Painted Project: A little friend

Hi, hi.

As someone with a birthday quite soon after Christmas I know all too well how hard people find it to send you a gift that [a] you really want or [b] you might just need ... or even [c] that you actually like.

You see, the thign is, us Capricorns have had no time at all post-Christmas to run out of anything to put on our Birthday Wish List.

 Actually ... no, we may, like the rest of the population have run out of money, but that's soooo boring to ask for. Especially when you, like most other people, are tired of shopping by that time of year and we just dream of a nice little non-Christmassy [hopefully not random dregs from the 'Sale' bin] gift landing in your hands.

In birthday wrapping paper.
[NB: I am aware that, to any nowhere-near-Christmas babies amongst you I might sound ungrateful ... but before you judge me just take a moment to consider how, unless I wanted the gift of hypothermia for my birthday:

• I have never had an outdoor party; and 
• I've never been able to wear a little floaty dress to a birthday meal!

 I know ... you've got tears in your eyes now ... I can see ... ].

Anyway ...

A friend of mine is in an even more vulnerable birthday position than I am as hers comes only 4 [rather than my 16] days after the Big Day so, with all that in mind, I wanted to make her something special. Something brand new, not from the sales and - most importantly - something she would know for a fact wasn't an unwanted 'regifted' Christmas gift!

And here's what I decided on:

It's her. As a Kokeshi Doll.

As I'm not going to show you a picture of her you're just going to have to trust me that it looks just like my friend ... exactly in fact ... kind of ... just about. Ish.

Pre-Christmas I'd bought a 'Paint Your Own Japanese Friendship Doll' kit, from the toy department of a local sells-a-bit-of-everything type shop [FYI: I have since seen them on Amazon], containing 3 blank wooden doll figures, paint, instructions etc. Not that I used any of that.

Instead I used my own acrylics to create this little replica. Complete with floral tunic and jeans - rather than a kimono:

 The face and details took a little bit of concentration and a steady hand and [apart from spattering flesh coloured paint on my dark brown leather sofa] ... I think everything turned out OK in the end:

When I was photographing her to share with you I thought I'd take a shot of her standing next to the wooden figure we have in our dining room ... to give you an idea of scale ...

And then, afterwards, I realised that you probably don't know how big the big wooden figure is either !!! So I'll just tell you that she's approx 3.5 inches tall.

The doll that is.

Not the friend.

Fortnately for me, my friend overlooked the startling lack of arms on the doll and even liked the bulging bit around the chest! So it was definitely worth the effort.

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When I blogged about my birthday last week I know there seemed to be a lot of January birthdays out there, so if that applies to you Happy Birthday! And if you're going to be giving a gift to a Capricorn anytime soon ... have pity on those of us born in a dark, cold month which most people only ever complain about ... and buy/make them something to brighten their day.   

Julie :-)

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p.s:

• I've been in touch with Sheena, the winner of my birthday giveaway and, any moment now, her personalised, custom-themed, pack of Plundered Pages will be landing on her doormat.