Papier Mache Repaint

This is an updated post - I found an image from this post on Pinterest, which did not lead to my site but to a spammy site that had copied my image... so I thought I would explain a bit more about the process and put in a new graphic.  I had painted this poor dollie head about 5 times.  Here she is in the state she came to me....this is NOT my painting...

OR

I felt obligated to help her.
I knew she could be better than the way she arrived at my house.
Below is what she looked like finished (she's been sold).

The small black doll is made by Jackie of Plain-n-Simple 

I got this papier mache head in a trade

from a doll collecting friend. She had been repainted.
I decided to try repainting her myself.
I sanded the head, and then applied Fresh Start Primer.

She had an orange peel texture which I did not want to remove.
So I did many coats of the fresh start primer to level out the surface.

This was one of the first repaints.

I didn't like her worried look,
so I gessoed over her again.

Gessoed/primed again.

And here is where she has ended up after several tries.

I thought I was done
and actually WISH I had stopped here!

On the right is her little sister.
I couldn't resist trying to add a thing here or there
and then she went back to blank.

and finally here...


Even if she's not perfect,
she's better than she was!

The Making of a Papier Mache Shoulderhead

I love old papier mache dolls. They are magical to me.
So I've set out to make a papier mache inspired doll.

I used the free template pattern that I've offered before to begin this doll. I made the basic doll shape, and then added paperclay over the head and shoulders in stages. She was supposed to be an Izzy, but I decided to do a doll inspired by an early papier mache doll instead. I have given her molded hair which was made using a serrated Halloween pumpkin carving tool.

After I did 5 layers of clay additions
to her the head it seemed
way out of proportion to the body.

And her body got a little toasted
on the bottom while it was in the oven
hardening the paperclay. What to do?

I had the bright idea to cut the clay part off the body so that you would get a shoulder head. I took the stuffing from the inside and it is very much like a an old mache shoulderhead. :-)

Now I can make an appropriately sized and shaped body for her.

The Painting Stages of a Doll

One of my artsy friends made a comment about the changes that Experience went through - and how much she'd changed from beginning to end. And she really did - so here's a little run through of her from first paint to last. In the first picture I've done a basic face painting without the hair being painted. She was really sweet at this stage, but a little too precious.

I painted the hair and laid on watered down washes of
burnt sienna and umber, wiping off after I put them on.

Added more color to her cheeks and glazed in darker areas.
She's decided she wants the green fabric....






Dress all done but I don't like the finish of the neckline.
Back to the sewing machine to add a band
instead of gathered edges to reduce bulk at neckline.

After the distressing process...a little too much color was taken out...

So I added back some for her lips and cheeks only.

And this is where she ended up. In the past I used crackle medium to age dolls, but this time I used a different approach (and some staining solution by Blondie aka Vintage Primitives at The Humble Arts (link up to the upper right corner). I like where Experience ended up and I certainly learned something in the process.

Little Izzy Will Need a Name

My newest little Izannah inspired dollie is getting there. Last night she got arms and legs. Once they have arms and legs they seem so much more real. She is very sweetly asking for "the green fabric, please, the one with the rosebuds on it, and a red cape from the red wool you got at Searsport Rug." A huh.

I made a new pattern for this little doll - so she has a very tiny waist and her arms are out more like the arms on the original Walker dolls. But I am not trying to copy a particular Walker doll with this girl - Izannah was her starting point. Along the way she picked up some features of china and paper mache dolls. Which is interesting, because with some of Izannah's dolls you can definitely see the influence of other contemporary dolls in her work. For instance, when she painted eyes, they look a bit like she was approximating glass eyes of paper mache dolls.

Anyway, that's the progress here!