A New Doll Experiment

Doll form covered in two layers of papier mache'.

Thursday came and went without a blog post.  Sometimes there is just too much to do.  I spent the day getting out cold weather clothing.  It has been so warm that the cooler weather snuck up on me.  Suddenly it was Autumn and definitely time for long pants and warm shirts.  This morning it was thirty-nine degrees outside.  I expect we will have a few more warm days, but we are moving rapidly towards cold weather.

I have been in something of an artistic slump the latter part of this year ever since I finished the folk art lamb.  Nothing has been really grabbing my attention.  I have been making things, but there has not been a lot of passion and inspiration in the projects.  Things changed since I won ribbons at the State Fair of Virginia.  It gave me some energy and enthusiasm that had been lacking for a while.  Where before there were no ideas on the horizon, now ideas have been tumbling out again faster that I can manage to do them.  I had to decide what I wanted to do first, and that meant putting some projects on the back burner.  In this case, I have decided to put off the carving projects for some other more interesting projects.

A friend had passed on some Art Doll magazines.  One of the techniques in it was interesting and I wondered if I could modify the idea for a doll I had in mind.  Long time readers know that I love to experiment with a technique and use it in a different way.  So the initial idea as I read it was that the writer had used an existing commercial doll as a mold for making a papier mache' doll, which she then dressed and accessorized for her purposes.  The sounded promising, but needed some modifications if the idea was to work for the type of doll I wanted to make.  For one thing, I wanted to be able to pose the arms and legs as I wanted them.  This did not work well with the arms fixed in one position.  So the question became, "Could I find a way to change the position of the doll's arms.  I also wanted a doll that could stand on its own rather than use a doll stand.  And could I find a way to make and use more lifelike painted eyes?  I was not totally satisfied with the eyes I made for the Victorian Belsnickel I made earlier this year.  With all those questions in play I was off and running towards a new project.

My first objective was to find a doll for the mold.  Ideally, I did not want to spend a lot of money on a doll that may or may not be damaged in the process.  I headed to my local thrift store.  Once in a while they have an old, beat up dirty doll in there.  I hit the jackpot.  Not only did they have an old damaged doll, I was able to purchase it for half price because merchandise with a certain color tag was on sale.  So I was able to pick up the doll for only $3.50.  I considered this to be an auspicious beginning.

In the Art Doll article, the writer had used a plastic baby doll whose limbs could be removed as her mold.  This doll had a cloth body with porcelain head, arms, and legs.  The plastic doll with removable limbs may have been easier to work with than a cloth body doll that had to be cast as one piece.  Undaunted by this complication, I set out to cover the doll with papier mache' and see what happens.  Will I be able to change the limbs as I want them to be?  Unknown.  This is an experiment to see what happens.  Acting on "What if?" can yield some interesting results. 

So, in the hopes of perhaps salvaging the doll if things go wrong, I covered the doll in masking tape and then plastic wrap.  Then I started covering the doll with papier mache' strips.  At this point, the doll has two layers of papier mache' strips on it.  I plan to do two more layers before removing the mold from the doll.  I am hoping that the molded pieces will be rigid enough to hold their shape.  Then I will begin to see if I can change the pose into what I want it to be.   The article in Art Doll showed dolls that had been made with the plastic doll.  They were very cute.  I am hoping that my doll experiment will be rigid enough to be used as a form for a doll.  In the past I have had hollow objects curl and not want to join up exactly with its opposite side.  But the only way to see if it will work is to try it.  So here I go. 

Since I am working on projects that are fairly long term, I may be blogging about two or three projects that I am working on at the same time.  Watching papier mache' dry has all the charm of watching paint dry.   Each side of the doll needs to dry for at least a day before I can flip it over and apply papier mache' to the other side.  I expect to have enough layers on to remove the doll from the mold in five to six days.  I love working with papier mache' but it takes a long time to reap the rewards of your efforts. 

I will have photos of a project I have been working on in the background for my next blog post.  That will help relieve the monotony of layers of papier mache'.  Check back after that for an update on the doll project.  When I post about it next I will reveal what type of doll this will be if my experiments on posing the doll work out.

Earlier I had blogged that I wanted to start a carving project by carving a stamp in linoleum.  I had purchased the linoleum block some time ago with the intent of creating some designs that would be stamped onto a cloth block and become part of a quilt.  But it has been quite a while, and at the moment the idea has come and gone.  I still want to carve the linoleum block, but at the moment it has been put on the back burner until I go through my notes and find out what my intentions were for the project.  Then the idea will go back into the cue because I am working on one quilt, have another quilt cut and ready to sew, and a third quilt that I have committed to make for a challenge.  So that idea may be in line for a while.

I still want to practice some carving for my walking sticks, but I have to figure out what I want to do.  The saplings that are dried are fairly thin, and I am not sure exactly what I want to carve into them.  I wanted to become acquainted with carving techniques before I started in on a full size stick, so I am sort of at an impasse on that as well.  I don't want to ruin a good walking stick with an unsuccessful carving. So I will be getting back to that, but just not right away.  In the mean time, I will be attempting to carve on some small pieces of stick while waiting for the papier mache' to dry on my doll.

Check back Thursday for photos of one of my projects I have been working on in the background.