The Sculpting Process
The first step in sculpting is to build an armature from aluminum foil covered with masking tape. Then I add layers of polymer clay, and start to create detail.
This photo grid shows the stages of sculpting and creating facial detail in my Kaillie sculpt. I was not using a refefence photo, so I developed the facial features as I was going.
Polymer clay cures by baking in a conventional oven. With this type of clay, one can do "series baking" whereby more layers of detail can be added, and the piece can undergo further baking.
Below is a photo of a newly sculpted ear added to the cured head. After the final bake, the head is ready for sanding to smooth any lumpiness in the surface of the clay.
The second photo shows the body, sculpted in the same way as described above. Once ready, I attach the head to it with a strong kind of apoxie clay, and the doll is ready for molding and reproduction.
This was the first baby doll I ever sculpted back in 2010. I was proud of her, given what a huge learning curve I faced in creating her. I named her "Baby Hulk" because I sculpted her arms too thick, and had to cut the outfits to make them fit her!