Beautiful Plants For Your Interior
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I admit, the peg doll trend has sucked me in. (Is it still a trend? Was it ever??)
What is it about these small, vaguely humanoid chunks of wood that is so enchanting?
Perhaps it’s the endless possibilities for customization.
Perhaps it taps into the obsession with miniatures that apparently lurks inside many of us.
Perhaps it’s the simple pleasure of holding a small, smooth wooden object in your hand – an impulse that must surely go back to the dawn of time.
But maybe I shouldn’t get too philosophical about this. It’s peg dolls, for pete’s sake. Let’s just call it “fun” and move on!
So grab you some peg dolls like these on Amazon, or just pick a small pack up next time you’re at your local craft store.
Next you’ll need a few colors of acrylic paint, a medium-sized paintbrush for painting large areas of clothing, hair, etc., and a thin paintbrush for painting details. For really small details, like the facial features, I like to use a toothpick or even a Sharpie if I have the right color on hand.
Now you’ll need to decide which lucky family member is going to be the object of your artistic attention. To create an impactful and recognizable family-member peg doll, it’s important to really zero in on the outfit and facial characteristics that sum them up.
Think about what makes them who they are. What’s an outfit that they love to wear so frequently that it’s become forever associated with them in your mind? When you picture them doing what they love, what are they wearing? What is their signature hairstyle? Their favorite color or animal?
For my dad, I had a vision of him walking back from the woods where he’d just spread deer corn on the ground for his pampered herd of white-tail deer. This is something he does every single evening without fail. Indeed, the deer would probably charge his house en masse if he ever forgot or, heaven forbid, ran out of deer corn.
So when I close my eyes, there he is, wearing his red flannel shirt and worn-out jeans, empty can of deer corn in hand. And this is what ended up on his peg doll, minus the empty can.
My mom’s peg doll persona also came to me pretty easily. Although she lived in Tennessee for most of her life, she was born and raised in Michigan and remained a Michigan girl through and through for the rest of her days. I’m not exaggerating when I say that every casual shirt she owned either had a loon on it, or in some way referenced Michigan.
So I found myself snickering a little as I painted a loon on her shirt as well as LOONS in all caps. Does she have a shirt exactly like this? No, but it sums her up perfectly, believe me! Paired with her favorite pair of plaid shorts, her peg doll is instantly recognizable to anyone who knew her. (She passed away earlier this year, and oddly enough, this peg doll, which still sits in my living room with all the others, and whom I look at every day, still makes me smile a little and remember the funny things that made her who she was.)
So this is what you’re shooting for. How do you sum up your family members in an outfit? I think it’s totally possible.
When it comes to faces, you don’t have to be a master artist to effectively capture the characteristics of your subject. I kept the faces pretty simple and just aimed at getting a few essential things right. I tried to pay close attention to subtleties in skin tone and hair color, as well as the shape of the nose. Is their nose long and straight like my dad’s? Slightly curved like my mom’s?
Beyond that, I found that the placement of the part is pretty important, as well as the shape of the hairline. Just get close on the basic shapes and shades of these things, and you might be surprised how much your humble little peg starts to take on the personality of your loved one!
The general process I followed for painting the peg dolls is as follows:
- Use a pencil to outline where you want the legs to start, as well as the neckline for the shirt
- Use a pencil to very lightly outline the facial features, part and hairline
- Using the small paintbrush, paint the face and neck with your skin color, going slightly past where you marked your hairline
- Using the medium paintbrush, fill in the base colors for the pants and shirt
- Once the skin color has fully dried, paint the base color for the hair, following your previously marked hairline closely
- Now you can add shadows/highlights to the clothing and hair, really bringing it to life
- Add details like buttons, seams, patterns, etc. to clothing using the small paintbrush or a toothpick
- Add facial features with the small paintbrush, toothpick, or Sharpie
- Top your peg person off with rosy cheeks, glasses, jewelry, or anything else that will bring its personality to life
- Once the doll is completely dry, paint with a clear coat like Mod Podge to seal
For nostalgia’s sake, I like to add the current year to the bottom of the doll. As you can see, I made these guys several years ago.
Although I didn’t really expect it, these little dolls have turned into quite a sentimental keepsake for me. I leave them on display in the living room, but they’ve also been used as personalized boardgame pieces and as dollhouse residents. You could also easily turn them into Christmas ornaments.
If you try this, let me know how it goes!
– Kendra
Peg doll enthusiast, etc.
