For my daughter's
Japanese Themed Birthday Party,
I knew I wanted each girl to have a kokeshi doll. I searched online, and in local Asian markets for a cute doll at a good price. The cheapest I found before shipping, was $6 per doll. These dolls were small, and not very cute. I knew I could make one. I used the the printables I found for the party as my guide for how I wanted the hair, body, faces, and basic proportions. You can see the printable source by clicking the link above.
This is what I started with:
SUPPLIES:
HEAD - Ball Knobs 1 1/4"; 3/16 hole
(I tried it with the 1 1/4 " dowel caps. This doesn't work, as you need to screw the head to the body. The dowel hole is too big.)
BUNS - 1/4" dowel caps, and 3/8" round balls
BODY - 1 1/4" 5/8" hole candle cups
E600 Craft Glue
Craft Paint
Screws
Floral Foam, Craft Paint, Paint Brushes, Dowels, and Toothpicks
*UPDATE*
It has come to my attention, that some of you may not have be able to find these supplies. So, if you need to order them online, I have tried to make it easy for you, and here is the link. You can just click on each one to take you to the item on their website:
Heads:
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158112
Bodies:
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158114
Buns:
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158175
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158294
DIRECTIONS:
Place the ball knobs on dowels, and stick the dowels on foam (from the dollar store.)
Paint the faces first. That way if you mess up, you can paint the hair over the messed up face. I did
many times! I bought paint pens, thinking that would work, but it didn't. The paint pen ran, and it looked like a mess. My friend Tiffany told me to paint the faces with a toothpick dipped in craft paint. That was a great tip! You can visit Tiffany's etsy shop
here. She has darling, darling things, and is very talented!
Paint the Hair. I used the toothpick the make the basic hair lines, and then a paint brush to fill in the rest.
Glue the buns on wherever you want them. I thought it was fun to put them in different places on the head. It added nice variety. You may need to hold them in place as the glue dries. I glued the buns on after painting, to insure that all you see when you look at the doll is black hair, and not unfinished wood under the glue. I didn't know if the glue would be very paintable.
Paint the Buns after the glue is completely dry. I also filled in the empty glue spots with a toothpick full of glue, so the glue would take up the empty space. I even added more glue after painting, then painted again. I just used a brush to paint the buns.
Here are all the doll heads.
I didn't paint mouths. I did a few with mouths to begin with, and I thought it distracted from the overall look and cuteness.
Screw the head and body together. My husband used his vice when he did this for me, but it left little marks on some of the dolls faces even thought he put a towel between the doll and the vice. You know how husbands are :) I think he really was excited about using his vice. I don't think it would be necessary. He was nice to do it for me though.
Here is one with a mouth. The mouth is cute on this one, but wasn't cute on all of them, and I ended up having to paint over it enough, that is wasn't even worth it.
Here are some of the finished dolls:
(Like I said in my Japanese Party Post, I wish I would have sprayed them with spray varnish after the girls painted them, but I got too busy at the party, and didn't remember :(
You can see the eyes are all different, and not perfect. The girls had a great time choosing the doll and hairstyle they liked best.
I loved the metallic paint they painted the bodies with - so cute! The girls were great little painters, and I think... the messier the better.
If you like this post, PLEASE leave a comment!
I love and appreciate comments, and read every one.
Have a Happy and Creative Day!!
Risa
I am linking!