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Homemade Soft-Sculpture Dolls
My wife Kellie and I took a class in 1995 to learn how to make soft-sculptured dolls. The technique used here involves a photo transfer to make the face. I learned how to do the transfer, but I had to leave the costume and doll sewing to Kellie. Together, we designed the costumes and Kellie made them.
The first doll is Betsy Booth, from Love Finds Andy Hardy. She's wearing the cute little costume she wears at the end of the film, though the photo we used for her face is from the dance. I've included an image of the publicity still we used to design the costume, and the one we used for the face (below). The face is actually a photographic transfer from the same photo used to make this image.
The second doll got her face from the cover of Look Magazine dated January 2, 1940. I've included an image of that cover below. I'm not sure why, but this doll ended up costumed as a sort of boudoir doll. We keep her on our headboard. She's wearing a blue and white flannel nightgown and a little necklace with a heart-shaped locket (it's actually a girl's bracelet). The wig doesn't look like any style Judy ever wore, but it wasn't easy finding a brunette wig where we live! By the way, that's a little teddy bear she's holding in her left hand.
Well, we had fun making these, but they were a lot of work! I think we'll leave the doll-making to the experts!
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