Vintage Article- Decorating and Craft Ideas Dec '81- Wax Head Dolls

I finally dug out a box of old magazines with some of my published craft articles (all written and published between 1980-1994, before I segued into fiction). This is far from the only box (I designed and reviewed and illustrated for 14 years, with issues from assorted magazines every month coming out with my stuff in them- sometimes more than one project in a single issue. I stopped counting them after I hit 500 because there just didn't seem to be any point) but it's the first one I've run across in a very long time. This is what happens when you clean.

Most of the magazines appear to be from the early 80's, when I first started out. I thought it would be fun to post a few of those old craft articles and patterns. Though today's project is pretty cool (and I think I still have these dolls packed away somewhere), I warn you that many of them are awful. Terrible. Horrible. Embarrassing. I'll happily post them too.

Decorating and Craft Ideas December 1981 front cover. Felt doo-dads were big in '81.

Also big in '81? Full page cigarette ads. This is the back cover (Now in Beige!), and there are at least 4 full-page interior cigarette ads in this issue alone.

Also big in '81? Knickers!

 And causing your sons irreparable harm and future therapist bills.

BTW- their faces were goofy looking, and asymmetrical on purpose. That was also big in '81 (not that I was good at symmetry, I just glommed onto a trend that happened to fit into my skill set).

 Now down to business- here are the waxed dolls. The heads were made from salt and flour dough (called Baker's Clay- big in '81), and then painted and dipped in paraffin. I'm actually pretty pleased with this design even now (I thought I'd start with one of the Lesser Horrors- just wait... they're coming).

 I did the illustrations and the pattern drafting and drawing. It was part of the job back then.

 If you print these patterns out so that they fit on a full page with 1/2" margins all around, they should come out the right size. Download the pattern and instruction pages to your computer and then open and print them in any graphics program. If you try to print directly from here, the images will be too small.

And if you make these dolls, please please please send me pics. I would love to see them!