Protect your dolls face during rooting

Your reborn baby's paintwork is all done...and she looks beautiful. Now all you have to do is the rooting but you fear damaging the paint during this long and brutal process. I understand your fear!

Over the course of 5 years now, there have been a few dolls that developed shiny spots on the high places of the dolls face and ears during rooting, no matter which paint and products I used.

I finally came up with a solution! This solution came to me during the re-rooting of silicone heads for other people. Silicone is very sticky and rooting is very messy with loose hair going everywhere! The combination of sticky and loose hair is not good for a silicone doll! The poor doll would look like a gorilla when I was finished rooting and much time was spent removing that loose hair from the dolls face.

So here is what you do to protect the face of any doll that you are rooting:

Fold a clean, white wash cloth in half creating a triangle. Place this over your dolls face like in the picture below. Tuck the two corners over and behind her ears.


Then cover the cloth with a clear non-zipper, gallon size storage bag. Again, tuck the bag over and behind the dolls ears with the opening of the bag now at the back of the neck.

Be sure that there are no "pressure points" pressing on the high points of the dolls face and ears...meaning, make sure the bag is secure but not tight.

Push some of the excess bag up into the dolls neck flange so that you can get your fingers in there to hold and move the head as needed.

Secure with a big rubber band, wrapping it around the flange twice if needed.

Now your doll is protected and the rooting can begin. The cloth allows protection and cushion and the bag prevents friction on the dolls face by sliding in your lap or on your rooting pillow~whichever way you hold your doll during rooting.

If you have applied glues inside the head to eyes or to magnets, remove the bag and cloth after each rooting session so that the glues can air out during your break.

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As of 12:45 am this morning, the Latino Arianna's art work is finished! I am tired today and my right arm aches a lot! I am left handed and root with my left hand, but on Saturday, my horse and I took a fall hurting my right arm and shoulder. Holding onto that big Arianna head all day yesterday and into the night made me aware that my arm needs a few more days to heal!

My horse and I are fine though~I am very thankful to God for watching over us during that fall. It could have been very, very bad as my horse stepped in a hole while we were trotting. He is 25 1/2 yrs old and has never fallen before. It was really scary!

Have a great Wednesday! Just a few more days until the show but my fun starts tomorrow with the arrival of my friend/assistant for this show. Friday will find us shopping all our favorite baby stores in the area of the show~weeeee!

Oh boy...and girl! The twins are done!

Please welcome Cody and Angie!
These sculpts are "Cody and Angie" by Jackie Gwin~they are gorgeous sculpts!



I ended up leaving Angie's hair just painted and LOVE it!

Sparsely rooted hair is quite a challenge for me but I did it! Cody has rooted hair over his painted hair.

Cody has an awesome upper gum~

And spit bubbles in his mouth! Angie has a few bubbles on her lips.

I am simply delighted with these two babies. I can't wait for the show on Saturday!

Now to finish the Latino Arianna. I will spend the day rooting today :)

Hello Dollie Doll Show~Caldwell, Idaho Oct 3

Wow...that's THIS weekend! LOL I better get ready!

I will have a table of my reborn dolls there AND will be teaching an LDC painting class from 1-3 pm. Sign up is with me at the above email address.

I will have TWO trial sets of paint to give away at the end of the class :)

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Tomorrow I will have pictures of the set of twins that will be at this show.

Happy Monday!

Changed my mind~what's new??

Well.....I said I was going to leave the little Jackie Gwin twins bald, but with encouragement from my husband, I have begun rooting hair on the little boy, Cody. I am attempting to root it very, very sparse~something that is quite a challenge for me. So far, he is looking good.

I still might leave the little girl with just the rooted hair.

Stay tuned while Debbie decides for sure~:)

Friday Funnies! Matthew meets Mindy, the famous CA horse~

It's time for a bweak in our day for wunch. It is a widdle bit warm today so I am donna tool off in my stwoller and my faborite bwack onsie dat my's Auntie Sally dibs to me. It sez I am cruizin for chicks! Hahahahaha

It was such an exwasting morning dat Mommy said I needs to stay at cwamp and take a nap.

I is sad....but I AM a widdle bit sweepy.

I feewl MUCH better now...all bwight eyed and bushy taiwed! And Daddy bought me a new horsie! Tank you Daddy! I wub him!!

Awe...it's otay Peanut horsie...I will aways lub you!

sigh....I have a widdle bit of time befwor bed...I tink I will pwactice with my new Handy Stick dat Daddy bwought to hewp me and Mommy twain my horsie, Toby. Peanut will have to hewp me now tause we did not bwing Toby wif us.

ARG! Did is tindof hard! Da string keeps detting wapped awound me!

Oh...I tink I is detting it now! Ahhhhhh....That's better!

Do youb tink I tan work Toby with da stick and dit him to move?

