Dotee Dolls

Shortly after joining Swap-Bot, I started hearing about Dotee Dolls, and of course, had to know what the fuss was about. Turns out, they are are cute little handmade dolls made for swapping and gifting. No selling them! The dolls generally measure about 4-6 inches and have a hanger and a tail. The rest is totally up to the artist! I love the folk art feel of these dolls and am anxious to make more.

The original creator of the Dotee Doll is Dot Christian, an Australian doll designer. She even has a shop on Etsy where you can purchase Dotee kits to help you get started. Or you can do a search and find all sorts of instructions and variations.

After doing a search for Dotee on flickr, I was totally blown away by the variety and uniqueness of each of these dolls. There are simple Dotees, extravagant Dotees and everything in between.

I decided to try my hand at making a Dotee and found a swap for color themed Dotees. The theme for this swap was black. I gathered some supplies and went to work this afternoon. I was so excited with how it turned out. I just kept adding to it as ideas came. You can see my final version on the left and the back view on the right. The "wings" were a last minute addition. I also added a bit of blush to her cheeks after I'd already taken her photo. (She seemed a little pale.) I hope that my swap partner will be as pleased as I am!