All
cultures in human history have had dolls or figures based on human and animal
forms. Dolls are used in festival displays and religious ceremonies and for
more mundane and worldly story telling too.
Most early French dolls
were not playthings at all, but miniature displays of the dress designs of the
times, used in sales. It was far easier to ship or carry miniature
ensembles to show potential customers, and less expensive too!
Very elaborate ensembles
still exist in the collections of fashion doll enthusiasts, and there is a brisk
business in collectable dolls and their clothing and accessories that grows
every year. Children and adults alike still take great pleasure in miniature
couture and "playing with dolls". Many
cultures attach religious significance to figurines and dolls--and other
religions ban them entirely. Early
Egyptian figures were meant to serve the god-kings reborn into their many lives.
Chinese emperors were buried with detailed figures of warriors, horses, and
servants of all kind, meant to accompany them in to the Next Realm.
Some
figures are meant for children---for instructive play, including toy soldiers
for learning military maneuvers and baby dolls for learning nurturing skills.
Amish dolls have no faces, which reflects their tradition of not showing faces
in pictures at all.
At left is a baby doll
made using a pattern I drafted. She's dressed in a white cotton christening gown
with pintucks and lace. I used to do a lot more sewing than I do now! Click here
to see more of my early cloth dolls.
And then there are the
fashion dolls for learning how to shop and accessorize with outfits galore! Paper
dolls have been popular with ladies of all ages since "Godeys Ladies
Book" and printed fashion plates began appearing in print. Dolls were
occasionally available in magazines as far back as the late 1800's, and are now
more popular than ever.
Click here to see a line
of black and white paper dolls that
I drew. Click here for a how-to on digitally
creating and coloring paper dolls.
Dolls
and maquettes, another word for "figures", are sometimes made by
artists for use in rendering characters in animated work.
Polymer clays have been
used in animations for more than 60 years. "Gumby" and "Davie and
Goliath" were early television stop-frame animations that used a form of
clay that never hardens, called Plastolina.
Puppets are like dolls
that have the ability to move and react and say things, and you can never be too
sure what they'll be up to next.
Hand puppets, finger
puppets, marionettes, and ventriloquist "dummies" are all forms of
animate-able figures. Aunt Acid is a polymer clay and cloth puppet with an
internal wire armature. Click
here to see a step-by-step tutorial on the
making of Aunt Acid.
At
right is a Purple Faerie Puppet, made with Premo head and hands, a hand dyed and
decorated canvas body, and dyed wool hair. There are pointed ears wearing those
earrings!
The Blue Mermaid is another fantasy
character. All her scales are hand cut using several sizes of circle cutters,
and then individually applied to her tail.
Her nine strand necklace is made of
tiny crystal beads and polymer shells & coral, which took almost as long to
make as she did!
She's shown holding a larger single
strand necklace that was featured in a how-to article both in Jewelry Crafts
Magazine, and in Create
A Polymer Clay Impression.
Both the Faerie and the Mermaid have
heads that are formed over real (blown-out) egg
shells. This makes the head lightweight and also the correct shape. Much of
the armature inside polymer clay dolls is either paper or wire or cloth, or
aluminum foil. Often is a combination of many things.
Since their first
appearance in DOLLS magazine, and in the book "Creating with Polymer
Clay" (Lark Books, by Steven Ford
and Leslie Dierks), my "Shady Lady" series has always caused
comments... these dolls are not for children, and aren't toys at all!
Each is a
custom order, and prices for a 12" doll such as "Pearl" begin at
$250.00. Larger and more elaborate means more expensive, especially with lavish
use of beading, special fabrics, and other details.
All of the ladies are made
of hand modeled polymer clays, such as FIMO , Premo, or Cernit. These are
the firm end of the clay spectrum, and take well to sculpting and to making
miniatures. Kato clay, newer to the market, is exceptionally strong. Dolls are
dressed using my carefully gathered treasure trove of fabrics, laces, and trims.
These ladies were photographed by Bob Grieser, and each lady had her own
room with furniture and accessories made of polymer clay. View more of Madame's
House and her Shady Ladies here. Read about making the miniature
vanity and dresser set here.
These are grown up dolls,
each with a story (or three) of her own.
Along
with the "Shady Ladies" in the DOLLS magazine article were my very
first dolls made with polymer clay. (The Lady was the very FIRST thing I made
when becoming aware of polymer clays --we immediately ordered some more!)
Shown here are the Baby
Princess Aurora, The King and The Queen, a Lord Chamberlain and a Lady In
Waiting, as well as the Good Fairy.
The set is of Sleeping
Beauty's Christening, and is lavishly costumed...and though the dolls are a long
way from polished, they showed the potential in the medium, and were a lot of
fun to create.
Any medium that so
immediately allows the user satisfaction in creating is one to explore
further... The arts of needlework, modeling, millinery, cobbling and more go
into making successful dolls, and polymer clay has applications for all of them.
Even those with crude
modeling skills can find the fun of polymer clays---and practice makes them
better. Books on anatomy, as well as those on sculpting and working with other
artistic media can be a great resource. Visit your local library, and also
remember that having your favorites in your OWN library makes for easier
reference.
Here are links to lots of
other pages on this site about dolls and miniatures.
Some
recommended books
Face Cabochons
A
tutorial on painting cloth faces
A
tutorial on making, molding and painting polymer clay doll faces
A
Japanese Doll Project
Madame's
House
Katherine, a life sized cloth doll Shakespearian Actress.
Golde, a life sized cloth doll
Bellydancer.
Aunt Acid, a polymer clay puppet Spokes Model.
Making
miniatures
"Pieces"
the miniature fabric store
My full line of paper dolls.
A
tutorial on digital doll art.
Cloth dolls made with commercially available bodies.
Cloth dolls made with my own patterns.
A
list of links to suppliers and doll artists
Copyright©1995-2010 Sarajane Helm All rights
are held by the artist
Reproduction without permission is
a violation of copyright law
