Hair and glue

Just ran across a wonderful tip on how to adhere mohair, or any type of hair to your sculpture! Use regular clear caulking. Squeeze out a little on the opening of the tube, pick it up with a needle and spread it onto your doll head. Then lay the hair into it. You can then use the needle to smush the hair down into the caulking.... giving a wonderful base to the hair. This really does work. It can take a bit of getting used to but well worth the extra effort.

Fiber Optic Lights

Just got in some fantastic fiber optic lights! These will be so cool to work with. .... I am imagining artists using them to light up fairy wings..... or as a setting..... or just about anything! Jean Bernard is going to have an online class using these. Check out Jeans class at http://www.jeanbernardart.com/

Air Dry Clay and food dehydrator

Just read an interesting article in Doll Costuming and Crafting magazine. seems you can cure your air dry clay faster by putting it into a food dehydrator! You can even build up the sides to make it taller! Sounds like something I will be searching for on my yard sale/free cycle adventures!

Alley Goop

Many questions about whether or not you can bake clay in the Alley Goop molds. Yes, you can. Alley Goop will withstand temps up to 600 degrees. But as with any rubber mold, heat will eventually reduce the details faster. My favorite thing, is to put the clay into the mold, put the mold into the freezer and in a few minutes when the clay has firmed up, just pop it out of the mold. Works very quickly and I keep the details of the mold. I have molds that I have made over 15 years ago that are just as perfect as the day I made them.

sculpting anatomy

Also on Lisa's videos, she did something that I never saw anyone else do. She made her armature, and then used modeling clay in various colors to sculpt in the different muscles. Needless to say, this visual was exciting! and although she then transferred that into batting and polyfil, I thought the whole sculpting in clay was marvelous!

Her armatures are totally wonderful, in that they stand and are balanced then you can put them into any position that you want. A wonderful artist.

Making eyes

Just watched the video by Lisa Lichtenfels, a well-known soft sculpture artist. And she makes her own eyes for her dolls from glass marbles, painted with acrylics, and sealed with clear fingernail polish.