I’m wondering how many people are able to devote daily time to their addiction…I don’t seem to have the energy in the evenings after a full day at the high school, and it’s taking forever to get anything done. What/how do others find or schedule time to play?
And the other thing I wanted to know is about lighting in the evening: light bulb manufacturers are beginning to phase out the lightbulb as we know it, to the flourescent energy efficient bulbs. I’m concerned about the replication of “daylight” with the flourescents; with ordinary bulbs you could buy imitation daylight, but I haven’t seen that in the flourescents. I’m thinking I should go out and stock up on the “daylight” bulbs! --Rhonda
I hardly get to because I am a full time Mother of 2 1/2 & 4 1/2 year old boys so they keep me really really busy! I might get to paint for about 3 hrs every couple of weeks. Sometimes I can get in a full day but that is very rare!
Hi Rhonda!
I am fortunate that I am now officially “retired”! But, I haven’t worked in a long time either…
As to the lightbulb issue…full spectrum light bulbs are available at Joann’s, Loewe’s and Home Depot for a few. They also have the cool bulbs and the warm bulbs. STAY AWAY from the warm bulbs…they distort the colors something fierce!
You can also puchase the Ott lite bulbs at Michael’s and Joann’s. They will fit nicely in any lamp including the magnifying ones.
It takes me a good 2 weeks to get a doll done from start to finish. I will only work on them during daylight hours and I have a part-time job outside the home, so I am not here all day every day. It makes no difference if I paint the hair or root it…takes me just as long either way. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, though, and I won’t send out a baby that I think is sub-standard. My customers deserve the best and that’s what I try to give them. I’d never want someone to open one of my boxes and be disappointed. My eyes work better in natural light; I don’t care for artificial lighting at all when I’m working on a baby. Great question!
I honestly work on the ‘babies’ only when I can. a few minutes here a few hours there. I daycare some little people in the family and if they are having a bad day…or week…I get nothing done. I don’t do much on the weekend when my husband is home…so it takes me quite a while to finish a project. The upside to that is…I have lots of time walking away from and looking at my babies with a fresh eye. I can’t get carried away and make any extreme booboos. Don’t even ask how long it takes to root a head…oh my gosh!! And my feet, back and hands have lots of time to recuperate. (I work standing up at my craft island in my kitchen) I average 2 to 4 sometimes 5 weeks per baby. By the time I am done I am sure they are perfect and I am comfortable selling them.
As far as the lighting goes. I work under daylight tungsten bulbs right now. When they die I will change over to a Daylight full-spectrum Spiral Compact Fluorescent Bulb. There are quite a few choices now at Home Depot etc. and I have been terribly disappointed by a paint job when I went over to a sunny window to check my progress when using regular old fashioned bulbs. This is just my preference and choice now. It is a much truer color and then the babies look exactly the way I want them to.
Because I own an insurance agency and work full time I can only work on my babies at night and or on weekends. Usually I don’t get much done on them during the week because by the time I get home and cook supper for my family I usually am dead tired once kitchen is all cleaned up. I turned into a pumkin by 8:30pm. I did make it to 10:00pm new years eve. and then I do it all again the next day up at 5:30am.
Anyway I have ott lights that I use and have used for the last 6 years and love them. They allow natuaral lightening and don’t get your eyes tired. You can see what your doing all the time. I use them even in the daylight hours as my craft room has no windows just flouresnt lightening so need all the help I can get. It usually will take about 3 to four weeks for me to finish one baby from start to finish. But I still do it.
I paint when I can. Working a shift work job like mine can be demanding - Often I don’t get to bed until 3am,. My days off are Thursday & Friday so I try to save my work for my “weekend”.
This New Year’s weekend I worked 11 /12 hours straight on NY eve and 10 hours straight on NY day. Not to mention having worked 11 days in this payperiod! My job requires that I stand the entire time so let it be said that I was exhausted for sure. Not sure what the upcoming weeks hold because our day shift just lost 3 people which means they will be calling me in for coverage in addition to my own work.
I don’t paint at night even though I have a daylight lamp with magnifier because i bake outside - never in the house. But, I must admit that I took 3 days vacation a few months ago on the pretext that I would be cleaning the house so I could decorate for Christmas – well, I have to admit it – I spent the entire 3 days working on my babies! And my poor house needs a few more days so I CAN clean it now!
I work 48 and 72 hour shifts and am usually worn out after a shift so it takes a day to recover. I do not get to paint often after laundry and house work is done. I do what I can and anticipate the love I can put in to them.
Thank you all for the feedback! I don’t feel like such a slacker, and now more a member of the Club! I’ll be out shopping for those lights this weekend. Everyone’s got pretty pictures to post, and I’m (sob) not at that point yet! (sniff). But itsa coming! thank you all for your support! Luv Ya! Rhonda