I love working in porcelain which requires a mold. This is the "work" I take on in order to play with the medium I love. After going through all the stages of creation, and as my "characters" takes on their personality, it then is time to let them go. As such I break their molds.
How many times did we hear that over the years? In my case it is true and that is what makes me "one of a kind". Therefore I have to hold true to that concept with my dolls as well. I love working in porcelain which requires a mold. This is the "work" I take on in order to play with the medium I love. After going through all the stages of creation, and as my "characters" takes on their personality, it then is time to let them go. As such I break their molds. Actually my youngest son has had this responsibility over the years. Been very therapeutic I think as it takes out a lot of aggression (*smiling*). I just wanted to share this final stage in my doll making cycle to see why "my" dolls are truly One-Of-A-Kind.
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Bringing with her a time of luck and protection where our wishes begin to be fulfilled. Ladybugs represent a rebirth or renewal of belief. They can teach us that life is short and that we should set our worries aside and trust in spirit. Ladybugs also remind us not to rush through life's experiences. Remember to enjoy the moment. By letting things flow at a natural pace you won’t overlook opportunities that may come your way. When things flow then in due time, your wishes will become fulfilled. The Ladybug is really a good luck totem. She signifies that you have done the work to protect your dreams, and now they are ready to be realized. http://discoveryourenergy.blogspot.com/2010/06/insect-totem-ladybug.html
![]() Baby is now getting her body. She is going to be a special piece as a result her body is going to be needle felted. The little Lady hasn't bugged me yet, but there has already been a bleeding process of stabbing my fingers once or twice. Check back in and see what transformation she takes on soon. The Baby came through the bisque firing process just fine. Now to give her some color to her face. This is call the china firing stage. The paints I use are translucent china paints. China paints are paint mixed with flux which is a glass like mixture. In the firing process, the paint literally is melted on the porcelain. Because porcelain doesn't absorb any type of paint this is why this process is used. This means I can always paint darker by painting layer on layer on painted layer; but I can't go lighter like when for example the use acrylics. Because of this process to get the tone of coloring in a face I want, it can require up to 4 or 5 china fires with each china firing taking up to 3 to 4 hours each.
My baby has come out of the mold and I now have to clean and prepare the head for the next stage. Of course the porcelain remembers everything! What this means is even if I think I have prepared the head the way I want it, the porcelain fairy in the kiln has final say so as to what pops up. Even if I didn't want it too. I have to be aware that even a scratch from the roughness of my skin can make a flaw on on the face which can make a problem for painting the head later. But the porcelain is so soft to touch is why I love it. It feels almost like baby skin when I brush my hands across it. Now I am getting ready to create my canvas. I have cleaned and smoothed the head and beveled the eyes sockets so I can put eyes in after the head is fired. I kiss it and put it in the kiln which will fire at an extremely high temperature for the next 14 hours. This is where the fun comes in too, because when I pour the porcelain into the mold, the head will shrink slightly when it dries. When I fire the head it will shrink even more. When it comes out of the kiln the head will have shrunk about 20% smaller than what was originally sculpted. Of course, this is one of the things I have to keep in mind even before I begin sculpting because this affects what is going to be the finished size of my doll. Now - off to the kiln. To be continued ... Did the kiln fairy behave herself?
My process is very similar to how a bronze artist works. The bronze artist creates an image out of wax. I created my piece out of clay. The bronze artist creates a mold out of sand, I do mine out of plaster. The bronze artist pours bronze into the mold, I pour porcelain which is what I love working with . Because the porcelain that I use is in a liquid form, it has to be poured into a mold. Depending on how thick I pour the porcelain is how translucent my piece is. The lighter I can pour it, the more glow I get in the finished piece. The downsize to porcelain is that it has a memory. Every texture, hic-up or intent has been captured in the casting. I now have to re-teach the porcelain what I want it to revel in my finished piece to have the smooth glowing surface that I love to feel.
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AuthorWelcome to my blog. This is where I will reveal the magic of my Fae and their stories and share with you some of the success and pitfalls through the journey of doll making, sculpting, and other crafts that all come back to my dolls in many ways. Archives
February 2019
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