For the last 8 or 9 years, I’ve been obsessed with creating art dolls. It started one day when my son, who was in 8th grade at the time, came home with his science project. It was a “zebra” with camouflaged stripes painted in orange and white. I had sculpted it for him, but he had painted it. This was the last of a long line of animals and one “Spartan” warrior that I’d helped him create for school. All of them out of air dry clay made for kids.
Although I had spent most of my own time in school taking Art, I had never learned to actually sculpt. When my son was little, I’d make him cute little animals in play dough, and we’d let them dry. He loved them, so I guess he thought I was able to make anything he needed.
It does seem that I had made something as a child out of paper machete using a balloon as a form, but I don’t remember if it worked or what it was. Once we did wrap string dipped in sugar water around a balloon. When it dried, we popped the balloon and cut out a hole, placed it with the with the air vent up; and viola, we had an Easter egg.
So the reason I bring this up isn’t the really cute 4th grade pink egg, but the balloon it was made on.
What I was missing in those creations for my son was the bones inside that would hold them together, even if a leg cracked.
That day, after my son handed me his project and dejectedly said, “The leg broke, again,” I knew I was missing something. So I did what any mom of the late 20th century would do. I “Googled” it.
That’s the moment my eyes opened to art dolls. Fairies sculpted in polymer clay, babies that looked so real made of silicone and “reborn,” whatever that meant.
I became obsessed with pictures of them. I created a Pinterest board just to collect oodles of images showing delicate dolls that were so beautiful, I had to try sculpting a doll myself.
So I did. I took courses from April Jensen and more recently, Noemi Smith, both of whom helped me immensely. I wanted desperately to find anything by the late Hannie Sarris, but her book was out of print and in the hands of collectors. I followed blogs like Woodland Earth Studio that is no longer online, except for pictures on Pinterest, showing how to sculpt a BJD. This was before the days of Adele Po and her great tutorials, which I highly recommend.
These days, an art doll sculptor has so many more options to learn how to sculpt online, but seeing pictures and watching videos doesn't always prepare you for the actual work. I find that holding real dolls is probably the most helpful.
This Christmas, my loving husband bought me a doll that I fell in love with at the International Doll and Teddy Show a couple of years ago in Asheville, NC. This doll was sculpted, cast in porcelain, painted in china paints, fired and costumed by my good friend, Kelly Sparks Salchli. She is the owner of "Higher Delights Dolls" on Etsy. She herself was inspired by the gorgeous, and very expensive, dolls by Marina Bychova, who has been an inspiration to so many doll artists. But being inspired does not mean copying her style, and Kelly's dolls are her own design.
My doll, with its beautiful handmade dark brown mohair wig, and her delicate features, was actually a last minute doll. Kelly had a few parts that she hadn't used and fired the rest right before we headed to the show. She had wonderful pictures that she had printed on post cards of her dolls, and when I saw this doll's face enlarged on the card, I fell, hard. Luckily for me, Kelly saved that doll, and now she rests on my book shelf. I can hold her in my hands and see the detail Kelly's hands created.This doll even has delicate carvings around her neck and a beautiful unicorn carved on her back. I am so lucky to have Kelly as a friend. I will write about that friendship and Kelly in a future post.
But for now, I just wanted to explain how important it is to actually have a doll to compare your own work to when you are sculpting. Whether that doll is a tiny fairy on a stand that will never change,or a BJD that can move and is created using straws as an armature, you need a true reference guide. I have even invested in toy dolls. The newest dolls are articulated, but the joint systems are not the same as art doll BJDs. These dolls do give the artist an idea of arm, leg and body proportions. Their heads tend to be larger than a real person's proportions, and the eyes are usually quite large, which is very attractive to young children and adults because they look youthful.
Making a doll is hard work. I have sculpted many and re-sculpted them over and over. I have taught myself to make molds, both in silicone and plaster. I have found that it may just be easier creating one of a kind dolls (OOAK) out of air dry clay like La Doll clay than it is to truly make replicas of a doll using a mold. So this post is just about why and how I have become a doll artist. In future posts, I will show more of my mold making trials, and hopefully I will be able to show you how I make a resin doll using a pressure pot. But first, I must buy the pot and convert it for my use. I must admit, I have tried and tried to not have to do that, but the bubbles in the resin are unforgiving.
