Making dolls from paperclay with your own hands is a very fascinating hobby. It does not require large financial investments. Although time, effort, patience and creative ideas to create a doll from paperclay will require a lot. Not the fact that the first time you get a real masterpiece that painted the imagination. But if the desire is great, then all the obstacles are overcome.
The main directions in creating dolls from paperclay
Each author has his own vision of the future creation. Someone wants to make just a static interior toy that will decorate the house, but for someone it is important that the author’s paperclay doll changes the position of the arms and legs. Others dream that it will be possible to sew a variety of outfits on it, make amazing accessories and dress up a fashionista to your taste and mood. And some believe that every thing in the house should fulfill its functions. Therefore, the chrysalis should be useful, “work”.
For each direction there is a certain manufacturing technique. They vary in complexity. Papperclay dolls exist:
- static interior without body parts;
- functional (warmer on the kettle, night light);
- dynamic with a cotton body and limbs;
- dynamic rigid with bending joints;
- figurines.
This type of needlework is very young, but master-puppeteers create new masterpieces daily, putting their creative potential into them, so the boundaries of techniques are constantly expanding.
Static interior doll without body parts
Such crafts are the easiest to perform. For them, the master needs to sculpt in detail only the head and hands. The body itself is replaced by a dense frame.
So for a smart merchant - a paperclay doll, the photo of which is presented below under number 1, the lower part of the body is a plastic cover from the cake packaging, and the upper is made of cloth tightly wound on a strong core. And the Russian beauty in a folk dress and kokoshnik, which is marked with the number 2 in the picture, is set on a dense cardboard cone.
For hands use a wire wrapped in rags.
Strengthen the frame structure by wrapping it with a bandage dipped in gypsum solution.
Kettle warmers
You can add functionality to a static interior doll by adding some details. If the fluffy skirt, under which the cover from the cake box is hidden, is made with a quilted lining and longer than the frame, it will turn into a wonderful hot-water bottle for a teapot.
Doll lights
An interesting idea to make a creative night light for the bedroom. In this case, the doll should be holding in its hand an imitation of a kerosene lamp, a portable lantern, or a model of a candle in which they hold a lamp holder.
As power supply use batteries or a connection to the mains. In both cases, a wire is required. If the lamp burns due to the battery, it can be hidden under the doll's skirt.
If you plan to make a more powerful lamp, you need to consider the output of the wire with a plug. With its help, the circuit is provided with current. To do this, an electric wire is brought under the skirt of a static interior doll. The plug itself remains outside.
The wire leads through the hole in the skirt frame along the back, securing with tape. Then it is held on the doll’s hand. He leaves through his palm near the ring of the lamp or at the base of the candle and enters the cartridge with a light bulb screwed into it. To pass the wire through the palm of the doll, during modeling, you will need to insert a piece of plastic tube into the brush, for example, from a balloon.
Dynamic dolls with soft torso
These figures have a head made of paperclay, hands and feet from the feet to the knee. Everything else is sewn from fabric and tightly packed with soft filler.
Hands and feet are sewn to the body or attached to a soft workpiece. Due to this, the doll has some mobility: she understands her hands up or push them forward, sits, but cannot stand.
For such dolls, the master needs to fashion a head with a neck and a small extension, an overlay on the chest and back, arms to the elbow or just the hands, legs to the knees or solely the feet.
Small holes are made in the attachment points on the chest and back, as well as on the arms and legs, so that these parts can be sewn to a soft workpiece or fastened with wire.
Dynamic stiff dolls with bending joints
They are the most difficult to manufacture. As for other crafts, the master first prepares a sketch-drawing.
Then you need to sculpt every detail. Through holes are made in the forearm of the hands and on the hips of the feet. They must be so large that the sewing needle passes. Holes are also made on the body at the points of attachment of the arms and legs. If the body is not hollow, then they pass through the part.
To give mobility to the doll, a wire is drawn through the openings of the trunk and limbs, at the ends of which a loop is made or a plastic plug is glued. You can pull the parts together with a strong thread, fishing line or garment, tying knots at the ends or sewing on a small button.
