Now I have something to show you!

I started with a foil skull and neck

 Rolled out the paperclay and smoothed it over

I have not worried about the back of the head, but you should sculpt a nice shaped  head to get a more realistic shape!

        I love chopsticks - I use them for necks, for stuffing, for armatures. 
Here I have used them for shaping and the size of the leg and arms. 

I have some 'vintage' wooden chopsticks - seriously 30 years old! -  I like them because they are very tapered at the tip.

  I have made cupped palms for the hands

Adding clay

I use may hairdryer to speed up the drying

 Adding fingers

Adding clay to the face.  The head has already been baking for a few hours prior to this. 

 It is a much better way to add features.  Things stay put.

Baking, baking, baking for hours and hours and hours

My dolly is coming together

Here she is!

What do you think?

So the show is over

Yes, the Hahndorf show has been and gone.  There is the merchant side of my personality, which likes the buzz of setting up and manning the sales stall.  But, I always end up with a tension headache, because no matter how early I start to prepare, I am always up at 2am still planning and packing and checking items.  Then I can't sleep because I need to be up bright and early..............well you know I am not a morning person at the best of times........
Sooooo.......I get to the show and fumble around and fall over myself trying to settle in - and the crowds, that have been lined up at the door, swarm in and start perusing.  Well, as it happened, I had only just got my doll on the table and a wonderful lady, who is a collector of ooak dolls, saw my little red head girl (I sort of named her Mary Jane - but not properly) and she said "yes, I'll take her, she's lovely". 

Now as you may remember I had 5 dolls to finish.  I can't believe I forgot to take a finished picture of Titania!  The last picture I took was of her in her panniers - but I kept adding finishing touches to her, and in the end - I never took a final picture!  Someone I know must have taken a pic so I will ask around.  The lady who won Oberon and Titania  in the raffle is going to contact me in the future, so I may get a pic.

I did finish the other 2 dolls that made up the Cloth Doll Club sign - I had the 'S' and 'h' to do, so here is the 'h'
and the finished sign with all the doll letters that other members made are in this picture.............

 It is a fun concept and the costuming ideas that doll makers come up with are astounding.  These are all the same doll pattern - with adjustments ( except for the 'o' faces and the 2 'l's).  It shows how much fun you can have with dressing cloth dolls.

And the final 2 dolls were the little sweethearts (my name for them) - which I did manage to finish - with the help of one of the traders (I'll post her details and tell you her trading name when I find it) - I needed hair to finish the second doll.  So I actually had 3 dolls on the trading table - the little red head, a blond dolly and a dark haired girl.  Tomorrow I'll upload the photos of those 2.
 I can show you the WIP of the blond girl..........................

Still unpacking and restoring order to my 'Studio', which now has curtains

I can't work like this...

I have come to realise something about my work style.  When my desk/studio is a mess - I can't work.  I need to clean my desk and start fresh frequently when I am working on a project.  It's like I can't think straight when my desk is not straight.   This doll is really taking me through a process of learning - what I need to do and what I like to do.  I had a huge dilemma when it came to how I was going to dress her.  I feel like I need a step by step pattern to make a doll.  But, the reality is, it is so much easier not thinking or trying to find a suitable pattern.  This doll will have her clothing stitched on and so her clothing can be quite fitted.  To do this, the easiest way is to get paper towel, wrap it to the body part,  I trim in darts or draw the shape (e.g. underarm shape) and then stitch up the paper pattern.  Drape it on the doll and make adjustments, it is so much easier than trying to find a pattern part that will fit the body.  In the past, I have made dolls with a mind to explain the process, scribble down each step, so that I don't forget it for next time.  Well blow that idea!!  No wonder I can't make a doll to please myself, I'm thinking about an imaginary doll maker while I'm still thinking it through!  That's like an author anticipating what the reader expects the story to be, when it's not even written yet!  Amazing - I could not put my finger on why I was so blocked creatively!  What a revelation!

    

So here is the desk a little tidier.  You can see the paper pattern for the gathered skirt on the desk under the doll.  I think she is a little too lithe, the challenge was to make her features elongated, and it was good to try it, but I think a little more muscle would be nice, but she is very elegant - I think.

There's a reason I'm called Sandy.............

Sanding,  sanding, sanding and more sanding.................

Here are a few of my favourite tools for sanding.

I realised that the little pedicure tool (far left) has just the right sized sanding heads for getting into the fingers and hard to reach areas. 

Progress

What an improvement!  You see you can get past the ugly stage!

The girls are finished!

So finally I have completed a FEW dolls. I didn't really show a good pic of the Mother Goose.  She was originally going to be

the Fairy Godmother, but I could never work out how she wanted to be dressed.  So, I guess she didn't want to be a fairy she was a  Mother - and she sat so easily on my hand felted Goose, dolls really do tell you who they want to be................

And so to my little 'Glorex' dolls.................

I have managed to finish them both.  They are just little girl dolls, I made them jackets and blanket stitched the raw edges.  I enjoyed adding little felt flowers to one jacket, and the other I finally added little wool flowers that  my mother gave me a few years ago!

The little teddy I made a few years ago from some reject fluffy bunny ears!

I don't have any names for the girls.  Any suggestions?  I am totally blank as far as their names......

Work in Progress

I was a little nervous about this white cotton jersey, but doll making is all about problem solving. So I just boiled some water, added 4 teabags, bunged in some coffee and stirred. After rinsing the fabric to remove the sizing I threw it into the pot and crossed my fingers.

To my surprise, it worked! The fabric came out a warm skin colour. It wasn't blotchy and I rinsed thouroughly to make sure. The only disadvantage is I think the fabric SHRUNK! So I had a little less sized piece than I thought, but nevertheless, I was quite happy with the result.

You can see the difference in the colour.


The next step was to create the back of the head and this is such a simple solution, however I must give credit to Leslie Molen - her Gossips pattern included this method and it is the best way to create a good shaped(seperate) head for a mask doll. You just cut off a length of a ribbed sock and gather both ends after stuffing to the size you want. Then glue it into the mask.





The 'Glorex' doll kits come with a hand armature. I can't work out if it is a plastic or metal, but you can bend the fingers and wrist to pose the hand. I stitched a hand with individual fingers and inserted and stuffed the arm. It makes for quite a nice hand and is so much easier than creating pipe cleaner armatures!