Wow...I is weawy detting sweepy...horsie twaining is hard work.... but I tink I is doing awight with da Handy Stick. Mommy says dat tomorrow, I get to MEET Cwinton Andwerson and his famous horse, Mindy, in PERSON! I better det some sweep! Dood night horsies!

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The next day......

Wooo-Hooooo! Wook at me! Daddy, tan I hab one of dees pwetend horsies?

Daddy is da smart man...he says dat I have a weewl horsie so dat is dood enough. I tink he is right!

Oh wow! It's time to meet Cwinton Andwerson and his horse, MINDY! Mindy dis soooo wonberful! She does all tinds of tings for Cwinton! I wub her and I det to sit on her!!!!! (Sowwy for da fuzzy pitchure...they tind of rushed us frew like a herd of tows! But...I dot to see him and Mindy!

THAT was soooo exciting! Now I is ready to do home and see if eyes tan use my new Handy Stick on my horsie Toby! I will sweep on da way tause Daddy says we will det home wate.

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Next week~let's see just how well Matthew does with his new handy stick as he trains the real horse, Toby...stay tuned.......

Maybe I won't root over the painted hair!

I said yesterday that I would be painting hair on these little twins and that I loved the look of painted hair under rooted hair. I HAD every intention of rooting hair on these babies but...I am so pleased with how they look right now, with just the painted hair, that I am going to take them to the show next weekend without rooted hair.

They are not fully finished as they need gloss and proper assembly. I will finish them up on Sunday. The sculpt names are Cody and Angie and I think these names are perfect for them so I am keeping those names.

Have a great Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday Funnies!

I don't know how my followers got hidden!

Huh...where did my list of followers go? I have looked all through my account to find them or fix the "hiding" error but I see nothing!

Can any of your pro bloggers help me??

Oh dear....so much to learn!

Color Guides for the Little Dreams Collection paints

I have been working on some color guides to help people choose which Little Dream Collection (LDC) colors to use to create a specific toned reborn.

Four of them are ready for sale:

TNGUN LDC Color Guide for NEWBORN skin tone:



TNGUN LDC Color Guide to use on "PEACH" colored Bountiful Baby kits:


TNGUN Color Guide for "Gwin Twins" skin tone:


TNGUN "Latino" guide:


These guides are to be used in conjunction with my techniques as described in my FREE tutorial on dolldreams.net and are specific for LDC paints.

An E-copy is just $7 which will walk you through all of the color combinations used to achieve the tones as seen above. Of course, results may vary according to artist techniques but everyone who has purchased these and those who have followed the free tutorial have had great results.

If you desire an E-copy, just drop me an email at tngun05@gmail.com and I will tell you how to pay and get it sent to you right away.

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Nursery news:

The Gwin twins are ready for painted hair and then the rooting will begin! I love the look of painted hair under rooted hair. It gives such an added dimension of realism.

The Latino Arianna is just shy of half way rooted. My arms and shoulders are very sore so I will be taking a little time off tomorrow to recover.

Have a good day!

Progress report~

The nursery is booming with activity as I wind down to the final days of preparation before the next doll show on October 3rd.

I have been spending the days painting adorable little Jackie Gwin twins (Cody and Angie) and the evenings rooting the Latino Arianna. I am becoming happier with her with each poke of the needle!

The Colliii awards voting is up and running for the public. It takes quite a bit of time to get through all of the entries but it is a lot of fun seeing all of the entries! The polls are open until Thursday September 24. If you have not voted yet, be sure to pop in at http://colliii.com/en.

Happy Tuesday!

Ethnic Cuddles.....WAY TO GO GIRL!

Here are pictures of the gorgeous baby by Ethnic Cuddles!
Marci~look! Milk bumps and spit bubbles. How did you miss her??

Well I just did not know what to "blog" about today until I saw a post on Doll Fan regarding Ethnic Cuddles wonderful sale of her beautiful reborn Michelle sculpt!

That beautiful reborn baby sold for $2, 589.00!!!

WOOOOOO-HOOOOOO Crystal! Congratulations on a well deserved sale!

You see, some might faint at a price like that for a reborn doll but one must remember that these dolls are a work of ART. I was at a local art gallery the other day and saw a painting priced at $6000. Did I faint? Nope. It's art and art deserves to be rewarded.

Hats off to you Crystal of Ethnic Cuddles!

Sending your reborn baby home~

One very important detail to creating beautiful life-like reborn baby dolls is sending them safely home. Of course there are other ways to ship a baby home, but this is how I do it:

Depending on the size of the reborn baby, I select either a large Priority Mailing box or one of the longer boxes I have purchased to use to ship dolls home. For the doll I am using in this tutorial, I have selected a large Priority box.

Begin by covering the bottom and sides of the box with bubble wrap. I find that the small size bubbles work just great. On top of the bubble wrap, I place two layers of tissue paper to extend the sides of the box.

