Paper Clay Doll

All summer long I've been dreaming of a session with Paper Clay, a product that I was told would be superior to papier mache for making an art doll. With deadlines looming and a Thanksgiving turkey hanging over my head the muse tapped me on the shoulder and drug me into the studio. My name is Judy and I'm an artaholic.

The head was so lame that I almost quit but I'm not a quitter. Sure the next one will be better. But dear little Birdy (that's her name) begged me not to abandon her. And so we made friends and continued to play together.

I formed her head out of a big ball of clay on a stick and I'm sure it's still wet inside. After that I found directions online and found out that a wad of aluminum foil makes a good armature so I used that over a spray can cap for her body.

This is what the body stage looked like before I started smooshing on the paper clay. Those are her arms on the table. I rubbed burnt umber acrylic mixed with medium into the painted face and wiped most of it back off to age the head - naturally I will do that to the body too at some point.

I'm showing you the cap that forms the bottom of the skirt. She might need legs later on but right now she sits on the hem of her skirt.

After I had her all formed I realized I should have poked the wire for her arms through first. Fortunately it went through everything easily. I used copper wire because that's what I had.

After she was mostly done I took a few pictures to share. She has german glass around her collar and shibori silk ribbon for a belt (thanks, Lorri Scott!).

I used lots of iridescent and gold acrylic to highlight her clothes.

I have to think of a way to give her legs or I may just leave her the way she is and move on. To the turkey. Because eep, that's tomorrow that I have to start cooking. Ack.

John kept coming in and looking at Birdy with a look of consternation. Poor girl, despite her dour expression she was a good and loyal playmate. We had so much fun together and isn't that what it's all about?

BTW, I still prefer paper mache. This isn't out of my system yet. ;-D