Make Your Own Tiny China-Head Doll

For those of you who would like to make your own "china-head doll", here is a Fimo version that anyone can make.  I am working on writing directions.  It is a whole different style of writing than writing stories--I am not very good at it.  If you have any questions, or need better photos, just ask.

The collage bellow illustrates the steps to create a tiny doll...feel free to download for your own use

  The first picture in my hand is of two porcelain boy dolls that I wanted to show you.  You will make your doll parts directly onto the wire frame.  (I fire my pieces and then glue them to the frame.) This Femo method can be used for flesh colored dolls or animal dolls, here I used white to simulate china.  I like to make mice and other animals to dress like dolls.  Once you have made the doll, you should wrap the wire with strips of cloth and glue  (I usually use white silk mini ribbon for this purpose).

First twist two pieces of wire at the center.   Bend the top pieces into shoulders and arms and the bottom pieces into hips ad legs.
  Make a shoulder-plate and neck out of   Fimo...bake it.  Be sure to bake it for 10 minutes and let it cool all of the way.  Put a very small amount of liquid Fimo on the neck.
 Place a small oval of Fimo onto hardened neck.  Note that the back of the head should be higher than the chin.
 I was in such a hurry to make this tutorial, that I did not let my neck cool enough and it snapped in the process of adding the head.  I had to plop a head on and as you can she , she has no neck.
  using a fine stylus, add some facial details...two slight indents for eyes should be pressed in the middle of the face and a slight dent for mouth.  Be careful not to over-sculpt ..this is a tiny face and you do not want to over do it.   Gently nudge the Fimo with stylus to form a chin
 I added a bun at the top of her head.
Bake the head.
Cut the arm and leg wires to the lengths that you like and make some little arms and legs right onto the wires.  I press the hands into a slight point and place them in the direction that I like.  I did not make fingers.  You may want to make fancy shoes...I made them simple and will show you latter how I make shoes out of ribbon.
Bake the doll to harden legs.
I used liquid Fimo to add  thumbs and a nose in small drops placed on with a toothpick. then I baked The doll one more time.
  I am out of black acrylic paint, so I used dark  brown to paint her hair.  Paint her hair slowly with tiny brush strokes to simulate hair at her neck and around her face.
  To paint her face.  I  made two tiny dots for eyes, two thin lines for eyebrows out of brown paint to match her hair.
  I found a nice rose acrylic for her cheeks and mouth.
  I use my thumb nail as a palette for tiny amounts of paint.
 For the cheeks I added a small amount of water to my thumb- palette and mixed it with paint, so that I made a blush.
  I used the paint straight for a clear little dot of a mouth.
  When I was done, and the head was dry, I covered the head and shoulders with triple thick varnish.

This is my latest porcelain china- head doll.  I have put a tutorial for knitting these tiny undergarments on my needlework blog
http://mini-needle.blogspot.com/

Here she is  in her new dress.  I am making her an ivy green coat , a green silk hat and I am trying to  design a "carpet" bag for her. 

I made a new slip for this little doll.

Have a Wonderful week,
Lucy Coles