I think your Zoe is pretty good I agree with Ivy about the eyebrows and the lips, does she have eyelashes? you will get better with every baby that you make hang in there.

I agree with Ivy. The baby tears near the eyes, moist nose and lips also help. I also put a bit in my ears really livens a babe up! She's very good for your first, we are our own worst critics!!

LOL TO IVY....I DID THE SAME THING ONCE AND THEN FELT HORRIBLE AFTERWARDS BUT THAT WAS AFTER ABOUT 2 OR 3 PEOPLE SAID yay!!  BUT THEN SOMEONE AGREED AND ADDED A BIT MORE AND I FELT A LOT BETTER.  YOU NEVER REALLY KNOW HOW THE PERSON WILL TAKE IT.  WHAT IF A VERY TALENTED ARTIST JUST STARTING QUITS BECAUSE OF A STUPID SUGGESTION...HAS ANYONE THOUGHT OF THAT? 
WELL...NOW I THINK LITTLE ZOE IS PRECIOUS.  I ALWAYS THOUGHT THE BABIES I DID WERE CUTE...BUT THEN...WAIT FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND YOU ARE LOOKING AT THEM AND THINKING..HOLY COW....HIDE THAT THING.  I'M REALLY THINKING OF TAKING MY TWO DEW DROP FARIES APART AND SELLING THEM FOR SOMETHING STUPID AND JUST SHIPPING...LOL.  I MEAN..IF I'M NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING WITH THEM...WHY HAVE THEM.  NOW THE TINKERBELL DRESS...THAT ANOTHER THING....THAT THING WOULD HAVE TO GO FOR ALMOST 50.00.  i PAID 40 PLUS 17.00 TO BRIN IT DOWN FROM CANADA.  WHY IS THAT SO HIGH???  THE FIRST TIME I GOT CHARGED 27.00 AND IT TOOK ALMOST 3 WEEKS TO GET IT HERE. UGH...

Thank You to everyone for you feedback.  I needed that, I just have the flu so I cant reply as fast.  But do you think maybe I need a thinner paintbrush for the eyebrows?  I am going to get that what do you call it baby tears.  I cant root her because I already assembled.  I have two other doll heads that I am rooting and I dont think I like rooting at all.  I can not get the spiral in the back of the head.  Also I think I did it wrong because they all look bad.  Yes I have the rooting dvd but I should probly watch it as I am rooting the doll.  But thank you again for the feedback.  Zoe is a gift for my mom's Birthday.  She just loves little babys I hope that she likes this doll.  My Husband made some comment that she is 50 years old she wont like it.  I told him that Im 32 it's not that far off.  Do you think that my mom will like it?

thank again for all of your help

Michelle

okay....I'll show you how I did the first one looking at the picture

Oh no...I just spent an hour getting the pictures of my journey with my twins, Faith and Charity.

-- Edited by Aviva on Monday 9th of November 2009 08:43:39 PM
The first picture is of Faith right when I was finished with her hair.  Then I decided it might be fun to do another one...then I show how I did it with twin Charity.  For some reason it seems like I have to do the swirl going the opposite way. ?? Don't know why.  But may be the diagram with help and I don't know why, but it wouldn't let me get too close to it.  Maybe I'm missing the keys a lot.  I get my hands up on the keys and then I usually shut my eyes and just peak up at the end of a sentence or if I felt like I did a mistake. UGH...most of the time.

