Hello Dolly Magazine

Calendar Baby

2010-11-09T10:51:00.002Z

In the coming Discover Dolls Magazine we will be featuring a 2011 calendar in the middle pages of the magazine due out in December 2010.

We are looking for beautiful pictures of doll art to showcase as part of the calendar and your baby could be one of those!

Entries need to be high quality (300dpi) unedited digital images. Email your submissions to

Cathy@discoverdolls.co.uk

Please remember to include your name and your nursery name with your submitted photograph so that we can give an appropriate credit in the magazine.

Entries need to be received by 15th November 2010 at the very latest, entries received after this date will not be considered for inclusion in the calendar.

August 2010 Competition

2010-07-25T21:51:00.001+01:00

The entries for the next cover competition have been received. To take part and vote for your 3 favourite pictures, send an email titled "Comp Vote" to votes@hellodollymagazine.co.uk

The Theme for this cover is Yummy Yellow... we wanted to see gorgeous little babies dressed in yellow.

The pictures are all below.

One of these photos will grace the next issue of Hello Dolly Magazine.

The winner will be announced 31st July 2010

Exciting News

2010-07-22T11:48:00.000+01:00

As you probably know we've been struggling to keep Hello Dolly Magazine in print, it has become obvious now that we cannot keep going, it's a rough old world out there at the moment, advertising revenue is hard to come by and whilst we are very fortunate to have a loyal readership, there aren't enough people buying the magazine to cover the print costs.... jolly expensive business doncha know!

The exciting part of this situation is the future of the magazine, we have decided to make the magazine an online version. We have prepared a test version for readers to have a look at and you can access that by clicking HERE.

We feel that there is a lot of scope for some very exciting developments with an online version of the magazine, not only can we make advertisements and banners clickable, directing the reader to the relevant website. We can turn adverts into mini catalogues, so that the reader can immediately purchase an item they see in an advert!

Also we can imbed videos and slideshows turning our show reports into much more interactive experiences for the reader. With time we believe we can make quizes more interactive and allow for immediate entry into competitions as well.

We would love to hear your thoughts!!!

June 2010 Issue Released

2010-06-16T16:01:00.000+01:00

The latest issue of Hello Dolly Magazine is now available to purchase, the cover features our competition winner Shirley Atkins of Sugar Plum Nursery

Shirley's work will be featured in the next issue of the magazine.

To Purchase June 2010 Issue

In this current issue we have the first part of a comprehensive AA skin painting tutorial and the winner of the February Issue's Interview.

Amber Basurto shares her wonderful reborn collection and Angela Anderson tells us all about her sculpting artwork.

Get your copy today!

June/July 2010 Cover Competition Entries

2010-05-27T09:16:00.000+01:00

There is only a couple of days left to vote for the next Cover Competition. To take part and vote for your 3 favourite pictures, send an email titled "Comp Vote" to votes@hellodollymagazine.co.uk

Choose your favourite 3 pictures and send the entry numbers in an email to votes@hellodollymagazine.co.uk

Votes will be counted and the winner announced on Saturday 29th May 2010!

June/July Cover Competition

2010-04-30T22:29:00.005+01:00

We are now accepting entries for the next Hello Dolly Cover Competition.

The Closing date for the competition is 21st May 2010

The theme of this competition is "Mummy and Me" we wanted to give a theme that would challenge both artists imagination as well as your photographic skills.

Now whilst we are not saying you should copy the following pictures, we thought we would give you some ideas and some examples of what you could do.

Artists do not have to show their faces in the pictures, how you interpret the theme of "Mummy and Me" is entirely up to you but the idea is to demonstrate the bond between mother and child, the love between mother and child.

As usual your photos must be unedited with no additional graphics added to the photo, you may of course crop your picture to the size you wish but remember we need high resolution photographs to make a good cover image. Email your image to Lisa@hellodollymagazine.co.uk titling your email "June Cover Competition Entry" .

As this may be the last cover of Hello Dolly it would be lovely to see a bumper crop of entries.

Bethan Rose- Prototype No. 1

2010-04-28T00:11:00.003+01:00

Three of the Bethan Rose prototypes were displayed at the Brighton Doll Festival recently and are now coming up for sale via Ebay. Currently Prototype No.1 is on ebay beautifully reborn by Cassie Peek of Baby Dust Nursery.

Cassie's skill has brought Bethan Rose to life and given her a bright cheerful personality, Bethan Rose's endearing qualities have really been highlighted by Cassie's paintwork and beautiful photography skills.

