Friday, March 13, 2009

lucky Friday 13th....

Yes, indeed...my lucky day. Got some arms done for my wistful looking girl ... maybe that's what the wistful look is all about.... arms.... although she still doesn't have legs either, so she'll still be wondering and waiting........
Haven't decided whether she is sitting or standing ...but leaning toward seated.... so... .. the legs are mostly in my head even if I have been playing with body parts from the odds and sods box.
It has taken a few days....and there has been some cursing from time to time....but, finally I remembered a few things about making and turning fingers. Must make another doll before a year passes this time.... perhaps I will actually remember some of the tips and tricks. I stitched up the third set of arms/hands....and all went well. I must remember not to try to taper them... it makes the end of the fingers too tiny to get the turning tube in to the end. Can't turn 'em if you can't get something in there..... either a teensy hemostat or a turning tube.

The face I made is quite tiny...so, her hands just can't be big honking things..I want her to be dainty...and finally got some very tiny hands stitched and turned.

Here are my turning tubes for hands this miniscule... rod and tubes for aelerons for model planes.. from the hobby shop.












One of the best and cheapest purchases for doll making I ever made. I thnk they were about $4.99 a few years ago. The tube is larger than 1/16...but slightly smaller than 1/8 of an inch. The "rod" (although it is hardly a rod) ... lol...... is slightly larger than 24 guage beading wire... just over 1/16. So, you see why it was not a piece of cake when I kept making things difficult for myself by stitching fingers on a taper..not being able to get the tube inserted all the way...and therefore not being able to work the finger up the rod.... sheeesh.......
Finally, one day I was talking to myself and muttering something about being able to turn a pretty small spaghetti strap when all of a sudden it came to me .. those are straight tubes!...aha!! one of those light bulb thingies....











I had a few of these.... blown seams....











But, finally this is the first good one...tube inserted... all the way to the end... worked the fingers down to about half way... then turned the hand. Had to cut really close to the stitches..so worked a bit of white glue into the seams on two fingers to help hold it.











grabbed the finger ends with the hemostat and voila..fingers...!











Got them all turned...stuffed each with a chenille stem. Wrapped the stems with white florist tape.. all the way to the top... it is my arm bone.































smoothed up the arm fabric .. and there we have it. Ready for some strategic small bits of stuffing.
Dainty hands with lovely slender arms...

11 comments:

HElen said...

Yes indeed, this arm is nice and slender, nice work!

Serena Lewis said...

Neat job!

Daisy said...

Wowie, those hands look really difficult to make. But it came out great. It almost looks like surgery!

Draffin Bears said...

Very dainty arms and so slender, always hard turning them through and I can understand you saying dark words.

have a great weekend
Hugs
Carolyn

sandy said...

They look great, but I gotta tell you..man!..this doll making looks so difficult to me..I admire you women who do this.

Jennifer Rose said...

cool :D thanks for sharing how thats done :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely hands and arms, woohoo!!

Shashi Nayagam said...

The arms are and hands are very dainty good job. I am sure you doll will be pleased with them

Pauline said...

Lovely arms and neat little fingers. It must take a lot of practice to turn without poking holes through. Very clever.

Pauline

Creations by Marie Antoinette and Edie Marie said...

Hello my dear friend,that looks so hard.To make those tiny fingers is amazing.I just know your dollie is going to fantastic.I can't wait till its done.Good luck with the rest of her.XXOO Marie Antionette

Linda Fleming said...

One of the reasons I turned to clay instead of fabric dolls- that damn finger turning-LOL! Drove me nuts if it was a small doll. Lots of hands with blown seams are somewhere in our local landfill- hee hee...