He's finished -- finally!
Friday, April 21, 2017
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Latest Adventure in Dollmaking, Part V
Mini-Buster is almost finished! Since the last posting, he's gained pants, a tie and collar, hair, and a face! He's also received his rustic twig chair from ebay. Yet to do are: finishing the shoes with laces and sole stitching; and topping it all off with the pork pie hat.
Meantime, he's posed for a few shots...
I was pleased that the ebay seller had given a detailed description of the dimensions of the twig chair; it fits Mini-Buster perfectly.
Mini-Buster is almost finished! Since the last posting, he's gained pants, a tie and collar, hair, and a face! He's also received his rustic twig chair from ebay. Yet to do are: finishing the shoes with laces and sole stitching; and topping it all off with the pork pie hat.
Meantime, he's posed for a few shots...
I was pleased that the ebay seller had given a detailed description of the dimensions of the twig chair; it fits Mini-Buster perfectly.
The facial expression reminds me of a scene in The Blacksmith...
Ta ta for now.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Latest Adventure in Doll Making, Part IV
Work on Mini-Buster hasn't exactly followed a linear progression in the last week or two. I've alternated between working on the hair and the clothing. Drafting the patterns for the clothes involved plenty of trial and error, but I managed to produce a shirt and vest. I wasn't certain how to treat the hair. Originally, I'd purchased some dark brown, loosely spun yarn, which I'd planned to weft and glue in layers to the head. But I decided instead to give him modeled hair, since it would be simpler to apply to the clay head, and it would be more durable. I'm building it with layers of acrylic modeling paste, using a small, stiff brush.
Still so much to do!
Work on Mini-Buster hasn't exactly followed a linear progression in the last week or two. I've alternated between working on the hair and the clothing. Drafting the patterns for the clothes involved plenty of trial and error, but I managed to produce a shirt and vest. I wasn't certain how to treat the hair. Originally, I'd purchased some dark brown, loosely spun yarn, which I'd planned to weft and glue in layers to the head. But I decided instead to give him modeled hair, since it would be simpler to apply to the clay head, and it would be more durable. I'm building it with layers of acrylic modeling paste, using a small, stiff brush.
Oh, and I made him a broom. I wanted him to have a prop of some sort -- haha! What a mess that made! I untwisted some jute twine for the bristles, and wet and pressed it to straighten the fiber. The broomstick is made from a 3/16" dowel. After gathering the bristles to the stick, sewing them into the wedge shape with button thread, and then trimming them straight along the bottom, I had jute fibers everywhere! And there was still shedding at the slightest touch. So I gave the whole thing a coat of acrylic spray as a fixative. Next time (if there is one), I'll use hemp cord for bristles.
The shirt and vest turned out rather well. Here's a close view:
I still need to make the collar and clip-on tie, as well as his baggy pants and suspenders. And of course, he'll have his pork pie hat eventually. I'm going to build the hair up a bit more (young Buster had a lush head of hair) and paint his hair and features, before I finally outfit him. I've got a rustic chair on order for him from ebay. (I thought about making him one, but that's just getting carried away...)
So here he is so far:
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Latest Adventure in Doll Making, Part III
Mini-Buster is coming along slowly and steadily. It doesn't look like much progress, but it was time consuming work smoothing out the transition between the paperclay mask and the cloth head. I added clay to the gaps and covered the back of the head with clay as well. I smoothed it, sanded it, gessoed it, and painted a coat of muslin-colored acrylic over the entire head.
And he has slap shoes! Or at least the beginnings of slap shoes. I'll probably glue some soles and embroider some laces on them, so they look less like socks -- haha...
But no clothes yet. I haven't drafted the patterns for those yet, but I don't think it will be difficult at all. I did buy a few fat quarters at the local quilt shop for his pants, vest, and shirt, though. There were two middle-aged women working at the cutting counter, and they asked me what I was making. "Clothes for a cloth doll -- it's Buster Keaton!"
"Buster Keaton? Who's that?" was the reply.
