Diagnosis: Your Doll Is In Pieces!
The Cure: Painting And Assembly

Evelyn Lenz Flook is back with the second of a 2-part instructional video set on sculpting miniature dolls. This latest video, "Sculpting Miniature Dolls, Part 2: Painting & Assembly," is Volume 8 of The Master Dollmakers Video Instructional Series, a multi-volume video instructional course features expert instruction by some of the country's top dollmakers.

After learning how to sculpt the individual pieces in Volume 7 of the series, "Sculpting Miniature Dolls, Part 1: Head, Hands, & Feet," Part 2 will teach you how to paint those pieces, how to soft sculpt the body, arms, and legs, and finally how to assemble all the elements to create a finished doll. This video also includes a special bonus section in which Evelyn shares with you six of her best tips for creating miniature dolls.

The video begins with an in-depth review of the tools and materials you'll need. Then Evelyn shows you her techniques for blushing the face and hands. She begins with a critical first step: Dipping paper towels and Q-Tips into water. You'll then apply the blush with the Q-Tip, and wipe it off with a wet paper towel. "It's real important that you have your paper towels wet and ready when you begin blushing" says Evelyn. "Once the paint is applied, you don't want to let it sit on the doll's face."

You'll continue this process until you achieve the desired skin tone. "Do this slowly," Evelyn says. "Don't rush it. Be patient. You may have to repeat the process many times to get the look you want." And speaking of patience, if you're tempted to quicken the process by substituting powdered blush for paint, you'll want to pay close attention as Evelyn tells you why you should never do this.

Once the blush is applied to the face, you'll follow with torso, hands, arms, legs, and feet, following basically the same technique. Here Evelyn reminds you to use of soft, gentle touch. "You want to be careful not to apply too much pressure when blushing the fingers," she cautions. "Otherwise one of them might pop off."

When you're finished blushing the entire doll, you're ready to start painting the features. You'll begin by preparing your own painting tool using cotton and a toothpick. From there you'll get a lesson in the different types and colors of paint you'll be using.

Your next step will be to paint the eyes. This intricate section of your doll will be one of the most critical. But don't worry if you don't achieve perfection because Evelyn will show you a sure-fire way to correct any mistakes and remove any excess paint that you might accidentally apply.

From the eyes you'll move on to the eyelids, eyebrows, and lips. And it's at this point that you'll learn how to attach the arms and legs to the torso. Here you'll use the included size chart to make sure your doll is the exact size and height you want.

Once the individual pieces are attached to the wire armature, it's time to wrap the body, also known as soft sculpting. For this you'll use polyester batting which is available at most large fabric stores. This is what gives your doll the bulk and figure you're looking for. "When wrapping, it's important that you get a very tight covering at first," says Evelyn. Tight wrapping and overlapping the layers of batting helps support the legs, and makes the doll feel more realistic underneath its clothing.

"Of course, if you don't like the batting idea," Evelyn says, "you certainly can make you own doll's bodies by just following some of the porcelain patterns that are available." Evelyn, however, prefers batting because it allows you to pin the clothing onto the doll's body when you're working. Once the batting is complete, your doll is ready for dressing. For detailed instructions on dressing your doll Evelyn recommends you study videos on the subject, which can also be found in The Master Dollmakers Video Instructional Series.

Once she finishes teaching you how to assemble and paint your doll, Evelyn shares with you a series of tips that alone are worth the price of this video. Among them, using a plastic sandwich bag while wigging your doll, creating ethnic dolls, and correcting painting mistakes.