How to create a Creative Paperclay® Art Dolls Hollow Head

Full instructions to create a Creative Paperclay® A Hollow Art Doll Head

Here I had made a few big BJD or Art Doll heads. Now in order to be able to make more with less is not that difficult.Now when you in a budget you find creative ways to save and reuse. 

Now I came with a easy technique to create hollow Creative Paperclay art doll heads that will help you save time, material and money.

I done many dolls in the past and discover that the weight is key on the finish product so after some trial and errors I find this is the easier way to get it done so let me show you now how this is done.

Materials 

Creative Paperclay Material®

Smooth Styrofoam Half Spheres

Plastic sheet

Clay roller

Hobby or Xacto knife

Sand papers

Aluminum Foil

Cover the soft Styrofoam with a plastic sheet.

Roll the clay into an even  1/4 thickness sheet.

Cover the half Styrofoam ball with the clay and using your hands smooth it all over the form.

Cut any excess clay off . Make sure the clay is flat and flushed with the edges of the ball.

do these steps again and set them both half aside to dry over night.

Now that is dry you can remove your Smooth Styrofoam half sphere off by pulling it off by the plastic sheet. 

Now if the plastic sheet breaks off and you can not pull the Creative Paperclay® half don't panic here I will show you a TIP to help you remove the foam.

TIP: To remove the stuck Creative Paperclay® half  go to your silverware drawer and pick you stronger fork and stab the foam ball in an angle. This will give you leverage to pull the foam right off the dry clay form. 

Now little by little pull from side to side until POP! 

You will end up with the 2 half for your BJD or art doll head.

Like in here you can see the 2 half ready to be assemble into one big hollow head.

Fell free to remove the foam and set it aside to be use again and again .

I love this technique because I don't have to buy so many Soft Styrofoam balls I can reuse and reuse the one I already got.

Now to complete your full head is pretty simple.

Either using you hobby knife cut any big excess an with the sand paper leave both ends flushed flat.

I cut a hole on the back of the head for easier assemble to the body and to allow me to add more clay to join the both half together. 

Fit the head together add some fresh clay all around the head and inside the head and let it dry. This will secure the both half creating the one hollow BJD or art doll head. 

Now you can create the head cap and make sure it fits just right I use aluminum foil to keep the 2 part separate while making I'm adding more clay and the foil will keep it from sticking but at the same time will help you create the perfect fit doll head cap.

Move around and add clay were you feel it need it.

Set it to the side to dry and you will have a one full OOAK doll head ready for you to customized it to fit your dolly words needs.

This technique can be used over and over in many styles and sizes.

I hope this help you create cute big head dolls with out the waste and over weight.

Stay tune for more Creative Paperclay® tutorials and tips. Feel free to ask questions by leaving your comment below or email me at Gloriann Irizarry  Stay tune for more wonderful ideas and for inspiration browse your Creative Paperclay blog it is full of great artist with many tutorial and tips.

My friends now lets always remember to always have fun while crafting. Blessing!

How to create a Creative Paperclay® 2 parts art doll hands by Gloriann Irizarry

Hola Amigos is Gloriann Irizarry with April's happy crafting tip.

This time I will show you how to create a seamless removable arm.
Having removable arm makes the Molding process and casting the final piece a lot easier.

Materials

Recycle a grocery bag

Scissors

Your Creative Paperclay® Art doll

Sculpting hands single hands are a lot easier than sculpting them attached to the figure .

Specially if you are going to make a mold. Been able to have a seamless removable arts will make the mold making process so much easier. 

To do a seamless removable arm  by cutting a small square out of the grocery bag.

Make sure the square size fit and cover the whole arm or body portion you want to be able to separate. 

Add a light coat of water with a paint brush to adhere the grocery bag to the piece.

Now dry fit the arm and using a paint brush add some clay around the area to create a seamless arm.

Make sure the arm is place on the position you want the final arm to look.

Repeat the process on the next arm

Let the piece dry overnight.

Once dry you can gently removed the arm and take the plastic out.

Take the entire plastic out. It will peel nicely to reveal a 2 part sculpt

All you need to do is sand  the arm and you will have a 2 part sculpt that can be easy put apart for you to mold it easier.  

I use this technique a lot with my Ball Joint Dolls (BJD) it helps to make molds for porcelain or ceramics out of my Creative Paperclay® sculpts masters.

I hope this inspire you so feel free to leave a question or comments below.

Have a bless day and happy crafting my friends!

Sincerely 

Gloriann Irizarry 

Easy trick to BJD making Creative Paperclay by Gloriann Irizarry

Easy trick to Creative Paperclay BJD making by Gloriann Irizarry

by Gloriann Irizarry 

Hola to all my wonderful followers, collectors and friends. 

