In this brief post I’ll be talking about the arm joints. It’s very similar to the leg joints. I used a double joint for the elbow to give more movement. I carved and sanded the sockets to fit the joints. You can see there is an angle where the upper and lower arm meet when they bend. This allows it to bend further. It takes time and patience to get the fit just right and don’t be afraid to make a mistake because you can always add clay and start again.

Testing arm joints.

Testing arm joints.

Complete upper torso with arms.

Continuing to work on the balls for the joints. I used a pencil to draw a line around the center of the ball, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Then I drew a  small reference line to make it easier to join the halves back together. Then I cut open each ball with an Exacto knife and removed the cores to hollow them out.

Using slip (which you make by taking any shavings or sanding dust from your sculpture and putting it in a jar with a little water that you leave until it softens and becomes the consistence of paste) I jointed the halves of the balls back together. It’s okay if the balls are not perfectly round since half of the ball is going to go into the leg or arm joint that you are working on. Once you secure the ball in place you only have to smooth out the half that fits into the socket.

Lastly for the day I sanded the ears on the head. Next will be getting the leg joints to work.

Cut ball in half with Exacto knife.

Reference line to make joining halves easier.

Removing core from ball joint.

Hollowed out halves of ball joints.

All ball joints ready to be joined back together.

Finished and sanded ear.

Finished head.

At this stage I am replacing the head cap and sealing it in place since I won’t be changing out the eyes. If you purchase a resin ball jointed doll from a company they make the head cap removable to change the eyes. I smoothed out the head and added a rough version of the ears. Once they dry I will sand them and refine the shape.

Next I started working on the balls for the joints. I took wooden balls and beads smaller then the size I want and then wrapped them in clay and smoothed it as round as possible in my hand. You can see a break down of the process at Everyday Art by Kathy O’Connell.

Finally for the day I cut the arms at the mid-point for the elbow joint.

Replaced head cap and filled out shape of head.

Smoothed head with head cap replaced.

Working on right ear.

Replaced head cap and sealed head.

Smoothed head side view.

Head with rough version of ears.

Created balls for joints.

Cut arm for elbow joint.

Head with rough ear 3/4 view.

Working on the face and arms in this post. I refined the very rough details that I started with making adjustments as I went. Working with air dry stone clay requires adding and taking away to get just the right look. It also requires a lot of sanding. After refining the features I formed the socket for the neck joint and added the eyes. I began working on the arms of the doll using smaller paper straws for the core. Once they were dry the paper straws slipped right out. You will see the line I drew to know where to cut for the elbow joint.I also worked to sand and smooth out the torso.

Progress of torso, legs, hands and feet.

Adding rough details for face.

Refining facial details.

Socket for neck joint.

Completed face with eyes.

Left arm with mark for elbow joint.

Sculpted arms for ball jointed doll.

In this part I worked on hands, feet and lower torso. I sculpted some feet out of Sculpey to practice making feet but I liked the way they came out and I also liked the extra weight of the Sculpey to give the doll more stability so I decided to use them instead of making new feet from the air dry clay. With the success of the feet I figured why not use Sculpey for the hands as well since I’m more familiar with that clay and it was easier to do the fine details.

Next I joined together the halves of the upper and lower torso. I used Apoxie Sculpt to join the halves together because I wanted the bond to be strong but in the future I think I am going to just score the area (making small cut marks with an Exacto knife) and join the halve with clay. Apoxie sculpt is easy to work with but its harder to sand and carve which is something that you do a lot of.

With the top half of the torso I just sanded the along the bottom to smooth it out and refine the curved shape. The bottom half of the torso takes a lot more work. The cut I made was not the neatest but it really doesn’t matter because I’m to build up the form into a oval shape that will fit into the bottom of the top half. This allows the the body to bend forward and back more naturally. I also used wooden balls to start carving out the shape for the leg sockets. Next I will be refining the torso and working on the face.

Lower torso front.

Lower torso back.

Lower torso side.

Lower torso with wooden balls to test leg socket.

Lower torso side view with clay added for waist.

Lower torso front view with clay added for waist.

Lower torso top view.

Lower torso back view with clay added for waist.