Unusual Clothespin Dolls

Many of us have seen simplistic dolls and other characters made from those old-fashioned clothes pins that slide over a garment to keep them on the line. People have painted them to look like tin soldiers, Santas, and other characters. If you aren't all that great at painting that just has to be one of those crafts you can never do. Of course, no one uses those clothes pins anymore, and they were so limited in the places where you could stand them. If there was no Christmas tree nearby you were hard-pressed to find another place to put them.

You can make all sorts of great dolls by using the clothes pins that have to be squeezed to open. Use the areas that you squeeze as the doll's legs and you can make a huge assortment of dolls in no time. You won't have to be an artist and you can easily make each doll look different.

One way to make a clothespin into a doll is to simply slip a small doll's dress over it. It's okay if the dress falls down; leave it there for the moment. Use a wooden bead to make the doll's head. You can draw the face on with a marker or use a sticker face from a craft store. Glue the bead on the mouth of the clothespin with hot glue. Apply some glue around the bead, at the "neck" area, then attach the dress. You can make boy dolls by sliding small pants and a shirt onto the clothespin.

Make hair for the doll by using doll hair, yarn, tiny bits of cotton or even raffia. Instead of hair - or along with hair - you can glue a hat onto the doll. Buy the hat at a craft store, buy a Barbie hat, or make a tiny hat from felt.

If you have no doll clothes you can make many outfits yourself. For example, cut a circle from an old tablecloth or other plastic, then cut a slit in the middle of the circle. Slide this rain poncho over the doll's head and glue in place. Use the same plastic to make a matching hat for the doll.

Make a different outfit by cutting a tiny cone shape from paper. Wrap the cone around the clothespin at the "waist" area. Glue tiny flowers all over the bosom, then all over the cone, to make a flower dress.

Make beautiful dolls, silly dolls, grown-ups and kids. Make ordinary dolls from regular clothes pins or heavy-set dolls from jumbo pins. You can even make really tiny dolls by using miniature clothes pins. It's a great way to add lots more dolls to your collection!