For some time now I wanted to try to make one of those tiny cute babies. Yesterday I made one and enjoyed it very much. Here are the pictures of the first one – please see below. I promised I will do a step-by-step Work in Progress Blog post on my second baby – so, here we go.

MATERIALS AND TOOLS:

(If the name of the material or tool is a link, that means we sell them, click on the link to buy, or visit )

– a convenient kit that includes the most useful tools and necessary materials – is now available.

– for armature skeleton

– for armature skeleton;

Wire cutters – to cut the wire;

Long-nose pliers – to bend the wire into shape;

– to make the removable head module. I think it is easier to sculpt the head separately, then bake it, then put it on the body, and finish the neck. Brass tube 3/32 fits nicely over wire 17 Ga. It slides on and off easily. To stop sliding (before putting the head on the armature for the final last time), slightly bend the wire, the tube will get “stuck”;

– to cut a piece of tube. The cutter cuts the tubing and leaves the opening hole intact. Other tools can be used to cut the tube (like wire cutters, but the end of the tube gets flattened with wire cutters;

polymer clay, color Caucasian Beige (or any kind of polymer clay);

– to hold the armature vertically in the oven and for general holding without touching raw clay;

(you can use your kitchen oven);

– Living Doll needs 275 F (130 C) for curing. For this thin layer of the clay over the armature, 5-7 minutes is enough;

– flexible silicone tips for fine detail work;

– This is an awesome tool – the flexible yet strong needle-sharp fine point of this tool and smooth surface non-porous fine-grade dental quality rubber is wonderful on polymer clay. Inexpensive and durable, with a strong metal handle and replaceable tips. Suggested uses: – make those cute mouth corners – press in the corners of the mouth; – cut delicate lids – will not drag and tear clay;
- sculpt wrinkles; – make comma-shaped realistic nostrils; – sculpt all nooks and crannies in the ears; – define a perfect belly button; – sculpt skin folds, armpits and cleavage and buttocks; – trace hand and foot creases; – gently separate fingers and toes; – make indentations between fingers and palm;
- sculpt nail beds; – also good for, ahm…, anatomical correctness; – pick up a piece of fiber without doing major excavation on the face; – angled neck for precision (or you can straighten it – I straightened mine); – sturdy fine rubber point; – strong metal handle; – smooth non-porous dental quality rubber;

– a flat oval brush made of natural goat hair – great for smoothing, covering the sculpt with Translucent Liquid Sculpey;

– these tiny polished balls will revolutionize your sculpting;

– another tool from the category “tools to to take to the desert island”.

– these tools are created by artist Alex Mergold, tiny spoons and spatulas, instantly became my favorite tools;

– this oil is the base ingredient of all polymer oven-bake clays, smooth the surface, make your clay softer, brush to stick better fresh clay to baked clay;

– a great sanding material (instead of sanding paper). Open mesh abrasives can be used for wet or dry applications. Abrasive material and dust falls through the holes and does not clog the mesh, allowing you more efficient sanding as well as longer-lasting piece of abrasive. I just ordered it and it will be available early next week (August 4-6, 2012) at ;

– Translucent Liquid Sculpey is actually liquid polymer clay, it creates a thin smooth coat on top of the baked clay; smoothes and patches tiny imperfections on raw clay, a must have item;

So, back to the doll. I suspect that other artists who make those adorable little babies, do not necessarily use an armature. Well, I tried to make my first baby without armature and I couldn’t. The baby was just falling apart, my own fingers ruining any progress I achieved. So, after an hour of struggle, I decided to make the baby the way I usually make all my other dolls – with the armature. I will try again without armature later, after I get some idea on how to actually make a resemblance of a baby. Ok, off we go.

Cut the thick wire – approximate, longer than needed for the limbs. Make the piggy tail thing on the bottom of the middle wire. This (after being tied up) will prevent the pieces from rotating and shifting. Bend the left and write sections – the middle section is the length of the baby spine (from pelvis to shoulders).

Wrap the three pieces with thin wire together tight. The sections should not rotate or move, otherwise they will move under the clay and the clay will crack – it is not elastic.

Find and bend the joints to make a skeleton. A small piece of tubing (the head module) also gets wrapped tight with wire. It slides on and off. I think it is easier to sculpt the head separately and then put it on the body. The thin wire wrapped around the thick wire and tubing makes “teeth” and helps clay stay on smooth wire and tubing. For a larger doll, I usually put a thin layer of Magic Sculpt all over the wire, but this doll is too small, so I decided to do without, just wrap very tight.

Thin layer of clay all over the skeleton and also on the head module.

Hemostat Forcep makes it possible to bake the doll vertically, “in the air”, without it touching the oven.

Baking.

Here is the picture of my favorite tools (Silicone Color Shapers Size 0 Firm, Fine Point Tip Rubber tool, Maxine Mop 1/4 Smoothing Polymer Clay Brush, Ball-point styluses – in different sizes, Hardwood Fine Detail Sculpting “That’s The One” Tool, Miniature sculpting tools by Alex Mergold).

To make raw clay stick better to baked clay, lightly brush the baked clay with polymer smoothing oil.

A clay pancake for the back, another for the tummy.

Make sure that all seams and cracks are closed – no air left, air will expand in the oven and will find its way out, creating holes and moonies and cracks.

Make a belly button. Smooth the tummy and back with a brush with a little bit of smoothing oil.

Clip the forceps (one or two, to make it balance in the air) and put in the oven to bake.

Too many pictures – the page takes a long time to load – I am continuing on a new post Morezmore #27. Miniature OOAK Polymer Clay Baby – Part 2***