The color theory

It helps when you need to tweak the paint job on your work to know a little of the color theory.
Basically it's the same stuff you learned during circle time in preschool, but never knew it would come in useful some day. ;)

For who was absent that day: there are three PRIMARY colors, red yellow and blue. They are actually Magenta, Cyan yellow and Cyan blue if you want precision.

Black and white are not colors, they are light saturation. Black is total lack of light, white is total light. All the colors behave differently depending on what light they are in (also your paints do, so be careful if you paint at night!).

If you mix your primary colors you obtain your SECONDARY colors:

MAGENTA + CYAN BLUE = PURPLE

MAGENTA + CYAN YELLOW = ORANGE

CYAN BLUE + CYAN YELLOW = GREEN

Now you see that every color has one opposite. That color is called its COMPLEMENTARY (not "complimentary", nothing is free here). So red and green, blue and orange, purple and yellow.
These colors tend to neutralize themselves if mixed, that's when all this babble comes in useful for us reborn artists.
When you have a weird colored kit or your paint job doesn't come out as expected (it happens to us people who mix our own colors), you just look at a good color wheel and go for the color opposite of the one you want to correct. Here is one for your reference, but you can google "color wheel" and have your pick.

Why all this? Well let's say that yesterday a very sleep deprived reborn artist decided to set aside all the good work she'd need to do and color correct a beloved baby of hers who was rather purplish. One of those reborning jobs on BB old grey vinyl of yesteryear, who never seemed to look right no matter what. Something like this:

Then during... (Matilda wasn't actually thrilled to be photographed this way!)

... and after. Can you tell the difference? 

Note to the fellow artists: you can see some of the colors I used in my plates next to Matilda, but the huge cup of tea is mandatory during this process. Being totally sleep deprived is not, but helps. ;) 

Re-rooting Kieran

I received my new needles from DollsbySandie in the mail and decided to try them against the ultimate challenge: black yearling mohair.

You can guess why I still had this baggie of black yearling I bought years ago... it was way too showy to root with my old, "stab" method. I won't even call it a technique, since at the time I learned rooting was still at its beginnings (yeah this dates me as a reborner!).

Anyways, since I always envisioned little Kieran with a full head of jet black hair, I chose him for the challenge. And I'm very happy with how he came out!!

The needles pick up the hair effortlessly, I was able to separate and root only one hair at a time.
Sweet Kieran slept through the whole process! ;)

Esme Two (or How some dolls grow roots in our hearts).

You are not seeing double.
I am in fact working on the Esme kit by Laura Lee Eagles... again.

It seldom happens that a kit makes such an impression on me that I have to get it again.
Guess it's a matter of preference... I just counted and there are five Laura Lee Eagles babies here at the moment, either in my private collection (Liberty, Sweet Pea Awake), ready for the ROSE show (Miracle), in my kit stash (Tegan), or in the works (Esme two).

Which makes Laura Lee the most represented sculptor ever in my house.

Esme two has a compelling story. I first bought Esme (one, but I didn't know there would be others then) a few months ago, fell in love with her, but the high price tag of the kit made me sell her. I regretted it almost instantly, but by the time I realized it the doll was sold and packed and I was about to mail her to the buyer.
I decided that I was not the kind of person who breaks a deal.

(Esme One, adopted). 

Of course I didn't expect to miss her so much. 

I toyed with the idea to look for a new Esme kit after the ROSE show, but then found one at a very reasonable price and decided I couldn't pass up. 

Here is Esme Due (two), as she's currently called in our house. Here to stay. 

What do you think, was it worth it? 

R.O.S.E.International Doll Show!!!

Finally after three years of absence from the doll show scenes I decided to bite the bullet and accepted to exhibit at the R.O.S.E. International Doll Show in Denver, CO!

The show will be held in July 2015. Of course being the usual procrastinator I find myself with only a few months to complete enough babies to fill a table, their clothing, and choose a theme and set up.

I've decided to reopen my blog and use it to chronicle this long journey, possibly daily or at least every few days, to keep you all updated with my works in progress.

So far I've completed Miracle by Laura Lee Eagles. She was supposed to be a keeper to console me from selling her sister Esme, but since Esme seems to be irreplaceable in my heart, poor Miracle will come with me at the show. She sports probably the best rooting I've ever done, with a longer do than I'm used to.

After Miracle, I put in the works two more babies: Joshua by Jessica Schenk, a sold out micro preemie kit, and Kylah by Wendy Dickinson.

I decided that since I have a closet full of hard to find kits I might as well create some for the show, so my "mommies" will be sure that their baby is unique possibly on the whole showroom floor. ;)

Here is Miracle:

Joshua and Kylah so far, plus Pixie who is awaiting rooting: 

And now... back to work. Time for some painting and a good cup of tea. :D