Diversity in the Hobby

       The other day I was listening to The Mares in Black, episode #42, which was all about diversity in the hobby.  It was a wonderful episode full of interviews from a variety of people from different backgrounds. And in the model horse hobby, differences can be a bit hard to find. As Jackie and Heather said, if you say the middle aged white woman who is slightly overweight and has long brown hair and glasses, that describes the vast majority of the hobby. A lot was also said in the episode about the dolls in our hobby, and it really struck me. That's my job. I am falling short with diversity in my doll making. Yes, I am limited by what is out there for dolls, but I can try a bit harder.

        Last week I posted about my project plans for making African American dolls. I found bodies I can use, ordered them and Roberto is going to send me heads. But I am impatient. And the mail is slow. I want to make sure that the hobby can have these dolls now (or really really soon). Yes, KC's Galloping Gals does have future plans to do an African American doll, and many other types of dolls, but not yet. So I am going to try harder. 

      In my post last week I said that while I had been able to find the bodies, heads were not available (apparently they are, I just didn't see them... and I think they are just dark Yvonne heads). I said that I didn't know what to do because I know my limitations and I know I can't sculpt. But I also know that everything is fixable and sometimes it is good to move out of your comfort zone. So on Tuesday evening I went out of my comfort zone to see if I could modify a doll head. Not do an original sculpt, but see if I could modify the features on a doll. 

     It turns out I can handle that. I was not sure I could do it, and not sure the modifications were coming out well while I was working on the sculpting. I did have reference pictures and I think I did an OK job. I had to start over several times before I managed to get a few faces I was happy with. Not that I managed to photograph these heads well. 

      With some hair and faces on I think these ladies are looking pretty good. I do have one other head I modified, though it had gone missing when I was painting these 2 (found it!). My Magic Sculpt was super old so I barely had any usable material left. I ordered some more and am confident that I can at least manage some minor modifications. 

     I was nervous making these doll heads. I know I am not a great sculptor. But I think they came out well and at least are a start in adding a bit more diversity to our hobby dolls. Now I need to decide on clothes and get these dolls dressed!