I have been sewing hats, headbands, and turbans lately for my Etsy shop, and I wanted to elevate my visual merchandising by using gorgeous mannequin displays. When I started looking around at what kind of displays were available, I came upon a mannequin artist named Magna Rust, and her blog Nostalgic Corner. She does not seem to be actively making or selling her beautiful mannequins any longer, but I just found them to be so gorgeous, and exactly the look I was hoping to achieve. Her work, along with my Silkstone vintage inspired Barbie, inspired my DIY paint job on these mannequins.
First, I was lucky to find two used, slightly damaged wig display mannequins on ebay. My husband helped me sand them down, and repair them with putty.
The next step was spray painting them with white primer, and then we used an ivory spray paint.
Using my artistic references, I penciled in the eyes, eyebrows, lips, and mouth
Using acrylic paint for the skin, hair, and features, I proceeded to paint these ladies as I wanted them to look. Once they were dry, I used colored pencils to add details, and to add blush to their cheeks.
Finally, we sprayed them with a shiny protective coat, and I added some dollar tree fake adhesive lashed to their eyes.
The final product is two very sassy vintage looking fashionistas! They turned out so much better than I expected, and for not much of an investment either! They are perfect for modeling my hats!
DIY Mannequin paintinghat displaysmannequin headsmannequinspainting
