Iron Craft 43: Wooden Doll Matching Game

The challenge for Iron Craft last week was to do something that scares you, try something new. I didn't have to think too much about this one. I always buy unfinished wooden things from the craft stores. In the store I can envision them all painted and pretty.


It is an entirely different story when I get home. I quickly decide that the natural wood is so beautiful that it would be a shame to mar it with paint. Really just an excuse because I am too intimidated to paint it. I do not have a steady hand when it comes to painting or even drawing. I can usually get half of the lines to look good and the other half has smears and lumps and bumps. The more I try to repair it, the worse it gets. So painting wooden things scares me.

Now, I've been reading a wide variety of blogs. I usually start by chasing down an interesting quilt or holiday idea and end up staying to poke around and see what else the blogger does. I came across a blogger at Gluesticks who intrigued me and I started going back in her archives. She had made the cutest little matching game for her daughter out of.... unpainted wooden parts! Perfect. It was cute. It would be a great addition to the toy basket for the little girls who visit on Friday mornings. It was scary. I had my project.

Amazingly enough it was pretty straight forward. I painted them with only a few lumps on the neckline. The smudges in their hair actually look like I intended them to mimic the hair. I got some funky bubbles on their faces when I sprayed on the glossy sealer. I don't know if that was temperature, poor spray technique or a reaction to the pigment pen I used to draw on the faces. I only managed to make three of them, but I will the rest done soon and I might just try painting something else. Perhaps all of those unfinished wooden cars and trucks and boats and planes that have been decorating the spuds Christmas tree for the last 20 years.

I know I am very late to the game, but you can still check out all of the other scary Iron Crafts over here on Just Crafty Enough.