Happy Easter!

4-1-18

Happy Easter Holiday! I had a nice reclusive day working on my own witch doll, which I am carving from alabaster. Her name is Topaz and she is turned into Topaz from Alabaster. She is becoming a fully customizable doll. I have carved her eye sockets to take 8mm eyes, which I am painting probably this week. She has pierced ears too, so she can get decked out in her most precious of jewels. Warning: this is a very long post.

 Her head cap is a bit lop sided but that is probably because the stone was lop sided and I cut from one side with my dominant hand. I did that to keep the cap flush so I could add magnets to hold her head together. It won't show once she gets her very own wig.

 Her ears need more detailing. But I had to work in the pierced ears first. I like to work from the outside in and then the inside out, back and forth. That way I don't take away too much material. 

 I made some magnet holes the exact depth of some I have on hand. Then I marked around them heavily with chalk so I could transfer the circles to the matching side.

 I gave her wrinkles because she is elderly. I really went with what I saw in the rock, so as not to waste the material. 

 I am going to blush her with my Conte chalk. I already found that if I rub enough the chalk will take. She is a bit dusty right now, because I worked on her today and haven't cleaned her off yet. She is actually orange or tangerine alabaster. 

 This is how her head cap will go on with the magnets. I wanted to go ahead and put them in but they are so strong they pull on my tools while I am carving and I will have to wait till the very last detail is in place. 

 She said to me "hurry up with them eyes. I can't see too well."

I took notes since I started carving. I wasn't even sure I could get this far. I began on 3-23-18 with my alabaster I've had since 2014. So I had been wishing for this for a very long time.  I took pictures of my rock before I cut the block out.  I think it came from Utah. It was called Tangerine Alabaster, but I think it looks like flesh tone to me. That's what made me think to turn it into a doll of some sort. 

 I used some round and half round files I had in my toolbox to get started on my chunk.

 I have carved faces into soap stone before, but this is my first ever head. I have carved alabaster before and won a prize my very first try. Next I photographed my rock when it is windy and cold. I put the photo in Corel Paint and draw where I would like to eliminate stone. These next pictures show somewhere close to what I want for the head. 

 3-27-18

After a few minutes outside I got deeper eye sockets and a little bit more symmetry to the face.  I started with a corner that looked like an easy place to start a nose. I studied a few videos of woodworkers carving spirits from wood. I keep looking at my piece and see myself Bringing a Witch from the Stone. I don't want too much symmetry. I do think I would like nasolabial folds and wrinkles. My doll is an old person. This just feels right, making my own, Witch. Sunken eyes and cheeks start to appear to me, making me think my figure is very ancient and wise. 

Next I show pictures of my very old tools. I have this vintage Dremel, which is slow enough speed I have time to think about what I am doing. The other tools are heavy even though I have attachments they have cords to watch after. I just grab a bit to work with. I don't think I really want to memorize how I did it. Each carving is as different as the tools used to do this. I like the experience of how each bit works and feels with different materials. The batteries on these old Dremels last about 30 minutes with non-stop use. I have 2 so I can charge while working. All my other tools are either hand tools or 120V. I wear a dust mask too.

 3-29-18

Today I finally, cut the shape of the head out of the alabaster piece I am doing.  It is dark when I finally come in so the flash on my camera makes the face look a bit shallow. It is still a work in progress. I just go with what I see and hope for the best.  I washed off some dust and found an inclusion in the brow. I believe I can work with it. I kind of like it. So far my witch looks kind of like Frankenwitch. I think I will go ahead and pull out some ears so I won't grind down the head too deeply to leave space for ears. I'm grinding the head to a rounder form. 

Profile of one side. No undercuts yet. I'm saving the more delicate cuts till the end to keep from breaking off the nose or mouth. Ears will be added when I get the head rounded better.

3-30-18

I decided to plan for ears. I cut out some ear shapes and cut around them for depth. I take the pictures to study what needs to be done before I put in delicate details that could be damaged during the process.

