Make the head in the usual manner. Be very careful to get the nose as close to the template line as possible, so that your results will be similar to my results.
You will need colored pencils or fabric markers, non - bleeding, to shade and highlight the face before painting.
We will go step by step and I will provide pictures as I work with the head so that you can see what each step gives you. My objective here is to teach your eye to see as you "draw" with needle and thread and to use the needle and thread as a sculpting tool. Let your mind go away for a while, and allow the head to form it's own personality as you sculpt. This is not a marathon, no one is timing you, work at a calm pace, get to know who you are creating.
1. Make and stuff the head. Pay particular attention to the nose area when stuffing. Make sure that nose is firm, but not bulbous and over stuffed. Stuff from the back of the head first, then as the head fills with stuffing, use your stuffing stick to gently push small amounts of stuffing into the nose area. It should be stuffed just enough so that the nose does not flatten out when pushed on with your thumbs. Then fill in the cheek area and chin areas, firmly. This is where the sculpting is taking place the most, and the action of the sculpting will shift the stuffing as you stitch.
This is what you want to happen !
This page was last updated: April 2, 2010
The sculpting for the head is basically the same for any head. the aging comes in when you add additional sculpting and play with the tension of the thread and the placement of new and different lines of sculpting.
1. Insert your needle into the back of the head. Exit at either dot on the face front.
2. Working under the fabric, go back and forth the nose area as shown in diagram 2.
When you have reached the point indicated by the shading....
3. Exit your needle at the dot shown in diagram 3.
4. RE-enter , and go up to either side at the nose as indicated in diagram 4 to create a nostril. You do this by working from the nostril dot, around one nose bulb with tiny stitches,until you have created one nose bulb, and enhanced the nostril. Repeat with other side.
5. When you have created the bulb of the nose, then re-enter either nostril, and take a tiny stitch to define the nostril as shown in diagram 5. Exit at either nostril. Re-enter. and exit as shown by the shaded area in diagram 6.
6. From either side of the mouth, working under the fabric exit at the same side , outside corner of the eye.
7. Re-enter and exit at the mouth line as indicated by arrows. Repeat with tiny stitches to the other side of the mouth. Follow the flow of the needle and repeat the other side. You will have created a cheek area.
8. In diagram 8, we are creating the brow line. Using the head back seam as a reference point, work as shown,from the upper line of the eye, working under the fabric, and tugging gently, follow the arrows. Then repeat on the other side.
9.Now to create the mouth line, you will use the lower eye line again, this will also set the eyes in more deeply and define the bones under the eye. Work under the fabric tugging gently and then repeat on the other side.
Figure 10 shows you to make a chin more predominant, tug gently now, don't yank. Enter the needle at either side of the chin, exit opposite side, re enter, exit back of head and secure thread.
Figure 11 demonstrates how to create forehead wrinkles. You may make one line, or more if you like.Working under the fabric, use the lines to create the wrinkles. Do remember though, that the more work you do on the head, the smaller it becomes...For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction! If you are wanting to make a really haggard head, make the head a bit larger to accommodate the number of stitches.
From this point the Rule of Thumb comes into play, push gently down on the nose, watch the fabric react to your thumb. See where, if any, you would like to add more aging. Notice how the face changes, and ask yourself, "What would it take to do this?" Become the master of your needle, don't be at its mercy.
Your thumb can also allow you to test out eye sockets, push up cheek bones, define chin lines, etc. Use the thumb then needle, to create what the eye sees.
Here are some examples of how you can age a head with needle, thread and fabric pens, before you paint the heads.
As you can see the beginning of the doll is not often attractive, But it gives the eye something to work with. The sculpting is meticulous and it does take practice...and you have to work gently with the thread and fabric...don't yank! The use of the fabric pens gives me a basis for the layering on of the paints. I accentuated the wrinkles with a tan, high lighter the eyes and cheeks with peach and filled in the highlights of the face with a light peach. Choose good fabric pens for this, you don't want them to bleed! I did not use anything as sealant, I still like the soft feel of cloth dolls.
