Hannah on eBay :)

I did it!

My computer needed breaks all day but I DID get Hannah on eBay!

Click ~HERE~ for the link and tons of pictures.

She was an awesome goal to achieve!

We have decided to take tomorrow off for some blood work for my hubby and a very fast shopping trip in the city for me.

I'll be off until Sunday now with a very, VERY busy weekend ahead of me.

Have a good one everyone!

Hugs and kisses!

How to care for Ecoflex 20 silicone~Hannah gets a bath!

It was not long ago that I posted a picture of Hannah in a bath setting.

At that time, I encouraged to NOT give silicone dolls baths on a regular basis.

There are times though that they need them and since Hannah needed a bath before I did her photo shoot, I shot a video of the process.

Here are the important things to remember:

Never put soap directly onto the silicone.

Soaps are release agents for silicone, so only use a mild soap like Johnston's Baby Bath and NEVER Dawn dish soap.   (Dawn is recommended for the silicone before paint is applied to prep it and remove all silicone release agents.  It is too strong to use for bathing a painted doll.)

Put the Baby Bath soap into the water but do not put the doll in the water.  Use a bath helper to hold the doll out of the water and use your hands to apply the water, caressing the silicone with your hands to remove hair and lint.

Rinse thoroughly with clean water from a spray nozzle if possible.  

Pat-dry the doll with clean tissue paper.  I love the Kirkland brand from Costco but it's only available during the holiday season.  

Use a good quality make-up brush that doesn't loose it's bristles to apply pure cornstarch to the doll, avoiding the glossed areas such as lips/mouth, inside of ears, eyes and nails.  

You doll should now be hair and lint resistant for months to come.  

Re-apply cornstarch as needed but only bath the doll a couple of times a year.

Enjoy the video!  

My computer is going on strike.  I thought I had it fixed...it is better but wow...it took me all day to edit and prepare that video yesterday!  I have almost all of the pictures ready for the auction so I'll be working on that today with the goal of having it live tonight.  

Lord willing.  I'll be sweet-talking my computer all day today!  LOL

So send good vibes to the old and over-worked computer today so that we can see Hannah on eBay!

(Please, I won't be selling her off of eBay, I won't be offering a buy-it-now, I won't be doing customs and I won't be doing another Hannah sculpt so if you have fallen in love with her, don't miss her on eBay.  Thank you!!)

First finished peeks of FBS Hannah~coming to eBay soon!

It is with great joy that I announce the "birth" of Hannah

a full body silicone sculpted and poured by Joanna Gomes.

She is a full 21 inches long and weighs 8 pounds 14 ounces.

Her body is poured in one piece with no seams and had a ball jointed head.

I will be preparing Hannah's video and pictures today and hopefully getting her auction up on eBay tonight.  

XXOO

Welcoming the name release of "Denver Rose"

Remember my "Making the Switch to Air Dry Paints" class that I am teaching at the ROSE show in Denver in July??

~INFO and SIGN UP here (two payment option available!~

Well....

I have been blessed with viewing the first pictures of the DARLING doll kit that Marita Winters is making specifically for this class!

Students are going to LOVE it!

It oozes Marita Winters' style like nobody's business!

Marita and I have named the kit:

We won't be releasing pictures of this kit at all.

Only Marita and I will see him/her.

I will be working on the prototype before the show, have that prototype completely done and in class for students to view and cuddle and then the prototype will go onto Marita's tables at the ROSE show and be available via eBay either during the show or just after.

Marita will have the Denver Rose kits for sale at her table during the show as well as online afterwards.

BUT...NO previews will be available before the official release in my class!  :)  

Oh and PS...Marita will be the honorary student in the Make the Switch class!  

I am SO excited!

Computer is back!

I've never been more excite to say I had dust bunnies!

There were $40 worth of dust bunnies in the cabinet of my lap top which prevented the fans from working properly, overheating my computer.  

What a blessing that it wasn't something more!

So I'm back up and running, Hannah is FINISHED, but...

my friend Becky arrives today after my long hair appointment this morning so we'll be back out in the dolly house this afternoon.

Hannah's photo shoot and video recording will begin on Sunday and hopefully be finished and ready for listing on Monday night.  

It is always amazing to me when I finally finish a doll.

It's like...giving birth!

They Never Grow Up Nursery~The dolls: Years 2011-2012

In 2011, I made 26 dolls.

As you see, over time, even though I was running my business full time, I was making less dolls.

That is because I was spending more time on each one, making them better and better.

