PROCESS :: teddy needs a name

Making of a doll.

Through my little art and science supply, Pulp Anatomy, I make these little raw dolls I call 'fleshies' for artists and/or magical folks who use poppets.  With all fairs being closed down at the moment, instead of starting my dolls from scratch, I've been dipping into my market stock that were supposed to come along to Pulp Anatomy's spring pop ups.

I thought I would share my process for making this particular bear doll, for anyone interested in how I do it.  I do not have a tightly laid out schedule and often do not know where I am going until I get there, but I snapped some photos along the way.  For anyone thinking of making dolls for their young ones or with their young ones, feel free to ask questions about my process and techniques.  If you do not have a prepped raw fleshie canvas, you can make one (we are crafty folk here) or use any existing doll or stuffed animal, and just sort of cover and add.  It's all for fun.  

So, here we have the fleshie and some of the materials I use: photo reference, super sculpey original polymer clay (it's a low temperature bake clay that doesn't harm the stuffed doll), and sculpting tools.  For anyone looking to more information for working with polymer clay, I highly recommend Ace of Clay video tutorials on YouTube.  

For the clay face, I use tin foil for the basic structure and sheets of polymer clay on top to make the features.  Sculpey bake and bond is a bakeable adhesive that I use to attach the clay to the fabric.

When I attach the clay to fabric, the bake and bond gets me so far, but for durability I usually have additional supports.  For some clay pieces, I make little holes that I can stitch the clay to the fabric.  Various supports also go in, like these toothpicks for the ears.

I just bake according to the super sculpey packing directions.  Let it cool and off I go to stage two: painting.

I use various techniques for painting but generally I use a matte or ultra matte acrylic paints on the clay and fabric. You can put the paint through the oven again if you are adding more clay later.

The hood fabric is an old chair cover I made and we wore down the edges so badly that I had to retire it.   I basically salvaged what was still intact and now it serves as doll clothes.  My process for clothing this bear was to paint the arms and legs, and the actual cloth goes on in small pieces and is stitched directly onto the doll form.

A small break here to check out the actual chaos that I work in.  I start each project with a clean table and during the way this happens.  I have a particular methodology of organizing that I've developed over the years based upon my very small multi-purpose rooms in my house and my ADHD.  This is my kitchen/dining table for my family of four and that's a hula hoop too.  I go full in when make stuff and this happens:

But I can pack it down and have the space prepped for roller skating in less than five minutes, and even be able to find my tools afterwards to pull out again to make an even bigger mess.

And back to the doll.  More painting.  Tin foil to keep the legs apart, like when people paint their toe nails.

Adding more cloth.  I like a lot of layers on my dolls.  I just find my basic shape and then stitch on, working from the extremities inward until I am happy. It's how I get dressed in the morning as well, but, almost always, without the sharp jabby needle bit.

Obviously, I am going with a scrappy, raw aesthetic here.  If I wanted a finer, smoother look, I would make the clothes separate and then secure to the body with a few stitches.  For strange times like these, though, the raw edges and visible stitching seems best.

I added a hooded edge to the head to both add a level of security to hold secure the clay piece and because, you know, hoods. I like the post-apocalyptic onesie effect here.

The tutu portion came off another doll I made a couple years ago.  It was a linen ruff I made that I removed because I want to revamp the doll.  It happened to fit here quite well around teddy's belly.

And then for the a little finishing party hat, I took some quilt lining felt, painted it up, stitched it into a crown.

A bit of rub on wax metallic finish to give a little shine (and make it inappropriate for ages three and under because I just can not make a doll suitable for children).



And that's my guy.  If you have questions about the process, I'm here :)

teatime with predators

Made the girl a little top.  Put a spider on it.

I'm tickled with my spider web appliqué.  I shall have to revisit this again in the near future. 

The spider is machine sewn. The web is pieced together with pin tucks.  Spider web in process:

Back to the girl this morning:

This was moments before she broke the tea saucer.  My girl is a delicate flower.  Except when she's not.

The embroidery on the shirt says, Part Girl, Part Wolf Spider.

(It took all I had to not reverse that into spider wolf.  Spider wolves are terrifying.  Thank you Welcome to Night Vale for that particular thing I'll never forget yet I can not remember where it is.)

I saved the tea cup from miss delicate, though.  Put a weird little cyclopean clown doll in it.

