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I want to share some of my creative process in this post. When I design a new doll body shape I trace my patterns and cut them from card stock. I have an idea for a new doll so I choose the body design and carefully trace an outline onto a doubled length of natural 100% linen. I place the vertical line of my pattern on the straight grain running parallel to the selvedge (the warp.) This is a matter of personal taste. The placement will affect the shape of the body once it has been stuffed. It’s fun to experiment with different placements on warp or weft or bias using the same fabric and pattern piece!
I place a pin in the center of each piece to prevent shifting when I stitch around the outlines. I don’t cut any individual pieces apart until after I have stitched all the parts for the body parts I have traced. Once I’ve stitched my outline using a 2.0 mm stitch (12.7 stitches to the inch) I cut the body parts apart with an allowance of 3.2 mm (a generous 1/8 inch.) To turn the parts and stuff them I use a variety of tools, but my favorites are an assortment of hemostats.
Today I have been stuffing a series of ‘skins’ I stitched up a few days ago - one will be an 18 inch doll and one will be an upside down best friend doll. I like to work in the sitting area of my home studio with all my favorite tools in front of me.
I used to baste my turned edges before I stitched them, but now just use my quilting pins and work around them until I have enough tacked that I can remove the pins. I know this is not the ‘right way’ but it works well for me!
This little French Bulldog is best friends with a little girl doll. In the early part of the 20th Century these dolls were known as ‘Topsy Turvy’ dolls and carried with them many stories - both good and bad. I designed mine to be best friends to each other and the child with whom they found a home. She’s crafted from 100% linen stuffed with virgin nonallergenic toy stuffing. Her face is cast in Creative Paperclay from my original sculpture, then covered with 100% cotton stockinette before being coated and hand painted to bring her personality to life. Her ears and the scruff of her neck are fashioned from felted vintage 100% wool. Come back later this week to meet her best friend and see their fashionable outfits.
Here’s a doll face in stages of becoming a finished girl. I begin with a doll head that I have sculpted from airdry clay. Below you can see the silicon mould pulled from the original sculpture, a mask just out of the mold, and a stockinette covered mask ready to be gessoed and painted.
I’ll write about my mould making process on another day. These original moulds allow me to create multiple face masks from one sculpture. I make a thin sheet of Creative Paperclay and press it into the mould, adding extra clay for reinforcing over the eyes, nose and mouth. I allow the face mask to partially dry before I remove it from the mould. At this point in the process I can make subtle changes to her features to distinguish one face mask from another. I carefully set it aside to thoroughly dry after which I refine the mask, filling and sanding as needed. The mask gets a liberal coating of PVA glue then I lay a square of white cotton stockinette on the bias over the nose. A stubby brush works well to tap the stockinette into the features working from the tip of the nose, inner corners of the eyes, nostrils and outward in a circular fashion, pulling the fabric edges to prevent wrinkles or unevenness. Now she’s ready to be trimmed and attached to her rag doll body, then primed with gesso to prepare for final painting!
