How to paint the face of a polymer clay doll. We make a doll out of polymer clay.

Anyone who wants to mold a doll from polymer clay, a master class to help: a description and photo of the process will not leave questions even for beginners.

"They seem to be alive!" - gasps everyone who has seen the copyright polymer dolls... This is not just a toy, not a souvenir, but a real work of art with its own character ... It seems that an elegant beauty is about to jump off the shelf and greet you, squatting in a curtsy. And now admit, dear needlewomen, which of you in the depths of your soul remained a girl, enthusiastically freezing at the sight of elegant dolls? Who believes that adult aunts are not at all ashamed to love them? How can you not love them, just look:

Inspired? Fine. I'm sure you can do just as well - even if not the first time. In general, I must say: these dolls are not for children. Therefore, you do not need to start work, justifying yourself "I am sculpting a gift for my daughter". In the hands of a child, a product made of such a delicate material as polymer clay can break and get dirty, and then it will be a pity to throw away your work, which has lost its attractiveness. Let the doll stand in a place of honor, and leave it just to take a picture or try on a new outfit.

And now directly about how to make a doll out of polymer clay - starting with the choice of body design and up to painting the face.

I wrote about the basics of working with polymer clay in a previous article. If you are a beginner, you will find it helpful to read it. If you already have some modeling experience, go straight to the next step - you need to decide what our doll will be:

Her height, gender, appearance, clothing;
Its design is a figurine with fixed joints, a ball-jointed doll or a combined ...
Her character.

The image is thought out - now let's talk about the designs. If, in the heat of the moment, it seemed to you that articular figurines were the easiest option, I have to disappoint: this is not so. Only experienced craftsmen can mold a monolith on a single frame, since such work is very delicate and does not forgive mistakes. If you do all parts of the body separately, it is better to connect them with hinges than to glue them together - then the doll will become dynamic, and this is much more interesting.

The combined design is when all parts of the body, peeking out from under the clothes, are made of polymer clay, and the rest is made soft. Have you ever made toys? We sew the torso, arms and legs according to the pattern, fill, connect and attach the head from plastic. What is good about this option - it is just the easiest for beginners. You don't need to fiddle with the hinges if you make a doll on wire reinforcement: we just bend the wire in those places where the joints should be. But what you need to pay attention to - combined dolls look good only in closed clothes, under which the body from jersey will not be visible.

Before making a doll out of polymer clay, take the foil and roll the blank of the inner part:

We glue a flat cake made of white polymer clay on top of the foil so that the product is baked well. It also allows you to reduce its weight and save some plastic. We put each part of the body on a wire stand or a toothpick.

We sculpt the head first. On a stand - an oval blank. If you have glass (not plastic!) Doll eyes, press them just above the center of the head.

If not, just make the bulges in place of the eyes:

How are the bulges on the doll's face made - eyes, cheekbones, nose? We take a small piece of plastic, roll it between our fingers and glue it to the right place. Then we give it a shape with a stack. We squeeze out the grooves in stacks. Apply thin "sausages" to the eyelids and smooth them from the forehead, leaving them bulging at the eye. To sculpt the lips, we make a cut, and bend its edges outward. With a toothpick we pierce the holes in the nose - we get nostrils. We glue the ears last: these are also two cakes - we smooth the side that is closer to the face, and leave the back convex. The inner part needs to be slightly pressed.

Moving on to the body. If you decide to sew it, use this pattern:

Here the joints rotate around the axis due to the fact that hard disks made of plastic or cardboard are sewn into their base on both sides. When the body is sewn, insert the neck into the hole in the head, smearing it with glue.

And how to make a ball-jointed doll, you need to describe in more detail. The hinge itself is a spherical bulge at the end of a part (thigh, forearm, hand) or a separate part (elbow, knee). The joint structures are clearly visible here:

In the process of manufacturing parts, it is important to ensure that the hinges match in size with the holes for them. To connect them, we make all parts of the body hollow, after firing we cut, remove the foil, insert the hinges into the cavities (if necessary, adjust the size of the holes, grind off the edge), stretch elastic laces through the limbs (one end is attached to the left hand, the second to the left foot , on the right the same) and glue the cuts with good superglue. When the glue is dry, you can continue working. It remains to paint the doll's face and attach the hair.

