Making a hand using a hand armature

Using a hand armature is completely optional. I tend to find myself using them mostly when the hand needs extra strength, such as they are holding something. But to be honest although its an extra bit of work to use one, I do find they force me to create a better looking hand than when I don’t use one.

So if you want to have one then this is one way to achieve it. In the tutorial below I am working with a pre-made hand armature. If you haven’t got one of these already then you should view my tutorial here on how to make one.

That’s all for this tutorial, I hope you enjoyed it. Questions? Feel free to use the comments below.

Fairy #30 Start to Finish Tutorial – Part 3

<< Part 1 | << Part 2

Blushing the sculpture

When you doll is all completed and you are happy with everything it’s time to blush. Mix some Genesis flesh, red and white together to get a nice reddish fleshy tone then apply to the feet, knees, leg bend, thigh lines, belly button, ribs, side crease, under breasts, nipples, collarbone, arm creases, fingers, palms, back line, and butt.

Work the blush into those areas and then smooth out. If you use too much you can remove it with acetone. Add any extra features like freckles, tattoos, fingernails and such now.

When you are satisfied with the result cook for 10mins to heat set the paints.

Remember not to hold the sculpt when it’s finished cooking, even parts that have been cooked previously become soft and fragile again with each cooking.

You can repeat the process several times to build up layers if you are not happy with the final layer. Acetone can also be used to removed paint after the cooking process

Adding the Hair

Now that your doll is all finished and painted it’s time to add the hair. You should not be planning any baking after this process as it can dry out the hair, so if you are thinking of making any clay clothing then you should do that first.

Adding the Eyelashes

Eyelashes can be very frustrating to apply due to how small they are. Take each step slowly and if you fail just remove the lash and glue and try again.

Costume

There are many different ways you can add a costume to your doll, this can include different materials such as clay clothing, cloth, tissue paper…anything you think up you can use.

In this example we are going to make a bikini top and bottom out of tissue paper and then add some string for embellishment.

Wings

Like the costume the wings can be made with an endless supply of materials, you are only limited by your imagination. These materials can include feathers, film, tissue paper, cloth, natural materials…. We are going to make our wings out of fantasy film, feathers and wire.

Drill a hole in the back of the fairy the size of your main wire. This process also allows you to see a sample of the clay inside your doll, if the clay comes out feeling at all wet then your doll is not cooked. It should be a powder.

Place the wings in the drilled holes and your doll is now complete!

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Making a Base

Bases can be made from a variety of materials, and can be decorated with rocks, fake grass, water features and such. If you would like to make your own simple base you can do so by following the steps below:

• Cut out a piece of pine to suit
• Cut out a thin piece of particle board slight bigger
• Plane or sand off edges on the pine piece of wood to create a nice beveled edge
• Glue pine and particle board pieces together
• Paint or varnish as required
• Maybe add a printed name tag with the dolls name, the sculptors name and the date the doll was created

Don’t want to make your own? No problem you can get all your stand needs at our shop

Extra Notes, Links and acknowledgements

Dollworld sells all your required doll making supplies. So if you need replacement stock for your next doll please visit our shop

Dollworld is always looking for more artists to join our site. If you are interested in selling your dolls through our shop please email us

If you have any questions or feedback please leave us a comment we would love to hear from you.

All the images and information within this tutorial remain the property of Dollworld. Please do not copy or redistribute in any way.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Linda for the creation of the easy to use eyelash technique. To visit Linda’s site please click here

Tips and Tricks

Baking Tips

When it comes to baking nothing beats a convection oven. These ovens make it a lot harder to burn your dolls. Plus the glass sides mean you can easily see your doll as its cooking.

When cooking in either a convection oven or a standard oven place your doll on a cushion of polyfill ensuring all the parts of its body is supported. Then cover the entire sculpture with the polyfill creating a lovely warm cocoon that will protect the sculpture from heatspots. Never use a metal tray, and never have the doll directly under an element.

If you are baking in a normal oven you may find tiny parts like ears, fingers, and noses cook faster and can burn. To avoid this you can help protect them by placing a bit of wet tissue paper over them while cooking.

Always use a thermometer in your ovens, do not rely on your ovens temperature gauge being correct.

And lastly always remember dolls are very fragile when they are warm – even if they have been previously cooked and cooled. Each time the clay is warmed up it becomes fragile and can crack easily. So make sure to leave the doll in the oven with the door open till it’s cooled. My rule of thumb is I give it twice the amount of time to cool than it took to cook.

Living doll clay requires 15mins per 6mm cooked at 275° Fahrenheit or 130° Celsius.

