Victorian doll - saucy style

A couple of years ago I made a mini bustle dress and loved working the little details, so I made a full Victorian badass doll - bustle style. She's made of polymer clay and has cotton bloomers and petticoat. Her dress is made of silk, her top hat of wool felt and lace. Victorian ladies knew how to put a look together. This from someone currently in sweatpants, but still...

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I love Lisbeth Salander. I love The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - the book by Stieg Larsson, the swedish film with Noomi Rapace, the Fincher film with Rooney Mara. I love them all. This is my take on Lisbeth in a doll made of polymer clay. Her jacket, belt, and shoes are all real upcycled leather (from old pants legs). Of course she has a tiny wasp tattoo on her neck and a dragon tattoo on her left shoulder. BUT, more importantly, she's ready to go with her stun gun in hand.

I debated with myself long and hard about giving her her famous "F you, you f-ing F" T-shirt. I decided against it. It would be cool for a second, but then...

I hope you like the doll as much as I like the character. I love girls who can take care of business.

How to Make a Pirate - pieces and parts

It's alive, it's alive! I sculpted and baked the torso, arms, and feet. Since the oven'son, I curled the doll hair by wrapping it around a knitting needle and baking til dry. Here is the torso and hair, fresh from the oven:




Now - to make the fabric pieces. Why do this? Why not make the doll entirely out of clay? Because I want the doll to be flexible, and move her arms and legs. You CAN make polymer clay dolls with joints, but the clay isn't flexible and breaks under stress. So - fabric shoulders and legs. The arms are attached - a button inside the black shoulder piece is stitched through the doll to another button on the other side. The leg is still open - I just stitched the buttons together from one leg to the other, making the hip joints.

(Like her pirate undies?)



Next stop- undressed doll!

Pirate doll 1

A pirate doll with a pegleg! Who doesn't love pirates? I mean, unless they're slaughtering your loved ones. And such a variety of deformities. My first has lost her leg. I also didn't want her to look coquettish or harmless, so I put a dagger in her mouth.

I started with polymer clay and the muslin body. For the face, I made eyeballs out of white clay and baked them, painted, and glossed them before sticking them in Pirate's skull. Her nose is a little ball of clay, and her mouth was made when I shoved in the dagger. It fell out while baking, but a little super glue solves everything,doesn't it?

The dagger's from a piece of sheet metal wrapped in leather, and the pistol in her sash is polymer clay over a thick wire.

The hat is wool felt, blocked on a ping pong ball.
Argh! Love me some woman pirates!

Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse

I love Jane Austen. I've read all her books, and love Emma. For my second doll, I wanted to pay homage to Jane Austen and also to try polymer clay. I sculpted Emma's head, hands, and feet out of Super Sculpey and attached them to a stitched muslin body. I used buttons for the shoulder joints, and stitched joints at the hip and knee. I painted the Super Sculpey pieces with acrylic paint, and also painted the eyes.

I learned my lessons with this doll - 1) mold the eyes and insert them in the clay instead of painting eyes after it's all baked. 2) Don't paint the face - mix the polymer clay to be the right shade- the translucent clay looks more like skin

In Jane Austen's time, most women's dresses were lightweight white cotton. To add interest, I embroidered the edges in blue. The bonnet is silk dupioni over a heavy interfacing. The trim is all hand-crocheted and I love the effect- time well spent.

All that being said, I still love Emma. She was a happy lesson and I like her cheerful, open face