African American Waldorf Doll Questions

[Cori_Rivers]

Well, I guess I was talking too much about making Waldorf dolls for my daughters at work. Now I've got a co-worker who wants me to make an African-American doll for her daughter. I made 2 Magic Cabin 12" kits for my daughters that I'm pretty proud of. The problem is that the pictures for the brown skinned dolls seem a little off. First the hair is black - seems like dark brown is more realistic. And if I put brown eyes on brown skin will they stand out enough? Should I put white triangels next to the circular eyes? Any ideas about hair styles? This is a young girl, so I could probably do the hair one way and it would be fine. Any instructions for cornrows or dreadlocks?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[lupineperriwinkle]

I have bought a few kits from Joys Waldorf Dolls. I would suggest looking at her site as well as some of the other places that sell the dolls already made and see what they do. Hope that helps!

[Cori_Rivers]

The dreadlocks look interesting, but I haven't got a clue of howto make them. I guess I could purchase her book on wigs, but I was hoping someone might have some experience. Can always experiment.

[3_opihi]

I think you can buy the dredlocks pre made, I'm not sure if its from Joy's or Weir dolls though. I suppose you could also use a thick 2 0r 3 ply wool yarn, and that would look like a dredlock too.

I am making a "mocha" skinned doll from magic cabin, and I think it looks pretty realistic. At least as realistic as a peach skinned doll, anyways. As for the eyes, I used black thread. I hadn't thought about brown.

[Cori_Rivers]

Abani is darker than mocha, the skin tone brown seems right. I think her hair is more like brown or brunette. And her eyes should be brown as well. Seems like black is the pupil color. I'm just worried that if both the eyes and the skin are brown the eyes won't stand out enough. I know the faces are stylized, and I'm not trying to be overly realistic, I'm just trying to match her coloring.

Joy had the pre-made dreads, but I think I want to make her hair like I made my daughters. I used the boucle, but I'm not sure if that's right for a tightly kinked african american hair. She doesn't wear an afro - usually her hair is in braids or cornrows. Maybe I'll attach the hair at the top center part and let her mom braid it, then I could tack the braids down to the scalp. For tight braids I'm not sure if boucle or mohair would work better.

I'm pretty happy with the 12" magic cabin kits that I made, so I think I want to stick with them, though because she's younger I think I might go with the 16" kit.

[tboroson]

I'd think you could buy some bulky wool yarn to use as dreadlocks. That way you could have brown instead of black, too.

[Cori_Rivers]

I'm worried that if I just cut the ends they'll unravel. Maybe if I twist the yarn and fold it in half...If I could do that somehow on a coil. Or if I use a long/loose hairstyle and make maybe 8 small braids I could stitch them down to the scalp to make cornrows.

[3_opihi]

I use wool all the time. It won't unravel.