Me: *facepalm*
More in a little while...
Mini-Buster is coming along slowly and steadily. It doesn't look like much progress, but it was time consuming work smoothing out the transition between the paperclay mask and the cloth head. I added clay to the gaps and covered the back of the head with clay as well. I smoothed it, sanded it, gessoed it, and painted a coat of muslin-colored acrylic over the entire head.
And he has slap shoes! Or at least the beginnings of slap shoes. I'll probably glue some soles and embroider some laces on them, so they look less like socks -- haha...
But no clothes yet. I haven't drafted the patterns for those yet, but I don't think it will be difficult at all. I did buy a few fat quarters at the local quilt shop for his pants, vest, and shirt, though. There were two middle-aged women working at the cutting counter, and they asked me what I was making. "Clothes for a cloth doll -- it's Buster Keaton!"
"Buster Keaton? Who's that?" was the reply.
Me: *facepalm*
More in a little while...
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Latest Adventure in Doll Making, Part II
The Buster Keaton cloth/clay doll is coming along. I drafted the body pattern, and after much trial and error, and tweaking of proportions, sewed together a little Keatonesque figure.
I think his ankles and torso could benefit from some needle-sculpting to make them more shapely. But since I plan to dress him in his iconic costume of his early-1920s short films, it's not that important. I may change my mind; I don't know...
I decided that since this is going to be a youthful Buster, he should be poseable. (Or at least I wanted to try my hand at making a jointed cloth doll.) So I gave him some some moveable joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and wired his fingers. He has limited poseability, but he still can assume a variety of poses:
And here he is with some of my tools of the trade (those hemostats are indispensable!):
I carved out some eyelids on the paperclay face mask, to make his eyes look open. The mask is glued to the cloth head-back. I will be applying more clay to the head, smoothing out the gap between the mask and cloth. The ears are cloth.
Oh, and I'm not sure if it's apparent from any of the photos, but I made sure to truncate his right index finger, just like the real Buster's!
That's the end for now...
...more soon; there's still so much work to do.
Good night!
The Buster Keaton cloth/clay doll is coming along. I drafted the body pattern, and after much trial and error, and tweaking of proportions, sewed together a little Keatonesque figure.
I think his ankles and torso could benefit from some needle-sculpting to make them more shapely. But since I plan to dress him in his iconic costume of his early-1920s short films, it's not that important. I may change my mind; I don't know...
I decided that since this is going to be a youthful Buster, he should be poseable. (Or at least I wanted to try my hand at making a jointed cloth doll.) So I gave him some some moveable joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and wired his fingers. He has limited poseability, but he still can assume a variety of poses:
And here he is with some of my tools of the trade (those hemostats are indispensable!):
I carved out some eyelids on the paperclay face mask, to make his eyes look open. The mask is glued to the cloth head-back. I will be applying more clay to the head, smoothing out the gap between the mask and cloth. The ears are cloth.
Oh, and I'm not sure if it's apparent from any of the photos, but I made sure to truncate his right index finger, just like the real Buster's!
That's the end for now...
...more soon; there's still so much work to do.
Good night!
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Latest Adventure in Doll Making
Designing an original Buster Keaton cloth and paperclay figure...
I began by sculpting a simple 2-1/2" face in polymer clay (the purple mask on the left). I'm NOT a sculptor, so this was a challenge.
But the idea was ultimately to create a mold in which to make paperclay casts, so I could recreate the doll face however many times I wanted. For molding material, I selected a two-part silicone molding putty, which once mixed, sets up in less than an hour! After curing and cooling the original poly clay sculpt, I pushed it into the silicone compound. Once the silicone had cured, it was firm but flexible, and I was able to pop the original mask right out of it. The flexibility of this molding compound eliminates any worries about undercuts. Another nice thing is there's no need for a release agent. Instant gratification (after hours of agonizing sculpting -- ha!)
