Putting It All Together...........and other things

 I finally got this big girl put together - this is the biggest doll I've made in a long time, but of course, she had to be sized to fit those beautiful antique boots. She's around 23.5 inches tall (60 cms) The permanent wig will probably add a little to her final height.

I've dressed her temporarily in a vintage baby dress I had and plunked the wigging material on her head for this photoshoot while I think about her clothing. 

The next job will be hand-knotting the wig and styling it appropriately. I'm using this blonde lincoln wool, because it is the only thing I can find that's long enough to make a wig for this big girl. It's not as lustrous as mohair, but it should make a lovely wig. As you can see, the antique baby boots fit her perfectly! I also need to add more painted detail to her hands and feet. Very happy with progress.

I've had a couple of other projects on the go that I've recently completed. Firstly, in late 2022, I bought a vintage "Sasha" doll that I spotted on a stall at a fair. She dates from about 1974, which is about when I noticed these lovely dolls and really wanted one. At the time, with a young family, money was pretty tight and I couldn't really justify the expense of one of these dolls. 

They were quite pricey. Only had to wait fifty years to get one!

I got this one naked and with a bit of an amateur haircut (which was salvageable) for a reasonable price. She's sat around naked for quite a while, but a few weeks ago, I got the urge to give her some clothes. Which I did - tried to make them appropriate to her era - smocked gingham dress, knitted cardi and hat in kid mohair, knitted socks and red leather buckled shoes. I've named her "Lucienne".

Then I thought Lucienne needed a playmate, so I designed a doll based loosely on the proportions of the original "Sasha" dolls. I didn't want to make a replica, but I made a more simply sculpted head than I usually do, with a neck joint. This doll is also jointed at the shoulders and hips. The wig is hand-knotted suri alpaca hair. I dressed her in a similar way to my Sasha doll, with a smocked dress, angora knitted hat and cardigan and knitted socks with leather sandals. She was fun to make!

A New Project For A New Year

 In the last few days of 2022, I'd like to share a new project with you - one that should keep me occupied for the summer. 

Some months ago, I was approached by a previous customer with an interesting proposal - she'd been given a beautiful pair of antique baby shoes by her son, who thought they might fit one of her antique dolls. She found, however, that all prospective wearers of the shoes had rather chubby legs and they wouldn't fit..........her proposal: Could I make a doll to fit the shoes? Could I what! I jumped at the chance and with summer here and much less on my plate, I have dived in.

The shoes are beautifully hand-crafted from fine, soft leather with buttons the side. Hand-worked buttonholes to correspond with the button positions are on an exquisitely crafted overlying scalloped flap. They are in excellent condition, with little wear. They would date from the mid to late nineteenth century, I believe.

I have drafted a body pattern and started work making the head for the doll, which will have a finished size of approximately 60 cms (24"). This is quite a bit larger than the dolls I usually make, although I have made them this size in the past. The doll will represent a young child of the mid-late Victorian era, to match the age of the shoes, and yes - I will be able to make the legs and feet to fit the shoes!

The foil armature, which gives a base to work the clay over. It is later removed.

I used a Japanese clay from Padico, called Wood Formo. It is very strong, easy to sculpt with and can be carved, sanded and added to after it is dry.

The basic sculpt, sanded and almost ready for a cloth layer to be added.

The beginning of the clothover process. I'm using a fine cotton knit fabric and gluing it very securely to the underlying form.

Here, the head is cloth-covered and has been sized with a mixture of acrylic modelling paste and matte gel medium. This dries to a hard, but somewhat flexible finish and provides a great base for painting. I haven't yet decided whether to use artist's acrylics or oils to do the painting, but I'm veering towards oils. Whichever medium I choose, I will underpaint the head first.

Galah Baby?

 I've just completed this "galah baby" in recent days - another foray into oil painting heads. Why galah baby? Well, that's not her real name - she doesn't have one yet, but I've always loved galahs for their wonderful colouration and, well, their galahness. So the colour choices I made in the dressing of this new child.........soft greys and muted pinky mauves just reminded me of galahs, hence the "working title".

She's wearing a smocked grey cotton dress and knits from angora yarn that was gifted to me a while back. The doll has a jointed cloth body with a one-of-a-kind head sculpted from air-dry clay. To this I added a cloth covering, treated it with a special sizing mixture and then painted it with oil paints. There is a certain luminosity which comes from oil paint that you simply can't replicate with acrylics. I also like the fact that you can push the paint around for a long time before it dries. This doll also has painted hair.

I stained the muslin body with thinned-down acrylic paint mixed to match the head colour and there is a bit of blushing on the knees, hands and feet. The neck has a flange joint and it is attached to the body in such a way that it has side-to-side movement.

Here are a few details:

Smocked dress front

Crocheted slipper

Wired hand is posable.

Crochet edging on the petticoat

Fuzzy hat detail

And just for fun......here is a galah!

Naming A Doll

Naming a finished doll can be difficult - I seem to run out of names I like, so sometimes I leave the naming to the new owner, as in the case of this recently-completed doll, Claire-Louise. I really like the name and it might have been one I chose myself! This is the first doll for 2019........she is a one-of-a-kind cloth doll. She has a linen fabric body with painted lower limbs and jointed hips. The upper arms are loosely filled and jointed to the body in such a way as to allow a great deal of natural arm positioning. Her legs are firmly stuffed, so she is able to stand easily. The head is also jointed to the shoulder-plate so there is neck mobility. Her wig is wispy-fine blonde Suri alpaca hair, hand-knotted and her clothes are linen, cotton with merino wool yarn for the knits. She has little custom-made leather sandals. I hand-smocked the front of her linen dress.

Meet Claire-Louise:

 

A New Doll

 

This as-yet nameless doll is nearing completion...........just a few more details to be added over the weekend. She's quite small - around 14" with jointed hips and knees (so she can sit without her legs stick straight out!) I'm planning to make a chair for her. She has loosely attached arms, so they can be placed in any pose and her fingers are wired. There is a lot of blue/green in the painting of her face and this colour has been repeated in the clothing, which is made from a really fine cotton knit fabric which I over-dyed by spraying stains onto the surface through some old lace in a fairly random way. Her hair is made from hand-knotted Suri alpaca - a beautiful lustrous, long fibre......my new favourite!

Simple Pleasure

While I enjoy the challenge of stretching my doll-making abilities into areas of innovation and experimentation, I sometimes also love the pleasure of making something quite simple. The recent work I made for an exhibition stretched me a bit technically so these little dolls were a bit of an antidote......and what fun I had making them!

 

Very simple constructed in basically two pieces (front and back), they are softly stuffed and I used a bit of basic needle-sculpting to define the neck and the arms. The mask faces are glued onto the front of the head and a few extra details added. This one is Kiki:

 

......and this one is Coco:

 

 

 

Upcoming Exhibition

I'm participating in a group exhibition in Adelaide, South Australia later this month entitled "THE DOLL REDEFINED" I think there are around thirty participating artists, so the work should be interesting and varied. It's at Gallery 1855 in Tea Tree Gully, opening on the 15th April at 2.00 pm.
As a native of Adelaide, I'm excited to be showing my work there and looking forward to the opening. Here are a some of the works I'm showing..........