First Santos Cage Doll w Jen Rizzo-Part 2

I've started a cage doll, inspired by Jennifer Rizzo's course on Santos Cage Dolls on the www.jeanneoliver.com site. See the previous post, part 1. I love these dolls!

I watched all the videos and was anxious to get started, but I couldn't find any paper mache torsos, even online, the right size. I would love to have a wooden carved doll, but I don't have the patience for that. Jen shares several ways to construct the dolls, using household items, as well as paper mache forms. I decided to use a wire armature, but couldn't find my wire, so I "borrowed" some of hubby's wire out of his tool box and twisted it into a half doll form.

I didn't have a pattern, but I've seen armatures before, so I just did my own thing with the wire.

I padded the wire with cotton balls and covered them in masking tape to shape a head and torso form.

Then I covered the whole thing in aluminum foil. I don't remember this being in the class, so I'm kind of making it up as I go, and from memory of seeing it in other places.

Once I had it covered in foil, I started covering it in air dry doll clay, which I had left over from another project. I can no longer stand for long, so I covered the front of the torso and left it to dry. 

It's taken me 3-4 sessions to cover the whole thing and add eye indentions, a chin, and a head crown. It's now dry and waiting for the rest of the facial features, ears, arms, and hair, which I have planned on doing the last two days, but it didn't work out. Maybe tomorrow?

So, a few days after I posted this I finally got her some hair, ears, and eyes on, and added more to her cheeks. Boy, ears and eyes are hard, and I didn't do that great, but nevertheless she has some!

I attempted making her arms, but messed them up, so I will have to remake part of them before attaching them to her shoulders. They are in process. I started out using up a partial package of premier doll clay, then opened a new package of La something doll clay. They are both air dry stone clay, but the La Doll is harder to work with, to me. 

She is kind of a study, or prototype, and she has turned out larger than I anticipated, but that's ok. I had intended to put a cage of wooden strips as her skirt, but I think she may fit on the decorative bird cage I have. 

PS: I tried her on the birdcage and she doesn't look right. She's the right size, but she is too long and would need to be cut off at the waist for the cage to actually look like a skirt. I didn't think about that when I was making her, so she will have the wooden strip cage skirt after all.

 The next time I post her, she should be finished, assembled, and painted! Stay tuned for Part 3!

Do something for you every day, even if for only a few minutes! Stay safe!