Then I listed the doll on Etsy.  Check it out. 

studio update

For almost three months now I've had a separate working studio space away from my home.  This has produced mixed results.  First of all, anything you might imagine when you think 'studio', you have to strip out all the romantic elements like sunlight, windows, quiet and peacefulness.  It's located downtown in a basement of a busy theatre, so the atmosphere can be charged with all sorts of theatrical emotions and, if there is no theatre above, then Phantom of the Opera level subterranean spook, with me being both the creeper and creeped.

My ability to find get down to my studio is quite limited, much more than I initially anticipated.  If I manage an hour a day, I get quite excited.  Maybe three on the weekend.  Maybe.

While I'm there, for however long, is it work time, so that part is working out.  Focusing on the task before me, I am not interrupted by the demands of home, childs, husband and cats, leaving me emotionally intact instead of irritated and scattered, which is how I feel when working at home.  An hour focused on my work is much more satisfying in the studio as I feel like I've been able to immerse myself.

But what am I working on?  I pictured finally getting to jump into all the ambitious ideas I've had over the years and really produce as an artist.  So far... nah.  I have done about the same as I would have done at home, but, and this is important, with more quilts!

This is boy child's design (as inspired by a non-traditional quilt he spotted on the Internet).  I started this on the first day I worked in the studio.  It's now ready to have the border hand stitched in the back but here it is in starting the 'making a quilt sandwich' phase:

There is no way I would of been able to leave out the quilting supplies while working on other projects when at home.  As mentioned (whined about) many times, I have six hundred and forty four feet of home here and there is hardly enough room to swing a broadsword, never mind working on a multi-piece quilting project.  If you have children like mine, you know how relevant it is to understand how much room it takes to swing any variety of weaponry.

In addition, while working on the boy's quilt, I actually made another one as well:

The quilt reads "Hello I'm good for nothing Will you love me just the same", which is a little bite of the lyrics from the Dresden  Doll's "The Perfect Fit".  I love that song.  I love this quilt!  And I love this child:

It's our new couch blanket and everybody loves it, especially the cats.

My studio has allowed me to do these quilts along with some of my more usual work, but, they really aren't the purpose of having the studio.  As my husband reminds me, I have overhead now.  Producing the art so I can sell the art has been a little low on my priority list.

I love this guy, but he is the only doll I've made in the past three months:

He is a were-bear and I actually never want to give him up, so that brings my doll productivity down to, round-about, zero.

Eeek!

That is exactly opposite of the plan.

Okay, but, the studio has allowed me to start learning a brand new skill.  A little anthropomorphic taxidermy to expand my horizons and indulge an interest. Here is Rat King, one of several rodents I have been learned all about the taxidermy with:

Girl child has also been down to the studio to taxidermy a mouse along with a couple friends of mine.  New skills for all of us, and even commercially successful for me so far.  I've sold a couple of rodent pieces.  That would be a check mark in favor the studio.

I have committed to keeping the studio until midsummer to give it a fair trial and see if it's worth all the bother.  So far I give it a grade of fifty percent worth-it-ness.  I do like having an emotional separation between the creative work and this home where the childs and distractions are, though I end up doing quite a bit in the house still.  Mostly the quilting and hand sewing bits that I can do while talking to the childs or when we are all listening to a podcast.  If I tried sitting alone in my studio while hand stitching a quilt border, I'd probably go bananas. 

I have a situation right now where I've cleared out a couple projects and can begin something new.  I'm talking to myself about what is a good idea as far as taking care of some of that overhead, but, well, honestly, another quilt idea seems to have wiggled in and is proving difficult to ignore.  It is, with a bit of foreshadowing here, worming its way into my headspace.  I know there is no way I could tackle this idea at all at home, but, far away in my private studio space, just maybe... 

Dollyshop Theatre - new listings on Etsy

 

Hey!  Speaking of shop updates, I've just added a few listings to the shop that my other personality, Malady Beastly, works at when I'm not paying enough attention to her.

 

Somewhere over here
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
is a button to visit my Dollyshop Theatre etsy store.  Push it.  See what happens.

 

 

There is some new ratty and generally hostile creatures.  If such a thing appeals to you, you can follow my doll work at Dollyshop Theatre on Facebook.

And there is a tab at the top of the page to take you to the Tumblr gallery, although I have some personal reservations about Tumblr as of late so, perhaps, you know of a great site that can host a decent gallery?

