I am taking a little painting break for the day. I am currently finishing up 9 babies (two are cuddles). It is taking a while but I love getting back to painting newborns again. I love hair painting, I usually top root but the hair I really appreciate isn’t available right now so I am doing my best to level up my painted hair.
I painted a couple big dolls for Macphersons that were so much fun. If you are looking to step outside of your comfort zone and paint a big doll these 36 inch kits are pretty fantastic. Unless you have a spare oven (a big one) you will have to use air dry but so worth it. They are so fun to costume.
The newborns now seem so tiny.
I need to raise my prices a bit. Supplies have gone up and some things that I use just are not available at the moment and if I do find them I have to pay a premium for them. I bought a lot of sculpts here at BB during covid when supplies where coming in slowly, sold out fast, and where full price. Eyes, bodies, rings and plugs… it has all gone up and it adds up. I hate the pricing part, to many feels involved, and your inner critic jumps in for fun… it’s the messy part, even if you have a formula that feels fair.
I have been checking in at Reborns.com, seems we have a lot of new artists and people who have been doing this a while know how it goes, people get excited, feel like this is the get rich game they have been waiting for, they make one baby and set up shop. There are those who will last a couple months and some who have skills they didn’t even know they had, and will keep working it, keep improving, and stick around for a while, a very few will become reborn rock stars.
The artists I love most are the old timers who have been doing this forever, paint when they feel like it, and stay humble. They are here on this forum, they are a wealth of information and deserve a whole lot of respect. They were doing this before there were kits, GHSP, rings, plugs, and rooting tools. They paved the way. I am privileged to know them and have had the opportunity to learn a little from them along the way. If you ask nicely… magic happens.
They have seen this hobby grow, change, and evolve over 20 years. I am going to guess they never thought they would see the day these dolls would be sold for over a 1000 dollars (and even higher).
I noticed prices are all over the place. Sales seem to be a little slower but Doll shows are coming back and artists hold babies back for those shows and some people wait to buy from shows so they can get a dream baby directly from the artist.
The economy is worrisome, I know that plays a part in sale also.
I worry China fakes over saturated the market and built distrust but collectors are smarter than that. I am going to hold onto hope that these babies are still going to be loved and collected for another 20 years (at least).
I think I am like a lot of artists and also hoping that Genesis is back up soon. I miss my matte varnish and my big tubs of paint. I surely do not waste a drop now.
Mostly I think about these last couple years and how hard that has been, the toll it has taken and how uncertain everyone still feels. I am personally glad I have the privilege to have a hobby like this (it isn’t cheap) and a creative outlet to distract me a little. I love making things that give people comfort.
Curious how you all are feeling, where you are at in this moment, how you feel about this hobby, sales, availability of the things you need, new sculpts you are in love with, new hacks you came up with when some things were not available, and how you are doing.
The great thing about a forum with so many people from different places, different lives is that we get this common space, we all love this, for what ever reason, it’s a good club to belong to.
even if that artist bought everything on sale she lost money and then I see some sketchyness in the $600’s
Like I said, we all get our turn. It gets tiresome, having to explain or prove myself just to sell a doll only to start worrying about delayed delivery, chargebacks, and fraud.