I am so happy to report that after a short downtime while the site was upgraded, everything is back up and running smoothly. Thannk you to all who were concerned and let me know.

Often times I have a customer who would like me to make a doll in a person’s likeness but cannot afford the fees for a one of a kind sculpted doll.

There are other more affordable ways to have a doll made that will resemble a person.  It helps if you have a good repoire with your dollmaker/artist.  They should be willing to work with you to find the right face and talk about options for hair, painting style, gloves, etc.

My customer wanted me to make a doll kit that she will dress of her daughter for her wedding.  She did not want a custom sculpted doll.  She chose the face from my selection of doll kits I carry on my website: Gina Bellous Dolls .  After narrowing it down, she chose Lydia from a mold by Stacy Hofman.  I had to agree with her that this was a good choice.  It is a mold that is not available commercially, but has no dropped shoulders.  Her daughter is wearing a strapless gown and her shoulders will be bare so no matter what type of shoulders we chose, there will be a seam showing.

This is Alex.  She is such a pretty girl.  After making both dolls, I realize that her hair will be worn down like in the photo so doll #1 with the full arms will work just fine, but I like the face of doll #2.

I decided to make 2 dolls and let her choose which one she likes best.  To offer a variation of the shoulders I cut the head off of Stacy’s doll and put it on my Victoria body and flattened the bustline a bit.  This gave the doll a nice youthful neckline and  body.  I was able to squeeze her face a bit when I removed it from the mold to make it narrower.

Often times I have a customer who would like me to make a doll in a person’s likeness but cannot afford the fees for a one of a kind sculpted doll. 

There are other more affordable ways to have a doll made that will resemble a person.  It helps if you have a good repoire with your dollmaker/artist.  They should be willing to work with you to find the right face and talk about options for hair, painting style, gloves, etc.

My customer wanted me to make a doll kit that she will dress of her daughter for her wedding.  She did not want a custom sculpted doll.  She chose the face from my selection of doll kits I carry on my website: Gina Bellous Dolls .  After narrowing it down, she chose Lydia from a mold by Stacy Hofman.  I had to agree with her that this was a good choice.  It is a mold that is not available commercially, but has no dropped shoulders.  Her daughter is wearing a strapless gown and her shoulders will be bare so no matter what type of shoulders we chose, there will be a seam showing. 

This is Alex. She is such a pretty girl. After making both dolls, I realize that her hair will be worn down like in the photo so doll #1 with the full arms will work just fine, but I like the face of doll #2.

I decided to make 2 dolls and let her choose which one she likes best.  To offer a variation of the shoulders I cut the head off of Stacy’s doll and put it on my Victoria body and flattened the bustline a bit.  This gave the doll a nice youthful neckline and  body.  I was able to squeeze her face a bit when I removed it from the mold to make it narrower.

>I had my camera out today, so I couldn’t resist giving you a sneek peek of “Chantelle”.  She will be a lovely lady in a fancy gown.  I love her dark red hair, but I have always had a thing for redheads!

Stephanie Gets Her Sailor Dress!

Let’s get to start costuming these miniature portrait doll sisters. The first step is to make a simple pattern for the sailor dress.  I use normal paper to make the initial pattern and then transfer it to card stock to make it sturdy and easy to trace around.

I start by studying the dress in the photo. It is a simple classic & timeless sailor type dress.  It consists of a yoke, slight puff sleeves, a collar & flare skirt that according to the customer is above the knee.  There will also be embellishments of white cuffs on the sleeves, a white insert in the yoke and a red “tie’ and red trim.  The Collar will also be white trimmed in red.

You can either lay the doll down on paper and trace around her to get an approximate size and shape of the pattern or you can fold a small piece of paper in half and just “eyeball” the pattern.
I initially make the pattern without the seam allowances and add them in later in the final draft.  You can see in the photo that the length is also longer than needed, but that is not important at this time.

>Hi,
Here is a photo of prepping the viscose to be applied to the dolls.  I will start with Jocelyn and then wig Stephanie.  Each girl has a medium brown color hair in 2 ponytails (pigtails without the braids).  I chose to blend the hair colors as their color was in between 2 colors and also I feel it adds realism to the finished doll, especially with portrait dolls.  I will be posting step by step photos of the hairstyle as it progresses.

>Hi,
Here is a photo of prepping the viscose to be applied to the dolls.  I will start with Jocelyn and then wig Stephanie.  Each girl has a medium brown color hair in 2 ponytails (pigtails without the braids).  I chose to blend the hair colors as their color was in between 2 colors and also I feel it adds realism to the finished doll, especially with portrait dolls.  I will be posting step by step photos of the hairstyle as it progresses.

>Hi,
Here is a photo of prepping the viscose to be applied to the dolls.  I will start with Jocelyn and then wig Stephanie.  Each girl has a medium brown color hair in 2 ponytails (pigtails without the braids).  I chose to blend the hair colors as their color was in between 2 colors and also I feel it adds realism to the finished doll, especially with portrait dolls.  I will be posting step by step photos of the hairstyle as it progresses.

>Hi,
Here is a photo of prepping the viscose to be applied to the dolls.  I will start with Jocelyn and then wig Stephanie.  Each girl has a medium brown color hair in 2 ponytails (pigtails without the braids).  I chose to blend the hair colors as their color was in between 2 colors and also I feel it adds realism to the finished doll, especially with portrait dolls.  I will be posting step by step photos of the hairstyle as it progresses.