A SUMMER PROJECT

I usually find that summer gives me some spare time to work on a special project or two. This summer, I decided to make another large oil-painted (head) doll to fit a pair of antique child's shoes that were a gift. I made one a while ago as a special order and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. I'm now retired so I can make things at my leisure and as I choose. This doll will have a jointed cloth body and will probably end up being around 21" (53 cms) tall. 

                                                               The antique child's boots

I sculpted a head from air-dry clay after working out the approximate size it needed to be, using the boots as a guide. 

                                              The head sculpt. 

The sculpt was covered in cotton knit fabric, which was sized, sanded, gessoed and under-painted ready for the oil painting process.

The prepared head, ready for painting.

Oil painting takes quite a while, because it is done in multiple layers, which require drying time in between.

The first layers of oil paint.

                                                                  Subsequent layering

While I was waiting for the layers of paint to dry enough to continue, I drafted a pattern - hopefully it won't need to much adjustment. I've also been working on the wig. And thinking about clothes and finishing touches. 

Galah Baby?

 I've just completed this "galah baby" in recent days - another foray into oil painting heads. Why galah baby? Well, that's not her real name - she doesn't have one yet, but I've always loved galahs for their wonderful colouration and, well, their galahness. So the colour choices I made in the dressing of this new child.........soft greys and muted pinky mauves just reminded me of galahs, hence the "working title".

She's wearing a smocked grey cotton dress and knits from angora yarn that was gifted to me a while back. The doll has a jointed cloth body with a one-of-a-kind head sculpted from air-dry clay. To this I added a cloth covering, treated it with a special sizing mixture and then painted it with oil paints. There is a certain luminosity which comes from oil paint that you simply can't replicate with acrylics. I also like the fact that you can push the paint around for a long time before it dries. This doll also has painted hair.

I stained the muslin body with thinned-down acrylic paint mixed to match the head colour and there is a bit of blushing on the knees, hands and feet. The neck has a flange joint and it is attached to the body in such a way that it has side-to-side movement.

Here are a few details:

Smocked dress front

Crocheted slipper

Wired hand is posable.

Crochet edging on the petticoat

Fuzzy hat detail

And just for fun......here is a galah!

Some New Work

Although my doll-making has tailed off a bit due to the commitment I have made to renovating my house and garden, I'm still constantly making them, albeit more slowly.

Firstly, I have this brother and sister pair in their winter woollies. They are both about ten inches (25 cms)

Most recently, I completed this little child - she about eight and a half inches tall (22 cms) with jointed shoulders and hips and needle-sculpted fingers, toes and knees. In a departure (or maybe a return) I painted this doll's head with oils. I do love the different, translucent look of oils over acrylics. It is somehow more subtle and sympathetic. I'd almost forgotten how much I loved to look. 

It was looking at the recent work of Susan Fosnot an American cloth doll maker who makes exquisite oil-painted dolls that inspired me to re-visit oil-painting my dolls. More to come, I think.

Here she is - so much fun to make!