9 of those dolls were prototypes and 8 of them were custom orders.

I was slowing down on the custom orders, by choice.

Prototypes that year were:

Josiah~A Jenna prototype by Angela Harris that never went into production.

Hillary prototype by Cathy Rowland

Suzon Louise toddler Prototype by Laura Tuzio Ross...she was SO much fun!

Zasha Prototype by Claire Taylor...I adored this sweet boy!

In June, he traveled to the IRDA Conference in San Francisco with me and was on display as a new kit coming out.  He later sold on eBay.  

Sophie Madeline Prototype who I renamed Haku Ibu.

Oh my goodness, I was so excited that Bonnie asked me to reborn this prototype!

I thought he looked Asian...

Sweet and Sassy Prototype by Dee Stastany.

Sweet Melody Prototype by Laura Tuzio Ross.

Huggy Bear Prototype by Dianna Effner.

Huggy Bear was Dianna's first vinyl kit.  I traveled to Missouri to Dianna's studio to teach Dianna to reborn vinyl.  While I taught, we recorded every step and session and I later produced a Full Course Reborning DVD.  This had been a dream of mine for about a year and a half of so, but it took well into 2012 for all of the editing to be done and the production of the DVD.

It can be purchased ~HERE~

It is still current on the techniques that I use today  :)

Last but not least for prototypes for that year, as well as my last doll for that year, was the Lotte Prototype by Sebilla Bos.

I LOVE Sebilla's work and was DELIGHTED to be able to reborn this prototype!

I would say that she was my favorite doll for 2011.

The highest selling doll for that year was a custom order Angelica for $2000:

She joined a custom Ariana that I created earlier in the year:

In 2012 I made just 17 dolls!

Of those 17, just 3 were prototypes...by my choice. I turned a lot of prototypes down that year because my year was so full of teaching, traveling and doing the DVD editing/production as well as a free tutorial for the new Art and Magic Water Borne air dry paints.

I had the honor of my first prototype from Lilianne Breedveld...love her work too!

It was Nigel and he turned out so well:

I did Danene Prototype by Violet Parker...she was a fun baby because I configured a way for her to hold her head up while on her belly!

She went to the 2012 Down East Doll Show with me in Greenville, North Carolina.

I own two of Kellie Beckett's One of a Kind clay babies.  I bought them when I first met Kellie at the 2012 IDEX show in Orlando in January.  (Yes, I had been going to IDEX every year since 2007 but I only showed and taught that one time in 2010.)

Imagine how excited I was when she asked me to reborn her first vinyl kit, the Shy Prototype!

 

Does she look like someone famous you might know??

I did a special project (not a prototype) for Lorna Miller Sands.

(She liked the work I had at the 2012 DEDS and asked me then.)

She asked me to reborn her Trinitee sculpt as a boy with a certain skin tone.

I really, really loved this boy!

I did a video series (that can be found on YouTube) on creating textured eye brows while I reborned Trevor.  I won't give the links for that (it's a 5 part series!) but this is the video I did of this gorgeous boy when I was all done with his brows:

My highest selling doll that year was Mariana...

An ethnic doll created from the Ariana sculpt.

She sold for $1500 after the Sauder Village, Ohio doll show.

Even if I do not sell at the several shows I show at each year, my dolls ALWAYS sell soon after the shows.  The shows are excellent for promotion of your work as well as networking with the artists.  

I know I already said that in an earlier post but I want to emphasize it again and again.

They DO cost real money to go but you can build your business by going.

Along with attending shows in January, June, the end of July and first of September that year, I worked on editing the DVD (I got my first peek of it at Dianna Effner's booth at IDEX in January~that was THRILLING!  Her son was doing the initial editing so they cropped a small section of it to have at that show), and also was asked to try out a new paint from HunnyBuns/Stephanie Tackett called Art and Magic Water Borne Air Dry Paints.

I did a beginner's tutorial for those paints and have it available here on my blog.  

This is the baby I created in the tutorial who sold to Jorja Pigott, my darling sculpting friend.

He was a Huti baby at that!

I had a lot of fun with the shows, the dolls and the tutorials in 2012.

It is hard to choose which was my favorite!

I made a portrait doll for a sweet gal of herself.

Her name was Laura and this precious woman, Laura Lightner lost her battle to cancer in 2013.

I am glad I could give her a short time of great joy in her doll.

The real Laura as a baby:

And the portrait doll, Laura:

One of the most playful dolls I made that year was Twinkle, a tiny Tyler elf kit by Julie Molloy:

And the one I made for myself?

