Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Peg Dolls by Fran

As I have mentioned before, I have been spending my free time painting little wooden peg dolls. I always wanted to do some for my kids and when I finally painted my first one last spring, I was hooked. First, I made them for my kids, then as birthday gifts and now I even sell them. I enjoy creating princesses, superheroes, animals and all kinds of other characters out of a plain wooden peg. 

This is how the pegs look when they arrive from the manufacturer. They are made in the USA and are a good quality, which is important to me as my and other children play with them and I want them to last for a while. There are man and woman pegs as well as small (2"in) and bigger (3.5" in) ones. I usually use the bigger ones as they are easier to grab and play with. 
When people order from me, they tell me what they want but I choose the design. As these dolls are custom-made, every single one is unique. First, I do some online research to get an idea of what the doll should look like and to be as accurate as I can be to the original character. Then, I trace the design with a pencil on the wooden doll before I start painting them. Each doll requires at least 2 coats of acrylic paint and some details can be very delicate to paint. 3 to 4 dolls usually take me around 4 hours from beginning to end. 
After they are painted and have dried, I glaze them twice with a triple thick gloss. This gloss gives the dolls a high-gloss finish, it's non-toxic and will keep the paint from peeling off. 
And here are some of my completed works. They range from fairies to princesses, dwarfs, superheroes, animals, and Star Wars characters. 
I truly enjoy painting these dolls, it's a relaxing and calming activity as well as a creative outlet for me. If you are interested in purchasing some peg dolls, just contact me. Thank you!

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