Doll Making by Anna Haritonova

Doll Making by Anna Haritonova is for doll artists and woodcarvers. Make exceptional articulated art dolls.

Why you should join: A free BJD sculpting lesson and template, courses on carving, sculpting and casting, weekly live sessions with corrections and exhibitions and competitions. Free to join.

The one-liner

A free international community for art doll makers, with courses in carving, sculpting and casting.

What they actually sell

Doll Making by Anna Haritonova, run by Anna Haritonova, lives on Skool. Its public pitch: "Make exceptional articulated art dolls, exhibit your work and compete for prizes." It is free to join. Anna Haritonova gives new members a BJD sculpting lesson, a full-doll template and a materials guide free. The teaching covers carving a movable wooden doll with her template method, sculpting anatomy and joints, making moulds and casting, and building ball-jointed dolls in any material. Courses, weekly live sessions, PDFs, Q&A and personal corrections sit inside, and the academy hosts exhibitions and competitions. Inside sit 3 courses and a dense module library.

Who pays and why

Doll artists, sculptors and woodcarvers who want to make articulated art dolls. The challenge is learning anatomy, joints and casting with nobody to correct their work. They join for courses, weekly live sessions, personal corrections and the chance to exhibit and compete.

Where the members come from

Anna Haritonova's YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and website presence appears to feed the room. The Skool community reads as the member back end for people already drawn to that work. Exact follower counts stay off the public page.

What's holding it back

The free door is generous and the page does not show how the courses are paid for, so the path to buying is unclear.

Steal this

Run exhibitions and competitions for members, so the community gives them a stage as well as lessons.

Would this work in another niche?

Yes for other fine crafts such as jewellery or miniature painting. Weak for crafts with no show or sales culture.