I did an experiment with LDC paints mixed with Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel with no prep to the vinyl and no coating afterwards.  I was hoping for a matte finish.  I didn't really get that and I think the fingers and toes would have been perfect with a Genesis Matte Varnish as a prep but he sure turned out cute and EVERYONE at IDEX loved him.

I named him Billy.  He is a 2006 Silly Dreams Berenguer LE doll.

Hmmm...I don't have many GOOD pictures of Billy!

Here is a WIP picture:

And his first Christmas picture:

And with friends from IDEX...and passer's by at Down Town Disney!

What a great years 2011 and 2012 were!  

****************************************

My computer has been overheating.  Since I wasn't able to complete my Hannah full body silicone's head, (I just did not get her finished on Thursday and I had my 16 month old grandson all day yesterday so didn't work) I am taking my poor old machine down to the computer shop this morning.

I will be without it for maybe just 2-3 days, but it could be all week.

How Hannah ties in here is that I won't be able to list her anyway so don't need the computer for that and then later this week, Wed-Friday, Becky and I will be back out in the dolly house working as she can be here then.  So, I won't be needing the computer for Hannah then either.  I better take advantage of the "free" time and get this thing fixed!

 

See you as soon as I can though!

XXOO

I will continue these posts

We interrupt the nostalgia....

I'm sorry everyone!  

I have to take a little break from the nostalgia of the last 10 years.

I am DETERMINED to get full body Hannah rooted by the end of tonight, the end of my work week!

Here is how she looked 3 days ago:

YES!

She is a red-head!

The light hairs around her face are not as yellow as they look here.  I took these quick not paying too much attention to my lighting that night.  

I've done a lot of work since these pictures and have a lot left to do but I think I can at least get the rooting done today.  MAYBE the trim and lashes too.  We'll see...

I'll get back to nostalgia next week.

It seriously takes me about 2 hours to do one of those posts.  

Have a good finish to your week and a great weekend!

They Never Grow Up Nursery~ The dolls: Years 2009-2010

2009 was INCREDIBLE!

I had been working my business full time now for over a year.
I never worked so hard or such long hours in my life!! 
  

 I made 31 dolls that year.
I sent 1 doll each to these three countries:
The United Kingdom, Germany and France.

I did a couple of shows that year in the United States so most of the dolls were sold at those live shows.  Again, a couple of my collectors bought many of them  :)  

I attended my 3rd IDEX show in Orlando, in January.  Grins!
I was not showing at these shows, I was going to gain knowledge and network with the artists and collectors.  I learned SO much going to these shows!

I was becoming the traveler by now.  
Not only was I going to Orlando once a year as well as attending local shows in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, I also went to San Antonio Texas this year for the Tiny Treasures Show.

It was a great, smaller show.  And I LOVED San Antonio!

I entered a reborn into the Tiny Treasures contest.
It was Alix (Emily head with Alex limbs) who was created using a new technique that I founded~that of prepping this Ashton Drake vinyl with Genesis Matte Varnish, baking, cooling then painting with air dry paints.
This had not been done before and I must say it was a huge success!
Alix looked great! 

Alix won first place in three categories:
Best Reborn Rooting
Most Realistic Reborn
And the People's Choice for Most Beautiful Reborn Baby

I could have fainted!

The lovely Marita Winters was head over heals over this baby!

Samantha Gregory was pretty smitten with her too!

To have artists like Marita and Samantha cheering me on, and Laura Tuzio Ross congratulating me as I approached to receive my awards, was the most amazing feeling!  
I had to be pinched to believe it!

After returning home, I made the very hard decision to place Alix up for adoption on eBay.
She was adopted and became my highest selling reborn to date, selling at $1275

She is still with her original "mommy" who still loves her very much.

Tiny Treasures was well advertised and advocated by the San Antonio community.

So much so that San Antonio Living even did a short TV promotion!
They asked that my set of twins, Jeffrey and Jennifer, two sweet Doll Dreams sculpts by Didy Jacobsen, (Tessa and Jacky) be present for the filming.  
Oh my gosh...what an honor!

I was not there for the filming so I ran up to my hotel room to capture what I can with my camera!
Yes, I took pictures of the TV with my camera!  LOL
What a THRILL to see Jeffery as one of the intro's to the show!

They had picked Jennifer up in my absence and didn't place her back in the basket how I had her but it was still exciting to see them on TV!