The next step was to push the casting clay (in this case, an air-dry clay other than paperclay, since it was what I had on hand, and I'm really impatient) into the silicone mold. Again, no release agent is required. After making the cast, I removed it from the mold to allow air to circulate around it, since it takes a day or two to dry completely. It shrinks a bit too. The white mask on the right is the cast.
The next step was to draft a pattern for a cloth body for the figure. I was able to get a head start by adapting a pattern I'd drafted ten years ago. It was for a larger-scale female figure though, so I had to do some tweaking of body dimensions and proportions, and to scale it down. I cut, sewed, and stuffed some mock-up body parts to make sure I was figuring correctly.
Here I have pinned a test torso and upper leg together. Buster Keaton was a short man, so I think these proportions look about right. He seems to have too narrow shoulders, but the upper arms will complete the shoulder lines and give him a more typical masculine upper body. And a bit of needle-sculpting can provide muscle definition if needed, but I'm getting way ahead of things here.
The clay mask will be glued to a cloth head-back. I plan to fill in and smooth out the resulting seam/gap with paperclay. Ears will be cloth and sewn onto the head back before the clay or any other media are applied. Once the head is constructed, smoothed, and sanded, it will get a coat of gesso, then be painted. Hair will need to be glued on; I haven't decided yet what to use for the hair.
I plan to sew Buster's iconic outfit from his silent shorts (including the pork pie hat!), which means I'll have more pattern drafting to do. But I don't mind that -- I love designing clothes.
By the way, here's the doll I designed ten years ago, the pattern of which I'm adapting for this latest doll:
That's right, who knew that Bettie Page would one day give birth to Buster Keaton?
Designing an original Buster Keaton cloth and paperclay figure...
I began by sculpting a simple 2-1/2" face in polymer clay (the purple mask on the left). I'm NOT a sculptor, so this was a challenge.
But the idea was ultimately to create a mold in which to make paperclay casts, so I could recreate the doll face however many times I wanted. For molding material, I selected a two-part silicone molding putty, which once mixed, sets up in less than an hour! After curing and cooling the original poly clay sculpt, I pushed it into the silicone compound. Once the silicone had cured, it was firm but flexible, and I was able to pop the original mask right out of it. The flexibility of this molding compound eliminates any worries about undercuts. Another nice thing is there's no need for a release agent. Instant gratification (after hours of agonizing sculpting -- ha!)
The next step was to push the casting clay (in this case, an air-dry clay other than paperclay, since it was what I had on hand, and I'm really impatient) into the silicone mold. Again, no release agent is required. After making the cast, I removed it from the mold to allow air to circulate around it, since it takes a day or two to dry completely. It shrinks a bit too. The white mask on the right is the cast.
The next step was to draft a pattern for a cloth body for the figure. I was able to get a head start by adapting a pattern I'd drafted ten years ago. It was for a larger-scale female figure though, so I had to do some tweaking of body dimensions and proportions, and to scale it down. I cut, sewed, and stuffed some mock-up body parts to make sure I was figuring correctly.
Here I have pinned a test torso and upper leg together. Buster Keaton was a short man, so I think these proportions look about right. He seems to have too narrow shoulders, but the upper arms will complete the shoulder lines and give him a more typical masculine upper body. And a bit of needle-sculpting can provide muscle definition if needed, but I'm getting way ahead of things here.
The clay mask will be glued to a cloth head-back. I plan to fill in and smooth out the resulting seam/gap with paperclay. Ears will be cloth and sewn onto the head back before the clay or any other media are applied. Once the head is constructed, smoothed, and sanded, it will get a coat of gesso, then be painted. Hair will need to be glued on; I haven't decided yet what to use for the hair.
I plan to sew Buster's iconic outfit from his silent shorts (including the pork pie hat!), which means I'll have more pattern drafting to do. But I don't mind that -- I love designing clothes.
By the way, here's the doll I designed ten years ago, the pattern of which I'm adapting for this latest doll:
That's right, who knew that Bettie Page would one day give birth to Buster Keaton?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)