Fighting Art Block With Silly Little Projects Like This Teapot Animal, Sipping From Your Cup. I Finally

What to look for when making Long Hair for Dolls - The Differences in 100% Acrylic Yarns

Hey lovely doll peeps, hope you're having a good day! So over in the Dollblr community here on Tumblr, some people had some questions regarding making doll hair out of acrylic yarn. So I took some time to grab some yarn from my stash and lay out what I know about working with it. It was helpful there, so now I'm copying the post over here so you all can enjoy it and use its knowledge for your own doll needs. That said, if you're interested in the Dollbllr community, go reach out to @plasma-packin-peep/@peepersponies to see about getting an invite. It's a really sweet group of people from what I've experienced so far. <3

Let me give you a quick summary of about five years worth of learning to work with this material.

Welcome to my desk! Before you are five different yarns from my stash. All of these are 100% acrylic. As you can see, acrylic yarn comes in a wide variety of sizes and softness, and while I can do the same things to all of them, they will behave slightly differently. My favorites of this bunch are the Yarn Bee True Colors and the Charisma. Yarn Bee is the native brand to Hobby Lobby, and Charisma I've found at Michaels. Loops & Threads and Hometown, which aren't pictured here, other brands I've enjoyed working with in their thicker fiber variants, also over at Michaels.

The common wisdom in the doll community is that you use 100% acrylic because it's a synthetic fiber that can handle heat. That means it can handle a flat iron or curling wand without melting, which is what makes it look similar to real human hair on this scale. I haven't tested a ton in the way of other fibers. But one of my dolls, Sass here, uses a combination of 100% acrylic yarn and a yarn that's part acrylic, part nylon, and I wanna say part spandex? It's been like 4 years since I made this guy, and that yarn's label is lost, but you can see that the nylon yarn sticks out a little. It doesn't flat iron nicely into a fluffy, realistic hair, it's more stringy. So useful to know if you want that look!

So here's what we're going to do. I've taken all of the yarns pictured and taken them apart to show you how much fiber I lose on an average yarn prep. I'm gonna show you what that looks like from left to right. My method is to cut my yarn, unravel each strand by hand, then take a wire pet brush to it to smooth it out. Instead of tying my yarn to a hanger or hoop, I hold it in my hand, brush through the yarn gently until I'm halfway through, then flip it and go after it from the other side. This is good for ensuring that my length is preserved. Whatever fiber gets stuck in the pet brush, I then take out, mush together, and brush through again so that I have more yarn hair to work with. After that, I will take a flat iron to it and then brush through one more time, but I'm not showing those last two steps here. That said, sometimes flat ironing does lead to losing more fiber, so that is something to consider.

Let's start with that big chonker. This is also a Yarn Bee yarn, and it's probably ideal for an easy time getting your hair unraveled. I have yet to use this one on a doll, truth be told I got it on clearance and haven't figured out who the color would suit. It's very easy to pull apart and work with, and as you can see, it retains a lot of its length.

Next is the True Colors. This stuff is so soft, which is why it's my preference, and while it can be easy to tear apart, you can still retain a lot of length if you're gentle. Like look at the far right, that's all the fiber I took out of the pet brush and mushed back together. It's still a pretty sizable amount of yarn fiber to work with!

The Charisma is a similar story. Something you've probably noticed is that not all yarns have the same amount of strands when pulled apart. I tend to see 2 to 4 on average when I'm prepping yarn. This is a two strander, and once again, it's soft and delightful. Highly recommend going to a physical store and touching your yarn before your buy it. The softer stuff is my preference given how much I'm holding and touching it.

This yarn from Mainstay I got on clearance at Walmart, and it's actually quite soft to the touch! As you can see, our strands are getting thinner here, which is harder to unravel with your fingers. I loose a lot of length when brushing through yarn like this, and it's hard to mush the fibers back together. Yarn like this is incredibly common, and I'll be honest, I don't love working with it. ^^''' But it may be perfect for your project needs! All depends on what you want in a yarn. If you're looking to give a doll a wavy/curled hair without having to curl it yourself, just unraveling and plugging a lot of these in might be for you!

I don't remember where this seafoam green yarn came from, but I think it might be yarn marketed for making baby clothes. It's very thin, and it knots a little at the ends when you unravel it, which is frustrating. I managed to preserve and reconstruct pretty well with this fiber, but the amount of hassle it takes to get through this for a full head of doll hair is very aaaahhh. Like I said, maybe this works for your project. I tend to save this kind of yarn for stuff like accents rather than the main hair color, just because it takes so long to work with.

