Large Doll - Part 7 - The Base

Despite having lost numerous hours this week to physical therapy and home exercises for my sore shoulder, I was able to make some progress on the base of my doll.  I am glad that I am finally moving forward.   I finally had a day where the weather and my schedule worked together and I was able to get something done.   I think that things will move forward very quickly now. 

The doll I am working on is going to be almost life-size.  It will end up being only a few inches shorter than I am.  This is my first foray into large dolls.  This is going to be a big experiment in a number of areas.  It will be my first PVC armature.  I spent hours on the internet researching how other people have made armatures.  

The first part of the armature is the base.  I want to have a stable platform for the doll.  I plan to use PVC pipe to make the base, but I did not want any PVC to be showing on the finished doll.  I decided that I would build a wooden box to cover the base of the armature.  The rectangular PVC base will be bolted to a piece of wood.  Sides will be added, and once the rest of the armature is in place I will create a top for the box.  I have not made a final decision on the top.  I expect that it will be in two or three pieces.  The top will not be secured until after the doll body is well underway.  If the doll should turn out to be top heavy, I will be able to add some ballast to the box to weight the doll.

The first photo shows the rectangular PVC base sitting on a 12 x 24 inch (30.48 x 60.96 cm) plank that  is going to be the base of the box.  You can see the that three Tee pieces have been fitted into the pipe.  One Tee is facing into the center of the box.  That one was used only because I did not have a straight connector.  I had already cut some of my pieces of pipe, then realized that what I was doing was not going to translate into my vision for the piece.  I decided to connect two pieces that were already cut rather than cut another piece of pipe.  I am trying to make as much of this as I can from leftovers from my husband's stash of hardware.  I suppose that if the base needs a little more stability that I could add some more pieces of pipe there to help in that situation. 

The other two Tees will be where the legs and feet will connect to the base.  The rear Tee is straight up, because the weight will be on the back leg.  The forward Tee is slightly angled.  I want the doll to be holding a pose as if she is just pointing her toe while taking a step. 

Initially, I was thinking that the forward foot would only be resting on the base.  I decided that was not in the best interest of the doll.  I had a doll in a competition that came back damaged because someone had pulled the doll armature out of the base.  The doll should have been moved by picking up the base.  Instead, someone picked the doll up by the head to move it.  The weight of the base caused it to pull away.  (From now on I will also use a different type of glue when gluing a wooden armature to a wooden base.)  I hope that by having two supports glued in that the doll might survive being handled by other people.  I do plan to enter this doll in a competition.

To insure that the base will not be moving around in the box, I will be clamping it down with some single hole clamps.   (More hardware raided from my husband.)  I have not yet screwed the clamps down.  I think a clamp on each side will be sufficient, but I won't know for sure until I have all the clamps tightened down.  I can add more if needed. 

 I should make mention of how I determined what angle to use when setting the Tee for the front leg.  These pipes are glued into place.  Once the glue is set, it would be a lot of work to change it, so the angle is not just a guess.  I began by posing myself the way I planned to have the doll standing.  I used an angle finding tool to determine the angle of my foot in relation to flat ground.  When I dry fit the pipe together, I placed the Tee in at the angle I had measured.  To make sure that the Tee would be at the same angle once I took the pipes apart and glued them, I made some marks on the Tee and the pipes on either side so I could line things up properly.

In theory, the pipe should be in the correct position once it is glued in place.  If not my options are to cut out  that piece of pipe and glue in a new one at a better angle, or  decide that I can work with it in some way even if it changes the initial concept of the piece.  In crafting, we call this a "happy accident."  So only time will tell whether this actually works as I want it to work.

So, next blog post I will be blogging about creating the rest of the armature.  Maybe, if I have a quiet week, I will also have time to add some of the materials that will fill out the form of the doll.  For a while I was a bit intimidated by the armature, and that has been a contributing factor in taking so long to get to this point.  I think I hit that point with just about every project in one way or another when I am working out of my comfort zone.  I just have to give myself some time to work through that, then  I am ready to move on with the project.  It annoys me, but I recognize that this is all part of the creative process.  The important thing is that I work through it and not let it stop the project permanently.  Many times beginning crafters will not finish a project because they hit this point and just put the project in the closet.  It takes time to learn that recognizing the discomfort and sitting with it until you work through it will bring about an end to the impasse.

I should have photos of the armature for the blog next Sunday.  Check back Sunday afternoon.  I try to have my post up by noon.