Dastardly Doll Woodworking

Well, I was able to pull out the wood-carving knives. Made quite the pile of wood chips, while roughly shaping the arms and legs of the doll. The arms and legs are made out of 1 3/8" poplar dowels in heartwood,. These dowels are cut down into 9" lengths top and bottom parts, so the arms and legs would be 18" in total length. The forearms were cut down by 3" to accommodate the length of the hands, to keep body proportions even. These were surprisingly easy to shape with the woodcarving knives. The wooden arms and legs including folding joints at the elbows, hips, knees. The wooden pins are 1/4" poplar dowel cut down to one inch length for the elbows and knees and are 2" wooden pins for the hands and feet. There is a 5/8" dowel for the neck to body connection and for the shoulders, these are heavy used and stressed area and needed more wood for support. Pruning shears are a great alternative for cutting dowels.  This was 3 hours of work one evening. I am researching about the shoulder joints of there is an easier way to have movement in two directions and not just one direction as planned.

The head, hands and feet are being carved separately. I plan on making shoes also for this doll. In addition to a wig, hat and other minor accessories. Although the finishing touches will be in a separate post.

The body was made from two sold cork yoga blocks, originally were going to be shoes but that project didn't pan out. 9"long by 5" wide by 6" deep. I used 1 and 1/4 yoga blocks to make the body of the doll, I cut the blocks with a hand saw and then shaped with knives and sanded. The body the measures, 15" from neck to bottom of torso. I will be adding more measures once the doll is unclothed.

After the body is assembled, certain parts will be painted, especially the head hands forearms shins and feet. I will leave the torso as is but may do some sealing of the cork, considering gesso. Gesso being a white paint and glue combination to make a smooth painting surface. I would need to use gesso in the painted wooden parts before laying any color on gouache possibly as a last step a sealer. I have more research on this before the final decision is made.

It’s great to see such progress made in a short period of time. Learning so much about the grain and texture of the woods I am using. It’s very interesting medium compared to clay. Less forgiving as mistakes are not always smoothed out. I am leaning towards simple sculpting for the head, hands, and feet. As I am a beginning wood carver and less likely to mess up. Especially I plan on painting the facial features in gouache anyway.

Decisions, decisions,

THL Marrin O’Cadhla