Awesome Art Dolls- And Sewing Questions

[Olinaeita]

Looked at your etsy shop & LOVE YOUR LITTLE CLAY FIGURINE PONIES heart

[Schwanengesang]

Cool stuff. Do you make the claws/feet yourself or do you buy them?

[XMegantronX]

well my suggestion is hard to do, but if you can pull it off, it would be amazing! this will require super sculpting knowledge and physics.

you could always make them ball-jointed. if made correctly, they should be pose-able and freestanding. then for fur you could sew together and slip it on over as if they were clothes. i've never made a ball-jointed doll before, but i have looked into it before. there's a tutorial here on how to make a human doll. should be able to do the same for an animal with some intense thinking.

as far as clothes, it's hard to make patterns for animals. the only thing i can recommend is look to doll clothing patterns you may like, measure your animal for alterations, and make any changes. most people making their own clothes including the pattern get tracing paper to work on or pattern paper. i would pick up a book or 2 on how to make patterns, because i've never made one myself. only followed them. otherwise, there's nothing really wrong with how you're doing things now.

nice dolls, btw ^^

[MiiruFae]

XMegantronX

well my suggestion is hard to do, but if you can pull it off, it would be amazing! this will require super sculpting knowledge and physics.

you could always make them ball-jointed. if made correctly, they should be pose-able and freestanding. then for fur you could sew together and slip it on over as if they were clothes. i've never made a ball-jointed doll before, but i have looked into it before. there's a tutorial here on how to make a human doll. should be able to do the same for an animal with some intense thinking.

as far as clothes, it's hard to make patterns for animals. the only thing i can recommend is look to doll clothing patterns you may like, measure your animal for alterations, and make any changes. most people making their own clothes including the pattern get tracing paper to work on or pattern paper. i would pick up a book or 2 on how to make patterns, because i've never made one myself. only followed them. otherwise, there's nothing really wrong with how you're doing things now.

nice dolls, btw ^^

I've actually made a fully functional ball-jointed centaur figure once. I am an aspiring toy maker, so I've tried all sorts of stuff. Ball jointing a plush is probably more trouble than it's worth- but not a bad thought.

[MiiruFae]

Schwanengesang

Cool stuff. Do you make the claws/feet yourself or do you buy them?

Everything is hand made. The head, hands/feet and accessories are all sculpted.

[MiiruFae]

Olinaeita

Looked at your etsy shop & LOVE YOUR LITTLE CLAY FIGURINE PONIES heart

Thanks a lot! I'm still trying to get rid of a few of them sweatdrop

[MiiruFae]

Oddly enough...my question still stands. I still want to know how to attach the head and feet a year later..

[Overfiend Katsumi]

I make dolls too, but have never made a floppy one, though I was about to try smile

Reading through this game me some great ideas, and sooo glad that someone posted that ball joint tutorial, I've really wanted to try that!

[Magical Cat Party]

The clay needs more texture added to it to make it look more like fur. If I were going to make these and attach them to a sewn body, I'd literally put the head on a stick and measure less then half an inch (small space) and add some kind of stopper on the end.

Infact, actually I was typing something else completely and came up with a better idea. Use a real screw/bolt instead of a stick. You could secure the fur with washers and a nut. I would NOT try to sew the fur around it, rather I'd make a tiny hole. Any cuts or thread around the bolt and nut might fray over time and come loose. A small hole, as small as possible, will keep it secure without fraying because of the washer. They make some pretty lightweight nuts and bolts too..

[DeddoDeka]

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.

I'm agreeing with this guy. You can't really sew them together. Not even an industrial machine, can really do that. For garments that is. I'm pretty sure they have machines that sew through rough materials, but if you're using hardened clay it will break.

You have three options that I know of, do what the cabbage patch dolls do. Which will require some extra time and research.
You could also just glue them, which is a bit messy and not as neat.
Or three you could make small inserts to the clay heads when you make them using a saw tooth wheel . It's a cheap, easy. And it helps make a clean line of marking holes, where you punch through, and then when you let it dry. You now have holes to sew through without breaking the clay.

Most people who hand sew don't use tracing wheels like the saw tooth wheel... mostly it's used for exact measurements and clean lines so often tailors will use them. In your case, I think it might prove handy.

http://thesewingdivas.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/tracing-wheels.jpg

[Soshi Megami]

You have an amazing talent! Your art dolls are to die for!!
I am a huge fan already. I will have to buy from you in the future.
I am an experienced stitcher, unfortunately it is mostly theatre based.
In my world we would use some sort of craft glue to attach the head to the body.
Im not sure if that would be the quality you are looking for. Good luck though! <3
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