How I Learn New Crafts without Requesting a Tutorial
I saw a very cool artist on here that I follow make a post about getting requests for tutorials and that being too much to ask. I agree with them! I'm also a middle aged lady, so I grew up before contacting artist you like was simple or quick. Combine these two things and my AP Studio Art class 20+ years ago, and I have developed a method for seeking out how I can begin to do a craft/art type I haven't before after admiring someone else's work. Here is my attempt to show how I do this:
Step One: collect the information that the artist has chosen to provide
Artists will usually note their materials as a matter of course. If they don't, asking for that info is generally fine. My rule is that if the information you want would be listed on an info plaque if you saw their art in a museum, it's okay to ask about. People won't always answer - and they don't have to! - but the initial ask about such things isn't inherently rude. Once you know what materials they use, do some research into how to work with them. Lots and lots of people have already written blogs and made videos all about how to do particular crafts with particular materials. I know google sucks now, but it is still always worth a search or two!
Step Two: Pick a piece that they've done and study it with a technical eye
Now that you have some idea of how they might be using their materials, try to apply that to a finished work they've made. Here's an example using a doll I customized: Seren
I listed my base doll as Monster High G3 Cupid. Look at my photos and a photo of a normal Cupid side by side to see where the changes I made are:
shrank her head
removed factory paint and hair
repainted her face and body
lengthened her arms
gave her new hair
You can't see from these pictures that I gave her different lower legs to lengthen them, but luckily I listed that detail.
If you've already done step one, then applying the knowledge you've gained to this doll should be relatively easy. You can look at your links to tutorials on how to shrink MH heads; what materials to use to remove factory paint; what sealants, paints, pastels, and colored pencils work best for repaints; why you should use air dry clay instead of a baked clay if you're sculpting directly on to the doll to lengthen her arms; how to make yarn wefts; and what glue to use to attach them.
Step Three: Try things out for yourself
I've seen complaints sometimes that people want tutorials from specific artist because they want to know how to do things "right" or be able to be good at a new craft right away. I'm sure we all know in our heart of hearts that art doesn't actually work that way. It didn't for the artist whose work you love, and it won't for you either. People can't impart the skill, feeling, and muscle memory they've built up over time in a tutorial. There's no short cut to being "good" at crafts. Because there isn't really one definition of good. There are techniques, skills, and muscle memories that will make it easier and more reliable for you to get the finished pieces you aim for, but that all takes time, practice, and experimentation to build. Along the way you're going to discover short cuts that work great and others that aren't actually worth it. You will develop material preferences that make both the process and finished piece more comfortable for you. You'll go through styles, learn new skills, and end up doing the same craft entirely different.
I use these steps to find a starting point. We all have our own destinations with whatever we make. Build your confidence in yourself by learning what your options are to get you to the result you envision.
All of the sewing is by hand, from piecing to quilting to binding. I used a scrap of old tshirt for the batting. The “quilting” is really more embroidery than actual hand quilting, so the back is a bit of a mess. But I also wasn’t paying attention to keeping this square until it was time to bind, so it has a lot of wonk.
Regardless, I had a lot of fun making this. And as you can see in this picture I customized a store bought sewing machine table to make this quilt the last project the table was used for
Vaguely Goblin critter, head+hands+feet modelled by me. Still trying to figure out sculpting, so not sure I did good enough job with face. Went from "That's like Stitch" to "Minimoys but green??"
Outfit was improvised from stash materials bc as soon as assembled this one said "No, I'ma forest creacher!!" to all my plans and ran. So I nodded and went along with whatever this is. Vest was biggest trouble, not the tiniest thing I've sewn but pretty close >> But I think it was worth it!
knit so scraggly only a mother could love -- and I do
all hail the real MVP, the thrifted punch embroidery thread that just keeps giving
(it's probably too scraggly to be using this way but I'm gonna keep doing it ... I have so many colors and an entire garment takes such a tiny fraction of a spool that it is gonna last f o r e v e r)
Custom Monster High Victoria Everglot doll, made to go with the Skullector Corpse Bride Emily doll.
She uses the MH Enid body, but with a G3 Draculaura head. I did consider using Enid's head, but Drac just looked so much more like Victoria. For her hair I decided to cheat, and only rerooted the hairline. She's going to have a perma-bun so I didn't see the point in a full reroot. Her hair is basically sculpted in place with a butt load of gel.
I made her top and skirt, her socks are from an OMG doll, and the shoes are Ever After High. I thought a shorter skirt would feel more MH-like, but also, I hand painted those stripes. If I'd had to paint enough stripes for a full, long skirt, I'd have probably never finished her.
I'm very happy with how she's turned out, and can't wait for Emily to arrive so I can put them together.
Fearidescent Draculaura joins the ranks of gorgeous gorgeous girls with saran ♡
I decided to give her a more icey look, forgoing the standard black streaks for white, I also wanted to show off her adorable widows peak!
I only have one more doll to reroot and then I'm DONE! For now at least, till the next inevitable polypropylene headed dolls from Monster High come out.
Putting a g1 pony style head on a doll body is something I know many aspire to, so I feel that you guys should know that The Loyal Subjects MLP heads fit on Shadow/Rainbow high bodies too. It’s a very different look than putting a g5 head on the same doll, because the size of the head makes the proportions appear so different. I think these two doll hybrids look like they’re very different ages, but a friend of mine said the g1 hybrid reminded him of Hollyhock from Bojack Horseman.
G1 hybrid’s head is held on with nothing - I’m using the hard plastic hair to balance it perfectly on the doll’s shoulders. I bet with enough hot water and prying one could remove the plastic hair and give this pony head an interesting wig.
To complete past diy kimono dressing for Sylvanians Families/Calico Critters I shared before (see 1 / 2), here is a new step by step by @haluchobin to create cute easy to put on obi :
Tie a thin elastic into a loose loop around the tail
Slip both ends of a ribbon through the loop and sew into place
Tie another ribbon around the elastic covering the knot. Style it into a bow, you can try to mimic real musubi if you want
Finishing up my current project in order to move on to the next one, so thought I'd post about it here a bit.
a while back i bought a lot of random used dolls off ebay (as you do), and mixed in with the busted up Monster Highs and whatnot was a couple of these Shopkins dolls. now i know tastes differ and all but i think these things are hideous, and they're also quite small (about 6in high). that combined with its bizarre proportions meant i was kind of at a loss for what to do with it. The hair was in rough shape so I cut it off.
the Shopkins sat around in my parts box for like a year until i played Cult of the Lamb and was like. wait.
this head shape.
so i dove in and did some surgery.
i dont have any pictures of the process, which involved sawing off her feet and then sanding down the bow details and parts of her face, but i did that and then primed and painted it and made some new parts out of air dry clay
yes. i think this will work.
he needs to be fluffy, though. i wanted him to be fluffy.
by lucky chance i found a child's sheep-themed fleece hoodie at the thrift store and ended up snipping off little bits and gluing them on
obviously he doesn't have feet, so. back to the air-dry clay.
the Shopkins did not stand up on its own, with its dinky little feet and giant head. I managed to make hooves for Lamb that DO allow him to stand up! he's not the most stable thing in the world, but he CAN stand.
now i'm finally finishing up the accessories
he just needs his collar, a crown, and some touchups on his fluff. (also i somehow dinged up his ear a little so i need to repair that)
all in all im pretty pleased with how he's coming out, especially given that he started out looking like this
kaledo-art
prguitarman
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
titsay
stormborns
andulkaphoto
