Hi All,
Sorry about not posting for a while. I was taking a break after Halloween.
I've finished a new (non-witch) doll, "Carmen". She is the lead character in the opera of the same name. She is all cloth, with a clay sculpted face mask. I haven't done this style of doll in a very long time, so it took me over a month to complete.
She's a much larger doll than I usually do -- about 28 inches tall. "Carmen" is a Spanish gypsy in the opera. She flirts with all the men and causes a solder to fall in love with her (much to his demise). In the opera, Carmen goes to a bullfight, then meets (and flirts with) the matador in a bar after the fight. It's traditional that Carmen dresses in the style of a matador's outfit for this scene.
I made the face by first sewing and stuffing a basic cloth head without details. I had to create a hole in the front of the cloth head for the open mouth with some needle-sculpting. I then covered the cloth head with plastic wrap and draped an 1/8 inch layer of paper-clay over the face area for the base of the mask. Once the clay had dried, I was able to remove the clay and now had a base for the face details. I continued sculpting the face off the cloth head.
Meanwhile, I started working on the body. It's a "stump" doll, with no legs (why bother making legs, feet & shoes if a long skirt covers it all?) I wanted her to lean to the side & back slightly, while cocking her head to the side. I felt she needed to have at least one hand on her hip. I stitched a body that started out symmetrical, but was able to changed the pose by hand-stitching darts at the knees, waist, & neck to achieve the pose I wanted. There's a thick armature wire running down the center of her body (like a "spine") that helps hold the pose and supports the head.
When designing the costume, I purposely made an outfit that was way "over the top" and as glitzy as possible, as I wanted it to look like an "Opera Costume" (not something a real gypsy peasant girl would wear). This woman is a very famous opera DIVA, and she insists on looking glamourous in every role she performs.
She wears a full skirt with ruffles with a small train. She has a black sequin corset with gold embroidery on the front (two appliques stacked together stitched to the front). Tied over the skirt is a velvet and lame' shawl with several rows of beaded fringe. On top, she wears a red velvet bolero jacket with black lace jeweled appliques. The shoulders are adorned with epaulets made from two half-circle be-jeweled appliques trimmed with black beaded "dingle-ball" fringe.
The hair is a doll wig I re-styled. Getting those spit curls was a real challenge. I finally cut the locks off the wig and styled them separately (using LOTS of hairspray) and glued them directly to the face to keep them in place. That's a real Spanish-style comb in her hair, covered with a lace and sequin veil/mantilla.
And, as a final flair, I made a black lace fan she flourishes by her head while trying to hit the high note.
Have fun, be safe, and wear a mask! (It won't be forever.)
-A.B.
5 comments:
Wow Arley you never disappoint. Carmen is over the top and just marvellous.
She came out amazing! Love the face -good technic. I’m going to have to try the clay over the cloth. Thank you for sharing
Thanks Zia Joey/Maria and Pam for your nice comments! I appreciate your words.
Wow ... just wow! Amazing work Arley! I’ve wanted to do a clay mask for a long time but it seems so intimidating... maybe some day. Thanks for the inspiration!
You are welcome, Mark. Thanks for commenting. I hope you do something wonderful!
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