New Camera and New Doll

I FINALLY decided to buy a new camera.  Canon EOS Rebel T3i my first professional grade camera. I am glad I waited to buy it now that photography is digital. I was going to buy one about 15 years ago when photography was still mostly film. This is one of the recent Hitty inspired dolls I carved from butternut. I named her Danita.

Carving Hitty

I FINALLY read the book Hitty, Her First One Hundred Years. I am so in love with story of little Hitty. What a fascinating story about a cute little wooden doll. I tried to carve a Hitty doll  about a year ago and kept cutting off her nose. It was very hard to carve such a small face.  I thought it would be easy to carve small but not for me. It seemed like my tools were too large. Maybe it was my technique....at any rate I purchased a set of Dockyard tools for the woodcraftshop.com. The smaller tools made a difference. They are easier to get into small areas of the face. These are the Hitty's inspired dollies I have been carving and painting. They are made from basswood and butternut. They range in size from 6 1/4 to 7 inches. I love carving in wood. I use mainly softwoods and so easy to carve. But I also have dolls in walnut, mahogany and maple I am working on also. Each of the dolls have such distinct personalities. It is so fun to watch them come to life. I joined a woodcarvers group called the Fruitbelt Woodcarvers. I am learning so much about carving tools. Working with SHARP knives really make a big difference. I have also been working on making a handle for my knifes also. Enjoy the dolls....more to come.

The girls are named left to right: 

Chae,Mercedes, Izzy,

 Zana, and Fiona

Ruby-OOAK carved wooden tuck comb

Meet Ruby....For Sale on my shop www.aliceswanndolls.etsy.com

Ruby is a  OOAK carved basswood tuck comb style wooden doll. Her head and body are turned as one piece on a lathe then carved by me. She is fully jointed but she comes with a stand. She has pieced ears and wears ruby earrings from silver wires. She is antiqued to give her a patina. She stands 12 tall and wears a fushia silk print dress under it is a fushia quilted slip and pantaloons. The hair is painted with curled bangs and golden comb. She has elongated, graceful proportions, nicely carved details, and red painted slippers. Her clothing is completely removeable. She come signed and dated.

WIP Large 24 inch Wooden Queen Anne inspired Doll

I started carving a large 24 inch wooden doll. I originally was going to use this wood body for a sculpted paper clay head.  I couldn't bring myself to put a clay head on this wooden body. Especially after I carved the legs. I like carving large dolls. At least I am off to a great start. It takes a bit of trial and error to come up with a good pattern.

Lathe

I found these photos of Claudia shortly after I took her off the lathe. Claudia on the left. Other  carving attempts on the right....lol

Claudia was definately a labor of love. But I learned so much in the process.  View my previous post to see the finished Claudia. She is by far the best wooden doll I have completed so far. The best is yet to come as I have only been carved a little over a year. Thanks for stopping by and comments are always welcome.

 

Profile of her torso...after I have started carving out her body. 

After I completed her jointed legs trying to figure out a arm attachment

 

After I inserted her eye using that paperclay for a filler

Claudia in her gown

Claudia In Her Gown

 For Sale in my Etsy Shop www.aliceswanndolls.etsy.com

Happy New Year everyone!
I am so happy to share with you Claudia Trustworthy.
She looks so elegant in her 18th century inspired gown.
She was a labor of love but she turned out fabulous! I am so blessed
 to be able to share her beauty with the world in 2013!

She is solid basswood  fully jointed 18 inch Queen Anne inspired OOAK doll.

 

Carving Queen Anne Doll - Forked Wooden Hands Tutorial

I started carving dolls about a year ago. I couldn't find anything online about carving Queen Anne style wooden dolls.  So I decided to make my own Queen Anne pattern based on photos I have found in books and online.  I am making this tutorial so if any other artist wants to make a doll at least they might find this technique helpful.  This is my process of making the forked style hands. It is actually easier than I thought. But challenging none the less if your not use to working with a bandsaw.

I have designed the fork style hand with

 several versions.  I posted two profiles here . . .

the one on the right is harder to make but what good

is making art without a challenge.

 I am making the simple version in this tutorial.

 Hopefully it will help someone else along the carving journey.

I am using a 2 inch by 2 inch block.

It will cut 2 pairs of hands.

I traced the back of the hand pattern.

Making sure to make the 3 cuts that form the fingers.

Place a dot with your pencil as a place to stop when cutting on the band saw.

Turn the wood block on the side and trace the side profile of the hand.

Cutting to dot on the block of wood with your band saw.

This is what the block looks like after cutting on the band saw.  The blue line indicates where to cut the wood .....will later be used  to cut the wood into 4 pcs(4 hands

Cut between the index finger and thumb

Cut off the corners, then the inside curve between the index finger and the thumb. The blue line is where to cut the thumbs to length . . . don’t cut thumbs too short. . .it is better to leave them on the long side. . .just in case you get carried away with sanding. . .LOL Notice: the Red line where the thumb and index fingers are cut at the same time. This makes it easier to remove wood from the palm of the hand while leaving the thumb intact.

This is the hand with the wood from the palm removed. Now all that needs

to be done is refine the shaping of the hand.
Good Luck!