How I Make My Dolls

I have had a few people asking how I make my dolls so I thought I'd post about the process that I go through.

I learned a lot of these tricks through Jack Johnston's Art Doll book, his site is : http://www.artdolls.com/ and he is a seasoned pro!  I think the book was $20 about 5 years ago. 

The first thing I do is build anarmature of the doll.  I have been pretty comfortable with 8-10 inch dolls that vary by body type rather than scale. The armature has arms, a spine, hips, legs and a long neck rod.  I found some alluminum rods and brass tubes at the Hobby Lobby that are working out great to transition from the armature into the foot mounts.  This works by sculpting the feet/shoes and partial legs over the brass tubes.  Then clipping the armature rods at the shin, I slide the brass tube over the armature rod, and the bottom half of the tube will fit over the base mounts.  

I then pad out and soft sculpt the body.  I use alluminum as the inner core, a constrictive paper tape to bind it, gause to add belly bulge and other features, seal edges with Fabri-Tac so the gause cant shift or roll, and finally finish with a custom body sock.  The soft sculpted body includes the pelvis, torso, shoulders, 1/2 to 3/4 of the arms and 1/2 to 3/4 of the legs.  The polymer pieces are specifically sculpted to butt

up to the soft sculpture partial limbs so that there are no gaps.

The first thing I sculpt is the head.  I start with a ball of alluminum sheeting and compress it into the size of the skull.  I then deside where the eye sockets should be and add those in.  I also create a hole up through the neck area where the armature will fit in.  I prefer to make my skulls rather than buying pre fabricated because I can make the features more unique.  I then insert glass eyes and some thin layers of polymer to hold them in.  I always use ProSculpt Polymer Clay -Light fairy color is my favorite because its softer than the darker pigments.  I add the clay around the head and sculpt the features.  I often create a sketch of the doll before hand to help fine tune the features. I add the neck and ears and then cure the polymer.

Next I sculpt the hands/arms and feet/legs.  The legs are sculpted with the brass rod cores and then a compressed alluminum sheeting, and finally the polymer.  The arms/hands have no inner core but they have a hollow center-like a tube-where the armature will slide into.  All of these solid core techniques make it so that I never sculpt the polymer more than 1/4 thick.  That ensures that curing times are always accurate and fully effective.  This keeps the doll more durable against falls or other accidents.

Next I paint the polymer pieces, seal them, and slide them onto the armature to make sure they are all just right.  I then make the dolls' clothes and assemble the doll.  The last thing I do before attaching the head to the armature is hand-apply the hair.  I like to use Tibetan Lamb hair because it is so realistic on the dolls- I buy mine from the Morezemore shop on Ebay.  Then I wet and style the hair, perminantly affix all pieces and slide the doll over his/her foot mounts on the base.

Alfred Hitchcock

I just started working on an Alfred Hitchcock tribute piece.  I plan to have him holding props from some of his most popular films.  Here are some photos of his head being sculpted and painted

Update... working on the limbs and pose...

Wicked Witch of the Wild West!

Here is the Wicked Witch of the Wild West!  She is pulling up her sleeves, getting ready for a stand off.  This is a slide show of how I made her.  Her head, hands, and feet are hand-sculpted and painted.  Her body is a soft-sculpted cloth body.  She has a solid core and wire armature.  All of her guns, holsters and her hat are also hand sculpted and painted.  Her icy blue eyes are hand-painted and her hair is pitch black, hand-applied Tibetan lamb's hair.

(Right Click below and select play to view slideshow)

Traveling Circus

This Piece is 18 inches long and about 6 inches wide.  The clown is a one of a kind hand sculpted art doll. The face, hands and shoes are polymer sculptures over a solid core and wire armature.  The solid core ensures that the sculpted parts are durable and cured properly.  The polymer pieces are hand painted and sealed to be water resistant.  The clown's shoe laces are hand-applied and he has glass amber colored eyes.   The dancing poodle is also hand-sculpted polymer over a solid core. Its fur is made of shaved felt that is hand applied.  She is wearing a sheer red tutu and a red felt hat.   The circus cart is made from an ostrich egg.  It is hand-carved and detailed.  The egg is hand-painted in a teal and black diamond pattern.  It is adorned with a miniature bucket of tools, a shiny red lantern, a mini shuvel and rake, and vintage style latches.  The painted egg-cart is topped with a red and white striped tent to complete the theme of vintage circus.This Piece is available through the American Holiday Artist Marketplace: http://www.ahaartistsstudio.com/












I'll post some more close ups on the Ebay listing!

Here's the clown's traveling act

Here is his dancing poodle. I still have to add her costume...

Update on the Traveling Circus piece

Here is my Vintage style clown. This art doll is finished but the whole piece has a few more surprises that I am still wrapping up!



New Vintage Circus Art ...still in progress

I am almost finished with my latest piece: a Vintage Circus / Easter piece.  This piece includes the largest painted egg I've ever made: an ostrich egg!  It is a clown pulling a circus cart that I made out of the giant egg.  I am so excited to show this work, even though I haven't finished it.  Here is a sneak peak of the clown in his underware.  He has hand-sculpted and painted polymer hands, feet and face, and a solft sculpted cloth body.  He has a solid core and an inner wire armature to be sure that he is strongly built and cured appropriately per the ProSculpt manufacturer instructions. I'll post pictures of him in his costume with my final presentation... hopefully within a day or two!...