I taught my first live mini classes right on the show room floor at Tiny Treasures.
More about that next week though as this post is about the dolls  :)

Marita loved my work so much that she asked me to do a prototype of her Sweet Stuff kit~
What an HONOR!

With so many wonderful things going on, it was hard to keep my head and feet on the ground!

Tiina of Piccolissimo Baby in France adopted Sweet Stuff to use to showcase her incredible knits and hand made baby outfits.

I entered the Colliii Awards in 2009 and won a nomination with my reborn toddler, Arianna.

I found myself in the Colliii News!
Read the article ~HERE~

MY favorite baby of 2009, next to Alix?
I'd have to say it was Taylor Raine created from the "Taylor" kit by Tamie Yarie.

2010 brought many amazing wonders!

With the sponsorship of Doll Dreams INC, I found myself living a dream of showing ON the IDEX floor!
I say ON the IDEX floor because typically, in the past IDEX shows, reborn artists were always given a place in the Retail Room of the show, which was only opened on Saturday and Sunday of the show, not on Friday, opening day.

The reborn industry worked very hard to gain access to the main showroom floor.
I had nothing to do with gaining this access but was ecstatic to be ON the showroom floor!

First, I taught a 2 day LDC painting class the day before the show opened as well as on Friday, opening day of the show.
Oh how I hated missing that opening day on the showroom floor but, I had two amazing ladies who started out as customers who became dear, dear friends assist me and run my booth for me.

There is a LOT of work involved in preparing for a show of this magnitude, and a lot of expense!
Aside from all that...I needed pinched that this dream of showing on the IDEX floor had become real.

 Oh my goodness it was so wonderful on the showroom floor!
Meeting with the artists who so many had become such personal friends as well as loving on the collectors!

In October, I found myself and my dolls in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the 
2010 Doll and Teddy Bear Expo.
What a GREAT time that was!

 I taught another LDC class that the class supplies did not show up in time for but...my students were amazing!

They all had something to contribute to the class and with me demonstrating the techniques (which they all loved) we managed to complete a full class.  The supplies showed up at the end of the last day!

 I had a table of reborn babies and my two amazing friends once again tagged along to help me.
We decided to be Dr. Debbie and her nurses!
Aren't we adorable???

This was a wonderful show!  I am sad that it was the last EXPO show that was held.
They had a GREAT photo booth!

I haven't done the 2010 tally of dolls yet but at that show, I had Cathy Rowland's twin sculpts,
 Logan and Leah prototypes that she signed in person for me:

Such sweet babies with full lower torsos.

I made 30 dolls in 2010.
Of those, 13 of them were prototypes.
The most popular prototype and probably one of the most coveted LE kits of all time was 
Jayden by Natalie Scholl.
I still cannot believe that I had the honor of doing this prototype!
Natalie was at the 2009 Tiny Treasures show and also liked my work.

I had three very high sales that year, one being Jayden at $1475, 
then another prototype that I did, Kristaleta by Laura Tuzio  Ross at $1625
What is bigger for me than that ending sale price is the fact that one of my favorite artists (remember, I cried when I met her??) asked me to reborn one of her prototypes.  She had asked me earlier in the year when she saw my work in person at IDEX.

 And then my first 5 year old child doll, Angelica for $2000

Oh, you want to see her face??  Okay!

She was not a prototype but was a lot of fun!

The prototypes that I did that year were:
Wee Yawns by Marita Winters
Payton, Capri and Sydney by Jorja Pigott
Jayden by Natalie Scholl
 Kristaleta by Laura Tuzio Ross 
Logan, Leah and Fawn by Cathy Rowland

 Noah by Jessica Schenk

Ryan by Samantha Gregory

Nicky Jack by Nikki Britt

Dimples by Melissa Palesse

Dimples melted my heart and I was not a bit sad when she didn't meet reserve on eBay.
I have added her to my personal collection and call her Sammie.

What an incredible line up of artists and sculpts!!!
I still can't believe it all!

I also added another baby to my collection, one I made for myself who I call Abi.
She is made from the Beautiful Embrace doll by Berenguer.

So, that year, 2 of my dolls went to the UK...one of them being Jayden.
1 went to Canada as a gift baby to a dear friend.
And Kristaleta went to Australia!

At the end of 2010, I started studying the art of silicone painting.
2009 and 2010 were launching years for my business. 
I am sure that I didn't sleep at all those two years!!

They were lengthy years so I'll cover 2011-2012 tomorrow.