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tasreborner · Senior Member

ideal doll kit for beginner to paint ?

precious_lullabies · Guru

each vinyl is very, very different. Which LDC do you have? i love their kits and order quite extensivly from them, however i would agree that for a beginner these kits are not quite the ideal. They are firstly very detailed, and they are also amoung the top price/more expensive sculpts - not something you want to risk messing up.

Secrist kits are all quite wonderful to work with especially for a beginner. "Gumdrop" is a great little one to start with - she's the one in my avatar right now and one of my earlier babies. They are also really well priced.

Outside of secrist one of the easiest vinyls i've worked would be that of Marissa May's sculpts - Lucy, Sam and Sera. They are sold by bountiful baby, but its worth pointing out that not all bountiful baby kits are made from the same vinyl mix. Marissa's sculpts are among my favourites and i honestly don't know that i've worked any vinyl as easily as the one used to make these kits.

PLEASE NOTE -- this is all just my own opinion... others may feel differently and its probably worth getting opinions from others before jumping on my advise. I'd easily created close to 50 babies by the time i used a Marissa May kit, and while i find it wonderfully easy to work i cannot give opinion as to if this is due to much practise and having worked some other really difficult vinyls or if marissa's kits are truly a dream to work.

Secrist kits i did use as some of my first sculpts and i do remember finding them lovely to work even as a beginner.

LovesDolls · Guru

I suggest Zoe.

Heather M · Senior Member

I like Zoe from the Secrist sculpts too. Otherwise, the Berenguer babies are very easy to wordk with too.

precious_lullabies · Guru

actually i started out on berenguers myself - La Nursery. They were great to start out on as they only cost me about $20 from the local K-mart or Big W. Much more budget friendly while your playing around and mastering techniques.

the only draw back with them is that they are a hard vinyl which makes rooting more difficult. But they are wonderful for practise otherwise.

Buffington · Guru

Any one of our 17" preemies would be good to start on. I suggest the 1/4 limbs as they are shorter and you can actually paint the internal wash in them as opposed to the drip method with the longer limbs.
http://www.secristdolls.com/preemie_doll_kits?b=1

We do also offer DVDs and books that will help you in your learning.
And we have test limbs so you can practice on them before you actually start your doll so you're working on the same vinyl as your kit!
http://www.secristdolls.com/getting_started_in_reborning?b=1