A kokeshi fix

I am trying to collect kokeshi dolls. There aren’t a lot for sale here though. In fact, I know of only one store selling them.  It’s Collage, at Ayala Center.  My husband bought me my first doll late last year, after months of seeing me salivate over them every time we pass by the store window.  And he bought it after seeing it’s the last one left (there were four of them originally).  That time, it was like a little over 500 bucks.

After that, we kept on coming back to the store to inquire when the next batch of Kokeshi dolls will arrive.  I think we asked the sales people every weekend, to the point we were getting very annoying and overly kulit.

Well, last month, the new kokeshis did arrive.  And they had lots of new designs.  But I was shocked to find out their prices almost doubled.  From 500++ to almost a thousand bucks.  Hmn… maybe they thought the kokeshis were so in demand, not knowing it was only one person who tried to look for them every weekend.  We bought one, nonetheless, and I promised myself I wasn’t going to spend another 900++ for a little wooden doll which I knew cost only half of that price originally (and maybe one-fourth if you bought if from the manufacturer).

The old kokeshi and the new much more expensive one.

Anyway we saw an ugly kokeshi doll at Parkmall. It was so cheap, but just plain ugly.  I wasn’t too interested and wasn’t jumping up and down when I saw it, because I would have, but it was Alvin who suggested I could repaint it.  So I grabbed it and lined up to pay.

Ugly kokeshi doll. Pink hair??? Round eyes with two lashes each??? Ugly, ugly kimono design.

Last week, I got my watercolors from my baul and started repainting her.  I didn’t even sand off her old paint anymore.  I painted over her monstrous “pinkness”.  I knew watercolor is not something that lasts, but good thing I always have an art fixative in store.  After spraying over the fixative, I got a clear nail polish and applied all over her, for a glossy finish.  And this is what I got:

I think I’m gonna look for more of these ugly kokeshis. She turned out pretty lovely, don’t you think?

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Tags: kokeshi dolls