(Taking) the Long Way Home

Ok, I've been listening to Supertramp lately. But what I'm really trying to say is that I always seem to make things more difficult than they need to be.

I'm working on a doll for doll club, using one of the two patterns chosen for this challenge. Someone said the designer of the pattern I'm using creates patterns that don't quite go together. So I thought I'd just make one in plain muslin to check out that theory, without wasting my good skin fabric. As it turns out the body pattern did NOT go together well, and I had to do quite a bit of modifying.

But after all the modifying, sewing and stuffing, I really didn't want to start over with the good fabric. Now I've got a really white doll (and I don't mean Caucasian). So I decided to paint it. Of course, I'd already attached the arms, making this a bit trickier. I also painted on layers of Messy Mix and gesso before the paint. Her arms are sticking up in the air for ease in painting and drying, with one coat of acrylic skin color in place.

She's headless, because I'm not particularly happy with the head shape, either. I thought I could just augment it with a little paperclay. Easy peasy. Except I thought I really ought to paint the neck/body first, before sticking the head on. If I do this right, I'll have a fabric/paperclay head that can turn side to side. Of course, I'll need to paint that, too.