Cassie's amazing rooting skills are demonstrated in the directionally micro rooted hair on Bethan Rose.

The Bethan Rose Kit is available to purchase from Gloriarty.

Bethan Rose - Brighton Celebration Sculpt

2010-04-09T19:25:00.004+01:00

To celebrate the Brighton Doll Festival we decided to have the logo turned into a doll kit. Ceinwen Clarke, the organiser of the Festival and Hello Dolly approached Menna Hartog, a well respected sculptor and asked her to take on the task. The original photograph was taken from an old postcard but the face was so engaging and happy it just shouted out to be made into a doll kit.

Original Postcard Image

Menna created a beautiful OOAK with such a close resemblance we were immediately convinced she had to be turned into a kit.

Prototypes have been distributed to Cassie Peek of Baby Dust Nursery, Shirley Atkins of Sugar Plum Nursery, Lisa Pybus of Best Beloved Nursery and Karen Balogh Williams the winner of the Prototype competition.

Prototype No. 3 by Lisa Pybus of Best Beloved Nursery

Prototype No.1 by Cassie Peek of Baby Dust Nursery

Further prototype pictures will be available soon.

The kit is available at the Brighton Doll Festival on the 11th April at the show special price of £49.99.

Count Down to the Brighton Doll Festival

2010-04-06T00:27:00.004+01:00

Easter weekend is over which can mean only one thing, only 5 days to go until the Brighton Doll Festival and we can't wait. The Festival is held at the Brighton Racecourse which is a fabulous venue very bright and airy.

I loved the wide aisles between the stands which made it so easy to get around and look at the stands. Plus with the generous parking there is no problem for visitors and exhibitors getting to the venue.

This year the show is being held on Sunday 11th April and looking at the weather forecasts it looks to be a great day.

It's going to be an even more exciting day for us at Hello Dolly Magazine as we will be presenting a special sculpt created especially for the Brighton Doll Festival.

So if you've got some time next weekend come along to the Doll Festival and say hello, you can also enjoy a stroll along Brighton's sea front and visit the Pier, make it a real day out.

See you there!

April 2010 Competition Winner Announced

2010-03-28T00:23:00.003Z

After a weeks hard voting the winner of the April Cover Competition is announced.

The winner is Cassie Peek of Babydust Nursery with Bluebell.

Bluebell was created from a Tamie Yarie sculpt, Welcome Back Taylor

The next issue of the magazine is going to the printers next week and hopefully will be back early in April. The magazine is available for Pre-Order from Gloriarty just click here to order.

April 2010 - Cover Competition

2010-03-20T21:10:00.004Z

There are 29 beautiful photos to view in the current Cover Competition. The theme for the competition is the colour Blue and we do have a wonderful collection of blue belles and beaux.

To vote please choose your favourite 3 pictures and email the numbers to votes@hellodollymagazine.co.uk titling your email "Comp Vote".

The winner will be gracing the cover of the April edition of the magazine.

April 2010 - Cover Competition

2010-03-16T20:06:00.003Z

The theme for the upcoming cover competition is all about the colour blue, let us see your blue boys and girls! In each competition the quality of the photographs and reborn doll art is just getting better and better.
It's wonderful to see artists stretching their imaginations and exploring the themes that we set with the different cover competitions.

So get your entry in... 19th March is the closing date.

February Cover Competition - The Entries

2010-01-17T13:02:00.010Z

There are 33 beautiful photos to view in the current Cover Competition. The theme for the competition is Winter Warmers and it's so nice to see how much effort has gone into interpreting the theme.

To vote please choose your favourite 3 pictures and email the numbers to Lisa@hellodollymagazine.co.uk titling your email Competition Vote.

Brighton Belle - Prototype Competition

2010-01-12T00:06:00.007Z

The Joy of Reborn Dolls Show and Hello Dolly Magazine are very proud to present
The Brighton Belle Prototype competition.

This competition is open to all Reborn Artists. We are offering you the chance to reborn a mystery prototype baby doll sculpted by the very talented Menna Hartog.

This new baby kit will make its debut at the Joy of Reborn Dolls Show, Brighton, April 2010.

To enter the competition:

Submit no more than 4 photographs each of your best 3 reborns (12 photos total) along with your name and nursery name to Lisa@hellodollymagazine.co.uk.

Pictures should be very clear and of high quality showing close ups of rooting, face, limbs, hands or feet and one overall shot of naked baby, no nappy or vest.

The winner will be chosen by the Hello Dolly Magazine and the Joy of Reborn Dolls Show team, based on skill, level of realism, skin tone and rooting.

