Awesome Art Dolls- And Sewing Questions

[MiiruFae]

Hello!
This is a more unusual post for the "Picture Post" forum, but I'm fairly sure it's still applicable.
I've recently have gotten into making art dolls (see examples below), but I still have a lot of kinks to work out. For instance- how does one create a pattern? I just sort of cut fabric and hope it fits.

Also- I usually make the dolls with a wire armature inside, but I'm interested in making floppy dolls without an armature. Any ideas as to how to securely attach the head and feet to the body without an armature?

These- are my dolls in order from oldest to newest.

Visit My Etsy Shop for Info on Commissions

First- Logan the "wolf-dragon"


Second- Mollie the Collie



Third- Tundra the Arctic Warrior Rat



Fourth- Morpheus the Black Wolf

[MiiruFae]

It would be great to hear from someone who can sew.

[TravisDreams]

well ive never sewn an actual stuffed animal but ive sewn before, hand sewn, not machine, and what id do in that situation is sew the head tot he body inside out with the edge of the material facing inside out, then flip it afterwards? unless u knew that already lol, idk if not, i hope that helps o.O im not expert in sewing, i jus do that method alot to hide the extra fabric from hanging out when finished. though im not an expert, ive sewn my own pants alot of times and made pillows n such =] but thats not enough for me to be considered experienced so im sorry if i wasnt of any help haha

[MiiruFae]

The problem is that the head and feet are sculpted...with clay.

[Lord Melaghan]

These are very unique and interesting. It looks like you killed a real animal, and stuck a fake head on it. Kudos.

[MiiruFae]

Lord Melaghan

These are very unique and interesting. It looks like you killed a real animal, and stuck a fake head on it. Kudos.

Thanks? I guess that would also take a decent amount of skill.

[MiiruFae]

Also- I totally do commissions.

[MiiruFae]

Visit My Etsy Shop for Info on Commissions

[Jellicle Moon]

Omg, I totally want to buy your warrior rat's accessories and put them on my pet rats! Then they could have little grooming/nibble battles and I could take overly dramatic pictures! Eeee!

But anyways - I absolutely love them! (especially the rat) the feet are very accurate!

Wonderful work!

[MiiruFae]

Jellicle Moon

Omg, I totally want to buy your warrior rat's accessories and put them on my pet rats! Then they could have little grooming/nibble battles and I could take overly dramatic pictures! Eeee!

But anyways - I absolutely love them! (especially the rat) the feet are very accurate!

Wonderful work!

Thanks! I had rats too until very recently. They make such wonderful pets. I had fun making the rat- it was an xmas present for my little sister.

[MiiruFae]

So- no one would know how to do this?

[AngelsSerene]

these are really awesome!! did you make them?

[MiiruFae]

Shy-mimimiku

these are really awesome!! did you make them?

Sure did. I make them as commissions. If you're interested, you can visit my etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MiiruFae

[TheBodyVolcanic]

Oh my god. Those are AMAZING! I really want to make art dolls, but I don't have all that much time -___-
Also, if you're making a floppy doll, I would suggest either:
a) not make the head/feet from clay, but with cloth (however, I think that would sort of defeat the purpose of your technique) or
b) you could maybe poke small holes through the clay and sew through the holes and cloth, to sew the pieces onto the body (probably with some kind of heavier thread.)

Oh and, can you give me some advice on how to use wire armatures to make things like this? The only times I've used them were to make these little yarn doll things (they aren't very... cool xp )but these are the kind of dolls I want to make! So any advice? mrgreen

[Kait Yslanaa]

A good idea might look at things like cabbage patch dolls, or just those old baby dolls for little girls. Those have the plastic heads and cloth bodies.

I think what's going on with those is that there's a sort of rim on the ends of the limbs, and they just sew the ends of the cloth tightly into that rim. That or use an O ring. It's been ages since I've actually seen one, but my little Big Daddy plush has a similar design and it looks like they just used a zip-tie with his head.