Progress of a Doll’s Face

Here are the steps towards a finished hand painted face on one of my molded doll heads, made with my original sculpted moulds.  The last picture shows all the color ways worked out, yet not with the final sharp crisp details that will bring her face to life.  I’m saving that face photo for when I reveal the completed doll, with her felted wool hairstyle and unique clothing and accessories.

This first photo shows the sculpted face with its organic cotton jersey skin stretched over the mask:

Next I apply multiple coats of a tinted acrylic medium that contains fine marble dust to create the texture I desire while still allowing the ‘skin’ to retain some flexibility.

I build up multiple layers gradually allowing for complete drying between layers.  After these base layers are completely dry I rub the powdered Faber-Castell polychromos pigments into the doll’s face. This is my preferred medium rather than painting on her skin tone.  I believe it gives her a translucent complexion and creates vitality.  

As I work, I occasionally lightly spray the face with a matte sealant to preserve the work thus far. This allows me to remove future layers if I am unpleased with any step in the process.  I use a 000 sized brush and Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils to create the facial details.  

Here she is, one last step for final sharpening and defining of her facial features, nearly complete.

Best Friends with a Norwegian Forest Cat

This is the doll I’ve been dreaming about for a few weeks. I’ve finished sewing the body and the arms, and all have been tightly stuffed with a non-allergenic doll filling. I need to stitch the fingers and wrist dimples, then attach arms to the shoulders at each end.

The face masks for a young girl and a long-haired cat have been cast in Paperclay, cured and had organic cotton jersey stretched over the masks for ‘doll skin.’  The masks are attached to the body and ready to have a skull created from the excess cotton jersey. This is stuffed to give the dolls a more lifelike profile. I usually prime and seal the cotton jersey before I attach the face mask to the doll, but today I’m getting all of the stitching done before I begin any of the wet processes.  I’m always trying new things and changing up my production process to see if an innovation gives me a better end product.  

I just finished stitching and stuffing the ‘skulls’ and decided to attach the arms now, too. I’ll be honest; there’s a very good chance I’m going to regret that decision. The arms may end up in my way while I’m painting but they may give me a more secure ‘hold’ for the more delicate features.  We’ll see. The benefit I’m assessing by attaching the face masks before I begin painting them is that the cotton jersey becomes like fine glove leather after it’s been primed.  This makes it paradoxically tough to sew through yet easy to tear when I sew it onto the doll’s body. I’ll let you know on a future post how these experiments in production turns out for me. 

I’ve shown this photo on an earlier post. These are the textiles I chose for dressing this doll.

Toby, the cat

It’s always an honor when I’m asked to create something another person dreams of, or envisions. I was asked if I could create a felt cat, working from photographs, in honor of a beloved cat lost in a tragic accident.  The tray below holds some of the shapes I cut from a vintage Pendleton wool blanket (you’ve seen that show up before in the sister’s doll hair) and a little roll of 1950’s era cotton bunting. Once upon a time that cotton bunting was a baby blanket belonging to me or one of my sisters.

He has quite a bit of personality with his cashmere ear tufts and a wired tail that can be repositioned. His eyebrows aren’t  always easy to see, so here he’s bowing to show them to you.

Toby was presented in an archival box with a tag describing the unique elements he is created from, and a note for his new owner.

Starting at the beginning

I’m creating another pussycat and little girl Best Friend doll.  The Paperclay masks have been cast from my original sculpted moulds, partially dried and removed from the moulds to finish drying.  I like to sand and refine them one or two times, sometime more to perfect the surface and details. Next, I’ll stretch the organic cotton jersey skin over the mask and prime it with acrylic medium and marble dust.  The really fun part comes next - tinting the skin with my polychromos and painting on the features with watercolors and colored pencils.  This pussycat is going to be modeled after my beautiful Norwegian Forest cat, Princesse Marthalouise, seen here in her summer coat.

The doll’s 100% linen skin has been sewn and is ready for stuffing.

I’ve chosen fabrics for her skirts and aprons, including a vintage cross stitched guest towel and a tatted lace oval I gathered in the middle to a satin ribbon. I’ll select wool or cashmere for fur and hair after the faces have been painted and personalities revealed.

