The Beauty of Miniature Porcelain Dolls

Miniature porcelain dolls are doll-making at it's absolute best. Among other types of porcelain dolls or other handmade dolls, miniatures are among the top dolls made. Why is this? Because it requires more pain-staking work and more patience and skill to handcraft a doll or any other hand-made item on a smaller scale.

When one sees something in miniature, it usually brings a smile to their face and a slight sense of awe. Whether that smile is because something is beautiful or because of one being in awe, the smile is genuine, and gives the artist or hand-crafter a sense of pride in his or her work. Whether or not the item you've made is purchased or not, seeing someone enjoy something you've made is the true joy in being an artist or hand-crafter.

Miniature porcelain dolls can range anywhere from low-grade materials, mass-produced items which sit in dollar stores or on retail shelves, or they can be delicately hand-made, each piece fitting just perfectly, each color or tint to eyes, lips or skin done "just so" and painted by hand. The more of the parts of the doll that are hand-made or hand-crafted and the more of the dolls accessories that are hand-crafted, the higher quality the doll is.

They can range anywhere from inexpensive (anywhere from $1.00 to $25.00 is considered inexpensive when purchasing these types of dolls) to expensive, ranging anywhere from $30.00 on up to even $1000.00, it simply depends on the quality of the doll and the materials used to make the doll, how much time one has spend hand-crafting the doll, and how difficult to find the materials or how expensive they are to get.

Miniature porcelain dolls have become extremely popular gifts to young girls, teenagers, and even your favorite elderly aunt or acquaintance. The simplest reason for this is, no matter how old or young, most women never out-grow the joy they found in dolls from childhood. While the standard sized doll is beautiful and equally appreciated, miniatures are often the best reminder of the joys and innocence of childhood.

These dolls are also often clothed in regional costume and sold as tourist gifts in gift shops and souvenir shops in popular tourist locations throughout the world. The reason for this is, they're small, usually light-weight, and travel fairly easily or shipped fairly easily and inexpensively. What better way to give a memento of a special trip or something to bring back to your loved ones after you've traveled for business or pleasure?

No matter the reasons for buying, crafting or collecting miniature porcelain dolls, one fact remains- they are truly a joy to see, one of the most popular and enjoyable collectible items out there, and they bring simple joy to anyone who looks at them.

Lucy Bushman is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

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How to Make Miniature Dolls

All girls have one or two miniature dolls in their toy box and some of them have a collection of these dolls, complete with dollhouse and its furniture of the same size. There are many miniature dolls sold in the market and most of them are expensive because they are collector's items. Why not consider handmade dolls for your daughter? They are cheaper, easy to make and more importantly, made of love.

The materials for the handmade dolls depend on the size of the dolls. Most miniature dolls being sold in the market are not bigger than a finger. In making dolls that are small, you will use bits of materials and few supplies, and you will probably finish the dolls in no time. For the materials and supplies, you will need a mold, porcelain or filling material of your choice, brushes, paints, wig, clothing and a scalpel. If your daughter has a favorite old dress, this project gives you the chance to use it.

Instructions:

1. First, you have to determine the size of the miniature dolls. You can create them to the scale of your daughter's dollhouse, the same size of her collection or a miniature copy of the bigger dolls.

2. Consider the mold technique you will use. Molds are available for miniature handmade dolls in different sizes. A lot of miniature dolls are representations of a specific period in the history.

3. Pick out the materials for your handmade dolls. They are typically formed using porcelain, polymer clay or epoxy resin.

4. Design the hair, face and other features of your dolls. Little wigs, earrings, necklace, clothing and other accessories are oftentimes included in a complete kit for making little dolls. However, you have the option to buy those separately for a more unique set of little handmade dolls.

5. You can browse through the internet for online tutorials, or you can also enroll yourself for craft class to have background in this craft. Utilizing a mold for the dolls appears somewhat simple, but you can amend the proficiency with supervision from the experts.

6. Consider making use of other techniques in making your tiny dolls like sewing and stuffing, carving from clay, wood or other sculpting materials.

7. Finish the dolls by painting the face feature and adding miniature accessories.

Miniature dolls come in many shapes, styles and sizes and making those beautiful handmade dolls will be an adventurous way to let out the artistic side in you. You can also create a complete set with matching miniature doll house, furniture and other decorations. So start gathering the materials for your handmade dolls and begin making miniature dolls that your daughter will surely love.

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