Yes it is Gloriann Irizarry once more. Today I am revealing wonderful sculpting secrets.

 This is my  January Creative Paperclay tip. 

I been working on my Paper clay Ball Joint Doll for a while and learn many tricks on the way. 

Now for all of those who had tried to create one of these art dolls know these know they have tons of little pieces and yes they all need to fit together perfectly. 

Well many trial and fail experiments i came across one I l will like to share with you. 

A very neat secret to make joints a little easier.

This is what we I'm going to explain. How to make a perfect ball joint in this case I will use the shoulder.

I have a nice set of round drill bits also know has bevelers in different sizes.

I got mine out of metal but there are some out there that look more like these 

Either one will work.

I start by rolling a ball of paper clay and cover it with a small plastic sheet.

Now I press the desired size to create a hard mold.

I use to paper to make sure i can easily remove the drill bit out. 

Now let it dry completely before is ready to be use.

To be able to use the new mold lay a clear sheet of plastic over it. 

   

Grab your hollow arm piece and add clay to the mold and press the arm in while your rotating it to create the perfect size elbow joint.

If you need more clay make sure you moist it before adding it to the mold.

Keep moving the arm in circular motions to create the perfect round  joint.

Lay it down to dry.

Sand the shoulder smooth. Mark with a pencil the threading and drill the hole from the top to the already hollow arm.

 Now use the same size bit and start to drill the shoulder socket to your desired depth.

Make sure you check the deepness constantly so you don't over drill the shoulder.

If you do over drill there is no problem you can fill the hole with fresh clay let it dry and start the drilling process once more. 

Once you have the desired look and you had drilled the new joint . I use the pencil and mark the drilling points one on the top ans another on the side. I use the hobby knife to cut an open canal between the two holes. 

Sand here and there to achieve the look your looking for. Tread with the elastic and try your new joint. 

I use this process to create all my dolls joints. 

I hope this help. Free free to leave me a comment below or 

email me any question at Gloriann@byglori.com

Have a bless day and happy crafting!

Sincerely Gloriann Irizarry 

www.byglori.com

Gloriann Irizarry's Drying Your Clay Tips for Creative Paperclay®

Many Drying tips and techniques for different armatures and cores.

Drying times can be affected by altitude, weather,  humidity and armature type used.

Have in mind the best way for your clay sculpture to be strong is by having the clay dry evenly.

This will reduced the amount of cracking on your piece.

If you use Styrofoam you should never place it in the oven to dry your sculpt.

Styrofoam when it melts it will produced toxic gases. This is not safe to be exposed to.

Also if you try to rush the drying process with ovens or heaters the clay will not dry evenly. Drying the clay with heaters or ovens will produce more cracks and opening that will need to be repair and cover up . 

But Styrofoam ball are great to use. I like them because they reduce the amount of clay consumption.

 It will allow you to sculpt more with the less clay. I like to used them on my Ball Joint Dolls heads. Is very nice because it will give you a great base to work and you can easily cut it in half to add the other details to the piece. I allow the piece to dry normally.

If you want to lower the drying time with out hurting your pieces. Specially on those high humidity places. I can recommend a homemade  Creative Paperclay® drying booth method I use. 

Is very easy to make and it will help your pieces to dry properly. 

Materials:

Book shelf unit.You can use a old bookshelf unit. 

A portable or small dehumidifier unit. 

 I can be a use one, garage bought or check your thrift store. All you need it to make sure it works safely. The one on the photo is from Target  Eva-Dry Electric Petite Dehumidifier (EDV-1100) 



Painter's plastic sheets

DuckTape

Instructions:

Seal the painters sheet to the book shelf using the duck tape.

Make sure you place the dehumidifier next to the book shelf and cover it with the painters plastic sheets.

Create a door opening for you to load your sculpt and pieces to dry.

See the drawing for build reference.

More armatures and safe drying techniques I like to use is the wires, foil and masking tape. 

I favor this method for non moving parts Art Dolls Sculptures.

If your sculpting big pieces I strongly recommend it to be sculpt in layers and make sure the are fully dry before a new one layer is added. Doing this not only will ensure the project is properly dry but it will also be a lot stronger sculpt.

Built your armature with wires. Cover with aluminum foil and secure it with masking tape.

Start Layers one and wait to be completely dry.

Layer  two and wait to completely dry.

Layer three and keep doing this until your satisfy.

Between each step I place the sculpt in the homemade drying unit to get all the humidity out of the piece.

It works great, you will love how much even and faster your projects will dry. 

I hope you like these quick drying tips. More to come shortly so please stay tune . 

Any questions feel free to email me at 

Gloriann@byglori.com

http://byglori.com/sample-page/m

www.byglori.com

Sincerely, 

Gloriann Irizarry