What can I say about Twinkle except that she's been a long time in the making. No, that's not quite right, she's been a long time in the remaking. Twinkle was about the fifth wee toddler fairy I'd ever created but I wasn't quite happy with how she turned out... so into the shoebox she went.
What's the shoe box? It's a big tote box (that's never held a shoe) where all my makeovers dread ending up. If I don't like how they come out then into the shoebox they go until I decide to give them another try. In some cases they are turned into a completely different makeover but in Twinkle's case...well, she was Twinkle and that was all she was ever going to be, if I could get her right.
Here is the very first version of Twinkle. She had a partial facial repaint to give her upswept eyebrows. Her hand sewn outfit was made of white velveteen with a sparkle to it. The waist of her outfit had been trimmed with tiny pearls. The same pearls decorated her hair. She had silver sparkles in her wings and a handcrafted base.
What was it about version one that I didn't like? Her wings. I was not at all happy with the way they looked. I'd wanted a frosted effect so I'd used a plastic laminate with a slight frost to it but the wings didn't turn out like I wanted. So I made a second set of wings but I didn't like those either so into the shoebox went poor Twinkle.
And I moved on to other dolls and around the time Lilac was created I dug Twinkle out of the box to give her yet another pair of wings. I used paper and wire to make a set of wintry wings which I liked but (there's always a but) now I didn't like the fact that she wasn't a total facial repaint. So off came the factory paint and to work I went.
Now I wish I'd gotten a few pictures of each try at repainting this doll but I've only got the last two. I was fairly happy with the second to last but (see, there it is again, that word) I was the only one who liked it.
Here I was thinking all I had left was to fix her hair and she'd be done. Nope. The feedback I was getting was not good. 'She looks like she's looking up.' 'It looks evil.' And they went on like that so poor, poor Twinkle got tossed back into the shoebox where she languished until I started some repaints for the 2004 International Fashion doll convention. I tend to repaint more then one doll at a time in the early stages such as doing the whites of the eyes. That way while one doll is drying I move on to the next. So I pulled Twinkle out of the box again, popped off her head, stripped her paint job and stuck her head on the end of a dowel. The repainting had begun again.
And after I finished Silver Bells and Tinsel, it was Twinkle's turn. This time I'm quite happy with how she turned out and the feed back I'm getting on her is positive. Not that it would have matter this time because Twinkle was NOT going back into that shoebox yet again. She was quite adamant on that point.
Twinkle's final repaint giving her bright blue eyes with silvery shadow as well as pink lips with a silver shimmer. Her final set of wings which are frosted, silver edged and have a slight sparkle to them as I originally envisioned them. Streaks of white have been added to her dark red hair. Her outfit remains the same except for the addition of a pair of necklaces, one silver and one pearl white.
Since I never did like the first base I made for her, I made Twinkle a whole new base to stand on. Now she has snowballs ready to throw and her partner in crime...uhm, make that partner in snow ball fights, Jonesy at her side. Jonesy was created out of polymer clay as was the rest of the base.
Here is a better look at her wings and how she stands on her snowy base. Some of the pictures have a bit more yellow in them because the sun kept peeking behind the clouds thus giving me pictures with different tones.
Now Twinkle and I are both happy. Me because I'm finally happy with the way she turned out and Twinkle because she is finally free of the shoebox.
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