These dolls are the first of three types of angels we are making in Chaska (Mai-Liis) Peacock's online class. I worked on them at the same time, and they are for the most the same except for halos and embellishments.
Their faces are my first attempt using polymer clay for anything. I used some Sculpey III in beige. I didn't use a mold; I kneaded small balls and flattened them to round and oval shapes and used my finger to roll a concave back which I thought might better conform to the stuffed head. I did not try to sculpt this time around. I drew the faces with permanent markers and added a little blush. I wish I had taken the time to get better proportion. I'd like to try watercolor pencils or some other medium that would allow me to properly blend and create the illusion of contour on a flat surface. I'll work on more expressive faces as I continue learning to create dolls. I'll be dabbing little spots of glue around the faces to make the hair better conceal the sides of the face cabochons.
About the hair. The bright aqua is some kind of fibery yardage I bought as a remnant at Walmart. I had no idea what I'd use it for at the time; I only bought it because it looked interesting. It's sort of like a lightweight Pellon interfacing. It drapes, it crinkles, it's translucent. I came across it looking for something else, and I don't know why I even thought to use it for doll hair -- just one of those serendipitous moments when I decided I liked the way the stuff scrunched! Dare I say, it came to me out of the blue... The second angel has purple hair.
I first tried needlefelting some purple wool. It worked well, but to get a sculpted hair style I was afraid I might chew up the fabric too much. I settled instead for stitching on curly eyelash and feather yarns.
I had a wonderful time shopping at Michaels looking for potential halos. Infinite possibilities with lots of wired eyelash and bead garlands all sparkly and pretty for the holidays. Oh the ribbons!
I cannot wait to shop the after season sales! My turquoise haired angel has a halo made with
gold star garland (found in party supplies!) twisted with a multi colored glitter eyelash. Her purple haired companion has feathers for a halo. The feathers came as trim, glued and stitched to ribbon. I had first considered it as a substitute for the beaded fringe at the bottom of the doll, but the ribbon was too rigid to follow a curve even when clipped. It was next to impossible to try to sew by hand, yet I was set on having a feather halo. I ended up cutting individual feathers with parts of the ribbon (I couldn't pull the feathers out) and glued them in a way to frame the head. The meant the back of the angel's head wasn't pretty, and I couldn't stitch more yarn over it for hair. What I did was place a spoked wire "donut" from the jewelry findings section and placed a bejeweled button in the center.
I had such a good time making these angels. It was like having the best play date ever with my inner child.
