More hours in my days now!! :)

Hello everyone! I am back from my little vacation and just as busy as ever!

Before I forget, here is Payton's auction link~

~see Payton~

And while we are talking auctions, look at this gorgeous baby made by Rachel Maynard~

~Rachel's Wee Yawns Prototype~

I point this auction out not only because I love Rachel's work but because she used MY hair on this gorgeous baby :) And has this created a stir and a lot of requests for TNGUN's hand processed hair!

We arrived home around 2 pm yesterday so after unpacking, I got busy doing our tax returns. Thankfully I am finished with those~yah!!! and I can now just move onto dollies and mohair. I've only got very little mohair available at the moment but I will try to get more up in the next two weeks.

~Available Mohair~

Oh my gosh there is so much going on and so much to tell!

I took my little Cowboy Matthew with us this weekend while we were gone. He has some exciting things to share with you about his weekend. He will do that on Friday.

I took a new custom order the other day which is paid for so I will be updating the list this morning.

James from Colliii TV and Colliii.com has asked to do an email interview with me so I will be getting that sent to him today. I am simply thrilled!!! You know me...I love the chatter! I'll post the link when that interview goes up.

Well...lookie what I did!! I won an award for Artist of the Month with a new guild I am on.

I made this gorgeous baby, Nicky, for IDEX 2010 and she found a loving mommy at IDEX. I will send her a copy of the award as I know she will be thrilled.

I did something different with Nicky when I made her. I did her base brown skin tone with Genesis paints, coated her with Genenis Matte Varnish and then finished her with LDC paints. I was so pleased with the results that I thought I would do something similar with Prototype Capri. I'll share some pics of Capri tomorrow and tell you more about her reborning techniques.

OH! My title to this blog is "More hours in my Day". I better tell you more about that! Well, my husbands job is at a national historical site. From mid April through Labor Day, he works 10 hour days 4 days a week and the rest of the year he works 8 hour days, 5 days a week. I work the same days/hours he does (and them some +++...just ask him~poor fella) and I don't know about you, but I get SOOO much more done in a 10 hour, non interrupted day than in an 8 hour day so this schedule works VERY well for me. Watch out world...there's a major over-achiever on the loose! LOL

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Hugs~

Eye Candy~More pics of Payton

Such a little sugar lump, I can't help but share!

Bye bye...I am crawling off to play for the weekend~

~Hugs~

Okay PINCH me! Angelica painted!

I can hardly believe it...I was able to finish the final touches on Angelica's paint yesterday! I do need pinched. This is one of those "feels like a miracle" moment~LOL

I took some pics but they aren't that great so you will have to wait :(

Payton is finished as well and I took her pictures last night. I opted for using my daylight lamps for her as I had more time in the night and the lighting has been so off and on here lately as storms come and go. I will be working on setting up her auction tonight (another late nighter!) and plan on having it start Saturday morning. I won't be blogging from Friday-Monday but I MIGHT post her link on Sunday morning before Hubby and I set out for the day.

Here's a little peek~






I got a wee little bit of work done on Capri yesterday too. I think I will wait a while to tell you more about her. I know you all love suspense! ~smiles~

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rooting Needles

Okay, I am NO expert at rooting needles, in fact, I am still learning all the different kinds myself but lately, through the help of Rachel Maynard in the UK, I finally learned what "crown" needle is! Back to that in just a moment...

Up until now, my needle of choice has been the 42 gauge FELTING needle from Bountiful Baby.

~Bountiful Baby Website~

I like this needle a lot however, it sometimes will root too many hairs at a time, especially if I am using 1st clip kid hair. This is the order # for the 42 gauge FELTING needle:

#1146 - ONE OUNCE Uncut 42-Gauge Felting Needles for Hair Rooting

I see that now Bountiful baby has 42 gauge German REGULAR needles. The needle above used to be called the REGULAR needle but is now called the FELTING needle.

As I read a recently delivered Discover Dolls Magazine, Rachel Maynard had stated in her portion of a rooting article that she uses a "crown" needle. Well, on all the websites I have looked on, I had never seen a needle advertised as a "crown" needle. Since Rachel's dolls hair simply blows me away, I contacted her.

She told me that she gets her needles from Tinkerbell Creations in the UK. So I went looking on that site. Here's the home page to TC~great website!

~Tinkerbell Creations Website~

While browsing, I found this WONDERFUL piece of information on rooting needles! Thank you Tinkerbell Creations!

Help with choosing needles

38# Fine

40# Very fine

42# Super fine

43# Extremley fine

46# Almost Invisible! ( for Silicone dolls only )

Star.... (the stem is a cross formation with 2 barbs to each face randomly placed = 8 barbs )

Crown ..( the stem is a triangular formation with 3 barbs all at the same level 1/4" from the tip )

Fork.....( Round stem with a groove at the tip )

3 Barb..(Triangular stem formation and randomly placed one barb to each face = 3 barbs )

1 Barb...(Triangular formation and one barb placed 1/4" from the tip = 1 barb )

And there it was....CROWN!

