This weeks Class

Sorry about the last two weeks. We have had some system problems. 

This week, we are up to the painting of the body in a pearl color.
Last week we set the eyes in.
For those of you who have messed up, and forgot to put the eyes in then dip the head, There is a way to make it still look good.

Cut a slit where the eye goes at a slight angle up. Then cut a small curve on thetop part only. Place a large drop of glue in the hole and gently press the large eye bead into place. The bead should fill the entire eye aree. If it does not, go up one size in the bead.

Fill in the rest of the area with some glue or white DAS. Redip only the front of the head to smoth out any complications. Allow to dry fully.

The had moving is also ap roblem that can be encountered.
If you ahve dipped the head and it was attached to the body, There really isnt much you can do to make the head move again.

You can try and with a very sharp scalpel, cut the  built up seam. You stand a chance of cutting the fabric. But thats ok too.
 To correct this and make the head moveable, firt cut all teh way around so that the had can move. Using Painters tape, tape one side of the cut area. Then using a thin brush and a quick hand apply two thin coats of covering to the area. allow to dry between coats. Then remove the tape, and to the fixed area apply painters tape and repair the  other side.
Allow to dry.  Remove tape and the head is the way it should be.


Many time in an attempt to rush through or to because of forgetfulness we make errors. The idea is not to let the errors become obsessive. They often times, can be fixed or at least made to look like it was supposed to be the way they turned out.

In the case of this doll, While we are in class, we are going to do construction repairs, attach the casted ears( I have chosent to do this instead of the fabric ears because it looks like a casted head this way.) and create a small pouty mouth by building up some covering or clay and redipping just the front of the head.
To make a shadow of a mouth you can insert a large Oat or Rice bead where the mouth should be and then build up with the covering material unbtil it looks like a mouth. The nose is to be casted and set on to the face.
These casting are doen because I erred and didnt sew the items on forst before dipping. Foolish me I was in a rush. 

In painting the doll I have discovered a few items with the enw paints.
First they dilute easily. So a little water goes a long way.
PAint the entire doll in Delta or other pearlescent white. This looks like gofun. Two or three thin coats.
The way I am going to do is like this:
I apply a large drop of paint onto a paper or styrenen plate. I then add a teasoon of water to the paint and remix it so its a little more fluid.
Then using a cosmetic latex triangle I stomp the paint all over the doll. This stippleing covers without the nasty paint brush streaks.

I allow the doll to dry between the three coats.

Finally I paint the detail on the fingernails ( with a delicate real nail poish color) and india ink black to line the eyes and a crimson cinnebar color ofor the lips.

The glossing is a bit more difficult.
To glaze I hang the doll upside down. Then using spray high gloss  I spray in even swift movements. allowing the dripp to converge on the crown of the head.

If you are using Delta HIgh Gloss, using a heavily loaded glazing brush works wonders. First on the front of the dollthen on the reverse. always allwoing the doll to hang upsied down to dry.