It’s time to make dolls! I got the urge to get my doll making materials and create something!

As always, everything starts with an idea. I work on my sketchbooks and then I go back to them to get the best ideas for my new girls, and I start making the bodies using the same techniques I use in my online class, “A Doll Story”

While I am making the bodies, I use paper clay to sculpt the faces, and I carve the facial features after the initial shape of the head is setup.

Then, it’s time to paint the faces! Using the mixed media materials like pencils, pastels, acrylics and oils that I always use on my paintings, I create beautiful faces on their heads, with eyes and a soul within them.

Layer upon layer of acrylic paint, pastels, pencils and oil paintings are used to create the beautiful shine I give to my doll’s eyes. When you gaze into their eyes, you can be sure that a little piece of me and my memories lives in each one of them.

It’s time to let them dry, so I go ahead and I start designing their clothes using my collection of fabrics I have collected over the year on my visits to thrifty stores and other unusual places.

After the heads are dry, I start making their arms and legs using the techniques you have learned from my online doll making class, “A doll story”

And as I attach the arms and legs, I take the fabrics I selected for the dresses and start to create personalities for each one of them, thinking about how they want to look and what colors will suit them best.

Another thing I do is attach porcelain arms and feet as I attach the arms. I bought vintage molds to create the arms and legs and I pour each arm and leg using liquid clay and porcelain in my studio ahead of time so I always have a batch of arms and legs to use whenever inspiration strikes.

Finally it’s time to start dressing them up! I design, cut and sew each one of their clothes and sometimes I create several layers of clothes for them. Like this girl, who will have very fluffy underpants to wear beneath her handmade skirt.

Final details on their clothes like hand painting their boots are next, and those little details are, to me, the most important details that will give the doll a real life and personality.

But something is still missing…. They are bold! So, it’s time to pick up 100% natural wool and give them hair on their heads.

So much to choose from! I have to decide on a color, and a style, and a hairdo. Lots of work but finally, each one of them tell me how she wants to look.

After all that work, they are almost done! It’s a matter of giving them accessories and to start preparing the boxes they will live in.

And then, the final step is to send them to my photo studio, where they get their final photos and they are ready to be adopted!

Pauline

(Adopted!)

Darlene

(Adopted!)

Elouise

(Adopted!)

I hope you enjoyed this look at the process of making these beautiful art dolls, they are a lot of work, but for me, it’s worth every second I spend making them. Bringing them to life from raw materials fills me with an incredible joy and happiness.

And I want to thank you, because as I was typing this post, all of them got adopted. They are very happy to have found a forever home, and I know they will be loved when they arrive to their families.