Day 2 of Jena's reborning class!

There is nothing like having a 9 year old in class to help me refine my teaching methods!
The most difficult thing for me to teach in class is the pressure used to apply LDC paints...and any paints for that matter.

Well during the application of what I call the "Newborn Flush" layer, my brain was stretched in order to communicate to Jena what amount of touch was needed.

It finally came to me~"touch the sponge to the vinyl as if you were touching a bubble but not popping it"! Whew, she understood that!

Applying paints in a multidimensional layering method as I do really takes a very light touch. It is not that the paints are rich or will become darker later, it is simply that if you PRESS the sponge onto the vinyl, the paint will all smoosh together and ruin the "texture" that you are trying to achieve. The multidimensional texture will be lost to a solid color.

So here is Jena applying some Newborn Flush color using a sponge that has large pores in it:

And here she is being silly and giggly after I finally got the right words to communicate to her how much to press. I told her that she needs to touch the bubble without popping it, not go in slow and strike all of the sudden as if she were killing a spider! (It was really funny~I was telling her to lightly touch the vinyl and she would approach the vinyl very slow and soft and then all of of the sudden STRIKE the vinyl with the sponge! I have seen this happen in almost every class I have taught but never could find the right words to use. Thank you Jena!

She had some issues with the creases~not that she didn't understand how to do them and what the purpose of the creases were for, it was more that I didn't have the paint mixture quite right for her baby at first. Between the two of us, we fixed most of the problems. I want to note that as with all of the classes I teach, I do not take the doll away and do artwork on it as I would have it done. I believe that the best method of teaching is to guide and allow the student to learn from errors and also allow them their own creativity. I will help clean up an error if they find they cannot remove it but I will not do the artwork on the doll.

So in the end, the baby that they create is their own style and their actual work from beginning to end. Look at what an amazing job Miss Jena is doing on her sweet little baby!
Yes, my method of teaching seems to work well, even with youngsters! I almost want to have a children's class!

Be sure to click on this picture to get a larger view so that you can see the details that Jena has created.

This baby is beautiful!!

Here are both babies together:

My little man Gus:

Last night after dinner, Jena and I got online to shop for an outfit for her baby. The baby will be 14 inches and we found ourselves shopping with Tiina Hoddy of
Piccolissimo Baby Boutique where Jena purchased this darling outfit.

She will be so excited to get her little package all the way from the UK!

I've purchased from Tiina before and am always so delighted with her creations.

Today Jena and I will finish the paint on our little babies. We need to add undertones and thin skin, veins, nail tips, brows and the final highlight color.

We will allow the paint to cure overnight and begin rooting tomorrow. She had practiced rooted last summer and a did an amazing job! I will be teaching her the more refined method, using a finer needle and finer hair.

Hugs for Tuesday!