Test your oven

If this if the first clay creation you have cooked in your oven, especially if it is a normal household oven, you can try this test. Make a quick hand shape, just a flattened ball of clay with some rolled spaghetti bits off it.

Place that in your oven with polyfil under and over it, and cook it for 30min. If you can – use a thermometer while it’s cooking to check the temp is right. Otherwise if you don’t have one at least this test will tell you if it’s not right.

Once its cooked and cooled have a look at it – is it burnt? Cut through it – is it too soft and easy to break? This may seem like a lot of work, but if it saves you burning a doll you have spent hours on it may be worth it, especially if you don’t have a thermometer.

Part Baking

If you are having issues with squishing parts you have already completed while working on new areas then doing a part bake may help you.

To part bake or not to part bake, it is an important question, but one only you can answer. The main reason you would part bake is to help stop squishing parts you have already completed while working on new areas. And for this reason it can certainly help new comers. Best way is to just do as much as you can before you feel like if you keep working on new parts you will destroy the completed sections. You may find this point moves further and further out as you do more dolls, or you may find you just prefer to part-bake at certain stages and not change from that. It is whatever works for you best.

However you should save the full 30min bake till once all the parts are in place. The reason for this is that the clay (especially the Beige) can darken with multiple full bakes, so bake no part more than 10mins until the final 30min bake. And always do the full 30min bake (more if your doll is big or the clay thick) never think that three 10 min bakes equals one 30 min bake, it does not! But do remember that when it’s only had 10 minutes it’s not cooked on the inside, so avoid any pressure or those partially cooked parts will crack.

How to hold a doll while sculpting her

Now having talked about part baking you still may find yourself squishing parts in between bakes. The reason for this is that you are not holding your doll right. So here is how to hold her while sculpting her torso:

Always know your safe spots! This could be her cooked head and the armature wire. If I am using my sculpting tool I hold it in my right hand, and hold her like in the image between her head and the wire end. If I am smoothing I smooth with my left hand while holding her, usually, upside down completely by the head, or again the head and armature hold (see the picture in Step 4 – Sculpting the Torso).

This is something that does come naturally when you have done a few dolls, so just be patient and trust me when I say every doll maker has been in your shoes before. You can also try hanging the doll while sculpting to avoid squishing and dirt

Fixing a Crack

Everyone will experience a crack now and then, they can be avoided through the techniques already mentioned in this tutorial, but if your doll does develop one then this is what you need to do:

• Cut away the clay around the crack ensuring you go all the way to the bottom of the crack
• Keep the sides you cut away angled to allow for a seamless fix
• Brush the sides you cut away with TLS – Translucent Liquid Sculpey – this will help the fresh clay bond with the cooked clay
• Add the fresh clay deep into the crack and smooth down and add any details as required
• Cook for 15mm depending on depth of crack

Avoids Cracks!

The most important thing to avoid cracks is to cook your doll right. The exact temperature is extremely important. Too hot and it will burn (especially small tips like fingers). Too cold and your doll will not be cooked and you will experience lots of trouble with broken fingers, cracked necks and knees…

So make sure you get that temperature right! When you get it right the doll will feel rock hard

Final Thoughts

That brings us to the end of this tutorial. We sell this tutorial in a kit form which includes these instructions printed and a enough supplies to complete your first doll. You can find these kits here. Purchaseing one of these kits will also support this site and allow us to bring you more and more tutorials.

You can also view the full gallery of images for this tutorial here. Thanks for reading, and please leave us a message in the comments below.

<< Part 1 | << Part 2

Fairy #30 Start to Finish Tutorial – Part 2

<< Part 1 | Part 3 >>

Painting the face

At this point I like to paint the face, but if you prefer you can leave it till you do the body paint. The style of paining is up to you – make it subtle or make it strong like a pin-up doll, but either way you will achieve a nicer result if you slowly build up the layers. You can also bake it for 5min between layers to help set the bottom layer before adding more colour.

There are lots of mediums you can use to thin Genesis paints, any oil thinner will work but I prefer to use Sculpey Oil Softener.

Attach the Head to the Armature

After the head is completely cooled you can remove it from the stick you sculptured it on and add it to the armature using a bit of superglue to keep it in place. Use a drill to extend the hole if it’s too small to fit on the armature.

Having the head in place will assist you when sculpting the body by giving you a good idea on proportions.

