This was my first attempt at peg dolls after seeing a few around on the interwebs. Originally I wanted to use them to make Ella a kid friendly nativity for Christmas (which is only 2 months away, eek!). After doing some research on peg dolls, I decided I should try my hand at something less detailed then the three wise men and baby Jesus. It would be a shame to mess up baby Jesus on my first try, don't ya think?
I stumbled upon this great blogger and her awesome walkthrough on the basics of painting peg dolls while doing my research. I knew nothing of how to get started with these little pegs, so a big thanks goes out to her lovely tutorial on how to get started with halloween peg dolls.
I ordered my wooden peg dolls from Hobby Lobby online. I used the 2 5/16 inch" Birch Man peg for these. They also sell a smaller 1 11/16" Birch Boy which I ordered to use for baby Jesus.
As you can see Ella loves them. They're just the perfect size for her tiny hands.
This little guy is my favorite. His pointy little teeth and cape, so cute. Very Twilight-esque if you ask me. Hm, Twilight themed pegs....I could be onto something.
The great thing about pegs are that you can decide how much detail you want to add to them. I added some stitches to Frankenstein and a drip of blood to Mr. Vampire. Feel free to go all out or keep them simple and plain. This being my first time, I kept them fairly simple.
I used regular old cheap Folk Art craft paints. After everything was good and dry (I let them dry overnight after they were all finished) I sealed them with 3 coats of Modge Podge Hardcoat. I wanted then to stand up to the heavy wear and tear of 2.5 year olds.
These have opened a door wide open! I've already had about 30 ideas for other peg dolls, and have started working on Ella's nativity. I will warn you, they can be a little time consuming depending on your level of perfectionism, but the end product is SO worth it!
