behind the scenes of the polymer clay dolls

On this page you will see behind the scenes of the Miniature Market

First the difficulty of taking the photographs, not my forte.

Second,a brief description of how the dolls are made.

Third, if anyone is interested I have posted some photos of my workroom.

The Challenges of Photographing the Miniature Market

For me taking photographs of the Miniature Market was not an easy task. I know nothing about lighting etc and without a digital camera I couldn't have had any success at all.

Here is a picture of all the market people, they are lined up waiting for their pictures to be taken.
I can't see Dodger anywhere, he is probably up to no good.

Challenge Number 1

It was not only the camera work and lighting that made taking photographs a challenge. There was one other obstacle, the doll destroyers who live with me. Their mug shot is below.

Tim and Simon
Oh yes I know, they look innocent enough, and I must say they are charming most of the time. However, they have a dark side, they are maimers and murderers of miniature clay dolls.
I can't turn my back for a minute when I am working with dolls.They can chew off a hand or foot in seconds.

Challenge Number 2 The market is safely housed in a case which is sitting on a coffee table in my living room, and yes it is in the way. I taped a yard stick to the front of the case to indicate the size. It is 50 inches x 30 inches x 18 inches high. The case has glass on the front each end and on the top. The back comes off to access the inside.
I had to make some scenery for the ends of the market in order to have a background for the photographs. The scenery had to be held up so I needed a large suface to set everything up on. I had to think for a while how to achieve this. I solved that problem by using the counter of my worktable. I placed the counter on top of the case which houses the market.That solved the set up problem. I am not a cluttery person but I placed a lot of things on the ends of the counter so that the cats would have nowhere to jump up. The case is turned around so if I needed to I could put all the dolls back inside and pop the back on to keep everything safe. That solved the cat problem. The back scenery wouldn't stay up so I used duct tape.
Challenge Number 3 The Lighting Oh my, I am way out of my depth now. Some things won't sink into my brain, like what makes cars run, or the stock market or lighting for photography. I have no lights for this task, I just gathered up every portable light that I could find. I researched on the Internet and thought that I kinda sorta understood a bit about avoiding shadows etc, but in practice it was simply trial and error.
I I tried clamping an old lamp onto the scenery. Wrong! That didn't work at all well. I thought the light needed to be higher.	I tried holding a spotlight in one hand and the camera in the other, stretching my arms as wide as possible Wrong! But it was a good workout. Who would think taking photographs could be so physical ?
	Finally I enlisted the help of my son. He held up one spotlight as high as he could over the market, and I held the other one as high as I could in my position behind the camera tripod. It took two days to take the photographs for this web site. They are not the best pictures in the world but they're the best I can do. The photos of the individual dolls were much easier to take. I was able to set up a spot in the front window where I used the best of all lighting, daylight.

How the Miniature Dolls are Made Making Dodger
	One of the greatest things about polymer clay, is that you can bake it over and over. To make a doll I first make a wire stick man. Next I sculpt the head on the stick man, [ I used black beads for eyes in this doll, I am still experimenting with eyes, some I paint on]. When the head has the desired appearance, and while the clay is still unbaked, I use real blush or eyeshadow on the face, lady dolls get eyeshadow and blush, men dolls may get some grey eyshadow around the area where they shave. Now it is ready to pop into the oven. After the head is baked I make one hand, bake and then do the other hand, next do the same with the feet or shoes. The face will look a lot more realistic if you paint it with a very thinned out coat of browny colour paint. This brings out the features more.When that is dry you will also need to paint around the eyes and paint the eyebrows etc.
	Next I make the body. I usually use polyster fill and panty hose for this job, and I use heavy wool or cloth binding to wrap the arms and legs, anything will do.
	Dressing or costuming the doll come next, I don't have many hints about this. I do whatever works, machine sewing, handsewing and glueing. One good hint if you are machine sewing is to trim the seams after you sew not before, this makes the job much easier.Old worn out fabric is much better to use that new fabrics. If you are stuck using new material wash it a lot or boil it for a while to soften it.
	I don't add hair to the dolls until after they are dressed, if I do it before I can mess up the hair in the process of costuming the doll. Add some accessories like buttons and there you have it. Here is Dodger all set to go into the Miniature Market
	I tried to take Sarah's photo before she had her hair and hat added. She wasn't having any part of that! Can't say I blame her.
I am not the best polymer clay dollmaker. I don't have enough talent or patience. Here are some links where you can get really good advice and some supplies. Or scroll further down to view my workroom
Instructions I have this book, I bought it as soon as it came out. I can't say enough about what I have learned from James. He is my hero. I met James in 2001 and asked him to autograph my book. I was thrilled to bits. James Carrington 1/12th Scale Character Figures for the Dolls' House I have this book. It is very helpful and has instructions for all sorts of of doll house items. Everything including the kitchen sink. Making Doll's House Miniatures with Polymer Clay I don't have this book but I would like it. Sue Heaser's Making Miniature Dolls with Polymer Clay	Supplies polymerclaycentral Offers tips, information, contests, chat, message boards, and more theclaystore Buy Polymer clay and many more products at the Clay Store The home of polymer clay product kits Boston Clayworks Clay Molds videos and books can be found at the Polymer Clay Express Home of Original Sculpey, Premo & Polymer Clays Artfully Clay.com

My Workroom Otherwise known as my happy place. It is not fancy but is is very efficient and I feel so lucky to have all this space. It is really amazing that it takes so much stuff to make such small objects.
I have spare bedroom in my old house which I converted into my work room. The work counter is just made from some shelving, it is quite large, a single bed fits into that alcove. You can see my little TV which keeps me in touch with reality while my head is filled with minis. Under the work counter I have Rubbermaid bins filled with fabrics and other supplies. You can see the corner of my sewing desk. Above the desk is a wall mounted cupboard which holds all of my bottles of paint.	I have a large mirror behind the work counter, you can see a reflection of my dollhouse and a reflection of me taking the photo. The mirror reflects the light giving me a brighter place to work. I almost always stand when I work, I noticed one day that when I cut out a tiny circle, I turn in a complete circle myself. The round piece of glass on the counter is from an old table, it makes a good surface to work on and is easy to clean.
I took these photographs when I was working on my dollhouse. I replaced the front of it , it usually sits on the tallboy dresser beside the table, away from the cats. The table is normally placed right in front of the window where I can get the natural light. The dresser holds some miniature paper products as well as my non-minature gift wrap and bows. I find when writing e-mails to other miniaturists, that I often use words like non-miniature or real-sized to avoid confusion. Recently I found myself referring to my friends who are not into dollhouses or miniatures as ''my real size friends''.	My main supplies are on the bookshelf. I am one of those 'Out of sight out of mind, out of mind people.' so I love see through containers. Most of the plastic shoe boxes contain fabrics sorted and labelled by type, silk, cotton, velvety etc. On the top shelf are glass jars. The largest jar holds buttons,mine my mothers and my grandmothers, I love how they look. Other jars hold other miniature supplies. I acquired these jars after friends saw that I had made a little doll baking cookies which I kept in a glass cookie jar.My well meaning friends gave me some more glass jars, not knowing that they weren't suitable to put dolls in. I found a great use for them anyway .
	I love spending time in my workroom especially if I am lucky enough to have a whole day to work on my dollhouse or my miniature market Thanks for visiting, don't be a stranger, drop by again. send me an e-mail Back to the first page of the Miniature Market

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