Speaking of galleries, funny thing, that the above doll, Rumplestiltskin, whom I spent over a year stitching in the Grimm's story on, was stolen right out of the gallery it was being displayed in.  Art theft!  I feel annoyed and intrigued all at the same time.  I would really like to know where Rumplestiltskin has gone and also let the thief know that it is cursed with some terrible hoodoo.  Probably everything bad that has happened to you since you stole this doll is because of the curse.  

And that's it.  If a doll catches your fancy, find it in the shop or message me to find out where it is and if it can be rounded up.

Victorian tea party hat

Just in case you ever need an absurdly tall hat to wear to a Victorian demented mime tea party.

I made the animal head but I can see an upcycled version with a pre-existing stuffie.  Paint clings quite nicely to fabric and fake fur.  Use glue adhesive to secure to a painted cardboard base and decorate with frippery. Paste on a ribbon tie.

Chet

A quick look at the fleshie that has come home from an artist in Edmonton. Girl child has developed a giant storyline behind this frankenkitty and wants to do some photos along with it, but she's in the middle of show week and hasn't time now. I thought I'd introduce him to the world sooner rather than later and she can do her story when she's ready.

I, personally, believe he is Chet the shaved vampire cat from Christoper Moore's novel Bite Me. So many people have recommended Christopher Moore to me and he's proved to be everything as promised.  Honestly, during Bite Me, I laughed so hard I choked.  It was when they were trying to wet vac the vampire rat mist in the loft and then... but, hey, if you haven't read it yet, I won't spoil it for you.  But go read Bite Me. 

And now Chet.  Chet has already had some interesting experiences, freaking out the poor lady who volunteered to do me a solid and pick up a doll from Edmonton.  Maybe she was thinking Cabbage Patch Doll?  Mwhahahaha.

Next week girl child should have more time to make some props for her frankencat story, and then he will be back...

bc bound fleshies

Just a couple of fleshie dolls to share with you.  These two I sent off last week to British Columbia to an artist there.  I don't know what will happen to them in her hands, but I am sure they will be spectacularly transformed.

You've seen the light brown one before but the white one is completely new.  I just roughly attached the limbs so that they can be easily separated for painting and whatnot.

The hands are wired so they can bend and hold things.  I love the toes on this one, so adorable.

An in progress picture below.  Sometimes when I am on duty for girl child's performances, in the costume room, and I am not in the midst of a zipper or ripped ruffle emergency, I work on the dolls.  The children who come into the room have taken to come in to see my process.  The other day I was working on a doll similar to this one and I was just at the stage of attaching a breast when one of the girls walked in to see my cute little doll and encountered this instead:

I did warn them, doll making is a bit creepy.  Now they know they should never sneak up on a doll maker because you can't un-see certain things.

One last picture, same as I posted on my Facebook page last week.  The spooning picture. 

chicken in a sweater

The short story on this fancy little lady: I have a friend who has an affection for chickens in sweaters. Because, honestly, who does not?  I could not help but indulge. 

I also wanted to celebrate our city's recent decision to allow backyard chickens and, perhaps, sway The Man's attitude towards maybe saying yes to having a wee coop of our own.  Our city allows up to four birds, so I see a few more hens in sweaters in my future. 

This wyandotte breed hen is a pampered urban chicken, not a rescue hen, although she wears the sweater in solidarity.  She has gone to live in Montreal where, I am sure, she will have many adventures.   

Here is our lady in the flesh. 

Paint was my main medium here.  Each layer of paint was sanded down after it dried to create a nice, leather-like texture and, I was hoping, a bit of antiquing. 

And out in the backyard, enjoying the last bit of sun before the winter.

The sweater was made from a hand knitted sock made by a friend.  I loved the socks, I even once dyed my hair to match them, but the had an unfortunate run in with a pokey-outey thing along my base board and the bottom of one was horribly mangled.  It was tragic.  The tube, however, was, as you can see, still good and has found new life as a chicken sweater.  Seems a happy ending to me.

I am ridiculously proud of this lady and I'm hoping to find an artist to convince to maybe have a go at painting one or two.  I have a couple of items on my plate before I can make another chicken, including girl child's show's opening tonight, for which I am sequestered in the costume room making repairs and adjustments during the performance as needed, and a few fleshies, but then, after that, there shall be chickens.