Creating the Pose

You now need to bend your armature into its pose. To do this simply place the doll over the guideline pictures and bend the doll to suit. Make sure you test out the armature pose over each different view (front, back left and right) to ensure everything is correct. And don’t forget the bend in the torso

If your doll can kneel by itself at this stage that is great, but don’t worry too much if it can’t yet, those wire thin legs aren’t too good at holding up much. And with the clay head she is a bit top heavy at the moment.

Hands and Feet

With your head all sculpted and painted it’s time to make the hands and feet.

In my past tutorial I had used an armature for the hands. I have now removed this from the tutorial due to the fact that it makes it a bit more difficult. I recommend to all beginners that you sculpt your hands without the armature and either have the fingers together, or press the hand up against the body, both these methods will protect your fingers until you are confident to do more advanced fingers. Also if you cook your doll right your fingers should be strong, and the use of an armature is only really needed for extra strength when the hand is holding something.

The feet however are strengthened with the armature, and I believe it makes sculpting the feet easier, so I have left these in the tutorial.

If you are using one of my kits you will find included a set of some funny looking feet. These have been made using a wire armature covered in cooked liquid clay. If you are not using one of my kits then you can download the instructions to make your own here

You can also view a tutorial on adding clay to a hand armature here

OPTION: Using hands and feet with armature is completely optional. These can, and are by many people, sculptured without the aid of an armature. The choice is yours

Sculpting the hands

TIP: You can work out the size of her hand using her face. If you press your palm against your chin you can see your fingers end on the forehead. So just do the same for the doll and get the right sizing.

At this point I recommend you leave them aside uncooked to allow them to cool down (warm clay becomes soft). You could choose to cook them for 10 min if you want, but they are harder to attach when cooked, if you do cook them taper off the clay at the wrist and poke a hole in them where the wrist bone would be (or drill it after cooking).

TIP: You can finely tune fingers after they have been cooked by using your scalpel to carefully scape away excess clay. But only do it when they are 100% cooled, and be ever so careful not to break them.

Sculpting the feet

Sculpting the body

Now the fun part begins – sculpting the body. This is the part I personally enjoy the most

OPTION: : It is up to you if you want to part bake throughout the sculpting process or leave it till the end. Please see the notes under “Part Baking Tips” here for more information on this option.

Sanding the Sculpture

The sculpture can be scraped and sanded once it is fully sculpted. Ensure it is completely cooled before handling – for safety I like to leave it untouched at least twice the time I cooked it for. So if your doll is still cooling and you want to keep going you can jump ahead to making the wings, and then come back to this stage when your doll is cooled down.

To give your doll extra smoothness start by scraping the doll with a scalpel. When the entire doll (except the face) is scraped smooth start sanding your doll with a fine bit of wet sandpaper, the wetness helps to stop the clay from clogging up the sandpaper.

When the sanding is finished give the doll a quick wash in water and dry off to remove all excess clay.

When you have gone over all the areas you want and everything is nice and smooth you can use a very light amount of acetone to remove the rough sanding marks. Make sure you use the acetone sparingly as it can make the clay go white if you use too much, also keep your cleaning tool fresh as the clay builds up on it and that can also make the doll get the white marks. I use cotton tips to apply the acetone.

TIP: Putting too much pressure on the sculpt during the sanding process can cause the sculpt to crack, if this happens to your sculpt don’t worry it can be fixed! – see Tips and Tricks

Check over the entire sculpt for smoothness, symmetry, and any last minute fixes. You can make tweaks by adding more clay to cooked areas, and also carve away cooked clay if need be.

Cook doll for 30min at 275° Fahrenheit or 130° Celsius. This is her final bake, and as she is in the oven for a long time you need to take extra care watching the temp to ensure it doesn’t get too hot and burn her!

<< Part 1 | Part 3 >>

Fairy #30 Start to Finish Tutorial – Part 1

Part 2 >> | Part 3 >>

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This tutorial replaced Fairy #16 tutorial, it is the same pose but done with some different techniques that I now follow. If you have a need to see the old tutorial you are welcome to email me.

