Toilet roll doll craft

"I started painting at 88," mentioned one of the men at this weeks art class. Having been a food technologist, he had never painted over the course of his life until recently. He pointed out an abstract on canvas he was working on and spoke about how his painting was very precise and how he loves to paint in layers. He wasn't at all bothered that today we would be painting paper toilet roll dolls!

When I run art classes in aged care, I find that often when people haven't had access to arts and crafts over the course of their lives, they can find it daunting when handed a paint brush. This is why my craft classes are a lot about the reminiscing and less about creating a Monet. I passed my vintage crotchet toilet roll doll around and many remembered having these, or seeing these atop toilets in the 1950's and 60's. One of the ladies mentioned never liking their blank gaze, whilst another found them to be a very feminine way to disguise a toilet roll.

We painted in pastels, pink and blues, much like the colours of bathrooms of the 50's. As the tea man came round with tea and crackers he requested that all dolls be blonde as blondes have more fun, and all obliged in good spirits. Once our paper dolls were dry, we wrapped them around a toilet roll and all left happily with their practical and pretty craft doll in tow.