Sculpt 5, Little Mo type doll, Flower child, polymer clay

Polymer clay hippy girl

 I bought this tutorial for making A Little Mo doll about two months ago, way before I started sculpting, and finally gave it a go.

The tutorial is excellent; well written and detailed, and the doll artist, Paulette Morrissey,  has an entire town full of adorable little dolls, called Fern Lake

Polymer clay hippy girl

 I had the idea in my head of a little girl watching her big sister get ready for a 70's party, then demanding to be dressed up too.  This resulted in Melanie, a little girl with attitude, even though she's doing the peace sign with her right hand.

If the photos were better you'd see she got into her sister's makup and put cover up all around her eyes, like a raccoon, then put not one but two sparkly flowers on her face.  She threw a tantrum until her sister made her a headband to match her dress, too.

Polymer clay girl

 Melanie has long wavy super soft strawberry blonde mohair, a dusting of freckles that don't show up in photos, and baby blue eyes.  Her entire body is polymer clay, as are her slippers and socks.  She can stand but is wobbly so is better off leaning against something.

Little Mo dolls normally have clay hair but I wanted to try mohair, and am pleased with the results.

Polymer clay little Mo type doll

I crocheted the dress with matching undies and headband for her. 

Polymer clay flower child

She's bigger than my other sculpts, but still a tiny thing.

I love my little flower child, especially her long soft hair, and the expression on her face.  I wish I could get good pictures of her; I tried at night, and again early in the morning.  Maybe afternoon light would be better?

Sculpting baby dolls, 4, First human: It's a girl!

OOAK baby girl

This is my first baby human, and I'm so pleased with her .

Tiny Ooak baby girl

She's another tiny girl, and I really struggled with her facial features as I had to use a 5 times magnifying glass just to see what I was doing.  I should have bought more clay when it was on sale for half off, as I'm running out, and thus have to sculpt small, lol.

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It took me more than 12 hours to sculpt her head.  I rushed on her arms and legs because I was so tired, and just wanted to get them done, but they still came out OK.  Not perfect by any means, but my camera still selects infant setting for her, lol.

Tomorrow I'll add more, but for now, I just wanted to get some photos of her new outfit, which I finished this evening.  Isn't it adorable?  She chose the colors herself ;-).

Good night!

Sculpting, doll 2, a fairy

Little Flower Fairy polymer clay, crochet, needle felt

 

I am having so much fun learning how to sculpt in polymer clay.  Meet my second creation, tentatively named Sparkles.

Polymer clay doll head 2

 For this doll, I sculpted a bit bigger than my first, and gave her exaggerated features because I'm learning how to do them.  Noses are very hard for me, lol.  I painted this doll with chalk and eyeshadow.  I love fairies and elves and think I will sculpt as many as possible, lol, hopefully improving with each one.

Polymer clay fairy

She was sculpted without molds, in Sculpey Living Baby clay.
 I did her head first, on an armature made of wire embedded in a tinfoil ball, then covered with tape.
Then I sculpted her hands and feet and placed them on an wire armature that i made myself. Then I sculpted her hands and feet again because I ruined them while putting them on the armature :-).

Armature for polymer clay doll

 I needle felted her a body, around the wire.  That was the easiest part of dollmaking, for me.  The wire armature gave me the most trouble.

Needle felted body for polymer clay doll

 She's very bendy and poseable, but with closed eyes her poses are limited.  I want to learn to do an open eyed doll next.

Needle felted armature for polymer clay doll

Poseable polymer clay doll without clothes

 She looks very comfy, doesn't she?  I am very happy with her, considering she's only my second try.

Crocheted outfit for polymer clay mini doll

 I glued on some mohair for her hair.  It's a bit of a mess. I've trimmed the bangs since these photos were taken and she looks nicer now.

I crocheted this cute outfit using embroidery floss instead of yarn, and gave her flower "wings". I didn't have enough of the light green, or I would have made most of the outfit in green, with only a bit of the orange.   I've ordered some crochet cotton in pretty colors and it should be in next week. I can't wait!

Polymer clay fairy asleep

I do like the vibrant oranges and yellows of the embroidery floss, even though they were my second choice for colors.  This little doll makes me smile.  My aunt loved her.

I am really excited about learning how to sculpt because it's allowing me to combine so many of the crafts I already do (needle felting and crochet, reborning (the painting).  I can even make some plastic canvas furniture for the dolls.

Thanks for taking a peek at my flower fairy.  Should I keep calling her Sparkles, or can you help me with a better name?

Take care!

Sculpting a mini baby out of polymer clay

I am so excited!  I am finally learning how to sculpt babies out of polymer clay!  Here's my first shot;the baby parts are in the oven here.  I did the torso as practice; I'm planning on using the head and limbs with a soft body, probably a crocheted one.

Sculpting a mini baby in polymer clay,  for the first time

I had a lot of fun working doing this little guy, but it was also very frustrating because the clay kept getting so  hot in my hands that it was melting, lol.  A new sculpting friend from facebook gave me some good pointers; to put the clay in the fridge for awhile, or roll it between white paper to leach out the extra oils.  I tried the fridge and it worked so I didn't bother leaching the clay but will do so next time.

mini baby in polymer clay, parts in oven

The other problem I ran into was sculpting in such a tiny size.  My eyesight isn't great, and I wear glasses.  I couldn't see what I was doing on this doll's features until I borrowed my Dad's reading glasses, and then I could only see if I held the clay an inch away from my face, lol.

Tiny polymer clay baby bum, lol

Here's a shot of the little torso, with it's cute little baby bottom, in my hand  The torso is the same size as two joints on my baby finger, so very tiny. The head is even smaller.

Putting polymer clay baby doll parts in oven

Smoothing the head

 Here's the head, next to my finger tip, for scale. It's sitting on a toothpick.  I had to sculpt this head twice because the first time, it fell off the toothpick and splatted on the floor after I had it the way I liked it, lol.  Live and learn :-).

Cute little elf or fairy head

From this angle you can see his features.  I really like his cute little face, and was really surprised that I could get it the way I wanted my first time.  I was thinking I'd like the nose a bit smaller but it grew on me, so I'll probably leave it as is. It's really hard to get nice shots of such a tiny head. 

I ran out today to get an oven thermometer because my toaster oven wasn't getting hot enough when I set it at 275.  After I came home with the thermometer, I found out why; my oven, set at 275, only really heats up to 100 F!  I had to set it at just under 400 to get 275.  The baby is rebaking now.  I put some foil over him so the smaller parts won't burn.  I hope it works; I'd hate to ruin them. The little arms and lets are sooo tiny.

I also bought a hands free magnifying glass while I was out. I can't wait to try it!  Polymer clay was on for half price so I bought more clay as well.  My friend Albert wants me to try to make Smaug the dragon from Lord of the rings. That should be fun!

I can't wait to try to paint this baby.  I sure wish I had my genesis heat set paints and all of my good artist brushes, but they're in storage, along with my good convection oven and oven thermometer.  This is so addictive, and since I can't reborn here, I'm glad I'll still be able to get my baby fix!

Have a great day!