So here it is with the gathering stitch and as you can see that didn't solve the barrel chest look.  So I will be taking the body apart at the neckline and stitching it up some to make it slimmer in the chest. 

Will keep you all posted here.

 

This is not a good photo for baby's color but this is what the body looked like before I sewed the gather.