Working on the doll's head

To "apply makeup", we will use acrylic paints to paint. Two is enough: black and flesh. The latter must be diluted with water, as it is too pink in its natural form. We cover the face with the resulting solution in several layers using a brush No. 10, then apply the sponges with undiluted paint. You can also make a blush with a saturated solution, apply a little on the eyelids, if you want the face to turn out brighter.

Next we take the black tube. Since drawing eyes is the most difficult thing, practice first on paper: they should turn out exactly the same. The brush is needed very, very thin, like those with which manicurists paint on nails. We bring the upper eyelid, lower, we both hatch with cilia. Dilute a little black paint with water to get a grayish shade - draw a circle of the iris with it. Then undiluted - the pupil in the center.

How to make hair for a doll from polymer clay with your own hands? The first thing that comes to mind is to scalp some old Barbie. But why it is worth abandoning this option: the old and usually does not look the best way. There are better options:

New Year's wig made of artificial hair. Cut off a little from it and glue it in strands to the doll's head. It works best if you leave small indentations in the back of the head under them.
Silk threads. We knit bundles of them and also glue them, as in the previous version.
Wool for felting. You can make a beautiful hairstyle from it, as this material fits perfectly into all kinds of bouquets. But combing wool hair is impossible.

So the doll made of polymer clay is ready. The master class does not include a guide on tailoring - I believe that each of us acquired this skill in childhood, making new clothes for our favorite toys. So arm yourself with imagination, find some beautiful scraps, a thread and a needle, and get to work.

If you already have experience with polymer clay, have tried making figurines and various crafts, you may want to go to the stage above and try to make a doll out of clay. This is a very entertaining process, but also quite laborious, for which it is desirable to know the proportions of the human body and face. In addition, if you know how to draw a person, then it will be easier for you to blind such a figure. Check out a couple of tutorials to better understand how to make a DIY polymer clay doll.

To begin with, we suggest looking at several photos of author's dolls. It's amazing how much they can be like real people! Many craftsmen sew clothes for their dolls, make them real hair, create entourage and props. Such dolls can sometimes be very expensive, it all depends on the complexity of the product, the resemblance to a real person and the high cost of materials used for clothing and accessories. Some authors make jewelry for their offspring even from precious and semi-precious metals and stones.

Do-it-yourself polymer clay dolls can be solid and static, or they can be articulated, which has movable joints. These dolls are quite difficult to make, but they look great and sometimes look very similar to real people.

These are complex jobs that require a lot of time and money. We suggest making simple dolls.

Making a doll

With the help of this master class, you will understand how to create your own full-fledged plastic doll. Will make an ordinary doll without hinges.

Necessary materials:

polymer clay (plastic), it is better if it is flesh-colored, in many stores special clay for modeling dolls is sold;
knives;
sandpaper;
wire;
primer;
various brushes;
glue;
pliers;
foil.

To begin with, you can sketch the future doll on paper. Think about what size it will be, what it will wear, whether it will have any features.

We start work with a frame. Use the wire to shape the frame into a human shape and cover it with foil.

Take a piece of clay of the right size and mold the doll's head into a natural shape. Make two eye sockets.

Then, so that the head is not humanoid, you need to give it volume in the right places, take pieces of clay and add volume to the forehead, cheeks and lips.

Do not forget to smooth out any irregularities and joints, the face should be smooth and natural. Next, you can start shaping the eyes and nose.

Maintain symmetry, all parts of the face should be straight and natural.

When you make the head, you need to give it a lively shade, especially if you used white clay... Many people recommend using dry pastels for this. It is necessary to grind off the pastel a little and apply the appropriate tone with a brush.

Now you need to blind the body. Stick around the frame neatly and in the most realistic way, smoothing the clay all the time.

After that, you need to deal with small details - fingers and toes, some dolls have breasts, collarbones or ribs. It's up to you to decide. When done completely, it should be baked if your clay requires it, or left to set. Do not forget to outline the parting on the head.

When the workpiece is dry, take the sandpaper and clean up any irregularities, fingerprints and other imperfections.

Next, you need to animate the doll - draw her face. This is the most interesting process, here you can give the doll any emotion, a characteristic look, in a word, make it unique. Use a variety of paints and colors. Cover your head with varnish.

Now you need to make hair for your doll. Here you can define the gender of the doll and make the hair of different lengths. To do this, you can use felting wool, silk threads or buy a special wig for the doll in the store, but there is not always a suitable size. Glue your hair with glue.