Deadline for submission: January 30th 2010

The rules and terms of entry are available at Brighton Doll Festival and Hello Dolly Magazine.

Please read in FULL before entering the competition.

We look forward to seeing your best babies and to chosing a winner!

Template Talk

2010-01-08T19:02:00.006Z

One of the most popular and successful methods of selling a reborn baby idoll is via the Internet on auction sites such as Ebay, Dollpile, Etsy etc. In order to showcase a reborn to it maximum potention most reborn artists use auction templates when listing a reborn.

Templates come in the form of HTML and although they may look complicatedl there is no real need to actually have any knowledge of HTML to get them to work, templates prepared by good template designers will come with instructions on how to use them and offer technical support should users run into problems. It is always wise to ask your template seller upfront what kind of technical support they offer but in the main, if you can cut and paste, you can use a template.

Once purchased an auction template is yours to use time and time again. Should you decide to use a template you will also need an image host in order to store and show the photographs of your reborn. There are a number of image hosts that are free to use and one of the most popular and easiest to use is Photobucket.

As well as being an effective way to present a reborn doll to potential buyers an auction template helps to create branding for a nursery especially when combinded with a matching website, business cards and birth certificates.

By doing this customers will be able to instantly recognise a particular nursery from their template and logo.

Auction templates also serve another function, that of reducing listing costs, Ebay for instance charges per photo in a listing where Ebay are hosting the photos and this can really add up, with an auction template you can add as many extra photos as you like at no extra expense.

Quite often templates are sold in multiples so it is worth investing in an exclusive template, it may cost a little more but it will give your nursery a unique look then your nursery can't be confused with others out there just because they have the same template that you do.

Another thing to consider is whether or not to get flashing backgrounds, cursors and floating images, whilst these might look great on your computer, they will often slow down other people's and are very distracting.

Images of Sample templates by: Natalie Milne - Baby-Bits-n-Bobs

Read more about Templates in April's Hello Dolly Magazine

February Cover Competition - Winter Warmer

2009-12-29T01:42:00.009Z

For the upcoming issue of Hello Dolly - due out in February 2010 the cover competition is "Winter Warmer". How you interpret that theme is entirely up to you and we can't wait to see your entries. The closing date for the competition is 15th January 2010.

Now we know that it's a short timescale since the latest magazine is only just getting sent out. But we know you will come up with something beautiful. Reborn Artists always come through when challenged!

Our thoughts behind this theme is warm snuggly winterwear.

The rules for the competition are simple:

Send 1 high resolution photograph of your reborn baby in theme to Lisa@hellodollymagazine.co.uk.

One Entry per person please

Entry must be the work of the reborn artist entering the competition.

Please include the Name of your Baby, Artists Name and Nursery Name with your picture.

Entries will be posted on the Hello Dolly Magazine Forum on the 16th January 2010 when voting will begin and run for one week.

The winner of the competition will not only get to be the baby featured on the February Cover of the Magazine but they will also be the featured Reborn Artist in the April Edition.

Photos of outfits supplied by:
Piccollissimo Baby
Daisy Katies
Dolly Designs.

Hair Tutorial in Dec 2009 Issue

2009-12-20T23:55:00.011Z

In the upcoming issue of Hello Dolly we have a tutorial on painted hair by the very talented Cassie Peek of Babydust Nursery.

Cassie recently won an award from Colliii for her rooting work, a real achievement given the number of entrants to the competition, congratulations Cassie on a well deserved award.

Cassie was featured in the very first issue of Hello Dolly in December 2008 as our very first reborn artist interview. Cassie came to reborning in the same way a large number of people do when she was surfing Ebay and bumped into them whilst searching for baby clothes for her little boy. Cassie told us that what appealed to her was the community atmosphere of the hobby and being able to get honest advice and critique on her work.

Cassie says she gets a huge sense of achievement after completing a baby and gets a great deal of pleasure when she gets positive feedback from the ladies who buy her dolls from her.

More Dolls by Cassie Peek

First Steps in Reborning - Tools Tutorial

2009-12-16T00:50:00.007Z

To kick us off we start with a tutorial on the basic equipment you need to reborn a doll. You can use pretty much anything that will leave an impression in paint in the art of reborning, so it’s good to have a variety of sponges and brushes in your reborning kit, sponges don’t necessarily have to be expensive, you can use bath sponge, cosmetic sponge, sea sponge, pouncers or cellulose sponge, an economical tactic is to buy some cheaper bath sponges and rip or cut bits off to use in your painting.