 I cut up under the nose a little bit more but hesitated because I am still planning the larger part of shaping the head a bit more. I want her to have temples and skin folds around the mouth . I keep thinking that every doll has its very own expression. This will be my doll's expression. She looks kind of like she's chewing the fat or considering the facts. As if to say hmm my little pretty where goes you? I found a jaw line.

 I am still saving the plate underneath her chin. It seems to be a harder material. I think it might help with support when I add a body to the doll. In the picture it is the white line where her neck is. 

 I can see here where she needs a little bit of smoothing out. I am going to try that with a wet dry sanding sponge.

 The ears have good depth but now her head is sort of like a triangle again. I am switching to a very fine carving bit on my old slow Dremel next so I can do just a bit of details. Just a little bit. I know this isn't where I want the entire piece yet.

 I noticed one side of her face is always a bit rougher than the other. But I started on the corner and one side of the corner was more concave. I don't like to waste one inch of my rock so I went with that. I like to let the rock tell me what it is becoming. 

 She kind of looks like a little old man. I almost want her to be a wizard, but the story is better if she is a little old lady. It's like men are from Mars. I wouldn't have as rich a story, if my doll was a  male spirt from the stone.

Same thing with the ear. This side of the head is a bit rough. I like the jaw line I pulled out for her. She's beginning to speak to me. She's saying "stop hesitating and just draw me a face please". 

 I can see why dolls have exaggerated features. She really looks like she has no face hardly at all from the front. I even gave her a wrinkle in the front of her forehead but it isn't showing up in the photos--probably because of the flash.

 The bottom of the head shows the ears I put in. It really needs rounding up some too. 

 The top of the head is coming along nicely. I am going to make her a wig. I want her to be completely my doing with no help from anyone.

Cutting line to open the head for custom glass eyes and ball-jointed neck.

 Drawing in some ideas about how I want her to look.

 Getting ready to detail ears. One thing I noticed looking at portraits of older people is they don't seem as symmetrical as the young. The can have shorter chins and longer upper lip to the nose area. They can have fallen noses versus perky noses. 

 I'm going to cut her open and scoop out the innards of her head so she can be customized like a bjd. I don’t think she should be painted ever but I may use some blend of pastel chalk and water color to give her some blush. She will have sealant first but not the art type. I might use carnauba wax and Tung oil first. She definitely needs a fine sanding. 

 I am running into problems with details because the fine dust makes it hard to hold a fine line. I'm thinking I may have to use water to keep dust out of my view.

3-31-18

Today I put in a few more details. Found out my sanding sponge works well for smoothing out tool marks. I am going to color some scrap pieces with my Conte chalks and find a way to blush my doll. I am having problems with ears. She wears about a size 6 wig. I was aiming for that scale of doll. I cut her head open. 

 But first I bored holes where her eyes will be. It helps to plan how deeply I will carve out the head for the eyeballs and neck joint. Plus I used my late dad's old drill and it is heavy and powerful. I was thinking the pressure of the drill might fracture all the work I have already done.

Now I will be able to work from the inside a way and then the outside so I won't cut too much away. 

 I used a series of circle bits meant for stone cutting to bore out the head. I started with the largest one I could use and then decreased to the smallest one I needed. Then I used a grinding bit to clean up any leftover lines. I can see where the holes are that came through the eyes. That was my guide to keep me from cutting through to her face. Those bits don't fit my Dremel so I don’t have any speed control with my Dad's drill. That thing is fast and powerful. It's meant for doing work like carpentry.

 The third hole is where I will be working with some type of neck joint. It got too dark to see outside, and my battery operated Dremel is charging now, so I have to wait till tomorrow to continue. Then back to work I will go. The days are longer now, so I will be able to do something in the afternoons. I hope to get some magnets in this weekend and the eyes finished. I have a wig that I made myself but it needs a little bit of silver hair added to it, since she's elderly.