Hand made dolls

[albertajune]

Sorting through some old photos I found the few below
The rags dolls I mad about 4yrs ago and gave away but enjoyed making them from oddments of material

The next two are porcelain dolls that I made and dressed. The second one you have seen before, but I have given her an apron and her own doll.

[img]http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/


The early photos are bad quality but I'm sure that you can just about see.

[Lillia]

Those are adorable and you have done a BEAUTIFUL job!!

[madmum]

They are lovely........I will have to see if i can find mine to photo and share....they are stil packed up from the last time we tried to move I have several porcelaine dolls i have dressed usually copies of collectors dolls like Bru or Armand Marsellie.

[mrs boodles]

WOW, they are just so beautiful, you are so clever.

[Mo]

How do you make a porcelain doll?

My mother used to make dolls and soft toys. You could buy 3D faces (stiff material I think). And she used to dress little celluloid (or were they plastic) dolls. Fairy dolls for the top of a Christmas tree (2 of those still come out every year for my tree), and some in GLB cadet uniform (GLB was a bit like Guides, the Cadets were like Brownies) - that was very fiddly.

[albertajune]

[quote="Mo"]How do you make a porcelain doll?

Making porcelain dolls require quite a bit of equipment so I went to learn at a ladies house who was already making them.
The liquid slip(porcelain) is first poured into individual moulds for head, arms etc. When dry it is very chalky, so has to be handled carefully. The whole thing is smoothed over to get rid of any roughness with a cut up pair of tights, eyes holes cut out and ears and mouth defined with a special tool. This is then fired in a kiln and comes out as porcelain. Special paints are used to put on the features and then fired again. Lastly, eyes inserted, assembled and hair put on.
Sounds simple but but quite time consuming to make the features. If you go wrong it can't be put right. I had to use a paintbrush of just 3hairs for eyelashes which was nerve wracking at the time and on the doll I've put up, they were a bit too heavy. I learned after her.

[Mo]

Wow

[aishakali]

You are the 1st person I have heard of who makes the actual doll and not just the dolls clothes, brill

[Lillia]

You are the 1st person I have heard of who makes the actual doll and not just the dolls clothes, brill

Same here~I'm impressed

[Spreckly]

They are beautifully made. Congratulations.