Mold Making

Second Revision

Mold Making

Endless Adjustments

After my disappointment with my first doll and set of molds, I re-worked all of the parts and made a complete set of new plaster molds.  From these molds I made the doll on the right.  You can see that she has balls in each joint socket, they are all separate.  While I was working on this version, I really loved the idea of having these separate spheres that I could eventually glaze with something unexpected like red or gold.  Once I strung this version, I realized there was too much play in the joints and the doll wouldn't stand on her own, which really bothered me.  Taking all these factors into consideration I knew I had to make even more adjustments.  I re-worked the elbow, knee, and hip joints so that the ball connected to the thigh, the ball at the knee connected to the lower leg and the ball at the elbow connected to the lower arm. I made new molds for these parts. You can see all of these modifications on the doll on the left.  I was satisfied with the way the doll moved for a time.  This familiar nagging feeling is creeping back into my mind and I know that what I have to do is make even more adjustments.  Soon I will be adding separate knee and elbow joints that will accommodate a fuller range of motion.

Sueding the Joint Sockets

This is called "sueding" the joints.  This is a process well known to porcelain doll artists.  Strangely, there is little to no helpful information about how to do this.  Therefore, I am experimenting and showing others how i am doing it.  I am using ultrasuede, which is synthetic suede.  Typically, very thin leather called pliver is used for this job.  I am sure it probably yields a beautiful result and luxurious movement.  I had some ultrasuede handy so that is what I used and I feel better about using it because it is not an animal product.
   I found sueding the joint to be tricky because you need to make a flat piece of fabric fit perfectly into an organic, curvy, 3-dimensional space.  This is something that is both frustrating and
exhilarating.  Once the pieces have
been cut to fit into EVERY socket you need to glue them into place.  Elmer's Glue All works well and is surprisingly durable.

Clay Master

This is my original sculpt also known as a "master".  It is made from earthenware clay, it should be noted that I hand sculpted each part of the doll.  I made my first set of plaster molds from these parts.  It was difficult for me to know how well the parts would work once strung with elastic because everything at this stage is solid.  The pieces only become hollow after they are cast in porcelain slip.  I ended up being very DISSATISFIED with the first doll and so I totally re-worked everything except the head and made my second set of molds.  I learned a lot, mainly that you need to really love making molds in order to get good at this.

Master

First Stringing

Here are two of my original, hand sculpted porcelain ball joint dolls after they were strung with elastic cord for the first time.  I was happy with how well they stand on their own.  They are like two little people.