Latest Adventure in Doll Making, La Fin

He's finished -- finally!

Latest Adventure in Doll Making, Part VI

Still waiting on his hat...

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.

The facial expression reminds me of a scene in The Blacksmith...

 Ta ta for now.

 

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.

  

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:

Still so much to do!

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...