Xenis Doll Kit

A few months ago I learned about the Xenis Doll Making Kit, and decided to try one.  Marlene Xenis and her daughters make gorgeous wooden dolls carved from hardwood-- you can see some of their work at The Toy Shoppe (www.thetoyshoppe.com).  In 2010 they created a kit doll that is fully carved, but not painted.  The doll is 11" tall, and fully jointed, and comes with underwear and a wig.  She also comes with painting instructions and pictures to help paint the face, which I desperately needed, being a complete novice at painting faces!  The instructions were well written, and the materials list helped, but I was still a bit nervous about doing this.

I first removed the head from the body following the instructions.  This requires quite a bit of strength, as the spring holding the head to the body is very strong.  That head is definitely not going to be wobbly.  Then I used the enclosed templates to draw the eyes and lips on the head with pencil (see below).

Then the poor doll head sat untouched for two months.  I had to work up the courage to do this.  :)  Yesterday, I decided to take the leap, and if all else failed, I could sand off the paint and start over!  Below are a few more pictures.

Ta daa!  I finished, and although it's obvious that I don't have a steady hand, at least it won't scare small children.  Ha!  Relieved that that was over, and excited to have a new doll (finally!) I grabbed the body and tried to put the head back on.  Except, somewhere in the last few months, the steel pin in the top of the head that holds the spring in place had fallen out!  Argh!  I searched all over, could not find it.  So I improvised: I took a small nail and trimmed it to fit-- luckily, it worked!  Below is a picture of my handiwork:

 And here she is with her wig on:

 The lips were awfully dark, so I pulled out the paints and did some more work.  Much better:

This kit was very neat, and I would recommend it.  It is pretty spendy ($249), but it is a high-quality, hand-carved wooden doll, which are much more expensive than my usual vinyl dolls.  It was fun to paint a doll face, something I have never done before.  And she looks cute in Bleuette's clothes!

-- Janet