Cosmetic sponges are highly recommended because they have a nice flat surface at one end and can be held easily. Also these can be purchased quite inexpensively in largish packets from places like ebay so they are easily replaced. You can also use circular sponges available from leading chemists but these do prove to be a more expensive option and possibly better avoided when just starting out in reborning.

Pouncers which I like because you can write on the bottom of them with the colour of the paint you are using which makes organising your colours (some of which are very similar) much easier. Pouncers give a nice even speckling of paint. Although they are called “pounce and toss” I have found they are quite hard wearing and very reuseable. The only downside to them really is they are quite short, they would be easier to use if they had a slightly longer body to them.

You will need an implement to scoop small amounts of paint out of your pots and there are a variety of little tools you can use to do this, the sticks used in places like Costa Cafe to stir hot drinks are really handy (shush don't tell anyone) was well as cocktail sticks, craft sticks available from places like Hobbycraft and the labels used by gardeners to identify plants. I recently got hold of a tiny little plastic spatula that came with a mini cosmetic jar which I love and wish I had lots more of because it is reusable and cleanable.

An essential reborning item is “thinners”. This is 100% mineral spirits and is often called “White Spirits”. The main issue with thinners is the smell, a lot of people find regular White Spirits can give them headaches, but there are low odour versions available, Bartoline White Spirits is a favourite with many reborners, I personally prefer to use Bob Ross Thinners, it really is low odour and doesn't leave your baby looking chalky which some other thinners can do. It is however more expensive to buy but I feel worth the results are worth the extra after all if you are going to spend £60 on a kit the last thing you want to do is skimp on the thinners and ruin the end result.

Other useful items in your reborning kit will include cotton wool balls and cosmetic cotton circles or even squares, these are really useful for cleaning your kits (if need be) or for testing whether or not your GHSP has completely cured in the oven. They also come in really handy for wiping up spills (if you are a klutz like I am) Q-tips are also really handy to have about, they are small enough to get into crevices to remove paint that you might not be able to get at with a cotton wool ball.

Another basic item to have on hand is kitchen roll, doesn’t have to be the expensive kind either, you just need to have it on hand for wiping up messes, for wiping brushes on and for dabbing excess paint onto. I always have a few layers of it under my brushes and palette for swiping my brushes on.

There are a number of different paints on the market for using in the art of reborning. Lots of people use Acrylic paints or oils and a growing number are using Air Dry Paints, all of which have their merits and their enthusiasts. But for the purposes of this tutorial I am going to talk about Genesis Heatset Paints because they are what I work with personally.

Genesis Heatset Paints or (GHSP) as they are often referred to are an oil based paint that only really sets when it is exposed to the correct amount of heat for the right amount of time. GHSP are easy paints to work with, very forgiving of mistakes which you can correct any time up until you heat set them. Only a tiny amount of paint is required in painting a reborn so although the 5ml paint pots look tiny they do last a considerable time. GHSP do come in larger 1oz pots as well but it is better to invest in the beginner set or the small 5ml pots until you are certain that reborning is a hobby that you want to do long term… as I said the 5ml pots last quite a long time!

Another important tool is your paint palette for using GHSP you have to use a ceramic palette, GHSP reacts with plastic and stains them so stick with ceramic. They may be a little more expensive but it’s a long term investment and unless you drop it, your ceramic palette will be your friend for many years. Another good purchase if you are going to reborn long term is a large paint palette, if you are using a lot of a specific paint colour on a doll sometimes the little paint wells just aren’t big enough.

The final items in your reborning arsenal are brushes, good brushes are essential and an investment in your art, you can collect over time a good selection of stencil brushes, Mop’s, Filberts, flat brushes and round brushes. Your brushes are an important tool so buy the best that you can afford as they will last you a long time. It can be heartbreaking to work on a doll and find the finish ruined by hairs shed from cheap brushes. I cannot stress enough just how important a tool and what an investment good brushes are, you are better off buying a few good quality ones than buying lots and lots of cheap ones.

by Lisa Pybus - Best Beloved Nursery

What's in a Doll Show?

2009-11-28T23:56:00.004Z

One of the most fun parts of being within the Reborn Art world is the social aspect to it, not only are there any number of Guilds and Forums to take part in but within the UK there are also a growing number of Doll Shows taking place all over the Country. These shows not only provide a place to buy dolls or to exhibit doll art but also an opportunity to meet the friends made online.

