Master Mold Making - Torso

Well for the last couple of days I have been hard at work, working on my master molds. The torso which was giving me so many problems is almost finished, the hands and feet are done and so are the legs and arms, plus their joints. All I have left is to fix a broken leg mold and make a head. Almost finished!!! Well sort-of. This process has taken me the best part of 6 months, several molds, for example I made the torso 3 times before I was happy with it. But I know I am a perfectionist and am happy with nothing less....

So here is the torso

The rest are on my flickr account - lexy99071

I have done a lot of research on human anatomy and online tutorials, they really help :D

I started with the torso, it's easier to size everything against that, alternatively, draw to scale the size doll you want, remembering to accommodate for the shrinking of the clay, (I'm not aware if resin shrinks.) Porcelain shrinks by about 10 - 15 percent, I didn't do this for my first set of molds and had to re-make them. I've cut my torso in half-ish to allow for the movement I want in my doll, and it might make for easier stringing... but then again it might not.

New Wig.

This is the new wig I made, just for a little practise and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to make them. I did this just before christmas but got a little too busy to post. The wigcap is felt which was fitted specifically to her head. Felt is nice, easy to use and you can make the wigcap as thick or as thin as you need. I then attached the mohair (forest fibers do excellent quality mohair!) starting at the back with superglue. I do NOT advise this, it makes a mess and ends up glueing your fingers to it more that the hair. I'm going to have to source some other type of glue- my dad says he has some very sticky clear glue I can use so I'll tell you of that as and when I do it. But a nice sticky glue that dries clear is the best thing to use... oh and one that is waterproof. Anyway, start with the mohair at the back and then at the sides, the next 'layer' should be at the middle of the back of the head (does that make sence?) then at the front. Allow the glue to dry then wash the hair. I wanted the hair to be wavy so while it was wet I plaited. You can also style it after the hair is dry. Mohair is a bit like human hair, which makes it perfect for the dolls hair.

Oh, and this Barbie is the one I was talking about in a previous post, my inspiration barbie :D Pocahontas.

Spring Joints - Research....

So... The 'fun' part, working out how the joints go together- I'm going to assume that evey doll artist has a slightly different way they prefer, this is mine. Not entirely sure how easy it will be to make but I don't like to do things the easy way. In my experience if it was easy you didn't do it right. I think I will add S links or something before connecting the ring to the hook/screw, that way the spring can move more and not be twisted, if that makes sence to anyone? As you can see the joint for the head has yet to be determind, I still can't figure it out. But the rest is quite simple.... or should be.

My Research and Inspirations.

I love to do research, whether it for my own work or college work, I always find something I never knew about for at least 1 artist who I find truly inspirational. This time it was Marina Bychkova. Her work is amazing and almost exactly what I want to do, I think I've actually fallen in love with it. Gwendolyn and Ruby are my favourites and are so beautifully done. But obviously she has been doing what she does for a while and is very good at it, I can only hope in time my work is as skillfully done. I have been following her blog and am awaiting every new doll with anticipation. They truly are amazing and I can't believe I almost missed them completely.

 

Ruby

http://www.enchanteddoll.com/

I've also looked at Aidamaris Roman, but there is something about the dolls that arn't quite right, and I think it might be the glass eyes. I do however, love the way he does the dolls hair and their costumes always have  a lot of lace, I love lace. There were a few others I could mention but frankly the majority of the other dolls either scare me or freak me out- my dad has already requested the bride of chucky doll. I might change it to the bride of Frankenstien, although I don't want to be seen as copying Marina Bychkova. 

I would also like to put in here that another big inspiration for my doll making is a Barbie that I have had since I was six years old, Disney's Pocahontas. Disney has, and always will be, an inspiration to me; it taught me how to draw and for that I will be forever grateful. As a child I hated the blonde, blue eyed Barbies and would always colour in their eyes and hair. Pocahontas had black hair and brown eyes that I never changed, and I loved her dearly. Unfortunately due to age, she is now breaking and I go very careful when handling her. I would put a picture up but right now I am waiting for the wig I made her to dry, then she needs putting back together so maybe I'll post one later.

So there you have it my inspirations for my doll.

Project Idea.

The idea for my projects has been going for a while. I wanted to first make a porcelain doll at college 3 years ago and just never had the time. I was goint to make a very gothic doll to go against the idea of beauty but looking back lots have people have already done that and now it a very common thing to see. I have decided that normal porcelain dolls were pretty, but didn't move and to me this was a downside.  I want to be able to move, bend, pose and play with my doll- generally procelain dolls just don't seem to do this. Its not what they were designed for and for me, this is a let down. So I've set out to make a movable porcelain doll and I have no idea how to do it, just a typical average project for me then. I started by jumping straight into designing and making some quick ideas. I call these my initial idea's, they usually don't work but they give me more of an idea of what I want to do and how it would work. During this process I make a few small maquet, paper mached' a barbie, took apart a wooden doll to see how they go together and did some initial research into porcelain dolls; how they are made, by whom and when. Its good to get to know the background of what you are doing...... or at least I think so.

This is a picture of my initial idea, with a few ruff workings out. It didn't take me very long to do, and it doesn't quite have all the movement I want but I can work on that.

The next step is to reflect on what I have already learnt. This is a very important step if not the most important thing to do - reflect, and strangly something I always forget to write about in my college work. So I look at everything I've done, what I have learnt like: that the wooden dolls are held together with springsusefull for putting my doll together and more research will be neaded here. They have something called a ball joint, which is how the doll moves usefull again. That trying to paper mashe a barbie is really difficult and gets you covered in glue... I look back at my idea and see how I can push it forward, like by making it move like a human, the joints will require me to do some more research into human anatomy. So the next step from here I usually find is research, I have some clear things to research right now that will take my work further and improve it.

New project new blog.

Okies, right. I have decided to start using this more and I'm going to use it to share my progress on a piece of work I am working on and all things relating to it, including influences and well... stuff. Blogging is completely new to me and I'm sure my dad will agree with me, but I don't use computers a lot, in fact, I could live quite happily without one. But I've decided this would be a perfect way of people viewing the development process, seeing as some people are interested. So I'm off to go and take photographs for my next blog... Oh and seriously please just ignore the bad spelling... Please.