Look What Susie did!

I have so wanted to make time to update this blog, but I have been a bit busy and quite ill with a flu.  But I am better now, and I have something to show you......

Well, as you may have gathered Susie McMahon visited Adelaide in a week that flew by, and now another week has flown by since she left!  But I was fortunate enough to have Susie stay with me, and in her quiet manner she gently nudged me to spend some time on doll making.
She is a brilliant talent, and when she found a forlorn stray unfinished dolly she said "I can fix her problem. I'll do that for you when I have a moment.."  ... and she did.  Just look at this beautiful face

Now this is not a very good photo at all.  (I seem to have moved my camera to the new office, so it is somewhere in an unpacked box.)  But you should have seen this sad little misshapen head before Susie worked on it.  This was a mask face doll that was glued a bit wonky (to say the least) and quite a lumpy bumpy face.  Yet when Susie painted her face this ugly duckling turned into a swan and she is the sweetest little thing.  Now I have to dress her and finish her - isn't that the sort of inspiration we all need sometimes?

As for inspiration, well you have seen the photos of the workshop dolls coming together.  Because I was quite unwell on the workshop day, I didn't progress very far, however...........................

look at this........................

From this.....to this.........

I just started to do a little at a time. 

(I learnt this mind set in sales training - it's called the Salami method, where you have a big job to do and just start to slice it into small bits to get through it)

One morning before work, I just mixed some acrylic paint and watered it down and then brushed it all over the body.  I was able to leave it all day while I was at work and then I decided to glue the muslin to the head.

I left a bit loose to go around the chest and then just glued the whole thing to the body.

Left it to the next day and decided she should have muslin hair and her little chest cavity should also be lined with muslin.

Once I started to shred the muslin into hairy lengths, I thought just a bit of PVA glue would help the tresses twist and stay in place.  This all sort of evolved as I looked at what the next step should be.  The doll really does create herself.  The Muse is absolutely the right name for her. I really needed a Muse.

So thank you Susie, I thought I would never have time to think about dolls, but it seems I do!

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?

This is my Frankenstein doll....

There is no other way to say it.  She has a reject body without arms or head.

Not the clearest image, but you get the idea.  So the idea is I am making a doll for the Craft show here in Adelaide next week.  Now the theme is Musicals, which I assume is like 7 brides for 7 brothers or the Phantom of the Opera?  So I decided Baz Leurhman's Moulin Rouge would be an appropriate choice.  So then I had to find a doll idea.  Well there was a costume called Pink Campagne which was beaded and all ostrich feathers - perfect for a doll. 

So I have this reject body, which needs a head and arms.  But I am too lazy to make new arms, I knew I had some arms somewhere, hopefully they will be to scale........................
Then there is the head.  This is for the Cloth Doll Association, so she has to be cloth, so I decided to make a head.  A Barbara Willis style head would be good, all sculpted and cloth..................Well.............. you always should make more than
one head......................

Well, I thought I did a great job of  sculpting the head.
I even managed to add eylash wool for eyelashes.
But.................... the eyes were too small, and so was the head for the body.  So I had to make another head!!

But like Goldilocks, this one was too big and did not look very good.  My thing is mask faces, so of course I will have to find a mask face to make a whole new head!

And you know I did have a rather nice face that I could use, and I did find those arms, and I still have to make shoes, which I think will have to be sculpted from paperclay, because the Frankenstein feet are so out of shape..........................

Stay tuned to see the next episode of the Frankenstein doll alias - Pink Campagne!