By the description of the "crown" needle, I got to looking at the needles I keep in stock. Huh, the 36 and 38 gauge ULTRA needles that I use for teaching rooting were exactly as described on Tinkerbell Creations as the "crown" needle. I became excited as I also use these needles when I am rooting a harder headed doll and want just a bit more hair. They are super strong and rarely break. (I did have one student who broke several of these~Love you Heather!)

The 42 gauge I had been using, I found out is a "star" needle having EIGHT barbs! No wonder I got too much hair at times! LOL I never knew there were 4 faces to the needles. I was so confused when people would say they have 3 barbs or 8 barbs on their needles as my needles always had 2-4 that I could see.

So I got on the Bountiful Baby website and ordered some German 42 gauge ULTRA needles:

#2853 - One Ounce GERMAN Uncut 42 Gauge ULTRA Needles


Payton has been my first "victim" with the new needle. I desired that she have "just there" hair and this needle helped a lot in that process. I was able to very finely root her.

It seems that the needle may have a "sweet spot" OR the vinyl just was NOT going to take the hair as I had a few areas on her head that just did not want to root. I used my 38G ULTRA needle for those spots and got at least more coverage. I will know more with the next doll I root.

The needle appears to dull easily. I would be hard pressed to break it though.

So this is what I have learned about needles over the past couple of weeks. Again I am no expert and will continue to learn.

Oh and about German FORKED needles? I hate them! I cannot root with those to save my soul!
I use them for piercing my dolls ears~LOL

Have a great day and happy rooting. (I am putting Miss Payton together today!)

So much to talk about today!

Good day everyone!

Well first off~Carter is up for adoption for bids on eBay:

~Carter's eBay Auction~

And available for direct purchase (Buy-it-Now) on ArtFire:

~Carter on ArtFire~


I made GREAT progress on Payton's hair yesterday and will be finishing it up today. That baby will be ready for "birth" tomorrow! My dear husband and I are going out of town on Friday for a four day vacation~YIPPEEEE~but I will have Payton's auction set up to start before we go.


Cathy Rowland has asked me to reborn her two new prototypes, Leah and Logan.





~See Leah and Logan OOAKS on Cathy's site~

I am SOOO excited about these babies as they both have anatomically correct full lower torso's! I've been wanting to reborn this newer style of reborn for some time now. I think I will do them as twins so am on the hunt for adorable twin outfits.

These prototypes should arrive in a few weeks~right after Natalie Scholl's Jayden prototype.

I am using a new needle for Payton's hair. I will post a topic on needles tomorrow.

Have a great day! I'm off to finish a baby~weeeee!

Payton paint is done! Peek at Angelica~

Wow I wish you could see the raw pics compared to the hosted pics~sigh~ Oh well, both these babies/kids will be going on eBay eventually.

Payton is ready for hair! I will start it this morning~I am excited!

It's a rainy gloomy day today so not great for the pics I took this morning of Angelica but they are not too bad.
Her hat shades her face some. Her hair should arrive today or tomorrow and I am almost done with her paint :)

Have a wonderful Monday!

Updated 2010 Custom Order/prototype list

2010 Custom Order List

Customer ID Sculpt Status

X#1: MB Portland OR Arianna PAID/Secure ETOD: Mid March 2010

Completed March 4, 2010, shipped March 5, 2010

X*Carter~completed and on ebay April 5, 2010

X#2: LC Portland OR Aubree, Completed and shipped March 25, 2010

*Angelica~ebay~In progress 4/4/2010

X*AR Canada Berenguer PAID ETOD: 2009 or Mid April 2010 (special case) Shipped April 6, 2010

**Jorja’s Payton and Capri Prototypes~Payton in progress 4/4/2010

#3: SB Tuscon AZ Tiny 10” Claire PAID/SECURE ETOA Mid May

#4 RM Nampa ID Berenguer, doll provided, ½ paid

#5 RM Nampa ID new set of limbs on Emily, Emily in the nursery, deposit made, limbs in stock

#6 SS WA State “Lillian”/Jena, kit purchased/PAID/SECURE ETOD: undetermined

#7 SG Arianna Caucasian Deposit made, kit in stock

#8 MM S California undetermined kit (Noah?) deposit credit on file

#9 BN The Dalles OR Nicky, Kit provided. Payments being made

#10 BN The Dalles OR Emely, Kit provided

**Prototypes to do: Natalie Scholl Jayden~April

Cathy Rowland: Leah and Logan ~April

Marita Winters Chicklet and Zinny~May?

LTR Kristaletta~May/June?