Artistic or creative help, please.

[Ben Trout]

I've started on the Christmas present making. I'm doing a matryoshka doll for my little Niece. So far I've done the solid inner doll and one hollow doll, from one piece of Olivewood. Hopefully I'll get one more from a second bit of Olivewood and I'll try for another from a nice bit of Leadwood (half and half sap and heart wood) I've got hanging about.

Progress so far:

I like to think I'm a reasonably capable maker of things, but I have no artistic sensibility. As I understand it, traditional matryoshka dolls are very pale and the decoration is simply painted on. Shall I white undercoat and paint on the decoration (as designed by my sister, I would imagine!) or leave bare wood and pyrograph the decoration on?

 

[robin wood]

matryoshka are traditionally made form birch but you don't see any wood through the paint. I have a big book on them this one http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=hibberd&bt.x=60&bt.y=12&sts=t&tn=matryoshka
3/4 of the book is photos of painted dolls and personally I find them to be very tacky tourist driven folk art. The first 1/4 of the book though shows the turning factories and there is skill beyond words.
As for designs there are more images than you could ever want if you do a google image search here http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=...l0l0l93l93l1l1l0&q=matryoshka&orq=matryoshka+

 

[redandshane]

That wood is too nice to cover in an undercoat
Could you not somehow just put on the detail and leave the natural wood
?Pyrography might look nice ;not traditional but I think it could look great
WARNING I have the artistic merit of a rhino. probably less


http://www.oliabseiso.com/feature.php?f=133
people do do it

 

[Tengu]

Hang on! If you are working with fancy wood then painting it would be so very wrong.

A Very simple pyrographed design would be better

 

[Ben Trout]

Nearly there;

I had a bit of difficult with seeing what I was doing in the bottom of the insides. With a bit of a modification to my scrapers it was much easier;

Cheers people, pyrography looks like the right choice.