Start sticking the hair from the bottom up. The last step is to create a parting, you need to paste your hair directly into the parting to make it look like real.

It remains to come up with an image and clothes for your doll.

You can make various props from the same clay - furniture, food for dolls, animals, etc.

A self-made doll will be an excellent gift. Previously, porcelain dolls were very popular, but who would have thought that such materials would appear from which you can make such beauty yourself, showing only a little imagination and skill.

Preparation of the necessary tools and materials

To create a polymer clay doll at home, we need a certain set of tools and materials to make the work high-quality and beautiful:

flexible wire;
plastic and metal sticks;
pliers;
a sheet of paper and a pencil;
holofiber / foam rubber;
fired polymer clay;
a small piece of fabric (20 x 30 mm is enough);
scissors, thread, needle;
super glue;
a small wig / strand of artificial hair;
paints (acrylic), nail polish;
decorative elements (beads, lace, etc.).

After all necessary materials prepared, you can start creating your own clay masterpiece.

The process of making a clay doll

It is best to start the process of creating a doll with the most difficult part - the head. This is exactly what we will do.

Making a doll head

Let's consider the process of creating a doll head step by step:

Form a small, dense ball out of the baking foil to serve as a frame for the head. Place it on a small stick (even a skewer will do). This is necessary so that later a small hole remains at the bottom of the head, which will help to put the finished head on the doll's body.

Council. Try to give the ball made of foil to a shape that is as similar as possible to a human skull: be sure to shape the cheekbones, chin, etc. Observe also one important proportion: the ratio of the length to the width of the head should be 2: 1.

Peel off a small piece of polymer clay and heat it a little in your hands to make it plastic.
Cover the foil mold with a layer of clay a few millimeters thick and gently smooth out any unevenness with a damp cloth. Leave the plastic on for a while so it can dry out.
To make the doll's face symmetrical, divide it vertically into two parts. In each of the parts, form along the eye socket and insert the previously prepared and burnt balls there - they will become eyes. Carefully smooth out the plastic around the eyes.
Make a spout and lips. For this we need two small pieces of the model. Stick one of them (in the form of a small pyramid) to the surface of the face. Then gently shape the wings of the nose and nostrils with a small sharp object. It all depends on your imagination. The second - to the face below the nose (in the form of a cake). Carefully cut it in half and shape the shape of the future lips.

Only a little remained - ears and eyelids. To create the eyelids, use two small pieces of model - attach them on top of the eyes and adjust the shape. To understand where to attach the ears, visually divide the head into two parts: front and back (side view). Attach the ears on the line that you figuratively drew between these parts.

How to create the body and limbs

So, the most difficult part of the path has been passed, it remains only to make the foundation. Use a fairly thin flexible wire to create the doll frame. You should have a "backbone" with "branches" of the arms and legs. Wrap it with masking tape.

Before modeling the body using plastics, sketch the doll on paper to imagine a completely finished image. Thus, you can simplify your task and quickly understand how best to make a doll frame.

Peel off a few small pieces of plastic and stick them onto the frame. Draw a line for the neck, chest, waist (if you like) and hips.

Council. If the model of the doll will have a revealing neckline, then you should make sure that the chest has a natural attractive appearance.

For the arms and legs, the frame should be made of thinner wire. Make five small lengths of wire and fan them together with regular tape. Then stick on a small piece of modeline and shape it into arms up to the elbow. We model legs up to the knees using a similar scheme. We bake all the blanks in the oven.

Then we put it together. Trying on the head. If necessary, we grind it or body parts with fine sandpaper. In places devoid of a clay base, we wind thin pieces of foam rubber and wrap them with threads.

Let's start creating hair. You can use either a ready-made wig or a large strand of artificial hair for these purposes. Mohair is also ideal. Drill a small hole on the crown of the head (you can make it even in the "fresh" clay). Then draw a spiral on the head starting from the center. In a spiral motion, glue the strands of hair. Then pass a bun of hair into the hole made in the center (we attach it with glue).

Think over the details of the clothes for the doll in advance. Glue the arms, legs and waist with pieces of fabric, then sew on the missing items of clothing and decorate them decorative elements... We paint the doll's eyes, eyebrows and eyelash with acrylic paints. Apply some nail polish to the lips and eyelids. The doll is ready!