Sometimes, to give the doll mobility, they use a swivel joint. Then, in the places of the joints, spherical notches are made in both parts. Holes are also remembered to be made during sculpting.
As a hinge use a bead. The line is pulled through the hole in the first part. Then they put a bead on it. Having passed the fastening line through the hole in the second part, the connection is tightened so that the hinge fits into both holes. The end is fixed.
Figurines
These are motionless interior dolls with a static position of the trunk and legs. Usually, they are subject, depicting some point in life.
To make a paperclay doll frozen in a certain position, you must first prepare a sketch of the future composition on paper. You can use photos where people or dolls are in the right position.
Do-it-yourself doll frame made of paperclay. Master Class
Before starting the creation of the sculpture make the frame. It can be made of wire and foil. Then the whole structure must be wrapped with synthetic winterizer or rags and coated with PVA glue. After drying, cover the figure with paper tape. Now she is ready to cover with papierklei and sculpting the figurine.
If it is difficult to find the wire, and the foil is too small, it is possible to make a frame for the doll from paperclay from other available means. The master class below shows this process.
1. Roll up a ball for the head from foil.
2. A cardboard box of the right size is wrapped with rags.
2. The body is wrapped with foil on top.
3. Pierce the box with long wooden skewers so that they lock on both sides.
4. Using a toothpick or piece of skewer, the head is attached to the body.
5. Hands are made of wire, rod handle. You can use a knitting needle by bending it. A variant with a wooden skewer is also suitable: after winding with a rag, it is broken in the right place, imitating an elbow bend.
6. Apply the frame of the hands to the top of the box and wind it with rags and threads.
7. The neck and limbs are wrapped with strips of fabric, achieving the desired thickness, then fixed with foil.
8. The whole structure is tightly wrapped with threads. The cut tip is fixed with a knot.
Now the frame can be wrapped with paper duct tape and begin to sculpt the doll.
Modeling dolls. Master Class
To work, you will need tools: small scissors, a teaspoon to smooth the seams, a sharp knife to remove excess material, a knitting needle, a toothpick. It is imperative to keep a cup of water next to it, in order to correct something if necessary, moisten the right place.
1. First, prepare a stand for a figure or shoes. For stability, metal objects are placed inside these parts.
2. Then a layer of papper glue is applied to the frame.
3. Now you need to install the figure on a stand or shoes. The joints are covered and spread with a spoon.
4. Now the master sculpts the face of the doll from paperkley. To do this, first add the pieces rolled up with a ball in the cheeks and chin area. A sausage is placed on the forehead, the stitches are leveled.
5. Add the nose to the face.
6. Form eye hollows, brow bulges.
7. Small balls of paperclay will become eyeballs.
8. Cutting a circle with scissors from a thin cake and cutting it in half, the master forms the eyelids.
9. They must be very carefully applied to the eyeballs and smoothed.
10. Lips are made from sausages with sharp edges.
11. Those who want to mold a realistic chrysalis need to remember the nasolabial folds.
12. The hands are made of cakes. They are cut with a knife, each finger is formed separately.
13. Brushes are attached to the figure.
14. If necessary, the hands are given the desired position, if, for example, the girl thinks in hand to give a kitten.
Now the toy should dry well. This can take about 48 hours.
15. Then the puppeteer covers the doll with watercolor, stained glass or acrylic paints, adding orange, pink or brown to a white droplet. In a darker tone, the area under the eyes, on the temples, on the chin is emphasized. The cheeks are brightened with a reddish paint. The lips are painted red, the pupils are blue, green or brown. A thin brush is drawn around the eyelids and the eyelashes are painted on. It is allowed not to paint the body under clothes if it is not planned to change clothes.
16. If desired, the figure can be varnished.
17. After drying the figure, the master makes the doll's hair.
18. Then he sews an outfit and makes the necessary accessories. Some masters sculpt a figure immediately in clothes, then it does not only need to be painted.
Such a doll is nice to give or receive as a gift. And you can even sell it - today these handmade products are in demand.