Alabama Baby - Finished

 Well, after sewing on the hooks in the back of the dress, she or he is done.  Here are pictures of my completed Alabama Baby doll, made for the Maida Dolls Group challenge.

I used my own pattern for the doll's body.  

The doll is about 18" long, the face painted simply with acrylics.  The head is entirely hand-sculpted by me.  I started by doing a very different sculpt, but when I saw my error, sawed the sides off, and filled in the eyes.

 She is dressed in plain cotton ticking.   I liked doing a fancier dress in the ticking, though, with ruffles.  It was my first time putting stockinette on a head, too, and it wasn't too too hard, but I have to admit there are a few seams in back.  

I noticed about stockinette is that is does take antiquing well.  It's much more of a "surface."

Was fun doing this doll!  Maybe more are in the future.

Some Progress on the Alabama Baby Doll

A sculpted Baby new year: this is the doll I am working on for the Alabama Baby Challenge for the Maida group.

I changed her eyes from my original sculpt, made her head more rectangular, and when I added fabric to her, put a seam at the top, as is shown in some of the photos of the antique dolls.  It looks a little Frankensteinish, but oh well, how can you get the first sculpt totally right.  It's to learn.

I kept seeing more things, the more photos I looked at.  The main thing was the eyes; they have no lids, they are sort of like triangles.... and so many variations in head shape among the photos I looked at. 

But be that as it may, I came up with this, and am now making a body pattern. 

I like dolls in this stage; when I have decided on them.  I feel some relief that I have decided in some corner of my mind; saying okay, move forward. Although I kind of wish I had just started over, rather than changing the sculpt I did originally!

Happy New Year!

Alabama Baby Challenge

There is a challenge going on at the Maida dolls group, to make an "Alabama baby" doll.  This was billed as an "indestructable" doll, made from around 1905 to the early thirties. 

 Image  from Theriault's - hope they don't mind

I looked at several of the doll photos online, and was all set to go....I sculpted a head using Paperclay, trying to get her little turned up nose

and the jowly cheeks; but I didn't have a firm grasp of the eyes...or the mouth...
 so I ended up sculpting them more like this:

Image from Skinner auction site.  This is a Philadelphia Baby!

My sculpt

 So I have to change her face later, if I am to call her an Alabama Baby doll....

Hope everyone is having a good Holidays.