Soft Sculpture Face

I took the challenge and sculptured my dolly face, I waited a few days just casually looking at a blank canvas before I dared attempt it. The thread running horizontal and vertically is what the pattern wanted you to guide by. Nose-center of horizontal line, 1 1/4 from vertical, etc. The threads are to be removed when finished. My nose did not come out to well and I know exactly what happened. Any soft sculpture wants a start and finish with your thread (by the way, is clear nylon) to be at the back of the head. Well, I started at the back but I did not want to add a stuffed cap on top of the indent my thread would make, you see, sculpturing this is part pulling and definitely tightening. So I made a backspace knot beside the first nostril. Consequently when it came to tightening and placing fiber fill, my knot did not hold. Grrrr....geez! I had to go over the stitches again and it ended up to be too much. I made sure I was better at anchoring my thread.

The eyes seemed a bit small to me but I kept at it, making the "crinkles" beside the eyes as toddlers have. What.

The mouth, by far was the simplest. Each corner is tightened up with the inside of the eye to create cheeks.

You see I started ears? That was not part of the pattern but I thought it would be nice.

Ahhhh, no.

And I ever....so carefully removed the ears, embroidered the brown in the eyes and painted the rest adding blush to the cheeks. I varnished the back of the head to have a stiffened surface for my hair and I clear coated the rest of the face with spray paint. The clear coating darkened the color but really enhanced everything. I clear coated because over time the tight stitches may cause a run in the nylon and the paints acts like nail polish in the idea it holds it all together. Oh, and I also corrected the shoulders although I need to finish it.

All in all, she's not bad, she kind of grows on oneself. C&G Design

Words and photos by Dawn,

C&G Design.