I’ve wanted to try making my own little peg dolls for ages but couldn’t find the plain dolls. So when I saw them flash up on EBay I was very happy. If you’re in the US these are pretty easy to come by on Etsy – I just can’t face paying more on postage than on the item! So I bought a family set and painted my little family.
You will need:
- Wooden peg dolls
- acrylic paint
- Fine paintbrushes
- Pencil
- varnish (I use Triple Thick)
1. First, roughly draw out the main shapes on the dolls. Don’t worry about the faces at this stage… I did, but when I painted it the lines didn’t show through, so don’t waste your time!
Mix up some skin-tone paint (this takes a bit of practise but should be mainly white with a hint of yellow, brown and red). Paint in the faces and limbs.
3. Add the bulk colours, painting the hair and clothes in. Use a fine brush for the hair.
4. Pencil on the face and paint on with a fine brush, along with the other details. If you aren’t confident with painting these smaller bits, use a sharpie pen. It can be quite fiddly!
5. Once dry, paint on a couple of layers of varnish – start with the heads so that you can then hold onto these to paint the bodies.
Kids are big fans of personalised things and Amelie just loves playing with these. In fact she loved them even when the faces were just pencilled on, so they don’t need to be that good!
Tia x
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