Mohair Wigs: Global Dolls Corporation www.globaldolls.com has a nice range of miniature mohair wigs for mini dolls. The range has suitable styles for both modern and antique dollies. They are currently working on a miniature mohair wig for men dolls.

Global Dolls

Padded Hanger: You will need some pipecleaner, thicker rather than thin. A piece of gold or black wire, about 1" long and some satiny fabric. I used bathing suit fabric which was stretchy, it made this a bit easier. First coat the back of a piece of the fabric about 1" x 2" with tacky glue. Let dry. Cut a piece of pipe cleaner 1 1/2" long. Lay the pipe cleaner on the fabric, lengthwise. Cover the pipe cleaner with the fabric using Fabritac glue, sparingly. Fold over and tuck in the ends as you go.

Let dry. Slightly curve the fabric covered pipe cleaner. Bend the piece of gold or black wire into a hook shape with a slight extension at the bottom of the hook. Use an awl to make a hole in the center top of the fabric on the pipe cleaner. Glue the hook in the hole!

Alice Zinn

Yellow Rain Slicker: There is an easier way of making those little yellow rain slickers and without sewing! Use one finger of a yellow rubber glove to cut the slicker from and then use small black hooks and eyes glued down the front for the closures. Makes a very convincing slicker. Cut off the finger approximately 1 1/2" from the tip of the glove. About 5/16 of an inch down from the tip of the finger cut horizontally int the front of finger until almost all the way through the glove finger, leave a "hinge to act as the flap that connects the "hood" of the slicker. Next, cut vertically down the center of the coat to create the opening. Make two little tubes out of a piece of the left over original glove material to make the sleeves. Glue sleeves and hooks on to slicker and you have it.

Marilyn, MI

Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls: Carol Spence Sellner makes these and they're good sellers. You can see a picture of them on my web site at http://www.spminiatures.com/sellner.htm

Carol

Bunny Morris Molds: There is a doll supply shop here in the UK who sell Bunny Morris molds:
M.Wanke (UK) Ltd, Dollmaking Supplies and School, 468-470 Old London Road, Hastings, East Sussex TN35 5BG, Tel.01424 444 692. Bunny Morris is "Dollis Galore" 18 Beeston Green, Sandy, Bedfordshire. SG19 1PF Tel 01767 682 981. Both supply the molds and in some cases will send unpainted bisque.

Claire in Morecambe. England

Baby dolls: Read your question about anatomically correct babies. I just bought one from Darlene's Dolls. The one I bought was a boy but she also has little baby girls. These dolls are porcelain and she will give them any color hair you want. You can see them on her web site at: http://Darlenesdolls.com/

Katy in Concord

Dolls from Fimo: There are a lot of sources to get information on making miniature dolls from Fimo, here are some online:

http://www.englandthings.com/carrington/ James Carrington wrote a very nice book on this subject.

http://www.heaser.demon.co.uk/sue/suetemp.htmAnd so did Sue Heaser.

http://home.ici.net/~sams/happiness/howtos.htmHere you can learn a lot about size and proportion.

http://members.tripod.com/~Astralos/clay-intro.htm

Marjon de Haas

Mohair Wigs: Global Dolls Corporation www.globaldolls.com has a nice range of miniature mohair wigs for mini dolls. The range has suitable styles for both modern and antique dollies. They are currently working on a miniature mohair wig for men dolls.

Global Dolls

Realistic Dolls: For Mandy who is looking for real looking people that are affordable check out the hand sculpted dolls on my web site. http://www.littlebylittle.co.ukEach doll is individually hand sculpted from Fimo then hand painted. They are poseable so you can sit them down or stand them up (without stands) and have beautiful wigs and hand stitched clothing. No two dolls are the same.

Karon

Dolls to dress: If you are looking for porcelain half dolls to dress you might like to take a look at the doll kits on my website. Have almost sold out this past couple of weeks but have some more on order and expect them in soon. http://www.littlebylittle.co.uk

Karon

1940s-1950s kitchen & laundry accessories, Marcia Backstrom dolls, etc: Just spent quite a while with your website, Doris, and made a looong shopping list! If anyone hasn't seen it yet, go to http://kentsmini.com and drool. Lots of wonderful things.

Kay in Ottawa, Canada

1/2 scale People.... on the Cheap!!
I've been fiddling around with those $.25 cent yard sale people that are about 4 inches tall..... trying to make them 3 inches for ½ scale scenes.... Here's what I've found - for what it's worth:

Cut them on the band saw just below breast bone (use your imagination). Cut again just above hips... (leave the movable joint) [WARNING!! Some figures have a steel screw type of thing running down inside, plays havoc with your saw blade. Test this area with a cutting blade or pointed probe before sawing. ]

Then: Cut legs above the knee and take out another 1/2 inch below the knee. Drill or melt a hole and attach them closer with pipe cleaner (plastic cement). Try to preserve all moving joints.

When this is done and dry, attach body back together 1/2 inch shorter with plastic Cement and let dry overnight.