Our master class has come to an end. His goal was to help you in such a difficult task as creating a doll from polymer clay. Follow the instructions provided in the article and you can create an incredibly beautiful and original doll - you just need to show a drop of diligence and turn on your imagination.

Creating a doll from polymer clay: video

Increase the cheek volume as needed. To do this, place teardrop-shaped plates on the cheekbones. Having carefully applied them, shape the cheek.

Use the tool to separate the cheek area from the mouth area with an arcuate nasolabial fold that starts at the wings of the nose and ends at the corners of the mouth.

As you look at the profile, make sure to add volume to sculpt the mouth.

Use the tool to mark the lip incision. Separate the upper and lower lips.

The upper lip is wider than the lower one, as if hanging over it. Both upper and lower lips have a special peculiar shape. Sculpt the lips of the doll as intended.

Chin, lower jaw.

Decide on the shape of the chin, sculpt it and shape the line of the lower jaw.

The lower jaw has a slope towards the occiput, divides the head profile in half and ends with an earlobe.

Neck.
From plastic mold a rectangular plate 5-6 mm thick.

Roll it into a cylinder.

Stick and press the neck to the head at the level of the nape and behind the line of the lower jaw.

Spread the lower part of the neck to the sides in the form of a "skirt". Make the edges of the "skirt" thinner. Adjust the head tilt if necessary. This will give the doll dynamism and liveliness.

The neck is hollow inside.

On the back of the neck, below the level of hair growth, a stamp (author's signature) and the year of manufacture of the doll are placed.

I never sculpt my neck entirely out of plastic or use different bases for it. First, it makes the head heavier; secondly, a very thick layer of plastic requires a certain firing, and this is not always possible; thirdly, with a hollow neck, the attachment of the head to the stuffed body is much stronger.

Ears.
Everyone's ears are different, but their structure is the same. The ear has the shape of a shell, consists of cartilage and ends with a soft lobe. Ear size is equal to the distance from the tip of the nose to the browbone. It is attached parallel to the nose in the middle of the profile part of the head, the back of the ear has an angle of inclination equal to the angle of inclination of the nose.

To sculpt ears, roll a ball out of plastic with a diameter equal to half the size of the nose. Cut it in half and sculpt two ear blanks.

Ears can be sculpted quite schematically. They can be anatomically correct or exaggerated. expressing the character and figurative affiliation of the doll. The main thing is that the ears are proportional and properly attached to the head.

Stick the blanks to your head and sculpt your ears.

It is very important when working with plastic that your hands are always clean.... If your work is still dirty, here are a few ways to clean it up:

1. Use regular wet wipes (not paper). Such wipes have an impregnation, which, when lightly wiped off the plastic, removes a thin top layer of dirt and small hairs. In this case, the surface is well smoothed. Often I deliberately use wet wipes to get a smooth shape.

2. If the dirt is heavily entangled in the plastic layer and is no longer erased by anything, then you can remove it by cutting off the extreme thin layer of the contaminated place with a tool.

The article uses materials from the book: Nadezhda Gnesitskaya "The Story of a Doll". For a complete acquaintance with the materials of the book, we advise you to purchase it from a distributor or publisher.

Everything you wanted to know about needlework and

In this plastic doll making workshop, we'll share with you various tricks to help you make your first doll yourself. Immediately, we note that this lesson is divided into two parts, the second you will find by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article.

To find your own traits and style, you need effort, time, desire to seek, change, improve. This is what we wish everyone who has opened the pages of this article.

A plastic doll can be molded from various masses for modeling, now their choice is huge. It is better to dwell on plastic (it is also called polymer clay or modelin), specially designed for sculpting dolls. Some masses harden in air, others need to be fired in the oven. You need to work with the first ones more quickly, because small parts dry out quickly. Such a model is most often white, so the doll needs to be painted and tinted.

Fired plastic for making dolls is plastic, even the smallest details can be made from it. It does not dry out and allows you to improve the sculpture for a long time.

But such work requires a lot of time, if you don't have it, but if you want to create a doll, then we advise you to make another doll with your own hands from fabric, which is quite simple to make.

Additional pieces of material adhere well to the base, the surface is easily leveled. In order for the polymer clay to harden, it is fired in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 100-130 ° C. Before firing, it is recommended to perform a blind test and bake several balls with a diameter of about 2 cm in the oven. If the mass darkens or turns yellow during firing, reduce the temperature.

