Last year, I watched hundreds of people play Mini's Painting Minis during NaMoPaiMo. Admittedly I felt a little left out because I didn't really have a doll to participate... I mean I did, but nothing really stuck because I wanted something I created myself. It actually bothered me a little and I promised myself that as soon as I could, I would try and participate in Mini's Painting Minis... and that meant making a doll and giving it a personality.
Backing up a little, two years ago (during NaMoPaiMo), Erica Ferguson introduced me to a YouTube channel that would actually change my life forever. Dollightful, an American artist based in South Korea who customizes (usually Monster High) dolls and transforms them from sad, forgotten, childhood toy to chic art/ fashion doll. This style of art NEVER EVER interested me, nor inspired me until Erica showed me this specific YouTube Channel. You can see what I mean here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCitKV0ebZVbtU2nIPihDGMQ I remember glancing up from my model casually and then being glued to the screen for the duration of the video. Erica would play another, and another, and another and all the while my model stayed in my hand and my eyes stayed staring at the screen. At that moment I declared to myself that I wanted to make my own doll. Funny enough, no other doll artists interest me like the more well known Hextian.
Jumping in head first, I bought my supplies (what Dollightful suggested), bought a classic Breyer doll for practice, and set to work rerooting her hair and removing her factory paint. For a very long time (over a year), she sat in a jar with her head on a spike, waiting for me to finish her. It took me a long time to acquire all of the materials and take the plunge, meanwhile another year of Minis Painting Mini's passed by, leaving me with a dark feeling that I was left out (the reality was that I was too nervous to finish the doll I started!).
In that time, I also went to Japan and bought a ton of miniature items from doll clothes to mini food. That trip inspired me to go even further with my project and add personality to my doll! The clothes I bought for her are made by Azone International in the Pico Neemo size, which are hella expensive but you can find here: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/2386/0/1 they're website is a nightmare to navigate and you may switch over to Japanese, but I assure these clothes are insane quality and there really is no equal match. They only come in 1:12, 1:6, and 1:3, however I have found some 1:12 items that do fit 1:9!
For NaMoPaiMo 2021, I was absolutely adamant with myself that I would finish my doll in time. The last piece of the puzzle finally fell into place when I was able to source Mr. Super Clear (since Dullcote did not work for my doll), and I finally managed to finish her! Dollightful's 2021 Christmas video is what really pushed me to finish, using gouache instead of acrylics. I dressed her up and forced her head back on, and after 2 years of work she was finally back in one piece! I mean, she isn't perfect but I am very proud of myself. I'm sure someone is seeing an uncanny resemblance to Kiki's Delivery Service with her black dress and red flats.... her body is actually temporary until I can make a Kiki head and move this current ginger girl over to another body!
I named my doll Summer, and bought a ton of items for her including a tiny wing backed chair from Priam Costumes by Terri Wright and a tiny Persian carpet from Amazon. All that tiny food and other items I got in Japan came to good use and I FINALLY clicked the 2021 Mini's Painting Mini's selfie album and entered.
She is painting a Maggie Micro Ultramax as a portrait of my A.A. Fast Lida (one of my racehorses) who happens to be the same shade of chestnut as her hair!
Using Kristen Cermele's suggestion, Summer base coated her model in gold acrylic (she only had Tri Art Iridescent Gold Deep, which is a darker and yellower shade) and set to work with pigments (Dark Yellow Ocher, Light Sienna, and Burnt Sienna). She moved over to oils after that, deepening Lida's chestnut coat colour and adding dimension. Her sealant of choice was Mr. Super Clear, which I recommended to her since I've been enjoying it more lately than Dullcote.
Unlike Kiki, Summer is not a witch and cannot do magic... so she had to sit around and wait for her oils to dry. In the meantime, she did make herself some pancakes and hung around at home on covid lockdown. She caught up on her reading and worked on her horsemanship.
Eventually the oils did dry and Summer was on to detailing her horse... but only to run into a big problem; Lida began to wrinkle after her last layer of sealant. The sealant was to lock in the detailed markings and hooves to prepare her for pencil, but Summer had to backtrack on those plans.
It was a wild ride finishing a doll who in turn would finish a model horse. It gave me a great boost in confidence trying a new medium, and it was a learning curve for horses as well, I had never done a bright chestnut. I'm proud of the result and I cant wait for live shows to resume so I can show both Summer and her horse Lida, off to the local hobby community! I'll be back again next year for Mini's Painting Mini's and maybe it will be with a completed Kiki doll! Maybe Summer can have her own body by then and they can paint together?
Up next, I will be participating in The Little Rider Doll Making Challenge, which will be another post for another time. I hope to expand on my doll making and make Summer a friend!
Here is a small gallery of Lida's progress and how she turned out: