Judy's Reborn Nursery

The Binki & Bindi kit were sculpted by Denise Pratt, the vinyl is a very pale colour, with no hint of pink to it, so it doesn't need toning down to alter the original colour before you start painting.

You will need 20mm half round eyes, I find the best ones to use are the Oriental baby 20mm Half round, these can be found on Bountifull baby website or Lillian Trigg - http://www.lilliantrigg.co.uk/ or ebay. If you cannot get hold of these eyes then I would recommend the Chocolate brown 20mm half round - again from Lillian Trigg.

Binki and Bindi are quite small monkeys, when finished they are about 15-16" so they are quite easy to root. The arms are 3/4 arms but the legs are full. I have been asked how much hair I use to root a full kit but honestly, I just don't know. I would guess at 1/2 oz maximum for the full monkey. The hair colour I use is a mixture of 4 different colours. I use Lillian Triggs Auburn Straight, Black and Medium Brown. To this mohair I add some really bright orange mohair which was dyed especially for me, for the orangutans, by Lesley Prior, Lesley can be contacted at lesley.prior@btopenworld.com

For the monkey body's I use tan coloured faux suede and sew my own, or you could buy them from Lillian Trigg.

I use Genesis heat set paint mixed with thinners to paint these monkeys. The colours I use are burnt umber, black and yellow. Then I mix a few shades of brown using mainly red and green, I then add some blue and purple and yellow and black. I start by painting the detail in the lines and wrinkles, adding as much extra detail as possible using photo's of real orangutans for reference. I try to paint the layers very thinly, baking after every 2nd coat. I apply the paint sometimes straight from the brush onto the vinyl blotting it on as I go, I also use a sponge, adding paint to the sponge and blotting it onto the vinyl.

When I have finished painting, I root the hair using a 42g german barbless needle so it only roots 1-2 hairs at a time. Again I would check photo's of real orangutans to see the direction in which the hair grows. When rooting the arms and legs it's basically just stabbing away at the hair, rooting it straight on to the limbs. The hair is sealed inside the vinyl with glue. To get the glue right down to the bottom of the limbs I use Tacky glue, which I pour into the limbs then use a brush to get it as far down into the limbs as possible. Finishing off by squashing the limbs together so the glue covers all the hair inside the limbs. I then leave the limbs stood up for about a week to give the glue a chance to dry.

The limbs I more than half fill with fine glass granules and top off with fibre fill. The body I stuff with heavy weight fibre fill and a small bag of steel shot which I hide in the middle of the fibre fill for a soft body but a realistic weight.