If, after firing, the mass is easily separated with a fingernail, the temperature was too low.

Such plastic is produced in several different shades. All of them resemble natural skin in color, so there will be no need to paint the entire doll - just a little is enough, to indicate facial features, wrinkles, etc.

Having familiarized yourself with the basic material, now start making dolls from plastic, and the master class that is offered here will help you with this.

Necessary materials:

Baked plastic for making dolls.
Baking foil.
Sintepon.
Various tools.
Wet wipes.
Thick wire.
Combed wool ribbon.
Moment universal glue.
Acrylic paint in several colors.
Cloth, lace or bows for clothing.
Thread and needle.
Mirror.
Brushes.

Preparation for modeling

If you do not know how to make a doll, then after watching this lesson, you will understand that for the first time it is better to start with such a doll to which you will need to stick only the head, hands, feet or legs to the knees, which does not require professional sculptor skills and deep knowledge. anatomies that are needed when sculpting a nude figure. We propose to start working with the sculpting mass - the work will be greatly facilitated by the fact that you do not have to paint the entire doll.

We recommend that anyone who decides to make a doll draw a sketch first. This will set you up to create not what will work out, but a specific character, with its own mood and story, will help you find the best pose, color scheme. For example, our doll is a little girl in a beautiful dress and with big eyes.

DIY plastic doll. Head sculpting

Shape the head with baking foil on a stick (a brush handle is perfect). The stick is needed so that a hole remains, and the made head can be put on the frame.

Try to make the shape as similar as possible to a real skull - it will be easier to sculpt further. Form the back of the head, press the eye sockets along the line dividing the face in half. The length of the head should be about 1.5-2 times its width (for example, if the width of the head is 4 cm, then the length should be about 6-8 cm).

Now we can start sculpting a doll out of polymer clay. Break off a small piece of plastic and warm it up, wringing in your hands. Cover the foil blank with an even layer of the model approximately 3 mm thick.

To avoid seeing the contours of individual pieces, smooth the model with a damp cloth and wait a little. In the meantime, the plastic dries up, study another article on how to create a stuffed toy with your own hands Teddy Bear.

In order for the doll to turn out pretty cute with her own hands, she needs to correctly mark the location of the eyes. To do this, draw a line of symmetry, then divide the face in half - this will be the line of the eyes. Divide it into five equal parts. Eyes will be inserted into the second and fourth parts.

Mark the place for the eyes, prepare the sculpted and burnt balls in advance, these will be the eyes.

Eyes

Cut through the foil on the resulting head and create the eye sockets.

Insert the eyes and line the modelin around them.

Creating a spout

Also, a do-it-yourself clay doll has a small nose, although it will be the way you create it. So, find a place for your nose (it should occupy the middle third of the face). Form a pyramid of the desired size and stick it to the surface.

Press the nose, align so that its edges merge with the face. Stick one thin roller from the model on both sides of the nose.

Use a sharp tool to make the nostrils.

Shaping the lips

Stick an oval-shaped cake under your nose, press down and flatten.

Find a place for the lips, make a slit and open it.

To make the lips of the doll more plump with your own hands, put a piece of polymer clay in the form of a drop on both halves of the upper lip and smooth it. Shape the lower lip with the tool, and press a dimple under it at the chin.

Eyelids

To make the doll's eyes with your own hands, you need to put a small piece of polymer clay on the already prepared eye sockets and form the upper eyelids. Use the tool to press down on the head and flatten it.

Doll cheeks

Cheeks are two drop-shaped pieces. Stick them on and align. If necessary, "add" the chin.

We form ears

Roll out a round cake and cut in half - these will be the blanks for the ears.

The height for the ears, when viewed from the front, is between the tip of the nose and the eyebrows. When viewed from the side, the ears are located on the line dividing the head into the face and back of the head. In this place and stick them.

To make it easier to shape the ears, you need to look at a photo of a real ear in an encyclopedia or other reference book. Thus, you will get an interesting doll with your own hands, or rather its head. Then start creating the neck.

Neck for doll

Now stick around your neck.

When the head is ready, cut a hole on the top of the head - you will need it when you start gluing your hair.

So you learned how to create a doll with your own hands from baked plastic - a master class on creating a head. Now hurry to find out how you can make a torso from part 2 of this master class on how to make a doll her body, hair, draw a face and sew clothes.