Tidbits With Tiffany: Superhero Peggie Dolls

I admit, I have an obsession for peggie dolls.  Maybe because they remind me 

of the old Little Peoples toys.  And we all know how much cooler they were back 

when they were choking hazards.  But I love making them and I get super 

excited with how they turn out each time.

Back in May, I made these princess peggies, 

by Lil Blue Boo, for my little niece's birthday.

Well, she said they were her favorite gift she got.  And her brother was so excited about them, he said he wanted superhero ones.  Little did he know, I had already planned on making him some!  And now, I get to show you step by step how to make them.  

They are simpler than they look!

First, you will need 8 wooden peg dolls found at your craft store.  A thin black sharpie pen is useful.  You will also need acrylic paints and brushes.  Be careful what paints you purchase.  They all go on differently.  My red paint was a cheaper paint and it shows.  I often have good luck with Liquitex.  The two brushes I like to use is a bigger brush for large areas and a smaller brush with a nice point for straight lines and details.  My brushes have been through the ringer.  Jaimee mentioned before 

that I am an illustrator.  My brushes have been well used.

So, step one is to paint the peach heads.  There are five heros with peach heads.  These are Batman, Superman, Captain America, Wolverine, and Thor.  

Just cover the whole head peach.

The next step is to paint the bodies in their dominant color.  For the remaining three peggies, paint their heads in the same color.  I went ahead and painted Captain America's mask.  I had to mix the blue color and it is very difficult to mix the same color again.  So, if you have to mix colors, do as much with that color at a time as you can.

When painting the body of the peggies, I first paint the top half.  Set it aside to dry.  Then pain the bottom half.  To dry, I place the heads in between my fingers.  Strange, I know, but it allows the bottoms to dry and keeps my fingertips free to paint some more.  

Step 3:  Paint the masks and hair.  If you are not comfortable with a paintbrush, use a pencil to lightly sketch where the details are going to be.  For Thor's helmet, I first painted the hair, then the helmet, followed by the wings.  Same with Wolverine.  Yellow part of the mask first followed by the black part.

Step 4:  Paint the pants and capes.  Only 6 need this detail.  Hulk, Superman, Spiderman, Wolverine, Captain America, and Batman.  For Captain America, I started with a band of white around him and the added the red stripes.  Sketch this with a pencil first to make sure your stripes are evenly spaced.

Here's a view of the two capes.

Step 5:  Paint the details.  These are the belts, eyes and emblems.  

For super fine details like on Iron Man and Hulk, a fine tipped sharpie works great. 

And here is a back view.

And now all you have left to do is add a layer of varnish!  Believe me, 

if you skip this step, it will only take a few battle for these guys to start losing 

their paint.  So think of it as an invisible protective armor.

And now you peggies are done!  Believe me, once you make your first peggie doll, 

you won't want to stop!

UNTIL NEXT TIME, TIFFANY