Dollieh Sanctuary

Being increasingly frustrated by the lack of good articulation in cheap dolls (and the price tag on the good ones), I decided to experiment with making my own. Clay is not my medium at all (plus my oven is crap so I can't bake it anyway), so I decided to try wood. Woodshop class was one of my favorite subjects at school, and I still had a few scraps of basswood laying around (most likely nicked from the wastebin some time in junior high).

The open torso+head thingy is just a placeholder while I figure out how the joints work. Initially I more or less modeled them after Barbie/MH/similar joints, but that's not going to work in the long run. I'd like to try to make proper double-jointed limbs like the ones showed here: http://morezmore.com/myblog/2010/01/16/bjd-2/

Lessons learned so far:

• Radial symmetry is not optional.
• Tilted hip joint sockets a la Barbie do not work on stringed dolls.
• I need to work bigger to have some margin for error (or buy a really tiny drill).
• Drilling through 5cm (2'') of basswood with a Phillips screwdriver is entirely possible, but I wouldn't recommend it.
• *insert wood related pun here because I'm actually 12 years old*


Process pic...



wip wooden bjd 1 by Anderson's All-Purpose, on Flickr



Notice improvised rigging/tightening of the string.



WIP wooden bjd 7 by Anderson's All-Purpose, on Flickr

It can sit! Or it could, before I messed up the hips.


Hip joint mistake 1
This happened after I cut the slits, due to the placement of the sockets.


Arm parts (I made this first, but then the string broke and I haven't bothered reattaching it)




When I tightened the string, it started cutting into the socket. I could blame the soft basswood, but really I need to place the hip sockets in such a way that nothing interferes with the string.


Next up is some kind of functional torso. It'll have to be in two pieces because that's the only way I'll be able to hollow it out with my limited skills and tools. I'd like to try a slightly harder wood like pine, but as I don't have a workbench I'm limited to materials I can work while holding them, and anything too hard would be downright dangerous. That also means I have to work small, although I'll have to scale up a bit so there's room for drilling the holes.

Also here's a video of the arm in action before it fell off:
http://youtu.be/417GMGCO_4U

It's still pretty crude, but I'm just happy I managed to make a working joint!

Wow, this is amazing! Hope it works out! I would love to see the finished product!

Looking great!

I'm still in the middle of a pair of penny wooden/dutch dolls, one basswood one pine, and haven't reached locking joints with my air dry BJDs. There are small hand drills that can be found, I got mine at a store that sells model railroad, car, and dollhouse supplies. I also have a small rotary hand tool.

@PrincessUnicorn Thanks, I guess we'll see how far I get before I give up at least.

@DollyKim I saw your thread - ours seem to be the only wooden dolls around right now. I actually just got a pin vice and some tiny drill bits - much easier!

Update: after a few failed attempts I managed to make a double-jointed elbow, although I'm beginning to realize why people prefer clay for this!


Test - double-jointed elbow 1 by Anderson's All-Purpose, on Flickr

Wow! You've got amazing skills! I thought she was much bigger til I saw the pics with your hand. Her face is very sweet.

Eseme

This is really nice! I do have some antique wooden dolls, and I really appreciate the work you are putting in on her. And the hollow back reminds me of certain characters from myth and books.

@Esme Haha I don't know about that! I'm just glad I remember something from school...
@Zirconmermaid Nowadays you only hear about resin, but I imagine wood must have been a common material for jointed dolls once. Also I'm glad you made the connection re the hollow back, since that's exactly what I was thinking when I carved her! (Although that part was out of necessity rather than choice.)

Started over, slightly larger, to make jointed torso, more or less modeled after Gymnast Barbie. I should probably have looked up some tutorials for the placement of the hip joints, because that turned out to be a whole science in itself. Not sure if I'll attempt double-jointed knees or not - it's going to be a pain.

Whoa, long time no update! I was inspired by that tiny wooden doll by monkeygstudio and had another go at this. Quite happy with it so far! Almost finished, only needs feet:

Super Pointing Action! (pat.pending) by Anderson's All-Purpose, on Flickr

Actually, I lied: I have to actually carve the lower legs (they're not supposed to be quite that long). Also needs major modification of the knee joints, which are incredibly wobbly right now. I would like to upgrade to some kind of double joint, but I'm afraid carving those tiny wooden beans might drive me crazy(er).

Getting the balls perfectly spherical is still the difficult bit. I know about sueding, I'm just not sure what I could use that would work at this scale.

For a double elbow or knee start with a double ball peanut like shape then flatten out the long sides, if that makes sense.