She's A Doll of Clay

Today I wanted to create a play by play of how to make a fairy using a commercially produced press mold I bought at my local craft store.  This is a mold from a popular craft store. Super Sculpy Living Doll Polymer Clay I use a pasta machine to soften and condition the clay. I do not use the pasta machine for anything else. I rolled the clay into sausage shapes. I cut jewelry wire for the legs, arms and torso. I cut the wire longer than the actual size I needed. I believe it is 20 gage wire, but it may be 18 gage. I made sure that my mold was very clean. I also dusted each space of the mold with corn starch using a paint brush. I dumped the extra corn starch into the trash. I blew any extra corn starch out of the mold. This helps the polymer clay release easily from the mold. Make egg shapes to fill the head. The smaller egg will be used to fill the face. The larger egg will fill the head. Place the pointy part of the smaller egg into the face. Press until the enti...

I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about my little Mermaid doll. She is an OOAK (one of a kind), but I did use a mold I bought from a craft store to get her proportions. She is not a doll that I will ever sell, so I used the mold to help me sculpt her. At the time I created her, I was just learning to sculpt art dolls. The original doll mold actually has legs, but, as you can see, I made those legs into a mermaid tail. I also used a straw to carve “fish scales” into the tail. I painted her with acrylic craft paints. Her face and head were completely hand sculpted by me. I did not use the head provided in the mold. Of course, her face is a little flat, but I still love her. Why am I sharing this? Because if you are just beginning to make your own art dolls, do not feel that you cannot use a mold. Many times I see the words, “OOAK Art Doll. No molds were used in the making of this doll and no molds were taken.” Or some similar statement. Do I believe that you should not use mold...

Hello doll makers. My name is Suzanne. I love making things, especially dolls of clay.  My passion for doll making has grown over the last 5 years.  I discovered sculpting one of a kind dolls, known as OOAK, in polymer clay while searching for answers to a problem I was having: broken legs on figurines I had sculpted for my son’s school projects. For years I had made cute animals and even a male “Spartan” for my son for his school projects or just because he wanted a cute toy out of play dough.  I found that I really enjoyed creating these creatures for him.  But each time I made a large figurine, my son would come home from school disappointed. “The legs broke.” he would say.  So after the last disappointment, I decided to find out what I was doing wrong.         Flumo BJDs- Sophie and Annabelle  Although I spent the majority of my time in high school in the art room, we mainly drew pictures or painted.  Figurine sculptures were...