Actually it wasn’t a total faceup of Emerson, but I didn’t know what else to call it.
Back at the beginning of September, Terri asked me if I could show what pastels and water color pencils I used to enhance Emerson’s face. She wondered if her eyelashes would stay or would they rub off? I thought I’d answer her questions today…
I guess I’ll just start by showing you what I used to make Emerson’s face have just a little bit more personality and dimension…
If you click any of my pictures, they will enlarge.
There are LOTS of different kinds of pastels to do a dolls faceup with, but I picked Sennelier Soft Chalk Pastels. They are very powdery and come in a stick and I keep them in a box with foam around them to keep them for rubbing against each other. Some people say to take the chalk and rub it on a paper plate or piece of cardboard to get the tiny pieces off… but I have found it just as easy to leave the piece of chalk and just rub my blush brush on the end of the stick.
One thing to remember… go EASY on the colors… the Mr. Super Clear enhances the color some… you can always add more blush if you need to, but you can’t take it away unless you start over…
These are the watercolor pencils I used… from Hobby Lobby, pinks, corals, and a black one. They have to be very sharp when using them for eyelashes… and a blush brush…
Then you’ll need some Mr. Super Clear. It’s an aerosol Clear UV Cut Flat Spray. This is what seals everything you have done… but you have to be VERY careful… that you don’t have a SPECK anywhere on your dolls face that you don’t want sealed in…because it WILL SEAL IT into her complexion if you do. Make sure your dolls hair is pulled back and nothing that will fall into her face. It dries very quickly as I’ll show you in a minute…
It has a VERY strong odor so it’s best to do outside and use a mask if you are doing a lot! I went outside and made sure I was spraying away from my face.
Ok, let’s get started… most faceups are done with the dolls eyes OUT of the sockets, but Emerson’s eyes are not removeable from the backside, so I had to cover them up, otherwise the Mr. Super Clear would dull them.
I decided to do it like this… I took a piece of foil and held it up to her eye and used my fingernail to get the main shape of her eyeball.
Then I took that shape and flattened it out so it looked like this…
I put a piece of clear tape on the back side so it was in the same spot as my eye shape on the front side.
I cut it out just a hair smaller and leaving a tail on one end that I could hold onto.
I held it up to her eye to see if it was a pretty good fit…
I then pulled the foil off the front and stuck the tape to her eyeball… I used my seam ripper to tuck the tape down into her eyeball area just a little bit… then I trimmed off the tail I used to hold it with…
I pulled Emerson’s hair back so it was out of the way and made sure she had NO specks on her face… no hairs in the way… and headed outside.
The Mr. Super Clear sprays like hairspray, but is very smooth and quickly dries. This was the first time I sprayed it… you just spray across her face from ear to ear like you are spray painting anything else. I went across and then back again… By the time I sat the can down and picked up my phone to take a picture, it was already almost dry…
Then when it looked dry, maybe 4 or 5 minutes later, I sprayed it again… this time you can see it’s a bit more wet. (I was quicker this time with my picture!)
By the time I got back inside, it was mostly dry…
I let it set for 5 minutes before attempting to get the tape off her eyeballs… I used my seam ripper to get it loose and then used a pair of tweezers to pull it off…
So now her face is set… You can use the Mr. Super Clear several more times if you want, but I just did 2 coats.
She’s pretty cute, isn’t she?
So that’s how you give a doll a quickie of a faceup!
I’ll see you Monday! Hopefully with a start on a new doll outfit!
Blessings, Jeanne
Wow! That was a really involved process in getting Emerson blushed and then the sealing process!! Very clever, how you covered her eyes like that!! I was also interested in seeing what kinds of pastels, etc. you used. Thanks for sharing!
Jeanne you are so brave to do this, something I could never do! I have never wanted to change anything on my dolls, so I make sure I buy what I like, which is not to say it shouldn’t be done! You do such an artful job, and everything turns out so well, that I wouldn’t mind having one of my dolls go to Jeanne Marie’s Spa and Salon!
Very creative way to cover the eyes! I assume she is a vinyl doll. On resin dolls we spray the face first so the chalk/pencils/paint will adhere to the resin. When done we spray again to seal it. Before the final seal we can wipe off what we don’t like with water and redo. On Mr. Super Clear it is important the humidity is below 70. I like to wait until it is much lower to be safe!
Thanks so much for the tips on resin dolls.
Love your patterns. 🙂
Probably won’t be trying any face-ups but I just had to tell you I love, love, love your patterns. I started buying them for my Dumpling Lolla but find they also fit several of my other dolly girls and they all look so cute.
Just wondered if Jeanne, has ever tried removing the eyes of a vinyl doll from the front? It seems that so many have done this with the Ruby Red’s. Heating the doll’s eye area with a hair dryer and then popping them out and putting in the new eyes? I have several girls that need an eye swap, but I’m a big chicken here. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your sealing method.
Thank you so much for sharing! Love this!
Terri
Thank you for the tutorial. You always amaze me with what you will try. My hubby’s favorite expression is “God hates a coward” applies to you😉
She looks so sweet. So who will be the lucky doll on Monday?
Dear Jeanne, you can open up Jeanne’s Dolly Beauty Salon. It can be right next to Jeanne’s Dolly Shoe Store, which is right next to Jeanne’s Dolly Bags and Accessories Outlet, which is right next to Jeanne’s Dolly Clothing Boutique, which is in the mall with Jeanne’s Dolly Tearoom.
The Sofa Sisters would definitely shop in this mall (smile)!
It would certainly have everything we needed.
My thoughts exactly Barbara!
Jeanne you really are brave to do this! I fear that I would ruin my precious dolly’s! So very good work!! 😊