Watercolor sketch for Blush

Watercolor sketch for Rose

Blush and Rose are the first two art dolls in my new Watercolor Series, a group of jointed Paperclay dolls based around a soft watercolor color scheme, with hand-dyed bodies and outfits. In addition to these two pink girls, I’ll also be making a blue girl called Skye and a purple girl called Lavender.

After creating my September doll (who is too special to me to sell), I got a lot of requests from fans interested in purchasing a similar jointed Paperclay doll of their own. I decided to use my Watercolor Series to create a new group of dolls made similarly to September. Rose and Blush have cloth bodies and upper limbs, with Paperclay heads and hing-jointed Paperclay lower limbs, hands, and feet.

With Blush and Rose, I explored new ways of mixing mediums in my doll making.

When making my art dolls, I often struggle with finding a balance between creating the handstitched cloth dolls which first got me involved in doll making, and using Paperclay, which is a newer and exciting medium for me, as well as between creating a piece of art and staying true to the idea of making a “doll” which can be manipulated and dressed/undressed/played with. These were two issues that I really wanted to take on in my Watercolor Series, and I think I was able to find an interesting balance with Blush and Rose.

When looking through the work of other doll artists I admire for inspiration, I hit upon the idea of creating cloth upper limbs which can be joined in the same way as Paperclay limbs, and of using non-traditional patterned and colored cloth for the dolls’ bodies.

Rose and Blush each have one upper arm and one upper leg stitched from rose-patterned velvet, while their bodies (which I stitched, for the first time, from two pieces, for a more realistic look) and opposite limbs are painted with pink watercolors and covered in free hand-embroidery done in rose silk thread. Their Paperclay body parts have been sculpted, sanded and carved, and painted with more watercolors before being sealed. When their bodies were finished, I used pink ribbon and more of the rose silk thread to join them.

Paperclay feet

Paperclay hands

Blush’s head

Finished heads and hands ready for painting

Blush and Rose are designed for gentle exploration and play.

For this series, I decided to create removable outfits and shoes, so that the posable dolls can be dressed and undressed and gently played with. Each of Blush and Rose’s dresses snap in the back to easily be taken on and off, and were tea stained and dyed with pink watercolors after being sewn. Underneath their dresses, Blush wears a bralette and panties made from pink ribbon and tea stained lace, and Rose wears floral-print bloomers. I hadn’t tried making removable shoes since I was a little girl, so these were really a challenge. Each pair of slippers has red leather soles and pink ribbons which tie around the doll’s ankles.

Blush and Rose will be available in my Etsy shop by the beginning of next week, and I’ll soon begin work on Lavender and Skye! These two will be dark-skinned girls, and I believe will be a little smaller than Blush and Rose, who, at approx. 24 inches a piece, are two of the biggest dolls I’ve ever made! You can view photos of the finished dolls and read more of their story in this blog post.