Life Size Doll - Armature Completed

Unfortunately, I am still learning how to use my new computer.  I took the torso photos with the camera turned sideways.   Although the photo shows upright in my pictures file, it shows up sideways when I tried to post it on the blog.  Rotating it with my edit program did not solve the problem.  I will have new pictures of it to post next week.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Now, on with the post I had written.

After much procrastination, I have the armature completed.  At least, it is at a point that I can live with it and get on to the next phase of the doll, covering it in papier mâché.  When I thought about making this doll, I was at thinking that I would do a much better job of sculpting the musculature.  However, I did not imagine how busy I would be this year and how little time I would have to work on this project.  Nor, for that matter, did I really expect that this doll was going to end up being taller than I am.  So after much longer than I expected, the doll is ready for the next phase.

Although the progress has been agonizingly slow, it has had some humorous moments.  One such moment came in the final step before attaching the head.  The plan was that the head would have a PVC pipe in it so that it could attach to the neck at the shoulder area.   I used a straight piece of pipe with a Tee connector at the top.  The plan was to glue the pipe into the head.  Well, the joke was on me.  The head was so rounded that I could not get the Tee connector to sit flat enough against the head for the glue to hold. I used a lot of glue, but it was just not going to stay where I wanted it to stay.  I had to come up with a Plan B.

Plan B nearly caused a disaster.  I decided that I would wedge the pipe into place long enough for me to partially fill the head with expanding foam.  The foam would fill in the open Tee connector.  Once the foam hardened, it would hold the pipe in place.   I sprayed in some foam, making sure that the pipe stayed upright by checking it with a level and correcting the position when needed.

I have had experience with expanding foam before.  I knew that it expands much more than you think it does.  I only filled the head about half way.  I actually stayed with the piece for an hour.  Everything seemed okay when I walked away from it.  The foam was no longer expanding.  A dry coat over the top.  The instructions said that it was hard enough to trim after an hour.  I walked away thinking that everything was going to work out just fine.  There was plenty of pipe exposed for making the connection to the body.

Imagine my horror when I walked back into my studio a few hours later.  The foam had continued to expand and had overflowed above the head and continued to expand along the entire length of the pipe.  It had even pushed its way into the opening at the end of the pipe.  A small amount of it had fallen off onto the back of the head.  Fortunately, it came off easily from the varnish.  The little bit of residue that remained scratched off with a finger nail.  That area will be covered with a wig, no it was not going to ruin the piece if it had not come off well.  It was just that first shock of seeing the head like this that made me think that the project was close to ruined.

I used a utility knife to cut away the excess foam and excavated down far enough to find the end of the pipe.  I was able to pull out the plug of foam that had filled the end of the pipe.  I was ready to add the head to the body when I ran into another difficulty.  Although I had dry fitted all the pieces when I started, the pipe in the head no longer fitted into the connector on the body.  I tried sanding down the sides of the pipe, thinking that the rough residue left by the foam was causing it not to fit.  That did not work.  I never could get it to fit, but not for lack of trying.  I am thinking that the pressure of the foam may have deformed the thin pipe slightly.  So, it was on to Plan C.

Plan C actually worked.  I put a dowel into the connector and wedged it into place with small bits of a skewer.  The dowel then went into the pipe in the head and wedged with more bits of skewer.  Everything was glued then taped into place.  The head was on at last.  A few more layers of tape and things were good to go.

The hands went on next.  However, the post is already getting long, so I will blog about creating the hands next week.  Check back next Sunday for details.

Fixing the Armature

When I blogged last, I had said that the armature had developed a problem.  One of the joints had come undone and the arm was hanging loose.  This was pretty discouraging since most of the armature had been padded already.  Fortunately, most of the work on padding the shoulders had not been completed.   The only correction to the problem was surgery.

I used a utility knife to cut down through what padding was in place to reach the PVC joint that had come loose.  The padding was peeled back from the section so that it could be pushed back down and taped once the repair was made.  The joint was re-glued, then taped with duct tape to make sure it stayed in place.  Once the doll is finished, you will never even know it happened.

 I think the real problem is that the PVC cement/glue whatever it is was old and starting to dry up.  I don't think it was tacky enough to be able to form a bond between the two pieces.  I hate to say it, but I am going to have to open a brand new jar of the stuff in order to get this arm to stay in place.  I did not want to do that because once you open the jar, that is pretty much it.  The glue dries up fast once opened.  Most likely the rest of it will just go to waste.

A lot of progress has been made this week on the doll.  I have finished padding most of the armature.  The initial work has been done on the hands and put on the head (more about that next post).   Imagine my dismay when I walked back into my studio yesterday morning and saw that same arm hanging down again, loose and swinging.  At this point I am guessing that the other end of that same joint has come loose.  More surgery will be required.



I took the doll outside to re-glue the arm.  The glue has a very strong odor and should only be used in a well ventilated area.  One of my big challenges in working on the armature is that it has been cloudy and raining for days.  That day it was cloudy and I thought I could get it glued back together  it rained.  I was wrong.  No sooner than I had the tape on the joint the rain started.  I had to drag it back inside and leave all the doors and windows open to air the place out.

I guess while I am working on the repair I will reconsider the pose of that arm.  Part of the problem may be that the angle of the arm is putting too much stress on the joint.  Sometimes the materials don't want to do what you want them to do.  The arm may be angled differently in future pictures.  When I originally made a sketch for the doll, she was a dancer and the left hand was holding out her skirt.  At this late date, I don't think I am going to finish that doll in time for the competition, so I may be turning her into a Halloween doll.  Who knows, maybe she will be holding a trick or treat bag.

Next blog post I will be showing the head and hands.  The explanation would take too long to do on this post.  There were some comic moments.  Check back next Sunday for those updates.