Playing with her.....

Ohhh, Iam having so much fun with Isabella. I *love* the way she poses ....

Making Sophia

I am so busy , like a honeybee in spring time!*grin*

I am working with my book, with the marionettes (Snow white) and my BJD's.

I painted Isabella early this morning and I am looking forward to *show* her to you. Although I will have only 2 dolls completed , I will be taking orders then. Also , I am painting 4 different faces to give you more options of lip/eye colors. It has been fun!

Meanwhile, I am working with Sophia's mold. I posted about my troubles when I baked the prototype , but I also told you that I would fix it. So , here you can see her mold and if you take a look inside , there is no defect. All the orange stuff is what I used to fix her . Although she has the visible lines , they were repaired and sanded so smoothly , that if you would hold the head and run your fingers through it you can't feel a thing!*grin*

It is getting close. Isabella will be ready very soon, I am now busy trying to design some outfit for her.

Hands and Feet

Hi this is a little update on my BJD's progress. Isabella has been fired and she is complete!Yeahh!!!

I have done one layer in china paint and I will have to do this 6 more times to active the final colors.I will then have 2 dolls ready.Here is a picture showing her hands and feet... they have one layer of paint , more to come. The greatest thing about this process has been what I have learn from my errors. I have improved in many areas and one that I am most excited about it is that I learned to sculpt directly on the porcelain.

The dolls will be poured into molds, but each doll , when is in *leather dry* stage allows some sculpting to be done. for ex. the picture is showing her feet . Each toe was sculpted , or *carved* out to create the curves. There is a right time to do that. If one does it when the porcelain is too wet, is not good or to dry , it will break it.

Sophia first mold is been poured. For her head, I had to make a 4 piece mold because I like to sculpt detailed ear and if I made 2 parts mold , I have found it out that does not work, at least for me.

I will have to fire Sophia and make another mold to shrink to her petite body size. I found out that I sculpt better faces if they are larger than smaller... I will also show you Sophia prototype after all my repairs so if you are curious , bookmark my page or visit me often. I have 2 other blogs and few websites ... lots work at the same time ,grin, believe me I am most productive this way because I don't spend a lot a time at once so I feel refreshed when I get back to something that I let set for while....

Sophia ~ New doll

I normally don't blog often , but today I am *twice*.
I am excited about my new doll. I have been working on her face for the past 3 months. I love her look and she is so different than Isabella and I think she will be amazing. Isabella is a french doll.... I am not sure yet what Sophia should be... any suggestion would be appreciated.

Do see the lines on her face? Well, I was so sad when I saw but sometimes when I open the oven to soon , it happens. I will add liquid apoxie ... it will be fine. Also I have a lot of sanding to do in her before I make her plaster mold. I plan to take some pictures with all I have done in order to get to the point that I am now... but before I must to have Isabella ready.

Knee Joints mold

Finally the knee molds are done. I am pouring the porcelain slip today. I am crossing my finger to work out. I should be able to fire in couple days , then start what I like to do the best - china painting.

Joints!!!!!!!!

If you are following me , you must be *tired* by now from hearing about my troubles with porcelain. I am tired myself!
So much work , I do plan to post a picture (with Isabella in the center) surrounded by all the PARTS that I was NOT happy with.
The Joints for the elbows turned out great and they fit her perfectly , but the joints for the knees were too small. I need to find a middle between my first joints and the last ones.
Well I , once again, modified the prototype and made another set of joints. I KNOW these will work out because I placed leather on my prototype doll legs and the new joints fits very nicely. A set of molds were made today.
I will have to wait about a week and start pouring again. I have all the other parts ready ... just need this last mold to work and then I will be able to make Isabella for sale.
It has been a long time and waiting but I don't make porcelain dolls only and I never intend to be a doll maker solo. I LOVE dolls and making Isabella was a challenge but I loved all the steps, even the difficulties, because I have learned how to make molds and make porcelain BJDS.
I always hear people saying that they make one porcelain doll at a time .... I wonder about that ... I honestly have to make at least 3 to get one doll perfect. For those that do not know ... when the porcelain is poured into the mold and even after a soft fire , the doll still VERY fragile. Sometimes I am sanding and I THINK I am just about done , then bang!! I see an imperfection... such as a little hole , a line or anything that will show up after I fire to the mature stage ... that leg is no good to me.
I broke several pieces during the learning process and I fired several pieces that I will never use on any of my dolls. Measuring the amount of work and time consuming , when my molds will be ready for doll making , they will be limited for 10 to 12 dolls a year.
Meanwhile, ( and I know this sounds crazy, because I have not finished Isabella yet) , I have sculpted a new doll - Sophia!

Isabella is waiting....

When I first made Isabella prototype , I had an idea in mind. My first mold ( see the brown eyes doll ) had the joints permantely attached to the legs and arms. I did not like it because I found limitations to movements.

I worked out new joints , separated for the legs and arms, in which meant that I had to make new molds for the legs and arms a well.

Nothing ever has come to me easily...sigh... I know better that good things requires time and effort.*grin*

After I re-did all I was very excited however I found out as I added the leather to the joints that the joints were now *showing*. I don't want that at all!

Tomorrow, I will start a new mold for the joints.... it is alright because all I have to do is to use the ones I have to make a new mold. Porcelain shrinks and that is all I need.

I should have the dolls ready in 10 days maximum.

I am a perfectionist... being a professional ballerina in my early years has thaught me a lot. I will confess to you that a full kiln allows me 7 complete dolls however because I have to choose the best parts for my final dolls I will be happy when I consider 3 dolls for sale!

I know the pictures are not the best but I want you to see Isabella and my wood shop where I make my molds and furniture.