Designing Ways

I love designing stuff..........I love the whole process from having an idea as a picture in my head, to sketching and then working out how to make whatever it is. It hasn't always been an easy process - time was when my ablitiy to make something fell well short of the picture in my head. These days, with so many years of making under my belt, usually I can manage a reasonable facsimile of my concept - the object doesn't fall so short of the ideal picture.
Designing usually takes place on the floor. I have large tables in my studio, but they are usually so covered with creative detritus that the floor is the best clear space available. If it is a doll I am designing, I usually start with a sculpted head. I then use the head as a guide to get the body proportions and size right and then the body sketch is used to make pattern pieces. I need to know at the outset what kind of jointing I am going to use, because that greatly affects how the limbs are constructed.
If I particularly like a head I've sculpted I sometimes make a silicone mould so that I can make more similars, or a series.
I am often asked how much you need to allow to translate a flat sketch into a rounded object......the answer is - I don't know. I do it intuitively and it is usually fairly right, though on occasion I have got it very wrong and have had to start again. My doll-making has entailed a lot of trial and error over the years!

The sculpted head - in this case it is a slightly stylized young child head. The pencil marks are just my way of making sure the sculpting is balanced enough - it's easy to get it unbalanced without realizing. They will disappear when I sand the head before putting on the cloth layer.

How cute will it be with a little knitted gumnut cap?

Original sketch and subsequent pattern pieces

Ready for a test run!

How To Make An Elephant In No Time Flat!

A couple of days ago, my husband asked me whether it would be very difficult to make an elephant. "Of course not", said I..........and before I knew it I'd agreed to design and make a toy elephant for a young work colleague of his who had just had a baby girl. Designed, literally, on the back of an envelope (albeit a large one!)

I'm kind of lucky that I can visualise something and easily work out how the pattern pieces need to be in order to make what I have in mind......apparently not everyone can do this!

So, over a couple of hours last night, I had designed, cut out, sewn, stuffed and assembled this little Elly for Molly and then this morning I spent a little more time on a few baby-safe embellishments. I couldn't find any plush fabric in a good, elephanty colour, so I used this pretty mauve instead - I think it is appropriate for a baby girl.

And here's a new head I'm working on - this one has been covered with fabric already and has been sized prior to gessoing and painting. More design work on this body pattern. If you're wondering about the pencilled-in features, I often do that when I'm making a one-of-a-kind head so that I can see if I have the features balanced.