How to turn your doll making hobby into a career?
How to turn your doll making hobby into a career?

I interact with fellow doll makers on a daily basis. Some of them are students in my doll making classes, some of them are artists who share they work on Facebook groups or Instagram. A lot of them have two things in common: love for doll making and a desire doing it full time. For the past two years, I've been fortunate enough to call myself a doll artist and transform my doll making hobby into a career. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't easy at all. There were situations where I'd have loved to have some guidance. But I strongly believe that with the right attitude and hard work everyone could do it. Today I'm going to share the actions I took to make this happen. I hope they will encourage you to turn your doll making hobby into a career.

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How to create an astonishing costume for your doll?
How to create an astonishing costume for your doll?

In the doll making world, most of the time artists put all of their skills and assets to sculpting the doll. It’s understandable because the doll itself is a unique form of art which is beautiful the way it is. But often enough, I’m looking at those beautifully sculpted dolls and missing one more thing. The costume. Why are we so rushing to finish the doll and releasing it to the world without suitable garments? It carries the doll to the whole new level and tells us a story about a character we have just met, revealing the most intricate details! Usually, it’s simply because we don’t know how to create one. All that sewing, embroidery, beading, patterns and techniques makes a mess in our heads. But what if I told you that you can create an astonishing costume for your doll without years of sewing practice? Let’s begin!

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"Crafty Christmas" - sculpting, sewing and packing gifts!
"Crafty Christmas" - sculpting, sewing and packing gifts!

As soon as the leaves start crunching under the feet and a cold wind starts nipping your nose, we all know – it’s inevitably coming! The festive season is just around the corner. If you’re feeling a little glum and asking yourself what happened to the Christmas spirit, I’m here for you! Join me for “Crafty Christmas”! Spend those dark evenings making cute things for yourself and your loved ones. What could be better than a gift handcrafted with love?

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Making my first BJD doll: Part 1 - Rough sculpt
Making my first BJD doll: Part 1 - Rough sculpt

I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but BJD doll (ball-jointed doll) has been my goal for more than a year now. However, leaving a full-time job and starting my own business forced me to postpone this idea. Don’t get me wrong, fulfilling orders and creating OOAK dolls is my dream job. Yet I always had these restless thoughts of creating my own BJD doll. I don’t know how long it’ll take and if I’ll succeed or not, but I want to invite you to peek behind the curtain and join me in this creative journey.

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Opening your own shop with Wix website builder
Opening your own shop with Wix website builder

In the recent article, we already talked about that Etsy is not a very reliable option if your creative business is growing and developing. Especially if your Etsy shop brings you 100% of your income. Because at this point, even you're doing great, your shop doesn't really belong to you. Scary thought, isn't it? I don't know if you heard the horror stories about Etsy closing people's shops, declining sales and constant changes that don't always benefit all the shops. In this case, it's better to be prepared and don't lose your whole business overnight.

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Opening your own online shop with Shopify
Opening your own online shop with Shopify

In the recent article, I shared my opinion why Etsy is not a very strong foundation for your creative business. Especially if you're shooting for long-term success and growing your independent shop. While having all those shoppers coming to Etsy is great, have you ever imagined how many competitors you have? In the end of 2016, there were 1.7 million active sellers on Etsy. If you're driving a lot of your traffic using social media like Instagram or Facebook, you're helping other sellers as well. Etsy doesn't really care if you or your competitor is making a sale because in both cases they are getting their share. While I'm still a huge fan of Etsy, having my own website gives me a freedom that I can't get anywhere else.

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3 first steps to help you create the best dolls
3 first steps to help you create the best dolls

There are a lot of imperceptible steps in the doll making process. Some of them are pretty simple, like finding the right materials, but others could take an extremely long time. Nevertheless, this invisible work is just as much important as your dolls face-up or detailed costume. Today I’m gonna talk about creative process between an abstract idea and finished technical drawing. Those are very first steps of the doll making which will determine how your finished piece will look like. This system is a blend of many hours reading about doll making, analyzing all kinds of dolls and creating my own techniques. I’ve been using this method for years for my own dolls. I hope it’ll help you in your creative journey!

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Tools that will help you achieve the best results
Tools that will help you achieve the best results

Finally, the second article in "Doll making series" - introductory series for my "Doll making classes". You've already learned about the best air dry clays for doll sculpting and now wondering what you'll need to start making dolls? Or maybe you're in the hunt for some new tools? If that's the case, I've got you covered! Today I'll talk about the tools I use on a daily basis for over three years now. This gear includes items who have stood the test of time, remained extremely useful throughout changes in my dolls style and helped me get better in what I do.

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What clay I use?
What clay I use?

From all dry clays I tried, this is the best one so far. I’m using it for almost a year now and I actually see the improvement in my work. Especially in faces, with this clay I’m able to sculpt the tiniest details thoroughly. Delicate elements like eyes, lips or nose, which aren’t bigger than a centimetre in my dolls, sculpts with ease. If you’re a doll artist and you never tried this clay before, I strongly recommend you to do so. It may change your work, like it did mine.

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3 greatest fears I face every day
3 greatest fears I face every day

One of most asked question I get is “Was I afraid to start working for myself?” I guess I was a little, but disappointing job, unfulfilled dreams and dissatisfaction scares me more. I’m not trying to deny that I’m never afraid and like some sort of superwoman strongly march trough the world. All those doubts come to me pretty often. Understanding and supporting people around me help a lot. I have to work with myself too and carry a constant reminder to be courageous in life and work. I believe some of these fears will be familiar to you as well. Maybe we can beat them together?

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7 lessons I gained as a self-employed artist
7 lessons I gained as a self-employed artist

Next month it will be half a year since I’ve started my full time artist career. Before that I was working two jobs: lifeless assignments from 9 to 5 and becoming doll artist on the evenings. I’m so grateful that I have this amazing opportunity to work for myself, set my own working hours and say YES to all the interesting projects which I didn’t have time before. To celebrate this first anniversary, let me share with you most valuable lessons I’ve learned as a self-employed artist.

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Being your own boss. How I've started?
Being your own boss. How I've started?

Being your own boss is a very tempting idea. All that flexibility to organise your own working hours and make the decisions. But is it enough to have an idea and take a risk? Sometimes starting your own business isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. But creative freedom redeems everything. Today I wanted to share my story and how I made it to where I am now. Maybe this will become an inspiration to take the real actions for yourself?

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