I used to create friendship bracelets using yarns before. I received orders for personalized designs: alpha bracelets, watches, keychains, couple bracelets, logo bracelets and such. I used to receive requests of designs and sell them on a certain price. It was also fun in its own way, as I can generate my own pattern and tweak it to add some details. My customers would often feel surprised because I managed to create bracelets from their logos, names, even their favorite celebrities or animals. Because of this, I basically almost had all colors of yarns available at our local craft store, and the employees there would often tease me as I am already a regular customer and I'm almost there every week. Until I ended up with so much yarn leftovers and it frustrated me looking at the mess.
So I tried to figure out a way to use the yarn leftovers. I didn't want to throw them away because it would be a waste. I found a tutorial on Youtube about toothpick dolls and it caught my attention because they used yarns and toothpicks. And I remembered that we have several boxes of toothpicks in our kitchen drawers that's been there for quite some time so why not use them instead.
At first, I was able to create a toothpick doll by following the tutorial I found. I even created a doll that looks similar to one of my students. And looking at the toothpick doll, I wondered on how I can give a personal touch to the doll. I wondered if the styles I can use to make toothpick dolls were limited to just giving the girls skirt or dresses, and the tutorial didn't even show how to create a male toothpick doll. This made me wonder for about two nights. Like how I can give it my own design and style without following the tutorial. I didn't want to stick to the basics of making toothpick dolls. So I experimented on giving the toothpick dolls the details I want, the character I want them to have, and personalities I want them to show through their clothes.
I thought I will fail on the process. I kept on asking myself questions like: what if I do this? How do I make it stand? How can I give it an A-line dress? How can I give them a variety of hairstyles? The questions kept on going until I made the kind of toothpick doll I want and I am satisfied with.
Who would've thought there's a hidden art behind scraps of yarns and toothpicks?
That is the birth of my toothpick dolls. And as I create toothpick dolls, I still keep on challenging myself on ways to give each doll unique characters. I try my best to fulfill a design I can think of, and if there were mistakes along the way, that's where I start thinking out of the box on possible solutions and improve.
This blog is about the toothpick dolls I create: different anime or movie characters, TV personalities, my own toothpick series, fan arts, and a few craft contest entries. I will be posting photos and the stories behind every toothpick doll, sometimes the stories even come from a personal experience and I used toothpick dolls to embody that particular memory. I personally hope this blog can be of inspiration to other lovers of crafting, and those who want to experience crafting. I hope this blog can give others some ideas they can try and inspiration.
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