And there you have it! Those are my notes about brushing out doll hair! As a quick aside, you don't have to brush out yarn in order for it to be beautiful. Sometimes I like to only unravel it and use it that way, like with my recent fairy doll here. She uses a blend of two True Colors yarns and I wanna say a Charisma for the white. There's even a pink and white yarn in here that I didn't brush out, I just boiled and then froze it around a foam curler and threw it in for more texture, though it's a bit tough to spot in this photo.

At the end of the day, you can use just about any acrylic yarn for your project, the question is really what are you willing to put up with. I know myself, I know that I can put on a movie or chat with friends as I'm unraveling a thicker fiber yarn and then brush it out another time and have it be tolerable. That works for me. As you can see, a staple of my dolls is having really long, soft yarn hair, so it makes sense that this is what I gravitate towards. XD

But maybe you want something different out of your yarn experience. That's fine too! The best thing you can do is experiment to see what you like. Do what makes you happy! There is no wrong way to customize your dolls (so long as you're not putting yourself or others in danger). Go have fun, be kind to yourself, and be safe in handling your materials. And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask! I've been customizing since November of 2018, and I love chatting about this art form. To my beginners especially, there is no such thing as a stupid question, don't be afraid to ask for help if you're unsure of where to go.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful day, and happy customizing! <3

Was just thinking about this earlier today…lol 🙃

Realtor: How can we sell this 2002 home in Janesville, WI for 20k more than Zillow says it's worth? I know! It's almost Halloween. We'll put Jason Voorhees in every photo! 4bds, 3ba, 3,340 sq ft, $650k.

Not sure if I like the way this open concept kitchen/living room is set up.

And, there are also stairs right next to it. You can see Chef Voorhees in the kitchen, there.

He is such a pest. You go to put a load of laundry in, and drop a load, and he's hiding behind the door.

The primary bedroom's large, but plain.

You can't even take a bath, b/c that pest is in the tub.

Try to take a shower, he's in there, too.

The other 3 bedrooms are average size. Now, he's in the way if you want to put your stuff in the closet.

Blocking the stairs to the basement. So much carpet in the home. It's clean, but it's too light and too much.

He's down in the rec room. I would definitely prefer a hard floor down here.

Lookin' in the patio doors of the extra bedroom.

Love the retro glass block shower. Get out of there.

Step away from the water softener.

Huge two-tier deck.

This would make a cute she shed. Get down from there, you big goof, that's for the children.

Can't you read? Get off my property.

There's another shed and a little greenhouse, too.

You can see the neighbors' boats down there.

Stop tt. Dock to the nearby Rock River.

Beautiful home.

Very nice property.

1.14 acre lot across the road from the river.

Eryns preorder is open!

And here's the preorder post with all the important information 😊 I hope I covered everything, if not, let me know! 🐲 Preorder starts on 15th April and lasts until 15th May. 🐲 Eryn is 13cm (5,1inch) long and around 8cm (3,1inch) tall and takes 6mm flatback eyes. He got magnetic wings and an extra wing cover, plus a headcap system to easily change his eyes. 🐲 Each color is 140$ plus shipping - completely custom colors are 160$ plus shipping. You can pick from 5 colors OR chose your complete own color. Anything is possible! 🐲 You will get a free pair of eyes with each dragon. You can choose from 36 different types of acrylic eyes, and can add more for 5$ per pair. 🐲 Yes, layaway is possible too! I'd need a 50$ down payment (per doll). Maximum layaway is 3 months. Please spread the word and share! It means a lot to me <3

>>> Order form (click me!) <<<

Joy

Sweater by @dollsahoy

Breathe.

More Muriel Colors Unlocked!

We reached more color options tonight: Grapefruit, Mulberry, and Lime! I'm going to see about making a few more mock-ups of the bonus color options, because I find these particular combinations really fun. Here is the gif I made for the campaign page!

Want one? These colors are now unlocked for any doll option (kits, assembled blanks, and assembled blushed). And of course, here is a link to the Kickstarter campaign page!

surprise! twinsies!

i'm almost constantly battling the need to print two of all my sculpts. in this case i happened to have just a little bit left of two different metallic colorshift filaments, so the need to make twins won.

[photo credit: @posnakkel]