To create a pillow for the baby's head, wrap the extra outfits in tissue paper, folding it carefully over and placing this "pillow" in the corner of the box.

Place cute ribbons down in the box. The next step is to place the blanket on top of the ribbons. (The ribbons will be used to secure the baby in the blanket.)

Place the baby doll in the box, curling him/her up so that all the limbs are maneuvered in a way that won't cause stress on the limbs and won't be extending the top of the box. You can see that this doll is fully dressed in long pants and sleeves to further protect him. If your doll is not traveling home in long clothes, be sure that the blanket will wrap between his legs to keep the vinyl from rubbing on vinyl.

All of my babies travel home with a stuffie of some kind. That stuffie is a great barrier between the package wrappings and the baby's face. It helps keep the eye lashes from being smashed during shipping. Place the stuffie on top of the dolls chest and onto the dolls chin. Wrap the arms gently around the stuffie.

Swaddle the doll with the blanket, adjusting the stuffie and limbs as needed. Snugly tie the ribbons around the doll.

For any extra accessories that your doll has, package them into a small bag or cute package of your choice. NEVER travel your dolls home with the bracelet on him/her and the pacifier on his/her mouth! These can rub onto the vinyl and paint causing damage to the doll. Double wrap "formula" bottles in zip lock bags and then wrap bubble wrap around that. Stand the bottle upright in the box. Place photo CD's away from any magnets.
Place the extras around the sides of the doll. This helps to snug the doll into the box. Make sure that the extras do not come into contact with the the dolls vinyl as colors can bleed especially if they get wet during transport. Speaking of wet; Some people like to place their dolls in a large trash bag for the trip home. I typically do not do this unless my customer requests it of me. It is at this point, when the doll is snugly wrapped into the blanket and then wrapped fully in white tissue paper that it can be placed in a 13 gallon CLEAN and white kitchen trash bag. Be sure that no ink from the bag sits on any part of the doll.

Fold the tissue paper and bubble wrap over the doll paying close attention of the eye lashes. Be very careful to keep from smashing the eye lashes of the doll. Secure the bubble wrap with a cute sticker, place any extra bubble pillows in the box so that the doll will not wiggle or move on the trip home (and always be sure to wrap printed bubbles in tissue paper if there is a chance that they would come into contact with the dolls vinyl). Place any birth certificates or other information on top and add a personalized note for the new mommy.

Securely tape the box with strong tape, print your label, add cute stickers if desired and send the baby home to it's new mommy. Of course, it is wise to ship with insurance to protect you and the buyer in the event that anything would happen to the doll within the shipping service.

IMPORTANT NOTES ON PACKAGING:

NEVER use Styrofoam peanuts for shipping dolls in. They have been known to react with certain vinyl, ruining the doll. If you MUST use them, be sure that the doll is fully protected from coming into contact with them. Placing the doll in a large kitchen trash bag is a good idea if using peanuts. Make sure that no peanuts can get into the bag.

It is a good idea to only use white tissue paper and and other shipping supplies. Inks can come off of colored papers and leach onto the doll. Be sure that all inks on bubbles cannot come into contact with the doll.

NEVER travel your dolls home with the bracelet on him and the pacifier on his mouth! These can rub onto the vinyl and paint causing damage to the doll.

Be sure to fill all air pockets in the box with bubble pillows. If the doll cannot move in the box, it cannot get damaged. Also the solidity of the package prevents the box from being smashed during shipping.

Be sure to use a personal touch when sending your babies home. Think of how you would like to receive a new doll and how fun it is to open that package and see how much care went into the packaging of it.

Use your imagination but above all, your common sense when shipping a doll home. :)

Friday Funnies~Horse training continued....

Wow! The big day if finawwy here! I tinks I hab eberyting....I hab my twusty horsie, Peanut, to keep me company on the long car trip and I hab my diaper bag and my cwothes and wook! I eben habs a booster car seat! Member when we all dot to ride da weawl horsie? We all was in da back of Daddy's pickup twuck wifout eben a seatbwelt on us! We was so scared of getting taught by da powiceman!

Ohhhhh.....Daddy is bwinging is nice towboy shirt....

I habs mine too...and my hat!

We are here! We all swept reawwy well in our camping spot and now we must hab a big bweakfast before the horse twaining tour starts....YUM! Nuttin better dan food cooked outside!

OH my doodness! I tan't bewieve we are here to see Cwinton Andwerson! Dis arena/events center is gigantic! I am so excited dat I haf to hold onto my daddy!

Hahahahahaha....WOOK! A costume horsie! He is so funny! Wook at dat baby horsie watching him. Do you tink Cwinton can twain dat baby horsie??

Oh wow! Dis is such good stuff I is learning! WOW! I is amazed at what Cwinton Andwerson is teaching dat baby horsie!

It is time for a break in our day for wunch~I am hungry!

TO be continued......