I began my quest to make a doll sometime in 2013. I'd purchased
Layered Impressions by
artist Katie Kendrick at a fabric store on dull Saturday, intrigued by the wide range of projects Kendrick presented.
I usually shy away from these "how to craft" books, especially from the Northern Lights publishers, because they inevitably do not really provide you with followable instructions. There are lots of really pretty pictures and inspiring pictures which make them very tempting to buy...
however. Things nearly always get very fuzzy when it gets complicated, which has led to much frustration and the brink of tears. More often than not, I wind up petting the pretty pictures, whispering to myself "
why can't they just explain the stitch?"
But again, the diversity of projects and more-detailed-than-usual instructions intrigued me. Especially the dollies!
I like tangible, fabric-based arts, and I thought that Kendrick provided a good balance of instruction and inspiration. AKA, I could make a doll that looked like I made it, rather than being some dull copy of another artist's work.
STEP ONE: SUPPLIES!
So last winter, I drove merrily over to Michaels to equip myself with recommended basic supplies.
I bought these funny little wooden nobs to provide a base for the head, too. They look like a small ball on a pedestal, and they worked out extremely well (so much so that I used them all immediately).
The green stuff, usually for flower arrangements, is a mixed bag. It's great in that you can conveniently chop that dolly's body to size, with little more than a retired kitchen knife. BUT. Oh, my god. The green, clinging, evil dust which emanates from every slice! IT'S EVERYWHERE.
It was actually so messy that I put this project off for two more seasons. This summer I've been able to walk out to my garbage cans and slice it to shape in the great outdoors. That kinda helps, but even just bringing the thing back into the house and working on the doll... that green stuff leaks out, I'll just say. My house will never be clean again.
I purchased the wooden hearts intending to use them as a sturdy base, upon which to attach the green body. I'm one doll in and need to come up with an alternative, as they wound up much larger than the doll's body, and hence throw off the way her dress hangs. They are very solid and stable, and you only need Elmer's glue to attach them to the body - but looking for something smaller will be on my radar.
I also went wild purchasing felt squares, at only 33 cents per square. Handy to have around, so I indulged myself in a big, fat pile.
This actually deviates quite a bit from Kendrick, whose dolls rely on felted sweaters for their entire clothing ensemble. I have never felted a sweater before in my life, but read somewhere that all it took was washing a wool sweater in hot water, then drying in the machine. I felt confident that my local Goodwill would provide me with many whimsically printed options.
Not the case. First off, when did Goodwill get so expensive? The selection was poor; nothing like the perfectly beautiful rejects which Kendrick's book showcases. After spending $14 on two sweaters that I knew I'd only end up cutting up, I called it good.
Aaaaand it turns out I bought the wrong kind of sweater. Note to self: you have to check the percentage of wool! Mohair does not felt! Neither sweater I bought felted up, at which point I decided to say"fuck it" and move on.
STEP TWO: HEADS!
Making the heads was not terribly easy, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with how it went down.
Wrapping little tight balls of paper, and taping them to my ball/pedestal neck thing was easier than I'd thought it would be. They looked satisfactorily head like to me. But they needed a layer of something paint could stick to.
Kendrick's next step involved paper mache-ing the heads. For whatever reason, I chose not to do this.
I thought myself sooooo clever for buying washi tape at
Collage, which featured tiny and adorable little prints that I thought would add some character to my final doll head.
Never mind that essentially, I was telling myself, "Hey, cover up that slick layer of tape with
more slick tape!"
I spent a LOT of time wrapping those heads in washi, folks. And hen I went to pull out my paints...
Sadness and catastrophe. That paint would
not stay put. It laughed at me, in my futile efforts to add a skin-colored layer of acrylic to my knobby little heads.
I debated pulling off all the washi, but that would have probably also damaged the tape and paper layer just below it. I could have added a paper mache layer on top, but then the heads would have become way too large. Lost and alone, I abandoned ship on the project altogether, leaving this to rest in my attic/office :
Spooky heads! Stuck into a milk crate, almost completely untouched, for seven months. They managed to thoroughly spook my niece last winter.
So, what changed the tide? Total stupid luck.
I wound up working on an oil painting for my husband over the spring, the first time I'd ever painted a person, and therefore requiring a lot of experimentation in skin tones.
I'd have a lot of skin tone oil paint leftover, and, not wanting to totally waste it, I just kept wiping it onto the heads. Because why the heck not? It kinda stuck, even though it did not look great.
Well, that layer of oil paint dried, and it did the trick. I've successfully been able to paint my acrylic layer on, thanks to that random act of thrift.
STEP THREE: BODY & CLOTHES!
As I have said, carving those bodies is no fun. But it was very satisfying to finally see a stack of stuff turn into something vaguely doll-like:
Can anyone out there suggest a replacement for the green stuff? I just can't bear the mess it makes, but it's so nice and easy to sculpt...
I drew on both my embroidery supplies and my sewing machine to devise a simple outfit. Ha, simple! It probably took me about a day, and I totally winged it. Although Kendrick gives some prompts, I quickly discovered that key details were missing, or my own alterations voided her advice. For example, the bunny headband: I wasn't using felted wool, so it was not stable enough to run through my sewing machine. But even if I could, it was very vague about how you could hide the individual bunny ears... would you need two layers of headband? How would that not be ridiculously thick? My end result, as seen from the back:
Oh, well.
Overall, I did fairly well copy Kendrick. I loved her idea of the apron and bunny ear hat, and practically speaking, putting the doll in mittens and wearing a scarf = easy to cover up otherwise difficult pieces and parts to cover/stitch/create. Still, the instructions didn't make much sense to me, so I just did my own thing. Result: even my husband can tell which mitten I made first:
Are they mitten-ish? Yes-ish. And that's good enough for me!
You can see in these pictures the layers of felt I attached to the bottom of my mohair sweater sleeve-turned doll dress. I made them one long string, then wound them around the bottom with a simple embroidery stitch. I like the rustic look (clearly) so wasn't too fussed about perfection.
At the same time, it's quite obvious in the lower photo of what I meant by the heart pedastal's distortion of the dress bottom. It is a bit more obvious than it should be, because some glue attached itself to the felt - I could dig it apart, I suppose, but. I like to move on.
Getting near the end! I added a little golden braid to my lady...
And, as of this morning, was very excited to glue on her bunny hat and be done.
AND THEN I MESSED UP.
Last night, you see, I decided that I didn't like her face. So I spent this morning quickly repainting it. Actually, I think I managed to make it even worse! But this is now a moot point, given what happened next.
The blue of her eyes did not dry completely, you see. I glued the braid upon her head, sat back to gaze upon my almost-done project...
And found that I'd dragged blue all over her face. All over it!!! DAAAAAAAAAAAAANG IT!
I'm walking away from my doll for the afternoon.