I have bought my second gallon of an air dry slip called Flumo. It's European, and not readily available in the US. There are a few tutorials online, and as of today, it appears there are a few more to choose from. My main problem isn't the Flumo or the plaster, it's creating the mold so that my pieces do not get stuck in the mold. But I'll share a secret with you, I have found that I can add Apoxie Sculpt to my broken pieces and re-sculpt them. The biggest problem with that is the time I was hoping to save by casting my doll. My goal is to be able to make several copies, but the extra time I spend re-sculpting has made me feel defeated. But no matter, I love making dolls. I have finally come to the conclusion that mine may never look like they came out of a BJD factory in Asia, but they are mine. I have also realized that I can create my doll any way that I want to create it. If I want to make molds and use more than one media like Flumo and Apoxie Sculpt together, I can. There are no rules here. My dolls aren't meant to be like anyone else's dolls, but I do strive to sculpt them as close to a real human form as I can. But they can be multi-media and still be an art doll. They probably will never be just like another, no matter how many dolls I try to cast. Even in resin. One day, I hope to go take live classes on mold making. I hope to stop over working myself by recreating things I've already sculpted. I do not always take the time to be meticulous, but I have learned to slow down. A doll may take me months or a year to create, but that's okay. It's a journey, and one I plan to continue.
I will post pictures of my progress. Mold making is hard, and getting a perfect cast is even harder for me, but I will persevere.
.
Although I had spent most of my own time in school taking Art, I had never learned to actually sculpt. When my son was little, I’d make him cute little animals in play dough, and we’d let them dry. He loved them, so I guess he thought I was able to make anything he needed.
It does seem that I had made something as a child out of paper machete using a balloon as a form, but I don’t remember if it worked or what it was. Once we did wrap string dipped in sugar water around a balloon. When it dried, we popped the balloon and cut out a hole, placed it with the with the air vent up; and viola, we had an Easter egg.
So the reason I bring this up isn’t the really cute 4th grade pink egg, but the balloon it was made on.
What I was missing in those creations for my son was the bones inside that would hold them together, even if a leg cracked.
That day, after my son handed me his project and dejectedly said, “The leg broke, again,” I knew I was missing something. So I did what any mom of the late 20th century would do. I “Googled” it.
That’s the moment my eyes opened to art dolls. Fairies sculpted in polymer clay, babies that looked so real made of silicone and “reborn,” whatever that meant.
I became obsessed with pictures of them. I created a Pinterest board just to collect oodles of images showing delicate dolls that were so beautiful, I had to try sculpting a doll myself.
So I did. I took courses from April Jensen and more recently, Noemi Smith, both of whom helped me immensely. I wanted desperately to find anything by the late Hannie Sarris, but her book was out of print and in the hands of collectors. I followed blogs like Woodland Earth Studio that is no longer online, except for pictures on Pinterest, showing how to sculpt a BJD. This was before the days of Adele Po and her great tutorials, which I highly recommend.
An early doll I sculpted using a tiny mold from an art supply store as a guide. The I only used the mold for proportions, and the rest was sculpted by me.
These days, an art doll sculptor has so many more options to learn how to sculpt online, but seeing pictures and watching videos doesn't always prepare you for the actual work. I find that holding real dolls is probably the most helpful.
This Christmas, my loving husband bought me a doll that I fell in love with at the International Doll and Teddy Show a couple of years ago in Asheville, NC. This doll was sculpted, cast in porcelain, painted in china paints, fired and costumed by my good friend, Kelly Sparks Salchli. She is the owner of "Higher Delights Dolls" on Etsy. She herself was inspired by the gorgeous, and very expensive, dolls by Marina Bychova, who has been an inspiration to so many doll artists. But being inspired does not mean copying her style, and Kelly's dolls are her own design.
