Author's doll is an unusual, modern and attractive trend in applied art. Its creation always involves manual work, therefore, almost all author's dolls are made in a single copy. The popularity of designer dolls is increasing every year. They are bought as gifts, talismans or for personal collection.
Making a doll is a very exciting activity, although it requires a lot of time and effort. For many hobbyists, this hobby has turned into a lucrative business.
What is a designer doll?
There are a lot of dolls that fall under the category of author's dolls. Among them are anatomically accurate figures that exactly reproduce the appearance of a person, grotesque characters from cartoons, fairy tales or legends, as well as just cute rag dolls. What character each of the dolls will have, what charm it will carry, largely depends on the author's ability to endow his creation with a soul. Artistic skills are given a secondary place here. The reputation of the master is created by the style and character of each doll that comes out from under his hands. These are the first steps towards getting the puppeteer name to work for him.
Materials for making dolls
Until recently, mainly porcelain was used to make collectible dolls. Nowadays, handmade designer dolls are most often made of polymer clay or plastic. The popularity of self-hardening clay and cold porcelain is slightly less. Also, dolls can be made of wood, sewn from textile materials, knitted or crocheted.
Ball-jointed dolls are becoming more and more popular. The master builds many hinges into their body, which gives it a "human" mobility. Such a doll can take virtually any pose, and if the level of the master is high enough, it will look almost like a living one.
Particular attention should be paid to the eyes and hair of the future doll. For the manufacture of hair, both natural and artificial materials are used. To create a portrait or exclusive doll, it is important to use natural hair. If the author has made a doll that depicts mythical characters or animals, it is perfectly acceptable to use artificial hair. The designer textile doll can have yarn hair. For such dolls, the idea is important, not the portrait resemblance to a person. The eyes can be drawn, or you can use colored lenses, plastic, rhinestones, German crystal.
Making a doll from plastic
As already mentioned, the designer doll made of clay (plastic for modeling) is made by most of the puppeteer masters. This popularity is due to the fact that plastic is very convenient to work with and allows you to create any plastic effects. Outwardly, it is very similar to plasticine. To achieve a natural skin tone, you can mix several colors. In addition, polymer masses can be colored in any tone using paints, dry pigments or pencils. To give solidity to the product, it is enough to bake polymer clay in an ordinary oven.
Making a doll from porcelain
For the manufacture of porcelain dolls, only high-quality material is used, because most of them cannot be stained, so their color will completely depend on the material used.
Individual parts of the doll are not made by sculpting, as was the case with polymer clay. Craftsmen use special molds for casting, which they create themselves. After that, the puppeteer must connect all the parts into one whole. A porcelain doll can be either fixed or hinged.
Modern craftsmen are expanding the possibilities of porcelain with new techniques. For example, to achieve the effect of glowing, radiant, delicate skin, especially skilled puppeteers use a sophisticated waxing technique on porcelain.
Papier-mâché dolls
This handmade designer doll can be made of papier-mâché. This material is a substance made of fibrous materials and adhesive elements. Experts recommend using cellulose and paste for making papier-mâché. A homogeneous mass is applied to special molds. It can be removed only after the base for the doll hardens and becomes solid.
The technique of using papier-mâché allows you to make a doll on hinges, with a built-in inner frame. Before you start sculpting a papier-mâché doll, you need to carefully think over all the details, prepare drawings and patterns. A complex doll needs to be drawn in several projections. If the finished doll will have hinges, they are also drawn in the drawings.
Combining doll making techniques
Very often, an author's doll is quite difficult to make, through a combination of several different techniques. For example, some of the parts are made of papier-mâché, and the rest are made of polymer clay. Alternatively, the body can be made from textile materials using padding to shape it. Pieces of cloth, special balls for toys, or any other loose material can be used as stuffing.
This designer textile doll is made of a material with a small nap. For example, fleece and flannel imitate leather very well. A commonly used technique is sculptural and textile. Such dolls are made using wire frames, which are wrapped with padding polyester. From above, the doll is trimmed with nylon, which imitates the color of the skin.
How to start making designer dolls
To make the first doll, the future puppeteer needs to decide on his own preferences. It is important to choose the material for the future creation, its style.
In addition, you can start by attending master classes or courses on making an author's doll. This stage will become important for those novice authors who do not have knowledge of color and the basics of modeling, drawing and composition. This designer doll is made using special technologies, which can also be studied at master classes.
The puppeteer needs to know how to create a sculpture (which is the basis of a doll), various techniques for creating eyes and attaching hair, painting a doll, sticking eyelashes and eyebrows, as well as how to connect individual parts. In addition, the master needs knowledge about the history of the costume, the methods of its manufacture, how to make accessories for the future doll, about the decoupage technique and fabric painting.
The puppeteer master must prepare for the fact that the masterpiece does not come out the first time. The first dolls of the author's work are likely to remain in the apartment or become gifts for friends and family. After gaining the necessary experience, your work can be sold through hand-made exhibitions and trading platforms on the Internet. But even if this process is not as fast as we would like, the main thing in the vocation of the puppeteer is to enjoy the process of making dolls.