A Bespoke Doll

Anwyn and eKaterina are best friends.  This was a bespoke doll commissioned by a collector in northwest Ohio.  It was a great joy to imagine who this doll would become, and choose from my treasure trove of textiles and fibers to bring her to life. I am especially grateful for this friend and her trust in me, and support of my art, in commissioning this doll.

A few of the unique elements in her costume include an antique tatted lace student’s sampler round gathered to make a delicate lace cap on Anwyn’s auburn felted cashmere hair.  The solid beige linen skirt is fashioned from a small length of hand loomed linen, and eKaterine wears a striped linen and cotton skirt.  Each doll has an apron hand stitched from antique tissue linen handkerchiefs.  You can see a tiny bunny tucked into Anwyn’s canvas and leather tote bag and an Eastern Bluebird perched on  her wrist, while eKaterina has a teeny little mouse in her apron pocket.  These tiny friends, as well as the flowers on Anwyn’s infinity shawl, are stitched from bits of felted wool.  A girl need bling, and you can see that on the collar encircling eKaterina’s ruff.  The rhinestones came from the shoulder straps of a 1940’s evening dress and were stitched one at a time onto the black collar.

I present my bespoke dolls in archival boxes made by Gaylord Archival, with a Sweet Violet Dolls label  and a bit of violet ribbon fastening the doll securely to a backing in the box and on the lid, and a note for the doll’s new owner.

Painting Doll Faces

Growing up I lived in a small town in western Pennsylvania long before the days of internet commerce.  My dad travelled to New York City seasonally for business, and had a regular stop at an art store to bring back supplies for his resident artist, me!  I was in third grade when he brought back a wood box filled with 72 sticks of pure joy.  It was a case of FaberCastell Polychromos. I even lent them to my dear friend Marie when she was into tinting photographs.  I was in fifth grade when a cardboard box of Grumbacher soft pastels made the trip from New York City to St. Marys in Daddy’s suitcase.  Both are still with me and have been packed and unpacked in more home and studio moves than I can count.

In my current production process, I’ve discovered that I can rub a polychromos or pastel stick on a sheet of emery paper and turn it into a sheer to semi-sheer pigment powder.  Custom mixing these color powders and burnishing them onto the textured primed skin of my dolls with a soft sable brush, I can mimic the rich shades of live skin.  I seal the pigments with a spray of clear matte sealer before adding the final details with watercolor and colored pencils to bring my doll portraits to life.

Documenting my creative process with photographs and written descriptions doesn’t come easy to me. I have to break my creative flow to get the photographs taken and sometimes I just blow right past a phase and on to the next before realizing I missed an entire phase of the process.  For those of you who have been following me, I’m committed to staying with this endeavor, so keep checking in with me.

Dress Up Dollies

Most of my creativity lately has been focused on a very special project.  I’m keeping the progress of this doll secret until she is completely finished, and has arrived at her new home.  Now, there’s something you can look forward to! 

Because the nature of my processes require time between production phases for drying or curing, I’ve also been working on an 18 inch dress-up doll.  This photo shows her body, with jointed hips and knees, and her face mask which is not yet covered with its cotton jersey skin or stitched in place. 

The 18 inch structure is the basis for the American Girl dolls which are all the rage for little girls.  The size of the doll allows for clothing whose size is not so small and fiddly to be difficult for little girls to undress and redress their dolls.  I have a basic wardrobe in the works for this doll, dress clothes and school clothes, play clothes, a tote bag and a toy. 

I spent this past Monday at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY studying the dolls made by Martha Jenks Chase and Izannah Walker.  They were the dress-up dolls of another century and it was an honor to be able to hold them and study all the handmade details in both the doll and her clothing. Very inspiring!

