Dorothy going round the twist

I seem to have been working on Dorothy forever. Mostly as I'm doing a course which has taken up most of my spare time, and now I'm out of work, and feeling a little depressed so haven't really been in the mood for doll stuff.

Anyway here is my progress along with a lot of botches along the way.

Ok so I started here but wasn't happy and started again.

Then there was this version and hey ho I wasn't happy here either.

So I made this version - not good.

And after realising that version was too big for my project, I started from scratch.

I got here with my new doll.

Only for the skirt to crumble when I put her back in the oven.

I made a basket.

And a dog.

She has hair. But still no dress. I will have to get some cloth I think.

And she has ruby slippers.

I have to paint toto and somehow attach everything to the yellow brick road I made and finish her dress.

Dorothy WIP

I've been making a new doll After receiving three blocks of clay from my other half for Christmas. The doll I'm working on is going to Dorothy gale from wizard of oz.

My first head (there are always several attempts) was this one.  After making it I decided the eyes were too close together, and after messing it up I had to work on it again.

This was version two. The mouth was too big and I needed to add more clay to the face in general.

More faffing and this is post baking.

This is where I'm at currently with the torso.  I was faffing with getting it realistic, but then realised I am going to sculpt on a blouse so I needent bother with details.  I'm using Katherine Deweys book creating lifelike figures in polymer clay to get my sizes correct, although somehow she's ended up a little bigger than the 1:8 scale I was working to.  

I love this book and can highly recommend it. I don't do my faces her way, and I piece my bodies together a bit differently, but her proportions and way of building up the body are great so I use it for that.   Out of the three sculpting books I've bought I think this one is the best and worth the money.  She goes into far more detail than other books where you have to just know to blend or already have sculpting knowledge.  

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Updating dolls again

Sometimes a doll just doesn't look right to you, and you leave it and look at it and think no it's not right. 

I've recently been updating my dolls as some were made before things I know now.  My most recent doll the ice fairy I wasn't entirely happy with. Her eyelids were too heavy and her boots too clunky. So I took a scalpel to the bits I wasn't happy with. I removed some of eyelid opening the eyes more, and shaved off some of the nose which was a little too fat. I shaved off the heaviness of the boots and did a repainted on them and the face. 

I'm now much happier with how she looks.

I also bought some modge podge which I'd heard about but wasn't really sure what it was. It is magic in a bottle. I've used it to glaze all my doll eyes and nails and it looks amazing. Eyes have more depth and nails look real.  A real gem.

Bigger eyes and slimmer nose. She has a more dreamy look now.

These boots are made for skating.

Almost finished

I've nearly finished this toddler doll.

I got the body finished off. 

Then started work on the outfit.  A nice pair of jammys.

The slippers need finishing with more fluff, and I need to make a crochet hat for her.

Sew slow

I've been working on putting together this little doll for a while.  

I recently made the feet from polymer clay and added some wool roving to make them fluffy slippers.  Working on adding cover to the stuffing/armature now. I like to sew, I've done it since I was a child, but the needle always finds a way of stabbing me! 😄. She was without a body for a long time so I really need to get on and finish her.  The great news is she does stand on her own so that's a relief.

Clown Doll Tutorial - Torso

In this second part of my tutorial I show you how to create the body for your head created in Part One.

This is the wire I use for the armature. It is a garden wire, galvanised steel used for fencing.

 Cut a length for the legs.  How much you need depends on the height of the doll you are making.

Fold in half.

About one inch down from the top, bend both sides out about half an inch, then bend down to create legs.

For the arms, do the same thing only upside down.

Bring down the arms.

Join the two middle bits together as shown.

Use tape or wire to join them together.

Securely attach the neck wire to the main torso with more tape or wire. 

Put a tube of clay around the neck and blend into the head.

Rolls out a tube of clay as wide as the shoulders on your doll.

Cut in half. 

Press each piece onto the armature at the shoulders.  Blend into the neck.

Blend into the neck and other shoulder.

Use more foil to pad out the body.  Shape your torso using the foil, chest pelvis etc. Cover with tape when finished.

 Cover the body with clay and blend into the shoulders and neck.  If your neck is too thin add clay to thicken it.

Roll two small balls of clay.

Flatten and place onto the head.

Blend in towards the face.

Create a small C shape.

Draw a line around the outer edge of the ear.

Create a dent towards the top of the ear near the outer edge.

Do the same on both sides of the head.

Roll two large balls of clay.

Create rods.

Shape into a sort of club type shape.

Pinch and roll the edge of the clubs to create the forefinger and pinky.  Try to create a hand shape.

Roll a long rod of clay.

Cut into small rods to make fingers.

Attach to the hand in between the existing fingers.  Blend into the clay.

Unfortunately this is where I stopped photographing my progress.

I don't make my hands this way now as it is quite fiddly.  There are plenty of good tutorials out there on how to make hands.  

Tony Rice has a good tutorial as does Deb Wood.  They both also have a good feet tutorial.

This is where I was at once all the sculpting was finished and all limbs attached.

Basically sculpt your arms/hands, sculpt your boots and then attach them to your armature with glue.

Use pillow stuffing or quilt batting to wrap around the wire to pad out the body parts as much as you like.

Use some cloth to cover over the padding and sew it up or use fabric glue.

Paint your doll's face however you like. I use acrylic paints.  Paint the nails and boots.

Glue hair over the head and style however you like.  There are plenty of tutorials out there for attaching hair.   This hair was orange wool roving, but I eventually replaced it with black and white viscose hair.

I use false eyelashes from a pound store, cut them to size and use fabric glue to stick them on the eyelids.

Create your clothes using different scraps of fabric, sewn or glue on in a haphazard way.

This is what the doll looks like now.