Katiedoodlelou

I have unfortunately not made any progress on Axel, his face plate took a little longer then anticipated and by the time he was dry enough for paint, I’d already begun the next ridiculously hefty project.

Last year i made my friends their own curiosity bear, it went down quite well and after asking them if they had any particular preferences for this years gifts, two lovely ladies asked if id be able to make a coralline doll of them.

Now, i have done quite a few coralline dolls in the past, but its been a while and they are far from perfect, as always, they were rather slap dash.

Since two of my buddies requested a doll, I’ve decided to make all of my friends into freaky little dolls. I have begun the designing process because i’ll be damned if i fall into the usual trap of diving straight in and immediately forgetting what everyone looks like, having a hissy fit and scrapping the whole project.

This year i will learn from the mistakes of my past. I have a plan, I’ve done the base head designs for each doll and have drawn up a pattern for the bodies so that this time, they WILL be symmetrical. This unfortunately does mean that all the dolls will be the same size as the idea of trying to scale my friends gives me a headache. So, one size as standard.

I’ve also had to make the decision to take it easy with the clothes and accessories, sewing teeny outfits has never been my strong suit, so i must keep it as Simple’s as i can, especially since I’m making eight all in one go. I’ll keep the tiny details limited only to elements that make each of them “them”, glasses, piercings, a particular go-to outfit, for example.

Now, i have two lots of clay to try out, so i’ll have to do a test to see which works better for this project. I have some standard air dry clay from scola, and i also bought a big tub of foam clay, its by a different brand than the last batch i used and I’m not sure how well it will work for this project, but i do prefer the lightweight feel and the overall finish, so its worth a try.

My main questions for the foam clay are:

Will it work on a form? If i use a foil base will the clay crack as it shrinks and dries?

If i don’t use a base or form, how will it dry? Will it flatten out in the early stages of drying?

Foam clay is sticky which is great for the added elements for the face, but for parts like the mouth and nose, how will i be able to smooth out the added pieces for a seamless finish?

I have quite a bit of experience with standard air dry clay, but this particular bag i got looks different, it doesn’t seem to have the same texture as paper clay, its more like the air dry ceramic I’ve used once before, which worries me because that particular clay breaks and crumbles quite easily.

So, before i dive in and start the eight faces, ill do two separate doll heads of myself, make them as similar as possible and see which clay comes out on top.

That’s the main task of the week, other than that i may start painting the Axel face, or start sewing some body pieces in preparation for the dolls, but we shall see how it goes.