You may wish to download the 3D pdf file of the pose by clicking here. This is a great reference to ensure you have all your angles and proportions right

Kits and with printed instructions and supplies can be purchased from our shop

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Tools Needed
• Guideline pictures of the pose
• Creating and armature
• Filling out the internal core
• Sculpting the face
• Painting the face
• Attach the head to the Armature
• Sculpting the hands and feet
• Creating the pose
• Sculpting the body
• Sanding the sculpture
• Blushing the body
• Adding hair and eyelashes
• Adding costume
• Creating and adding wings
• Base making
• Final notes and links
• Tips and tricks

Introduction

When it comes to sculpting these types of dolls there really is many ways you can go about it. Some people choose to sculpt the head first, some the body. As you get into this craft you will develop your own individual patterns and behaviours. For this reason I would like to point out that my methods in this tutorial are those I have used and found to work well, but should you decide to go a slightly different way please by all means do so. I will also provide options that look like this:

OPTION: If you are finding you are squishing parts already completed as you sculpt new parts you may wish to do a part-bake. Please see the notes under “Part-Baking Tips” here

You may also come across a Tip throughout this tutorial. These will point out tips and tricks to take note of. They may also point you to the Tips and Tricks information which will give you future information on that subject. Tips look like this:

TIP: Please see Tips and Tricks for more information regarding the cooking process. It is well worth the read if this is your first doll.

Try to have fun with it, and don’t let frustrations stop you from completing your work. Like any new craft it does get easier the more you practice. And remember that the pictures provided in this tutorial are for guidelines only. Every doll created is a one of a kind piece of art, so your creation will look very different to mine.

This tutorial is based on a work at your own pace, so I cannot say how long it will take you. The clay itself will not harded in the air even over time. But please note however that if you add uncooked clay on top of cooked clay you will have approximately 2 weeks to cook that clay. This is due to the cooked clay sucking the moisture out of the uncooked clay. Leaving it longer than two weeks could result in the top uncooked clay becoming dry and cracked.

Tools Required

Items below found in Kit K1046 and Kit K0146e

• Living Doll Clay
• 1 x Body Armature
• Tinfoil and Tape
• 1 Pair of eyes (optional)
• 1 Pair of hand armatures (optional)
• 1 Pair of feet armatures (optional)
• Piece of Tibetan lamb’s wool for hair
• Tissue paper for clothing
• Fantasy film, wire and feathers for wings
• Sandpaper

Items below found in Kit K1045e

• Tacky glue
• Fabric glue
• 5/0 Paintbrush
• Hardwood sculpting tool 9pc Set
• Genesis heat set paints sample

Items below are not included in the kits

• Baby wipes (to keep hands and work area clean)
• Toothpicks
• Scalpel
• Scissors
• Pliers
• Super Glue
• Polyfill
• Cotton Tips
• Acetone
• Gloss Varnish
• Iron
• Soldering Iron (or candle)
• Drill
• Oil Thinner (such as linseed oil)

Guideline Pictures

Please use the pictures below to help you when bending your armature into place (please note your screen size will change the physical sizing of these images)

Creating the Armature

If you are using one of my kits you will already have your armature made for you, so you may skip this step.

If you do not have an armature follow the steps below to create one

1. Using 22g wire cut a length 40cm long (roughly 2.5 times the length of the doll) And one length of 15cm.
2. Bend the 40cm wire in half, use pliers to twist the wire the length of the head.
3. Continuously place the armature over the guideline picture to ensure you get the right proportions.
4. At the shoulders Insert the 15cm piece and, while holding it with your pliers, twist the short piece around one side and then the other side creating the arms.
5. Twist the wires back together under the arms and twist all the way down the torso until you reach the pelvic area.
6. Separate the wires again and bend with the pelvic triangle and cut off excess at the foot.
7. Repeat process with the second leg.

The armature will serve two purposes; first it will guide you in your proportions helping to ensure your doll looks right; second (and most importantly) it will strengthen your sculpt both when creating the piece and also for the long term durability of your doll.

Filling out the armature

Sculpting the Face

After getting tired of fighting to get the right face shape I have come up with a new way of sculpting the face. This is done by creating the centre ball which acts as the skull, inserting the eyes and eyelids and then cooking at 130° Celsius. Then the features are added in shapes bulking out the face in the correct manner.

If you are using one of my kits you will find I have already supplied you with a set of eyes. If you do not have a kit then you can go to this site http://www.dollworld.co.nz/pre-made-eyes/ and follow the instructions there to make your own, alternately you can just sculpt the eyes, rather than inserting them.

Now let’s start sculpting the head. You can follow these steps as a guideline, but do let your own creativeness come through, as each person usually finds they have their own style that reflects through all of their dolls. Keep your work area clean to avoid getting dirt and dust into the clay, this is helped by having baby wipes available to keep hands and work area clean.

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When you are happy with the head it’s time to cook it. Give your sculpt one last check over, is everything symmetric? Are the ears tips sitting right? Is it nice and smooth? Place it in the oven at 275° Fahrenheit or 130° Celsius for 30 minutes.

TIP: Please see Tips and Tricks here for more information regarding the cooking process. It is well worth the read if this is your first doll.

Part 2 >> | Part 3 >>