I love the colour matching dolls from Grimm’s. Grimm’s always has such amazing, hight-quality products, but I just can’t justify paying that price right now. However, I was inspired. When I came across paintable pots and dolls I was so exited that I would be able to create a version, similar but not identical, for E and V.
Not only did I want to do similar ones to Grimm’s, I also wanted to make them so I could increase the challenge–so gradient colours! It’ll be some time until they are ready for the gradient colour matching, but when they are ready for them, they are already prepared and accessible. After reading “The Colors of Us” by Karen Katz and “Shades of People” with E and V I wanted to make skin tone nesting dolls too.
I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the quality of the pots and dolls as I had to sand the inside of a few of the pots. But when it comes down to it, that was a small inconvenience for the outcome.
What you need:
-Paint and brushes. I use acrylic paint for my paintings so I just picked out primary colours, similar to these and then used this set for skin tone.
–Shellac.
What to do:
While I painting the whole exterior of the pots, I only painted the top half of the dolls. They have other gradient work with completely painted dolls and these will offer variety. And like their current, beloved pop up material, a slightly increased challenge as it’s not 100% painted.
For the primary paint, I used the paint straight from the bottle and then would add a bit of white to create the gradient colours, just increases the amount of white per doll. For skin tones, I simply used the paint from the bottles.
Once they were dry, we sprayed with shellac. This seals the material and makes it more durable–the paint is less likely to come off.
And that’s it!
Do you enjoy DIYing your own materials when able?
This post contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you.
.
.
.
