Get a Head

I have a little sewing group that meets at my house on Sundays, the four of us call ourselves the Dragon Ladies. One of our group couldn't make it this past Sunday when we were going to start on a new doll. Instead of starting without her we decided to play with needle sculpting. I have a book with accompanying DVD that shows different ways to needle sculpt doll heads. I've had them for well over a year but for one reason or another I had never tried the techniques.

We all made the same head and followed the same sculpting instructions but the difference in each doll face was astounding. Now, most doll makers know this to be true, so why am I writing about it? Because after using my instructional materials both my friends decided they had to buy their own copy. I hadn't meant to market the book - I thought it was just something fun to do together.

Word of mouth in such a small market can help or hurt a designer. I wonder how many designers have thought about giving away a pattern to one person in a doll club with the provision that they make the doll and take it to show-and-tell at their club. I know in my club when the girls see a doll they like during show-and-tell quite a few of them buy the pattern afterward. There's quite a bit more enthusiasm seeing a finished doll that you can touch and feel than a picture on a website or magazine.

I am curious to see if someone would be interested in experimenting with this.