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!