DeGaray Dolls

It's been a rather long time since my last post! A variety of life events swinging like a pendulum between good, bad, ugly and good again pulled me away from my creativity for a while and I even fell out of love with dolls for a time. For some reason I judged them, or rather myself, as being childish, 'not proper art' - whatever that means. But I've come back, and I feel more at home and content in myself for having done so. So without further waffle, here's what I'm currently working on. I've set myself a challenge to work only on heads until I reach about 50 heads. The point is that practice makes perfect as everyone knows, so I'm working on that. I found that when I tried to make a whole ball-jointed doll from scratch, it was quite challenging! Although I’d done a bit of sculpting on my degree, I’d never done anything jointed, where parts are so dependent on each other. I found myself spending so much time sanding or shaving down, the...

Hi there! Here's what I'm currently working on -  my first human ball-jointed doll! Ok, it's a work in progress so I know the proportions look a little off at the moment, but hopefully that'll improve as I work on her... And I can say as a novice - it's tricky work and is requiring a lot of patience! But great fun and a good learning curve ;-) The photo isn't brilliant as my camera has a somewhat over-powered flash, so unfortunately you can see every flaw... but I'm getting somewhere slowly but surely.  As you can see I've yet to do the hands and I intend to make double-jointed knees and a torso-joint under the rib cage. I was considering a hip joint too, but I think with this being my first attempt at making a human figure I'll skip that this time. That, and I'm getting impatient! ;-)  I also still need to do the ankle joints of course.  I'm using Apoxie Sculpt clay which I love, as you can sand it, carve it, p...

Last year my hubby and I went on a trip to Berlin, and we came across "Strychnin Gallery" where they were having an Art Doll Exhibition! I'd forgotten all about posting the photos on here at the time, so here's a little look now ;) These 2 above are by the Popovy Sisters. If you haven't seen their work before get on over to their website and be prepared to pick your jaw off the floor because their work is absolutely beautiful! And it was equally exquisite 'in the flesh' so to speak.  http://popovy-dolls.com/ Sadly I don't know the name of the artist for the 2 images below, but I thought they were so beautifully done. These following ones are by Christine Polis, a French Doll Artist who has a blog here:  http://christinepolis.blogspot.co.uk/   Again unfortunately I didn't get the names of the Artists of the following 2 pieces, but these were interesting because they were the first doll art I'v...

Making footwear for your dolls can seem like a tricky task, but this fully detailed tutorial will show you how you can make your own adorable little boots for your favourite mini guys and girls! Check out the video below to learn how!     ***  If you like this video tutorial, it's now available as a printable PDF!*** My step-by-step  Doll Boot-making Guide   is   now available to download  as an easily printable PDF for  only £3.49 ! (That's less than $5 / €4!) I've compiled the all info in my tutorial video into a handy,  A4 sized,  15-page guidebook   that you can print, and easily follow the process while making your own doll boots.  All the pictures and explanations are included exactly like in the video, so you'll get all the right information, but in a practical, easy-to-follow format .  ONLY £3.49! ☺ Click  Buy Now  to go to the Paypal payment page ...

My fox-girl is starting to come together!  She looks a lot better now that she has her wig on and I'm feeling a lot more pleased with her overall. I couldn't help feeling that she looked a bit weird, in an awkward, not sure if I like it sort of way, but now that she has some hair I feel a lot happier with her. It still amazes me every time how much difference a hair-do can make to a doll and give it personality. :D  So I guess the next part will be the final chapter (so far!) of her journey - she needs a proper outfit! She's currently borrowing Martha Jones from Doctor Who's biker jacket, but I want her to have a kind of futuristic uniform.  Liv doll custom Liv doll custom

Since I spray-painted her face and body, fox-girl needed a face-up - some blushing and painting to bring out her features.  I was aiming for an arctic fox look (like these adorable little fluffballs on the right), hence the creamy-beige base coat, and I just wanted to do some very light shading hinting at some fur using light feathery brushstrokes. I used a combination of artist's chalk pastels, Citadel and Golden Fluid Acrylic and artist's colour pencils. And this is the result! Next I'll be modifying a Liv wig so that she can wear it with her ears poking out...    

H ere are some work in progress shots of how my Fox-Girl Mod is progressing. I'm using a Liv Doll as a base to work on top of with Magic Sculp epoxy putty.  Having sanded her head thoroughly I've now sprayed her all over using Montana spray-paint in a creamy ivory colour as a base coat. I protected the eyes by carefully adhering some Blu-tac to them, making sure they were covered right into the corners, but allowing the paint as close a coverage to the edges of the eyes as possible. The spray is not adhering as well as I'd hoped to the plastic of the body, which I'm not overly surprised about, but it has fixed well on the Magic Sculp and on the softer plastic of the head, feet and hands. Since most of her body will be covered up by the outfit I'm going to make for her I'm not overly concerned about the wear of the paint on her body and joints.   It took a few coats of spray to build up thin layers, rather than one thick, goopy one. Once th...