Doll Stand, leather lining, wiring, bad feet and hands

I wanted to see my progress, so you'll see that the hands and feet still need work and don't look acceptable. The rest seem to be okay enough. It's enough because there's always room for improvement, and then new ideas also come up.

What's funny about making these, I've shown my work to some of my gallery friends and they could accept the bad feet above, and sell it as fine art. On the other hand, if I show this to doll stores, they would not accept it for their customers. 

A few gallery owners told me that I might consider just leaving them as is, and not even painting, glazing, putting clothes or hair on my works.

My progress may be slow for some people, but I'm happy with my pace. This is why I'm sharing now, because the perception of a final, finished work varies with people, and it might take a while to meet everyone's expectations, including mine. 

My first porcelain doll head

I wanted to see if I made a mold that had two pieces for the face would work, and it did. This is why you see the seam running down the middle of the face.

Ceramic shrinks so you will notice that the doll head on the right is smaller than the one that just came out of the mold, even though it has completely dried. The temperature for porcelain is a little more than 6 times the temperature for baking a cake. Think about baking a cake inside a volcano.

As you are probably learning a few things about porcelain and moldmaking from the pictures above, I can't help but look at the wheels of my stolen bike behind the table. I went to a cafe and closed the cafe at 11 p.m. I had with me my ebook reader, and was enjoying reading Harry Potter. I came out and the bike, which I chained to the bike rack, together with 5 or 6 other bikes, was gone. I walked home and then called the police. They came and told me I was the 4th person that night. They explained to me that in the big city, aside from thieves who sell or pawn them, the homeless and drug dealers also steal bikes. Then they pointed to a man who looked poor who was riding a kid's bike across the street. They explained that the drug dealers use it for their drug runs, and since serial numbers can be traced, then they are better off using a bike they did not buy themselves.

Two pics from January--My progress, Ball-Jointed Ceramic Doll BJD

I have gallery friends, who have known me for years, and then I also have friend friends. Once in a while, I would show my progress to them. Below are two pictures from my cellphone which I shared with them. 

The process of making my ceramics, not necessarily doll-making, is to sculpt from polymer clay, then make a mold, then make ceramic slip (which is clay with a lot of water, so it has the consistency of pancake batter), then drying and sanding the pieces, and then putting the pieces in the kiln. This shrinks the pieces, and thin pieces shrink more than thick pieces. While the pieces are small, and the goal is to make small pieces, there has to be enough room inside the pieces to fit metal springs to get the pieces attached to each other.

Each step has its own set of disciplines, and even mold-making, while it is an "invisible" step, something you cannot see on the final porcelain, has a set of skills you have to know and develop on your own. When I worked on the first set of body parts, which were larger, I went ahead to make the plaster molds, even though I knew I would sculpt a better prototype later. Rather than dwelling on sculpting polymer clay to keep make better and better pieces, I needed to make the molds so that I can also begin practicing on not just making the molds but also to begin practicing and gaining experience making and pouring the ceramic slip.

So I started with a larger prototype, which I knew would not be final, but I still went ahead to make the molds for it, because I can't wait to make a complete, perfect polymer clay prototype before I even start learning anything about mold-making.

At this point, I decided to make a smaller doll, so I made the heads first, and then the body parts, and then decided to make the ceramic for the body parts, put the parts in the kiln, and just use the old hands and feet, just to see a more finished porcelain stage, at least see if the heads and the body parts match, not counting the hands and feet. However, I needed hands and feet like you would need end loops or pin heads to keep jewelry pieces together, so I used akward, larger, earlier versions of hands and feet.

Porcelain and polymer clay doll heads

Here are two pictures of my early doll heads.  I sculpt using polymer clay, and then make the molds for porcelain.  You can sculpt porcelain, but that's another topic. 

The white head on the left is porcelain at the bisque stage.  It was my first ever doll's head which I felt was okay.  It took me such a long time to sculpt the initial polymer clay.  After the polymer clay stage, I immediately wanted to learn how to make molds and get to the porcelain stage, because I needed to learn all the different stages of the doll-making process.  After this, I went back to sculpting heads and decided to try making children's heads.  I got to this point below, to the ability to make symmetrical faces after practicing to make as much as 1000 doll heads using my chosen polymer clay.  Practice makes perfect, but then again, nothing is really perfect or final, since new things and ideas crop up.

It is okay to copy my pics and my text on your blog or online website as long as you credit me. 

Comparing the ceramic porcelain doll heads with the original polymer clay

Immediately after getting the pieces cooled after kiln use, I was excited to see how the pieces would look together, so I used clay to connect them, and then placed the head on top.  I was still not making new versions of the hands and feet, so the hands you see above are just okay, but not quite well-formed.

 

    

Finally beginning to add Pictures of my Porcelain Doll / Dollwork

This will be the first of a lot of pics that I have taken so far.  I also have videos, but I'm just now beginning to take time to learn how to edit the clips to get the jitters out and stabilize the footage(s).

 
I'm not posting according to the timeline.  I'll be jumping back and forth, depending on which batch of pics I'm able to edit / retouch.  I have earlier sets of pictures from my cellphone, which I took as I felt comfortable enough, not to share them online, but to send them to a few friends with whom I was sharing my progress.

I don't plan to show "perfect" dolls anytime soon.  I kinda realized that all this porcelain doll project takes time, I'm just grateful I'm at this stage in my learning.  I know that porcelain dolls can be collectible, but I don't know if I will be collectible, my eyes are not the best and I can't get a steady hold of the porcelain doll pieces when they are at a chalky stage, as I smoothen them out, so I tend to break a lot of them.

Porcelain dolls are very difficult to make.  I have no plans to produce these in commercial quantity, I would rather be represented by a fine art gallery that can sell whatever little quantity I have.  I will eventually look for a gallery or two, but I'm also a writer, I will also eventually try to get an agent and a publisher.  I love procrastination, and sharing on the internet is very stressful for me, which makes me procrastinate even more.

It's been a while

I was busy with other stuff, but I'm getting back to my ceramics. Starting now!!! Again!!!

I need to force myself to promote while being busy with the art. It's not a comfortable place.