Do you ever get this feeling, when you have a beautifully sculpted doll in your hands and you’re afraid to ruin it with paints? At the beginning of my doll making journey, I’ve been getting this a lot. It’s so frustrating when you can’t fulfill the image you have in mind. In this article, I’d like to talk about the best materials and techniques I use to paint my dolls, so we could put all the annoyance behind our backs!
Read MoreWhile pursuing my dreams and creating my first BJD doll, I’m trying my best to document all the process. Not just for myself, (even though I enjoy to watch myself getting better at something) but for you guys as well. Not to pride on my achievements, but to show all the aspiring doll artists, that everything is possible. With hard work, long hours of trying, failing and not losing hope.
Read MoreOne of the most frequently asked questions I hear is “How to achieve symmetry when sculpting dolls?” Because of my doll making classes, I get to talk with many doll makers all over the world. A lot of them struggle with the same thing. And I get why. When I started to create dolls, my biggest strain was to make the face look symmetrical. I always ended up with one eye lower than the other, crooked nose or lips tilted to the side. Sounds familiar? Don’t worry you’re not alone. Seeing how many of us hassle with this, I’ve understood that this issue is extremely common.
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreIt has been almost three months since the last article about my ball-jointed doll journey. I didn’t expect that Christmas madness will creep on my Etsy shop so hard, haha. I’m very happy about it, though. So all the exciting process of sculpting my first BJD doll was postponed until now.
Read MoreIn 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!
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreRecently I took an amazing class about craft photography. Somehow it changed perspective about my photos and I finally could tell why I didn't like them too much. You already know how much I love Creative Live, but this online course changed so much for me. I'm talking about more followers, higher engagement, and bigger sales!
Read MoreIn my “Doll making classes” I promised I’ll make more free tutorials about bits and pieces, I didn’t cover there. For example, in costume making class I talked about one kind of shoes, but there are so many types of those out there! So now I’ll take you through the steps of making these fancy and adorable miniature art doll shoes.
Read MoreThere 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!
Read MoreOnline marketplaces like Etsy has made it easy to offer your creations to people all over the world. Selling internationally is exiting. But before you've started to count all this future orders consider some inevitable obstacles you may encounter. So what do you need to know before you send out your first item to the unfamiliar country overseas?
Read MoreFinally, 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.
Read MoreFrom 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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