Upcoming Shows December 2009 – February 2010

Sunday 13th December 2009 10.30am – 4.30

Blackpool Doll Show

Bispham Community Centre,

Bispham Road,

Blackpool FY2 0HH

Admission: Adults £3.00 O.A.P. £1.50 Children £1.50 Under 3’s Free

Email: babybler@hotmail.co.uk for more information

24^th January 2010 11am – 4pm

London Antique, Artist & Fashion Doll Show

Kensington Town Hall

London W8 7NX

Contact Judy: 01161 677775

21^st February 2010 10.30am – 4pm

Kelham Hall Doll Show

Kelham Hall

Kelham, Nr Newark

Nottinghamshire NG23 5QX

Contact: 01945 870160/07860 517048

28^th February 2010 10.30am – 4pm

Christine’s Dolls and Teddy Fair

Sutton Coldfield Town Hall

Sutton Coldfield

B73 6AB

Admission: 2.50 16 and under Free

Contact: Christine 07925 684780 email: christinesdolls@hotmail.com

Website

So if you are into dolls check out a doll show near you.

Visiting ACORN Guild

2009-11-28T22:50:00.011Z

A little while ago, in our Feb/March 2009 issue we interviewed Helen Riley of Tiny Labels Nursery who runs the ACORN Guild Website, we wanted to talk to her about the value of Guilds, what place they held in the reborn world and why artists should be encouraged to join them.

Helen told us that ACORN as a Guild offered reborners a place to gather support and help, the Guild forum is a lively environment in which Reborn Artists can make friends and learn from each other. Members can post their work on the forum and ask for advice or solutions to issues that they are finding within their reborning processes.

Reborn by Helen Riley of Tiny Labels

Within the Guild's forum pages members will find helpful tutorials that are freely available to assist with their reborn artwork and can also take part in the many competitions that take part during the year including Baby of The Month, Most Improved Member of the Month and Overall Member of The Year.

Reborn by Emma Robinson of Once Upon a Star

Members are constantly vetted to maintain their membership status on ACORN, the admin team constantly monitor members auctions and sales to scrutinise the quality of the work produced and keep a careful check on feedback received on Ebay.

Find ACORN by clicking here

Doug Richards Meets Savannah

2009-11-23T12:02:00.007Z

Doug Richards holding Savannah

Attending the Enterprise Nation Conference last week was a very interesting experience, meeting up with lots of other entrepreneus and hearing their stories and how they handle the challenges of running small businesses in today's economy was fascinating.

I was, by equal measures amused and embarassed by one of my reborn dolls ending up on stage with Doug Richards (former Dragon in the BBC's Dragon's Den) for his presentation, hers are the little legs you can see dangling over the edge of the podium in the video

December 2009 Issue Cover Winner

2009-11-22T12:15:00.007Z

The next issue of Hello Dolly Magazine is an incredibly special one for us, it is the first anniversary of the magazine's existance and we have gone from strength to strength, the readership is growing and the positive comments keep flooding in.

The latest issue's cover star is Scarlett by Artist Donna Wells of Nana Dreams Nursery whose beautifully composed themed photograph will be gracing the December issue cover.

Donna will be the featured artist in the February issue of the magazine with a 2 page spread. Congratulations Donna.

We were really impressed with the number of entries we received to the December Competition and how much effort and thought went into a lot of the entries, people really took the theme to their hearts and had fun with it.

4 Examples of entries to the December competition

Top Left Picture by Beth Downing of Beth's Babies Nursery
Top Right Picture by Carolyn McGrath of Eden Reborn Nursery
Bottom Left Picture by Jane Bishop of Forest Babies Reborns
Bottom Right Picture by Lisa Pybus of Best Beloved Nursery

Welcome to Hello Dolly Magazine's Blog

2009-11-21T14:25:00.000Z

Hello Dolly Magazine is a bimonthly magazine dedicated to the art of reborn dolls and the crafts surrounding them. Hello Dolly's website is here

Hello Dolly is in the main a community project giving a voice to reborn artists and those who love dolls in general. In the magazine readers will find examples of artists works, articles highlighting particular artists and can take part in the reborn community in printed format.

What can we offer doll collectors? Well you can read all about new upcoming artists, you can see examples of their work.

Hello Dolly Magazine does have it's own forum community where readers and doll lovers can talk to each other and leave messages and thoughts for the Hello Dolly Editorial Team.

Hello Dolly is available to purchase either as a single issue or as a subscription from here

Every issue the cover is decided by means of a themed competition... so look out for the themes and join in the fun.