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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Antique Doll Body To Doll

 I have had this antique cloth doll body around for a while now.  I wasn't crazy about the proportions as the body is large and chunky and the legs too thin and short to properly suit it.  it also had some poorly proportioned arms so I removed them.
After staring at it for a while I began to "see" this body as something else.  I was inspired by the wonderful little girls that Laurie Meseroll paints and so began my effort to transform this old body into a new doll.

 First, I gesso'd the torso and painted the legs with black gesso.  Now they looked like stockings.  Then I painted the little undershirt and detailed it with a charcoal pencil.  After that, I sprayed it with a fixative so the charcoal wouldn't get all smudgy.  I left the face for last as I have spent very little time drawing in a very long while, so she sat, faceless, until I mustered the courage to give it my best shot.

I dressed her in a piece of old ticking that I also painted with gesso.  This time though, I didn't want to cover up the ticking stripes so I wiped it off before the gesso was dry, simply softening the overall look.  I added some gathered organdy to the top and bottom of the little dress and "rounded" the top of her head by adding bows to the squared part at the top.  I am rather pleased with how she turned out.
When I was much younger I used to enjoy making my own cloth dolls and doll clothes.  This was fun.

2 comments:

Jenny said...

Very cool! A complete transformation into a lovely little doll.

Sandra Evertson said...

This doll is Wonderful! So creative to see a head where a torso once was!
Thanks for dropping by.
Sandra Evertson

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