Now you have a 3 inch figure. It looks pretty odd until you do something with the hair and dress it. But the arms and hands are ok, feet and legs below the knee look ok, and the body will stand or sit whichever you prefer. . . I like sitting figures so those that have solid legs, can be cut and reattached after shortening with pipe cleaners or wire. Face can be carved, or melted with soldering iron to age and make wrinkles. Arms can be adjusted using same method if desired. Clothing can cover the cut and mended joints. A bit of very close work can cut fingers apart and a bit of boiling water can soften the hands to curve around objects.

Redo the hair, cutting existing hair and curling it around a straw, boil it then let it dry. Slip the curls off and reattach - you might be able to curl it in place then boil the whole head. (Sounds gross huh?) My husband watched me from the corner of his eye as I dismembered and reattached various body parts from a dozen of these small characters for three hours last weekend during the race. .His comment was (yuk!) This week I started to dress them and the result is very satisfactory. . . (surprised me too). I'm sure there are others out there that are quietly doing this rather strange butchery (in polite circles it's called 'bashing') It works pretty well for the larger figures too. 6 inches for men, 5 for women. I turned Wonder Woman, into Washer Woman in about two hours. cutting and reattaching with wire for bendable limbs. You can cut off armor, guns, sunglasses, belts, and other various bumpy items from the plastic bodies. Then dress over them.

Be Careful!! Strong hands and sharp heavy blades, coupled with tough plastic make a dangerous situation. Always use a cutting board and aim your blade away from tender human flesh. A lot of this plastic slices like cheese. Some is hard. Test away, and have a wonderful time Bashing!!!

Judie - Daytona Beach, FL

"cheap" garage sale dolls: Read about the chop job you are doing on the mini character dolls from the garage sales. Sounds very interesting, but I hope you have checked on the value of the some of the dolls you may be using. Did you know that some of these dolls are collector items and can be worth quite a bit of money? The Star War dolls for example, can go for almost $1000. Just to let you know. You mentioned Wonder Woman. The older ones are very collectable!

Ginny

Signing Your Doll: James wanted to know what to sign his original dolls with - most doll artists sign their dolls on the back of the head or shoulder plate. (In time, dolls may lose arms or legs, but the head is the most important part) If they don't inscribe it into the clay or sculpting medium itself, they use paint or a permanent ink. That way it can always be proven who made the doll, and that makes the doll more valuable in the future. Since the signature will be hidden by hair or clothing, it won't be seen, but does need to be there.

Paulette Stinson

Doll Clothes: I dress dolls and sell doll dressing kits as well as ready made clothing. There are some costuming books available as well and I've started to write on the 20th century as I haven't been able to find any patterns later than Edwardian. I sell Susan Sirkis' books for the 19th cent. and there are one or two larger books available in bookstores, but for Victorian and earlier. Some individual patterns are available from other miniatures dealers, check web sites for Sandy's and Etcetera, but again, vintage styles.

If you're using a pattern, or even a kit, you need to fit the pattern to your individual doll -making a mock-up out of a soft, lightweight, cheap fabric, or even paper towels. It is very difficult to get ready made to fit a doll. In scale closures are just about impossible to make in working form; the clothing is usually sewed or glued on the doll and buttons, etc. are faked. Of course ready made is fine for display and I have some. You can see some of my things and get more info. at my new web site http://home.mindspring.com/~byrachelle.

Rachelle

Doll Clothes: Thelma Lewis DeMet http://thelmalewisdemet.homestead.com/index.html makes wonderful clothing for mini dolls. her e-mail is tldemet@ameritech.net. She is a member of this list.

Rosemary in Cleveland

Poodle Skirt: Lone Wolf Mini Creations has a kit for a miniature poodle skirt at http://www.lonewolfminicreations.com/Poodle%20Skirt.htm.

Rosemary in Cleveland

Flip Flops: Cut the sole out of craft foam (trace around a mini shoe, maybe?). Then get a rubber band and cut a short length from it (maybe about 1/2"). Slit the rubber band in half, lengthwise, until about half way up. You should now have a piece something like an upside down Y... a thick piece at the top splitting into two pieces at the bottom. The thick piece will be the thong of the slipper (that part that goes in between your toes) and the thin pieces are the straps on either side of the foot. (Look at a real flip-flop if this sounds confusing!) Cut small slits in your foam slipper sole--there should be one at the toe, one at the instep of the foot, and one on the outside edge of the foot. Then glue the rubber band ends into the holes.

Celeste Ng

Viola

polymer vs. porcelain: I absolutely believe dolls made from hand sculpted clay take more time! I've done both, so I think I'm qualified to put in my opinion. In porcelain, the time SEEMS longer because after pouring you have to wait for the greenware to dry, then clean it, and then fire it. After that, it still needs sanding, painting, and refired if face paint requires it. But you're doing a lot of other pieces at the same time, so it's hard to calculate exactly how long each doll takes to make. I can get all the parts to about 20 dolls in a kiln load. So if you divide all the time by 20, it still is less than if you were sculpting each doll from scratch.
On the subject of the artist who didn't send the Elvis doll - I don't think there's a miniature Elvis doll mold out there (maybe there is) but perhaps she is sculpting his head and face, which would take more time, but not 7 months.

Paulette in IN