Live Size Doll Armature - Padding the Frame Continued

Building up the arm.

I did not get a chance to post yesterday, but for once it was not my fault.  The area had a lot of rain, and flash flooding and somehow it managed to knock out internet service to our sector.  We were fortunate that it only lasted most of a day.  When my husband initially called our service provider we were told that it could be up to forty-eight hours.  Anyway, I am here today posting what I would have posted yesterday.

I actually had some time to work on my life-size doll project this week.  I have completed most of the under layer that will represent the muscle structure of the doll.  There are still bits to go here and there, but once again I have run out of bubble wrap.  Since I had no concept of how much bubble wrap I would need, I have been buying small amounts at a time, just so I won't end up with vast quantities of bubble wrap left over. I have completed the torso, and the arms, but not the shoulders.  The shoulders will need some special treatment to connect them to the head.  At the moment, it makes the torso look a little high chested, but that will change once the shoulder area is built up.

I have not yet started on the hands.  I plan to use a pair of gloves and stuff the hand and fingers.  The fingers will also contain wires so I can pose the fingers. 

The hips and buttocks have also been completed.  I stuffed bubble wrap padded with rolled up sheets of newspaper for padding to create the shape of the hips and buttocks.  My doll will be wearing a dress, and if the hips and bottom do not have a proper shape the dress will not hang right.  I see that a lot in doll making.  If the figure only has a straight body, with no curves, the whole thing looks like something is off, even if the viewer cannot say exactly what is making it look making it feel not quite right.

Shaping the hip and butt.

The thighs are complete down to the knee.  If I were really trying to make the doll more anatomically correct, I would have put more work into making the inner thigh wider where it intersects the torso.  However, since that is not going to impact how the dress hands on the doll I am not putting the extra time and materials into making that area look more realistic.

The knee caps were created from balls of aluminum foil.  They were taped in place and covered over with more bubble wrap.  I need to purchase more bubble wrap before I do the thighs.  So far I have used three rolls of bubble wrap.  I think I could do finish off the project with one more roll of bubble wrap.  I guess we will see.  I plan on hitting the store for it this morning.

Once the frame has been padded out with bubble wrap it will
be covered with a layer of masking tape prior to adding layers of papier mâché.  Under normal conditions, the tape helps keep the under layers dry when the moistened paper and flour mix is applied.  Since this is plastic, it does not need it for moisture protection, but I am not sure how well the papier mâché will stick to the plastic.  Besides, the tape will be one more layer to add to help firm up the form.  Perhaps I shall purchase another roll of tape while I am at the store too.

When I originally started planning this doll, my plan was to do a lot of work on the musculature of the doll so it had a very lifelike appearance.  However, time has flown this year and I have had very little time to work on this project.  I am going to have to scale back on my plans if I want to have the doll finished in time for the competition.  It will be a nice doll, maybe not quite as life like as I would have wanted.  So maybe that idea will be used on another doll sometime in the future.  Right now my main concern is just to get something completed.

Knee cap.

Check back on Sunday for the next post on this project. I know it has taken a long time to get this project off the ground, but it is finally moving on to a new phase.  Hopefully, it will go on much quicker from this point.