I've been working on The Dolly House!

I didn't realize that it would take me a full 6 days to paint the interior of the Dolly House!

And I am talking LONG days!!!!

But look how beautiful it is!  

(White wainscoting will go on the walls that are only half painted and all of the moldings and trims will be white.)

I was happy to have made the decision to stain the exposed beams a dark walnut color.

I think they are stunning!

 

 

 

All of the lights will be replaced with nice fixtures.

I am thrilled with the color choices!  

Tonight I will work on the light fixtures, molding and vent covers up in the lofts (they have painted floors), switch plate covers and doing a final cleaning of the outlets and tucking them into their housings.

This has been a journey to remember!

Ethnic Baby FX AIR DRY class at ROSE 2016!

Well it feels like we JUST got back from ROSE 2015 but the ROSE team has been very active in getting the 2016 show underway!

The show venue has moved to Layton, Utah...I can drive to this show!

I have the honor of teaching again at ROSE and am very excited to announce that I am teaching an Ethnic AIR DRY painting class using Baby FX paints!

We have been busy getting the class information up and ready and you can already sign up!

~Sign up HERE~

Marita Winters has agreed to once again sculpt a special baby kit just for our class.

Again, we will keep this little bundle secret until the day the class starts.

As far as I know, this is an unprecedented class.  

I do not believe there have been any air dry classes for Ethnic skin tones either here in the US or across the world.

I promise that it will be an amazing class!

 

My customers, my babies and I :)

I can't seem to get caught up with pictures and posts! 

There were so many things that happened in very close proximity for many weeks on end that pictures and topics are just sitting on the back burner.

So, let's have some fun today!

These are pictures taken after adoptions of my babies  :)

From the ROSE show in Denver, Colorado:

Shar with her adoption, Sebastian...and me of course! 

There wasn't anyone around to take a picture of Susan and I together, but here she is with her adoption, Logan James.   She said he looked just like her nephew who's name just happens to be...

Logan!  

This is Bev and Hannah.  

Bev did not adopt Hannah at the ROSE show, but rather adopted her via eBay in February.

Hannah was just lucky enough to travel to ROSE with Bev and I had the pleasure of meeting Bev.

 Candid shot!

Another one of my prior babies visited the ROSE show too...

PRECIOUS!

It really was such a thrill to meet her "mommy" and see her again!  

I failed to get a picture of me with her as I was so excited!

As you can see, both prior adopted babies are so spoiled!

That makes my heart very happy.

In Portland, Oregon, I am always delighted to see double!

These twin sisters have adopted from me before and this time, they adopted two babies, 

Amorita and Denver.

Awwwwww!

I failed to get a picture of Mordecai and his new "mommy" but since we are all in the Northwest, we will see each other again and will get that picture.  

What a great show season!

The babies are ready~See you in Portland!

I did it and I even have today "off" to run around with my husband before I leave tomorrow!

Here they are!

The first two are new babies since the Denver Show.

Amorita
~SOLD at the show~
 

Spanish meaning "Loved".

Oh I do love this vinyl reborn!

She is 20 inches long.

I fully intended HER to be a HIM but she told me otherwise.

 

Denver
~SOLD at the show~

Darling vinyl reborn.

The second "Denver Rose" kit I have made.  

This one was painted in my class in Denver.  

I painted his hair and finished his details when I returned home.

  

The next three are silicones that were made for the Denver show but had not found their homes yet:

Summer's Snow

She is just a wee little thing at 9 1/2 inches long.

I made the tutu, the sandals and the headband!

I've never made a tutu and sandals before  :)

Krymsun

This little one is 13 inches long with flaming red hair!

She dons a new dress set custom made by Laurie Duncan of Fancy Pants and Flounces.

      

And last but not least,

Mordecai
~SOLD at the show~

 This one received a new custom made body that makes him 18 chubby inches with curled up legs.

He is so nice to snuggle!

I love squishing those chubby cheeks!

From the start of this baby I have intended to root him.  

Collectors at the Denver show loved him bald.  I still intended to root hair but with just a little over 5 weeks between shows, the birth of a new granddaughter, a family relay race, a horse event or two and the summer visit of an older granddaughter, I simply did not have the time.  

If he does not find a home this time, I'll help him grow some hair.

I did change the color of his eye lashes as I felt the darker color was too harsh for him.

  

See some of you in Portland on Saturday!

XXOO

Finishing this head today!

I've been rooting my life away but today, I will finish this one!

Excuse the cell phone pictures!

 I really just have the circle at the crown to finish as I took this picture yesterday before I finished the top.

This hair is absolutely incredible!

It is "Lucy's Super Kid" from last fall.  Oh my.

It is really hard to process because it is so fine but it's wonderful to root, straight and SO SOFT!

I am very excited to be finishing this baby for the Portland show!

XXOO

Matte Sealing with Baby FX and other tips

The Final Sealer mix with the Baby FX paints tend to leave the doll kit shiny/sheeny.

 

I've been working to find a way to prevent this while "sealing" the paints and I believe I have figured it out!

It is a 3 component mixture consisting of these Baby FX products:

10 drops Final Sealer

20 drops Shine Reducer 

and

a brush full of Ultra Matte

After it is stirred well, you may add more Ultra Matte if you feel the mixture is too glossy. 

You can also use a little less Final Sealer as it is the component that creates the shine.

But adjust in small measurements and be sure to have at least 5 drops of Final Sealer in the mix.

(The above mixture has worked well for me sealing the doll kit while creating a nice matte finish.)

The way to apply is it almost the same as on my video

Applying Air Dry Matte Products

Notice that I apply VERY LITTLE product to the application wedge!

This is super important because if you get too much on that wedge, the wedge will slip on the doll kit creating shine.  You can remove that shine once this layer is cured by going over it again, but who wants to repeat layers?  Just be careful not to slip.

Instead of pouncing the product on, press and hold your clean wedge against the matte sealer.  Press without slipping.

Melissa George told me that she reuses her press and hold wedges.  I tried that yesterday, saving the wedges I used from the last two dolls I matted, and I'll be darned, they work well!

You see, some of the matting agent is left behind on the wedge helping your matting process to go better.

On that note though, once your press and hold wedge begins to gain moisture from the matte sealer, change to a new wedge allowing that original wedge to dry.  You an go back to it once it is dry but I have found that moist wedges do not work as well and can slip too.

I have been told that pouncing with a dry brush works well on this mixture too.  

I have used a dry brush in the creases and that did work.

Notice on Baby FX bottle cap breakage:

Some of us have experienced the tip of the Baby FX paint bottle caps breaking.

This comes from our zeal to make sure the caps are tight so that the paints do not dry out as experienced by other Air Dry Products.

These bottles are designed to seal before the cap is on super tight.  If they are over tightened, they will break.

The good new is, on the caps that I have broken, the paint has NOT dried out!  

So, trust your bottles, and the paint, and just close the caps until they catch.

Happy Baby FX Painting! 

Don't forget!

The Portland show venue has CHANGED to 

The Red Lion Hotel on Jantzen Beach

See you there!