The August Project: Saturday Fun

August is one of my favorite months. There is slight shift in the nature toward the Fall season, nothing major, yet sun light is slightly softer and more golden, the light breeze brings just a hint of coolness, leaves on the trees are whispering wistfully… sky is so blue. Love it.

Today is the perfect Saturday day, beautiful weather. You would think that I say all that because I enjoy this weather to the full extend, spending my time outside, however it is not so, not quite.

Today I have my precious "ME" time that I was anticipating all week long. Today I sit in my studio, admire the golden day from inside. I am painting today and having so much fun!
Painting is important part of doll making, well done painting breaths life into face of a doll, layer by layer.

For painting polymer clay, I prefer to use Heat Set Oil paints, they do not dry out until they are baked.  I prefer to bake the layers gradually adding more, like china paint. Therefore, painting heads and hands is slow process. The finishing touches I add by "Fiber Castle" markers, they also need to be baked for sealing.

Here are the results of my hard today's work:

This little girl reminds me of me, when I was little.

I just love this little sweetie! 

The Wild Thing! The ears were an experiment!

The light is almost magical.
It is a perfect Saturday afternoon.

Meet "Natasha"!

This little girl I started to work on about a month ago. Her sweet face came to me very quickly, it was amazing, how smoothly she emerged. I worked with my favorite "Fimo Puppen"

I decided to share a little of the process with you in this post. I still work on her body, and wanted to try a few new ways of building.

"Natasha" is one of the biggest dolls I ever attempted: 27inches (70cm) and she will be rather static sculpture, than posable doll. Here are the first steps:


 Here "Natasha" is nothing more than a head. Her face is sculpted, sanded and polished. I fit her eyes for the first time, so to say, her first glance at the world.

Now, she has neck and hands. Her head will have an ability to turn and adjust.

I also put painted several layers heat set oil paints

 "Natasha" is mounted on strong wire armature.

I use two kinds of fiber fill to make the balk of her body: loose one  that is usually used to fill in soft toys, and one for blankets.

I sew it together and fill. 

Time to put everything together for the first time!

Next step is to make "skin"

Tips and Tricks of Sculpting Clothes in Style

One of my wonderful "art doll" friends asked me how do I create clothes for my dolls. I am happy to share my knowledge and the result of experiments with you, hopefully it will help some. First, I have to say, that I "build in" the clothes into my dolls. So the clothes are not removable. That is one of the reasons why I like to make "soft" bodies, I sew the costume directly on.

If there is one thing that years of painful experience taught me, it is that you do not start without make something new without preparation and research first. For example, my latest project was intended to be the a"lady" in medieval style of clothes. It took me a while to surf the "Pinterest" and whole bunch of other sites to find the reference, which I did, and even managed to find simple pattern for the dress.

 Which brings me to tip # 1: if you are not very confident with sewing, do not try to make complex patterns, go for basic alternatives or simplify.

Here is what I found and decided that , yes, I can do that.
Tip #2 (from my own painful experience)
Make sure you carefully measure your doll and allow some extra for the seams,at least 1/4 inch, it will take extra fabric. Better to err on the larder then smaller side.

If you prefer, you may do the sewing entirely by hand, but I  sew largest parts on the sewing machine, which I think is essential, if you work with fabrics. Here is mine.

I love to add a little embroidery and bead sewing to my costumes, it is such fun! Almost therapeutic, if a little time consuming. I usually do embroidery on the machine, then sew beads in while TV watching in the evening.  Lovely!

Final alteration happens directly on the doll…

Then a little florist wire on the hem of the dress ….

…and this magic stuff that stiffens the fabric, letting the hems and folds of the dress to "float" and preserves it from dust and color loss. I use "Paverpol" transparent hardener. It almost doesn't change the color. HOWEVER…
Tip #3: ALWAYS try the hardener on a small sample of the fabric you are using first, to prevent unpleasant surprises, such as change the color and texture. I mix "Paverpol" with quite a bit of water (for this project I used three table spoons of the hardener for a cup of water)
then I evenly spray the stuff directly on the sculpture.

Still, the finished fabric lost some of the laster, however, added more contrast and emphasis on the texture. It also lost some of the "newness" and looks more "worn" that I think, looks more natural for this project.

Soon! Very soon You will see "Lady Marie" in her full glory! Right now I am working on her headdress.

