A New Project For A New Year

 In the last few days of 2022, I'd like to share a new project with you - one that should keep me occupied for the summer. 

Some months ago, I was approached by a previous customer with an interesting proposal - she'd been given a beautiful pair of antique baby shoes by her son, who thought they might fit one of her antique dolls. She found, however, that all prospective wearers of the shoes had rather chubby legs and they wouldn't fit..........her proposal: Could I make a doll to fit the shoes? Could I what! I jumped at the chance and with summer here and much less on my plate, I have dived in.

The shoes are beautifully hand-crafted from fine, soft leather with buttons the side. Hand-worked buttonholes to correspond with the button positions are on an exquisitely crafted overlying scalloped flap. They are in excellent condition, with little wear. They would date from the mid to late nineteenth century, I believe.

I have drafted a body pattern and started work making the head for the doll, which will have a finished size of approximately 60 cms (24"). This is quite a bit larger than the dolls I usually make, although I have made them this size in the past. The doll will represent a young child of the mid-late Victorian era, to match the age of the shoes, and yes - I will be able to make the legs and feet to fit the shoes!

The foil armature, which gives a base to work the clay over. It is later removed.

I used a Japanese clay from Padico, called Wood Formo. It is very strong, easy to sculpt with and can be carved, sanded and added to after it is dry.

The basic sculpt, sanded and almost ready for a cloth layer to be added.

The beginning of the clothover process. I'm using a fine cotton knit fabric and gluing it very securely to the underlying form.

Here, the head is cloth-covered and has been sized with a mixture of acrylic modelling paste and matte gel medium. This dries to a hard, but somewhat flexible finish and provides a great base for painting. I haven't yet decided whether to use artist's acrylics or oils to do the painting, but I'm veering towards oils. Whichever medium I choose, I will underpaint the head first.

Unfinished Business

Here are some of the things I'm working on......since taking the photo, some of these have been completed, so I'm chipping away at the pile!

I've been helping my friend, Loretta, turn one of her sculpted face-masks into a complete doll - here's the progress so far. Top photo shows the mask turned into a head with the features pencilled in and the lower picture shows the head, cloth-covered and painted with the beginnings of a wig. I'll keep you posted about progess and let you know how you can buy one of Loretta's face masks when I get a bit more done.

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!

Alien Tomatoes and a New Head!

We have had a bumper tomato crop this summer........after having tomatoes every possible way, making relish and sauce and still having them all around the kitchen, I'm actually a little sick of the sight of them! But should I be afraid of them? Some of them are looking like this:

.......a bit like something out of "Aliens"!

I still want to try drying some - I may be sick of them right now, but in the depths of winter, I know they will provide a welcome taste of summer sunshine.

Meanwhile, in the studio, I have sculpted this new child head - the first two show it just as sculpted  with the clay still wet and in the third picture, it has been dried and partially sanded. I usually pencil in the features like this to check for balance. I'm thinking I may paint this one in oils, in which case I will post step-by-step pictures here on my blog of the process.

Announcement: New Sculpting PDF Available

For some time people have been asking me to publish something on sculpting - at long last, here it is! I have just finished writing up this PDF which is available in my ETSY store as a download. It is as clearly explained as I can make it and copiously illustrated with photographs of the process step-by-step from making the armature to the final sanding. Here are a few sample pictures:

 When I finish making the complete doll using the example head in the PDF, I will post a picture to my Art Gallery, which you can access by clicking on the button under the header.

Still time to enter my OWOH giveaway!