My doll, with its beautiful handmade dark brown mohair wig, and her delicate features, was actually a last minute doll. Kelly had a few parts that she hadn't used and fired the rest right before we headed to the show. She had wonderful pictures that she had printed on post cards of her dolls, and when I saw this doll's face enlarged on the card, I fell, hard. Luckily for me, Kelly saved that doll, and now she rests on my book shelf. I can hold her in my hands and see the detail Kelly's hands created.This doll even has delicate carvings around her neck and a beautiful unicorn carved on her back. I am so lucky to have Kelly as a friend. I will write about that friendship and Kelly in a future post.
Porcealin doll by Kelly Sparks Salchli
Higher Delights Dolls
Kelly Sparks Salchli- Higher Delights Dolls
But for now, I just wanted to explain how important it is to actually have a doll to compare your own work to when you are sculpting. Whether that doll is a tiny fairy on a stand that will never change,or a BJD that can move and is created using straws as an armature, you need a true reference guide. I have even invested in toy dolls. The newest dolls are articulated, but the joint systems are not the same as art doll BJDs. These dolls do give the artist an idea of arm, leg and body proportions. Their heads tend to be larger than a real person's proportions, and the eyes are usually quite large, which is very attractive to young children and adults because they look youthful.
Making a doll is hard work. I have sculpted many and re-sculpted them over and over. I have taught myself to make molds, both in silicone and plaster. I have found that it may just be easier creating one of a kind dolls (OOAK) out of air dry clay like La Doll clay than it is to truly make replicas of a doll using a mold. So this post is just about why and how I have become a doll artist. In future posts, I will show more of my mold making trials, and hopefully I will be able to show you how I make a resin doll using a pressure pot. But first, I must buy the pot and convert it for my use. I must admit, I have tried and tried to not have to do that, but the bubbles in the resin are unforgiving.
Meredith, my little witch. She is a resin cast from and original doll sculpted in polymer clay. She is sporting her newest mohair wig and a hand knitted dress of my own design. She has a cauldron, witchy shoes, and her own broom made of a twig I found. Below her is my original mermaid sculpted in La Doll.
Meredith close up. Her eyes are handmade by me out of polymer clay with clear resin for shine.
Shawn, my little fairy has the same body as Meredith. She is cast in resin. Handmade clothes and fairy wings. Her eyes are painted.
Maggie my little mermaid is the resin cast I made from my original sculpt that I have in shown in a picture above. She is hand painted with removable eyes that are also handmade by me.
I have bought my second gallon of an air dry slip called Flumo. It's European, and not readily available in the US. There are a few tutorials online, and as of today, it appears there are a few more to choose from. My main problem isn't the Flumo or the plaster, it's creating the mold so that my pieces do not get stuck in the mold. But I'll share a secret with you, I have found that I can add Apoxie Sculpt to my broken pieces and re-sculpt them. The biggest problem with that is the time I was hoping to save by casting my doll. My goal is to be able to make several copies, but the extra time I spend re-sculpting has made me feel defeated. But no matter, I love making dolls. I have finally come to the conclusion that mine may never look like they came out of a BJD factory in Asia, but they are mine. I have also realized that I can create my doll any way that I want to create it. If I want to make molds and use more than one media like Flumo and Apoxie Sculpt together, I can. There are no rules here. My dolls aren't meant to be like anyone else's dolls, but I do strive to sculpt them as close to a real human form as I can. But they can be multi-media and still be an art doll. They probably will never be just like another, no matter how many dolls I try to cast. Even in resin. One day, I hope to go take live classes on mold making. I hope to stop over working myself by recreating things I've already sculpted. I do not always take the time to be meticulous, but I have learned to slow down. A doll may take me months or a year to create, but that's okay. It's a journey, and one I plan to continue.
Flumo air dry slip
What happens when you drip Flumo on your hardwood floors....hard to get off
Oh no, what happened to her neck? Stuck in a plaster mold, that's what....
Some of my most recent attempts at making plaster molds.
I will post pictures of my progress. Mold making is hard, and getting a perfect cast is even harder for me, but I will persevere.
 |
| I added Apoxie Sculpt to my Flumo casted legs and knees. Next I will sand them, and string her together. If you like this post, please take the time to follow my blog. I have plans to show more of my work in progress, and to interview Kelly Sachli, a wonderful artist who you should get to know too! |
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