DIY

Painted Wooden People

July 23, 2020

Written by Daisy Montgomery

The Skidmore kitchen table is almost always covered in a layer of craft supplies. My watercolors, Lila Mae’s yarn, Anna Belle’s scrapbook paper, etc.. Luckily, a lot of the mess is normally our mom’s wreath making supplies, so she’s cool with the constant mess.

During the initial stay-at-home quarantine, our kitchen table reached record levels of creative mess. Not to mention, all of us Skidmore’s are home bodies & like to be together when we create. So, instead of us creating in our rooms, we each bring our supplies downstairs to do it together. It’s worlds more fun that way. Lila Mae DJs our Spotify music & we each do our thing. Mom stands at the kitchen counter & makes wreaths, I sit near the window and watercolor, Anna Belle adds to her Senior year scrapbook, & Lila Mae weaves.

We each kind of have ‘our thing,’ but it’s always exciting when we shake it up. The girls have actually just taken on a new creative endeavor…painting mini wooden people! They are about the cutest things ever!

Not too long ago, I was on Instagram & came across a picture of these little wooden people. A family I followed on Instagram had recently adopted a child, and received a set of their family as a gift. They were SO sweet. I took a screenshot to show the girls. We took the idea to Pinterest & figured out they were called ‘peg dolls.’ The girls did some more research, ordered up the supplies, & started painting away!

Today on the blog, the girls have rounded up their supplies & tips so that you can create your own! (Don’t worry, if you’d rather just purchase a custom set from the girls, I have a way for you to do so at the very end of this post!)

Round-up of the supplies:

-Pencil

-Fine Paint Brush (Here’s a great $5 set!)

-Toothpick

-Acrylic Paint (Here is a good set to start.)

-Peg Dolls (This is their favorite set to get! This set comes with variations for men, women, & children! It also doesn’t change color when you add the clear coat in the end! This is also a good set if you want to start with less, but it goes orange if you add a clear coat, so just don’t add a clear coat to this set!)

-Cup of Water & Paper Towel

–Krylon Clear Coat (Optional)

I got the pointers from the girls. Here’s what they said:

Start with a good picture of the people you’re painting! One that you can see their hair color & outfits clearly.
Pencil everything out. Start with the line between the top and the pants. If the girl is wearing pants in the picture, it’s simpler to make it a skirt. (For example, blue jeans would turn into a navy blue skirt.) Next, pencil out the hair. For the guys, leave room for the ears! Lastly, pencil the eyes.
Fill in the pencil with the base color of the shirt or the pants. The order doesn’t matter! Just make sure one is dry before you paint the other to avoid smudges! Go over it with the hairdryer to speed up the drying process.

4. Paint the hair! You might have to mix a few colors together to get the right hair color. Before painting the hair of the girls, make sure their shirt paint is dry to avoid smudges.

5. Dip your toothpick in black paint and dot on the eyes. Make sure they are super tiny & far apart.

6. Add detail! Add pockets and zippers to blue jeans, add pattern to dresses or shirts, or add collars and buttons to the boys shirts!

7. Optional step. Spray a clear coat over the people outside on a piece of scrap cardboard! This will seal the paint & avoid scratching. I’d definitely recommend doing this if kids will be playing with them! However, you can leave them without a coat too. (I had the girls leave my little people without a clear coat, since mine are just sitting on a shelf!) Lookout, depending on the type of wood, a clear coat can make your little people look like they have little fake spray tans, ha! I would test one out first!

Ta da! You’re done! Get creative! Look up peg doll families on Pinterest for inspiration. The possibilities are endless. You can even do pets!

The girls created this custom wedding couple above for some friends! After seeing these, I’m having the girls paint Elijah & I for our wedding cake topper. 🙂

The girls also started painting little college girls for high school & college graduation gifts!

This special set was a request from someone…Mr.Rogers Neighborhood. I thought that led to a fun idea of doing your favorite TV casts or movie characters.

Here’s a sweet custom family. I think they would make the most thoughtful gifts for different milestones…having a new baby, adopting a child, first year of Kindergarten, anniversary gifts…list goes on!

If you don’t want to take the time right now to create your own, but still want a set, I got you covered! The girls are still taking custom orders!

They are charging $15 for a pair + $6 for any additional people! All they need is a picture of the people in the outfits you want them wearing! You can email me, hello@fernwayhome.com & I will get you in contact with the artists!

If you create your own, we want to SEE! Please tag us @fernwayhome

Enjoy creating!

Daisy Sue