Prudence Has Her Arms

Hello!

Finally, my Prudence doll has arms, hands - a new face - and is holding her apple! :<)

Prudence is a private doll class with artist Mo Manning, to make a doll designed from one of her wonderful digital images. We started the class in September and worked right along at a pretty good pace until November, when priorities became an issue for Mo and the lessons have been on a necessary hold since then.

We received our lesson for the arms last week and I was so happy to be able to continue creating my Prudence doll. It seems pretty weird to be working on a Pilgrim doll after we just celebrated Valentines Day, but better late than never. :<) It has been so exciting to be part of this doll class and I am looking forward to the next lessons for her hair and clothes.

This was a photo I posted on the doll club Facebook page as a tease to Mo that Prudence was patiently waiting. :<) The covered wire is in place for the arms.

So here is Prudence with no arms - after patiently waiting for so many weeks. I am getting ready to sculpt the arms. (You can see how she got to this stage in previous posts.) If you click on the photos you can see more detail of the sculpting. The legs are wooden but the rest of the doll is made using PaperClay - which is an air dry clay. I had not sculpted with this for a long time as I had switched to polymer clay for my sculpted dolls and then to wool felt - so I had forgotten how difficult this medium could be to work with.

In this photo the arms have been sculpted over the wire and are drying. In the background you can see the apple on a toothpick stuck in a styrofoam base to dry.

The arm wires are just sitting in the arm holes to check for placement - the finished doll is to hold an apple behind her back - and they are taped to the body so they can dry completely.

While waiting for the arms to dry overnight I painted the surface of the base with brown paint and the a layer of green over that - it will be sanded when dry. Poor Prudence looks very uncomfortable lying there with the taped arms, but she said she was just fine as her head was turned to the side and she took a nap.

The base is sanded and thumbs have been added to the hands and left to dry overnight.

The arms are sanded until smooth and then painted black with the hands painted a flesh color. You may notice that Prudence no longer has a face. I tried to change the eyes and ended up ruining the face features so had to repaint over the face 3 coats to cover. Poor Prudence. Now she had to wait for a new face too!

She has a new face, the cuffs have been added to the painted arms and they have been painted white and we are both SO happy that this lesson is completed! This all took a number of days, which surprised me - but I forgot about the necessity of long drying periods and the sanding, painting, etc. in addition to the sculpting.

The finished doll is holding an apple behind her back so here she is - back on the shelf with her apple and waiting again for the next lessons of hair and clothes. I could add her hair - it is attached up under her cap - but that would interfere with the construction of her collar. 

So back on the shelf and waiting. I am afraid my poor Prudence is woefully out of proportion with the tiny feet but she is special and I love her. She has been so understanding of the long wait, standing in one place on the shelf, being dusted from time to time. I put her in Valentine accessories in addition to the nap with the pillow for photos to tease Mo (I posted these previously) and she went along with my nonsense without a complaint. I have decided her true name is Patience. :<)

Thank you for visiting my blog today! It is so cold here in this part of WI. I am longing for Spring! I have been making some cards for a March birthday party to be held here at the apartment building where I live. There is a monthly birthday party held in the lounge each month and I have volunteered to make the cards each month for those celebrating their birthdays and so far have 8 to make for this party. It is a lot of green because they are having a St. Patrick's Day theme so it makes me think of Spring! Wishing you a happy Friday!

Hugs,

Barbara Diane