Recently I gave birth to a baby boy.  And in those wee hours of morning that every new parent knows well, I kept awake by reading magazines and books on doll making.  From lack of sleep I mistakenly fused together two ideas and it wasn’t until I decided to double check the technique that I realized it didn’t actually exist, at least not in the way my memory told me it existed.  Somehow the idea of the Styrofoam ball under the pressed cloth technique in Susan Oroyan’s “Anatomy of the Doll” merged with Antonette Cely’s “Clay over Cloth” article from Soft Dolls and Animals, May 2002.

Rather than give up on my idea, I went on for some interesting results. 

(click images to see larger versions)

Materials: Styrofoam ball, flat back doll eyes and Paperclay.

It all starts with a Styrofoam ball and pressing in your thumbs to create eye sockets.  From there your thumbs press the foam to create a simplified version of a skull. Place flat backed doll eyes into the eye sockets, making sure they line up, otherwise the eyes will be looking in different directions.  Glue them into place.  Wait for the glue to dry.

Apply a thin skin of Paperclay to the entire ball, careful to work it into the “tooth” of the foam.  I usually take a small piece of clay and place it on the ball, then use my thumb to press and smear.  It catches to the Styrofoam. Start building up brow ridges, nose tip and chin as well as the area around the eyes.  Allow to dry

Continue to apply Paperclay to build up the face, adding details such as nostrils, lips, ears and eyelids.  Allow each 1/8 to 1/4 inch layer to dry between the previous.  As you add each layer, use water to meld the new clay in with the older, hardened clay. Details can be added using various clay sculpting tools.  After the clay has dried details can be etched out using a sharp tool.

The head is now ready to be finished off in your own preferred method.  It can be sanded, painted and attached to the body.