I have been making art dolls for ten years.  My favorite type of clay to use is air dry clay and my favorite type of tools to use are wax carving tools. Each doll is made of Air-Dry clay.  I use Premiere, La’ Doll, Paper Clay, or DAS air dry clay.  Some dolls are fully articulated; some are ball jointed dolls and others are stationary dolls.  I provided my process below:

 

Armature

Each doll starts with a wire armature which is called the doll’s Skelton.  I use artistic wire os various gages depending on the size of the piece.  I shape the wire in the form of a small human.

Base

Each armature is attached to a base for easy access.

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Armature Muscle

Muscles is different materials to build muscle, including aluminum foil, newspaper, or cardboard. After the muscles are built, I wrap the piece in masking tape

Clay Application

While fully secured to the base, the clay is applied.

Refining and sanding. I sand each piece to perfection, making them smooth and more realistic.

Sealing

Each piece is sealed using a clay sealant, sometimes a spray or sometimes resin

 

Painting

I select a skin tone and pain the piece using highlighting and shadowing techniques. I prefer to use water color paints

 

Clothing

Each piece has its own set of clothing that I make from scratch using a pattern that I develop for that specific doll.  I use a sewing machine for larger dolls, and I hand-sew for the smaller ones

 

Wigging

I make a custom wig cap for each for each doll.  The tools for hair depend on the type of doll and the size of the doll.   Sometimes combed yarn will provide perfect hair but other times, human hair, Kinkalon hair, or mohair works best.

 

If you are interested in purchasing a doll, please complete this form and I will contact you directly.