Thursday, September 11, 2008

Meet Autumn

My hubby said she looks like Twiki from Buck Rogers, but he is only kidding. He then said to name her something sweet, because she is so sweet. I'm going to call her Autumn. She has been fashioned to look like this vintage doll that has been in my family for many years. As I suspected, she did turn out to be a little crazy looking, but hey, maybe that's just me.

Although she is a proper and modest little thing, she shyly posed in her undergarments for the sake of art...


(Sorry Autumn, but your feet look like SpongeBob)

Here is a shot of the pattern I made to design her little Fall dress. I'm so fancy, I cut the pattern out of a paper towel. Hey, it was handy...




She doesn't quite match her design drawing, which I may post later, but here she is in her little dress. I chose these colors for her, mostly because I love them and yet with my coloring, cannot wear them. You put a butternut color or something golden next to my face and I look ghastly. I think she looks cute, though.


She is sculpted out of "Delight", an ultra light air dry compound. I hesitate to call it clay, and it is so lightweight, it is a bit tedious to work with. I have read about sculpting with PaperClay, but alas, mine is very old and has dried into a hard block. I had this compound, that I have used previously for jewelry and thought I would give it a try. I have yet to figure out what to do about the face on a doll. I don't really want to use someone else's design, but I cannot paint or draw on a face after I have formed it, and her little nose disappeared somewhere in the sculpting process. Any pointers in these particular areas would be appreciated.

Knowing that you are only as good as your tools, I suppose that I need to invest in something else with which to sculpt heads, hands and limbs. Someone mentioned that doll making can be addictive and I agree. I love to have something that I can work on upstairs while watching the tellie and this certainly fits the bill. I love to hand sew, so I made her and her garments with needle and thread. More of a homespun look.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you like her and seriously... any tricks, ideas or books that you want to share regarding doll making, will be appreciated. Take care and we'll talk soon.

5 comments:

LuLu Mypinkturtle said...

Bonjour Susan! Your doll looks grrreat! And old fashioned too, very gracious... Spongebob feet, hey? What a strange mixture of characters ;-) I love her! You are right, I live in the best part of the world, that is what we say in the family! Take care, LuLu

Anonymous said...

I think Autumn turned out wonderfully! Her dress is fabulous. :) I know what you mean about having something you can do while enjoying something on TV. I love it when I can just kick back in my comfy chair and work on something instead of at my studio table. Hand-sewing is one of those few things!

Amy Gethins Sullivan said...

She is precious~
The last doll I made was way back in the 70's. I got a Holly Hobbie pattern & made my very own doll.Man, I wish I still had her.
But~ this sculpting is new to me. So~ I will be watching you.
She is lovely.
~Amy~

Anonymous said...

I love dolls Susan. She is great and I love the dress!

angela recada said...

Thanks for the link to this post. I think you exaggerated, though! She's not scary.
:0)
She's quite charming, and I really like her cankles! (Cankles=calves+ankles, a new term for thick ankles.)

I hope you're having a great weekend!