-- Edited by Aviva on Monday 9th of November 2009 08:47:42 PM

oH i FOUND OUT SOMETHING THAT IS REALLY KIND OF NEAT FOR EYEBROWS.  SOMEONE IN HERE SAID TO USE THE RULE OF THUMB..PLACING YOUR THUMB OVER THE EYE WITH THE END OF YOUR THUMB UP AGAINST THE BRIDGE OF HER NOSE. tHEN WHAT i DO IS TAKE THE PAINT FOR CREASES OR YOU KNOW SHADOWING...i JUST BARELY MADE A LITTLE SHADOW.  i WORKED WITH NEWBORNS AND PREEMIES FOR OVER 10 YEARS AS A NURSE AND I DON'T REALLY REMEMBER A BABY WITH HARDLY ANY EYEBROWS AND THEY SURELY DON'T GET MANICURES..IT'S AGAINST THE LAW FOR ANY HOSPITAL PERSONEL TO TOUCH THOSE LITTLE SOFT NAILS AS THEY ALMOST ARE PART OF THE TIP OF THE FINGER..THEY DO HAVE LITTLE PIECES STICKING UP AND THEY CAN SCRATCH THEMSELVES...i'VE WATCHED THEM DO THAT AND CRY ABOUT IT AND THEN THEY GET AHOLD OF THEIR HAIR AND PULLING IT AND SCREAMING LIKE SOMEONE ELSE IS DOING IT.  tHEY CAN BE LITTLE HOOTS.  i'VE NEVER SEEN MOONS...A PREEMIE DOESNT HARDLY HAVE LINES IN THE BOTTOM OF THE FEET. tHAT'S ONE WAY OF KNOWING THE GESTATIONAL AGE...FULL TERM HAS CREASES ALL THE WAY TO THE HEEL.  tHEN LLIKE A 38 HAS IT 2/3...AND A SMALL PREEMIE WILL HAVE THE ONE MAJOR ONE THAT IS VERY LIGHT.  tHEY HAVE A LOT OF VERNIX ON THEM IN THEIR EARS AND NOSE AND EYE CRACKS...LOL.  a PREEMIE HAS LANUGO ON THEIR SHOULDERS AND THAT'S A DOWNLY LIKE HAIR.  wHEN THEY ARE FULL TERM OR LATE...VERNIX IS ALMOST GONE....DRY CRACKING SKIN.  eARLY ONES WE JUST MASSAGED AS MUCH OF THE VERNIX INTO THEIR SKIN AS IT'S GOOD FOR IT.

I'm not sure what else I can say except thank you to everyone for helping Michelle and offering your honest critiques of how to improve her beautiful Zoe.  And, Michelle, I would not have known Zoe was your first.  You did an amazing job!

Aviva, thank you for sharing the hair whorl chart!!!  Getting the hair right takes years of practice for some of us.  when I first started, I was so frustrated with rooting, and I would use any excuse to avoid it.  I ended up with a bunch of painted doll heads--all bald, of course-- in plastic tubs with their limbs.

They sat on the shelf for at least a year or so.  Finally I had to re-arrange things so I could no longer avoid them.  Sure enough, it was just like Aviva said.  I wanted to put the lids back on the tubs and hide them.  And I thought I had some kind of artistic genius at the time I painted them.  Now what to do with them?  If they had been assembled and wrapped in a blanket, the blanket would have been worth more than the doll.

Aviva, thanks for sharing the eyebrow tips.  That's another one skill with which most of us struggle.  My friend always rooted the eyebrows because she thought it was easier than painting them on.  Being someone who shies away from rooting, that never appealed to me so I continue to struggle with eyebrow painting. 

There is hope for painting excellent eyebrows... I noticed my friend's latest babies have painted brows.  Hmm... wonder what happened?  When I talked to her recently she said she is finallyable to paint eyebrows after getting the new Secrist brush set.  There is a tiny slender brush in it that is perfect for eyebrows.  If you don't have the eyebrow brush, you might want to get one.

I can finally say I'm A-OK at rooting a head of hair that looks natural and lifelike.  One of the biggest helps to me is my Berenguer doll's head.  Ruthie (a.k.a. "Roothie") has molded vinyl hair and keeps me company when I root.  She provides a guideline of natural hair growth, and is easier to keep track of than the paper charts that I cannot find.

I felt just like the rest of you the first time I made suggestions to improve a doll.  I was just sure I hurt someone's feelings.   Thanks, Ivy, for being the first to offer the wonderful suggestions.

I know your mom will love your doll because you made it!

Wow that is just the most awesome thing I've heard.  Doesn't it just make you feel good that you have actually passed a very, very hard test.   That for you.

Michelle  I think your mom will love her baby it does not matter about the age, I am 54 and I love dolls, my mom calls me crazy but my husband told me to ignore her comments so I do now I have all kinds of dolls but I love the reborns I make more. I also wanted to tell you I still have problems with eyebrows I have been reborning for 2 years I can't paint them I use water color pencils with a really sharp lead then I let it sit for a day or so then seal it, I don't wet my pencil, sometimes I have to do it a couple times before I get it right, good luck with your next baby.

WOW! This was all a fantastic dialog! I just love it when things come together. Especially when someone thinks their work is not so good and it turns out ok.
I have a tendency to put the blushing layer on too dark so then I have to go back and color-adjust it with the color at the end of the colorwheel. THEN my baby looks more realistic to me.

For the eyebrows, I use an 18/0 script or liner brush with long bristles that hold paint but doesn't get globby or thick. Then I just paint lightly one stroke at a time. If I like that one, I go on to the next one. I also look in the mirror to see how mine are. I space them farther apart and then bake when I like them. Then after it cools, I put more on and fill in the spots I left with no brow hairs. Then bake again. So it actually takes me about 3 times of baking to get my brows.