A Mouse in the House! Or Working with Polymer Clay, Part Two

So, as I've worked on the piece of cake, I was thinking: "Yes, it is nice and all, but a little bit... let's say boring?"I felt like there has to be someone very special, who is able truly and fully appreciate a piece of  cake.  So I tought about a little likable mouse. So, here are the steps of working on this sweet adorable creature:

I decided to use "Original Sculpy", I just got the stuff on sale couple of weeks ago. Before that I only used "Sculpy, The Living Doll" and was quite surprised that "Original" is more like "Model Magic", fluffy and light. These are nice qualities, but on the down side, it was much harder to smooth and blend.
Again, I used some "Carve Foam" and Gesso as the base. It really helps to save the polymer clay, which is not cheap even on sale, and make the sculpture lighter.

At this point my son told me that this doesn't look
like a mouse, it rather looks like a "donkey face".

I use "ready made" acrylic eyes that I found in one pretty neat internet store:
http://www.suntekstore.com/goods-15004666-8_pcs_half_round_hollow_acrylic_doll_dollfie_eyes_eyeballs_16mm.html

You are welcome ;)

They are cheap and look good, although may deform slightly when backed.
Then I stained the sweet little face with water based oil paints


I made hands, feet and body separately and backed them first before connected them together. In case you are wondering, there are many great tutorials on how to make  hands. My personal favorite is
http://www.renatajansen.co.uk/gallery/tutorials/hand_tutorial.asp by  Renata Jansen.
She is absolutely wonderful and has been a great inspiration.

Even before I stain  the body,
I layer a little pink 'Living Doll"
  Sculpy in the strategic places, such as
tummy, palms, nails, and feet.

At this point I start to add and bake
together the separate parts of my mouse.

Loose cotton (from cotton balls) and some loose yarn
 works very well for adding fur and fluff for the Mouse

Here is the Mouse, she seems to be very enthusiastic for the cake... All I have left to do is to combine the two together. Stay tuned.

Tips and Tricks of Working with Polymer Clay, part one

If you ever worked with polymer clays and you like me, just starting, most likely you encounter three, at least three big problems.
First: good quality polymer clay is not cheap, even in internet stores, and if you build solid parts, it is going pretty fast. The solid polymer parts are also very heavy, especially heads.
Second: when you try to smooth the surface, you find that it is pretty difficult, because fingers leave marks and dents.
Third: what if you want your parts to be empty inside? For example, my dolls are combination of fabric and polymer parts, that are build on wire armature. If your clay is solid, how do you attach these parts?

In order to solve these problems I researched a quite a few internet articles, read  "how to" books and watched a lot of "Youtube" tutorials. Many of them were good and I learned a lot about the process, yet I could not find all the answers to my questions, because everyone does their sculptures little differently, and not all my questions were addressed.

In order to let the parts dry evenly, stick them on the wire.

Therefore, by the way of error and trial, I was looking for my own ways to solve these big problems. Here are some solutions that I discovered. I decided to share them with you, if it helps you a little, and saves you some trouble, I would be very happy.

My greatest find that helped with solving these big problems is the "Carve-Foam", that is similar to florist foam that is sold in any craft store.  Its greatest advantage is the ability to easily withstand 275 degrees heat of your oven. "Carve-Foam" is easy to give it desirable shape, even without special carving tools. Then, you need to dip it in"Gesso"to seal  porous surface and let it dry.

After it is dry, you place your favorite polymer clay on the polymer mat or a simple piece of wax paper, roll it about 5mm thin and  carefully wrap up your foam forms in.
Gently smooth clay over (do not press too hard, you can crash the foam) The foam provides an nice smooth base, that makes it easier to smooth, without leaving finger marks. Just a little talc, gently brushed and ribbed on the surface of your clay also makes surface smoother.

It is important to put at least one layer of Gesso on.
 You can find it in any craft store.

Sculpt, then bake, and after the parts are cooled off, (give it at least a hour)  clear the foam out!
You can ask: where do I get this marvelous foam? And I will suggest you the link to the "Dick Blick" store. As an art teacher I work with them a lot, and very happy with their prices, quality of products, and service. I would recommend it to every creative person, who has a life and a hobby. Enjoy!
http://www.dickblick.com/products/carv-foam/?clickTracking=true

The parts of my latest project, already backed