Hand Sewing and Memories

I learned from my parents how important tools are in achieving success with a handcrafted endeavor.  I’ve collected my favorite tools over the years and keep them ready and handy for my projects.  When I’m hand sewing, I’m often in the sitting area of my studio, not at my work table.  This very cool vintage carved tray is the perfect place to keep the items I need corralled on my lap. My husband found it in the ice cream shop in historic Foxburg, PA and thought it would be useful. He was right!
I stitched the felted wool butterfly pincushion and attached a soft leather strap that allows me to put it over my head.  It’s balanced to hang centered on my chest, a handy catch-place for needles and scissors. The little embossed brass case was at one time a cover for Avon lipstick.  Now, with a wad of wool in the bottom, she makes a perfect case for my needles.  Hemostats work great to provide an extra set of fingers, or to pull a needle through a tight bit of wool or linen. Two of my favorites were given to me by my dad when he was teaching me how to tie tippets and fly fish towards the end of his life.  I moved them from my tackle box to my sewing kit after his health no longer allowed us to wade in the creeks together. The magnifying lens with the reclining green jeweled panther atop it belonged to my mother’s mother.  Long after NeNe passed, it hung from a hinge in my mom’s kitchen.  She gave it to me when she gave me her sewing machine. It has more elan than my dollar store magnifying glasses, that’s for sure. All of these things and more are part of the love that goes into everything I make.

Thanks for taking this little journey with me through my sewing tools and my memories.

#handmadedolls #handsewn #handmadedollclothes #felted #feltedwool #Foxburg

Textile Inspiration

It’s not at all unusual for me to go through my collection of textiles and laces and vintage handkerchiefs when I have an idea for an new doll.  The textures, hues and tactile qualities help me define who that doll is going to become.  This is a gathering of goodies that may become the next doll on my work table. 

There’s an amazing deep eggplant colored patterned velvet sleeve from a vintage robe, a delicate linen handkerchief with a deep lace edging, a bit of white cotton embroidered eyelet yardage and several linen and cotton goods. The tatted antimacassar has been in my collection for more than 25 years, just waiting for the perfect project.  
The fringed length was the finished edge of the alpaca shawl it’s next to as recently as yesterday.  I carefully removed the fringe finishing a narrow selvedge tape opposite the fringe.  I already know how I’m going to use it and it will be a sweet addition to my newest BestFriend doll.  After removing the fringe I hemmed the end of the shawl to prevent any unraveling.  It may remain in my doll textile collection, but then again I may wrap it around my neck on a cold winter’s day!

Hairstyle trends on Sweet Violet

One of my favorite things about doll making is finding and repurposing textiles.  For this little girl I am working with a vintage Pendleton wool blanket.  It was in really good condition and could still function as a blanket, but its color and weight screamed “I’m perfect for doll hair’ so that’s how I’m using it.  I experimented with different shapes and layering, adding seams to create curved shapes.

Here’s the sketchbook with notes of my final pattern shapes for the 11 1/2 inch doll.

I 

layered the shapes onto the head, stitching carefully to secure and style the shapes working from the nape to the crown.

And, the finished coiffure with a felted wool headband and flower accent!

An outfit and a mouse for a girl

I’m dressing the blonde 11 1/2 inch dolls destined for a home in Boston...

Nearing the finish line

The completion of a series of linen bodied rag dolls with one of a kind molded faces is very near. As has always been the way in my studio, my work table is a jumble of supplies and projects when I near the finish line. I’m very organized during each individual phase then lose it all as I complete the last details and assembly.

The little girl below is one a pair of ‘twins’ though each has her own unique facial expression and hair style designed from blonde vintage felted Pendleton wool. Their clothes are sewn, and they have on their shoes but need undies and their felted wool hairstyles carefully stitched to their heads yet. They will be going to live with two little girls in Boston once they’re all finished. 

It’s a joy for me to create dolls for imaginary children but also as a commission for a child who knows ‘just what her doll should look like.’  If you know a child who has just such a need and you’d like to discuss a commission, send me a message.

Two Fine Friends

There is a long history of dolls known as ‘Topsy Turvy’ or ‘Upside Down” dolls.  I call my dolls with two personalities ‘Best Friend’ dolls and they are a child and her animal companion.  Flip the skirt and see the friend!  I’ve been working on two of these dolls, and today spent time on skirts for one of them.  I love watching the personalities of these dolls unfold as I cut and pin and stitch. 

By tomorrow I’ll have undergarments on both dolls, and they’ll be dressed in their new outfits and ready for the reveal!  Until then, here they are still in production:

This funny looking garment on the left will become a reversible skirt for each of these girls.  On the right, a vintage tea towel from Creative Reuse of Pittsburgh becomes an apron..

Making linen doll bodies

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!

Best Friend dolls

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.

Becoming a doll faced girl

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!