It's a Boy!

In keeping with my original thoughts, it is a he. Little Jacob is now listed on Ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190218740814

My Latest

Well, here is the finished piece. I'm thinking this one looks more boy to me than girl. This baby is off to my mom's tomorrow so she can make some clothing to fit. I will probably wait to see what she imagines on this little one and see if it comes back to me as a girl or a boy.

In this picture, the arms still need to be filled a bit and sewn at the top. Other than that and the outfit, this baby is done.

The Last Long Night

I am now finished with my last night of long hours working on this baby. Last night I finished up the arms and sculpted a set of legs for him as well. I was going to take pictures when I finished, but I was too exhausted after working for 12 hours straight. In the back of my mind, I had thoughts of reproducing this little one... which is why I wanted to do an open hand. In the end, I decided not to reproduce him, so I closed up his open hand. I am always afraid of doing hands like that for the ooaks because the fingers are so tiny that they can break easily. I wish I did not have to worry so much about the fragility of small pieces so I could pose them any way that I wanted.

Tonight I sanded all the pieces twice. Then I washed them all down to get rid of the fine residue left behind. Then I reconditioned the clay and prepared it for painting. I then spent the last 4-5 hours painting the pieces and am waiting for them to finish baking now to seal the paint on. Later today I will put him all together and he will be ready to be fitted for clothing. I now do not need to spend anymore long nights working on this little one and am looking forward to relaxing for two days!

I will take pictures later today to post when I get him all together.

A Night of Indecision

I spent the whole night making these arms, then positioning and repositioning the fingers on them. Flexing the hand backwards, then forwards. Just how do I want these hands to be posed? I still have no idea and I have run out of steam and need to go to bed. Here is a picture of the final placement of the night. I'm not so sure they won't change once again when I return. Such a fragile looking little one.

The Last Stages

Another long night tonight finishing up this head. I softened some of the features, corrected some of the unequal spots in the head and matched the ear sizes. Then I spent quite some time placing the hair on the head. I used very fine, soft mohair and made it sparse. The hair was placed bit by bit to create the appearance of a growth pattern on the head which is particularly important when there is not so much hair on the head as it is more noticeable. Here the head is before it was baked.

And the end product....

Now on to the arms and legs... this poor little baby needs some limbs! :)

In the Making...

I began a head and forgot to take pictures along the way, so I began anew tonight with another 9 incher. After several hours through the night, I have progress pictures to share.

First I made a foil armature for the head giving it the general shape that I wanted.

Next, I covered the armature with a layer of clay and started to shape the head, nose, chin, and neck.Then I shaped in all the features... eyes, nose, mouth, browline, added ears, shaped the jawline and the temples. I have not done any smoothing yet, just a rough "sketch" of the head using my clay.

I have now begun to really "personalize" this baby by detailing the facial features. I have shaped the creases on the eyelids and under the eyes to how I would like them to look. I have also reshaped the mouth and detailed it more. The temples have been more defined. It still needs more smoothing at this point and the ears and head shape need to be more even, but it is "roughed" in and well on the way and will soon be ready for hair.

Spring has Sprung

It has been awhile since I have dropped in here. Spring has sprung here finally, after a very long winter. We had an abnormally large amount of snow nearing the end of winter which allowed for spring skiing and then flooding waters. I have been out developing my photography skills, (or so I hope), while looking at the vast amounts of flooding in and around our city in the past week. The air is increasingly warmer, bringing buds on the trees with it. As new life develops outside, I begin to create a new "little one" inside.

I did finish a little open eyed head this past week, but it is put aside for now until I know where it will be going. While it waits, I start to dream up my new one. For this one, I have decided to let readers follow along as I work. I will be taking photos of my progress so that you can see step-by-step how this new one comes to be.