And her friend Klaus, chilling in my garden after a long journey through space and time. Really, I don’t know how they ended from the outer space into my garden, but at least they supervise the neighbour’s cats (well, mostly).
ThIs was quite a difficult work. While the base and little Klaus were really easy to model, Miranda is a really tiny doll, around 15cm high. Her cloth, in particular her shoes, were really not easy to sew and embroider. But I’m happy with the result!
Miranda, little Klaus and the outer planet base are made of polymer clay. While the rest is made of Sculpey, the beautiful brown skin of the doll is rendered by another brand of clay, Cernit, which I feel harder to work with, I mean really harder, but I don’t know any other brand which renders such a beautiful and dark brown. The hair of the doll and her shoes are made of hand made felt with scraps of alpaca wool (keep your wool bits ! You can make precious things of it, believe me). The soles of the boots are made of polymer clay and decorated with golden glass beads. A silver flower closes the black linen blouse bordered wwith a golden ribbon, and black linen is also her golden bordered skirt. Her make up is made with Genesys Heat Set oil paints. The doll is, of course, armatured and for once (or thrice and counting), I haven’t made the eyes (I have bought them at an artist, Sherrie Neilson : her eye dolls are amazing). For this black little girl, I have chosen clear golden eyes, in order to resound with the gold of her clothes. As you can see, she is a bit dissymetrical : I love her like that, she looks more alive. Look better at that little beauty :
As for the base and little Klaus, I have tried with real happiness other brands of paints : a French brand, Prince August, and a British one, Citadel. those ones are well known by the miniaturists and are just perfect for painting dolls, I think I’m going to try them further on my future dolls. Think of it! This is the very first time I have tried them and I’m already amazed by their potential. Of course, Genesys is fine, really fine for making up the faces, but it’s from the other side of the Earth for me (South Africa, if I remember well). The miniature paints have also a big range of colours, all miscible and are water based (well the ones I like the most). The shades are absolutely fine and the rendering is, once more, amazing. Of course, I have used a layer of primer, gesso to be precise, and the shiny copper bits are actually painted with two coper Liquitex ink (an acrylic ink brand with a wide range of deep, vibrant colours.
I won’t tell you here how to paint such an interresting work, for there are plenty of skillful an experimented artists explaining their technics on the Internet in really useful tutorial videos. But I can tell you that the potential of this is as wide as your imagination can be!
Well, this one was not that complex. just tiny, and this is because the caracter is tiny that the work was difficult. With bigger dolls, I can make way more complex and intricate work, just because there is plenty of place to fill. I do prefer constructing bigger dolls, but the tiny ones are a very interresting and challenging work, and they’ve got a slight advantage : they fit easily in a reduced place. I mean, look at this about 60cm tall neandertal guy I’ll speak about when I finish his shoes (yes, those are laces and beads everywhere) :
