Doll process

Making an articulated porcelain doll is a very long process. (very long)

The sculpting with articulations.

                                             
                              Plaster mold making process, long, tedious and sometimes painful (even  if my youngest son envy me "playing" with lego all day long!)

Wet casting is my favorite part, I re-sculpt some parts like the face, detailling hand and ears.
Everything needs to dry before the next step.

                                                  1st firing at low t° in the kiln

   After cooling, each part is gently scrub in water for cleaning and smoothing the porcelain

                       The porcelain still fragile at this stage. Every piece can crash very easily

                                  Every pieces needs to dry again for several day

After the second firing at high t° all the pieces of the doll have shrink and hardened. And another water cleaning and gentle scrubing is again necessary.

Then begin china painting. Each color, each layer need a firing. This process can take a week, the kiln taking hours to cool down.

                                  My dolls have open eyes, so they need eyelashes.

                           Then, handmade eyes. I like choosing colors for each doll.

Stringing a doll is a stress moment for me. After each joint is protected with leather I use to strung my doll with high resistance springs.

                                                and, after wig making, finally...