10/0 filberts

I found a treasure today!  My favorite 10/0 filberts are available online at Hobby Lobby with cheap shipping (until March 27th, 2010).  Fliberts in general, are so nice for painting in hair or for erasing oil paint that goes beyond where I want it to.  The small 10/0 size is especially nice for erasing in tight spots on doll faces.  Hobby Lobby also carries  my other favorite 18/0 spotter, but alas they are out of stock on that one.  Click on today's post title and it will take you to Hobby Lobby's site.  

To use a filbert as an oil paint eraser, just dip it into turpinoid, swipe it almost dry on a towel, then starting outside the place you want to remove paint, push the paint back into the place it should be. Or if you wish to wipe it off altogether, use the filbert to swipe it back into the tip of the brush, picking up the paint off the face of the doll.  You can practice this a bit on your doll's head under where the hair will be if you wish to get the hang of it before you actually need to employ it.

The 18/0 spotters help me to achieve a nice thin line where I need one under the eyes. Above are the alkyd oil paints I use. The alkyds dry much faster than regular oil paints but much slower than acrylics. I can get a much nicer face using oils because I have all the time I need to get happy with my painting. If I don't like a line, or cheek, I just swipe it off with the 10/0 filbert eraser and start again.  The boy face is Gail Wilson's Kate Greenaway style doll before he was antiqued - so he looks a bit "clownish" in his bright face colors. One he was antiqued - it toned it down a bit.  For more info about Gail's dolls, please visit http://www.gailwilsondesigns.com/

Thanks for visiting and have some doll fun today!