Refilling the Creative Well

Creation needs to be fun. But when one type of creation is no longer fun, then the creator may need to take a break, or they need to return to fun things they used to do.

It used to be I would crochet afghans on Sundays while watching football. However, hot flashes have made that rather impractical. Who wants to curl up in a blanket soaked in my sweat?

Now that we have a couple of spare bedrooms, I'm turning the small bedroom into my doll design studio. I had to give up my hobby when Genius Kid was a toddler. I didn't have time, not with an active kid and practicing law full time.

After my experience this summer, I knew I needed to get back to doing something besides writing. So I collected some used Barbies, bought some acrylic paints, and found my boxes full of fabric. One of the sister-in-law's was getting rid of her sewing machine after inheriting her mom's beautiful antique one, and I offered to take it.

I'm documenting the process for for two friends. One is a painter who is curious about the process of re-painting a doll. Another is fascinated by the process. My ultimate goal is to create outfits and hair based on my characters, but I'm way out of practice after twenty years.

So I picked out three dolls that have slight flaws that can be hidden by clothing or paint. I found a lovely bridal dress pattern on Etsy, but I plan to modify it slightly to create ball gowns. And I have some awesome Halloween-themed fabrics. So I decided to redesign the three dolls into a Halloween Ball theme.

Here we are at the beginning. I'm still working on clearing boxes from the bedroom. The room will get a thoroughly cleaning and organizing once I've finished writing Death in Double Mocha.

Since I plan to re-root and re-paint the dolls, the first thing I needed to do was to carefully remove the heads. Why did I this? Regardless of the method I use to re-root the dolls' locks, I need access to the interior for knotting or glue.

The next steps include washing the exterior of the bodies to remove dirt and hopefully a few stains. I'll cut off the dolls' hair and clean out roots from the interior of the head. Finally, I'll remove the current facepaint.

Last Friday night, I sketched out the first dress. All the prep work will take the rest of the September and most of October.

Don't worry, folks. I'm not changing WWW into a doll blog. This is just a lesson I forgot and nearly paid the price for it. You need additional outlets beside writing. Otherwise, you could burn yourself out like I almost did.