WHO NEEDS ARMS? LEGS?

Another difficulty for me when making dolls, besides them standing on their own, is making arms. But like I explained to some kids that I was teaching doll making to, making dolls is like making magic, not real magic – slight of hand (excuse the pun). The only part of an arm that shows on a long sleeved art doll is the hand. So I merely sew hands onto the long sleeves of the dress. It looks like she has arms.

The legs are the same. If the doll doesn’t show her legs, perhaps wearing a gown or robe no one needs to know she doesn’t have legs.

One way is to form a body around a dowel and wrap the body in a robe. If you wrap the robe tightly, she

doesn’t have to show her arms either. Stick the end of a dowel in a drilled 2x4 and it looks like she is standing on her own two legs.

Another trick is to build the body over a tube (paper towel), let the robe or the gown cover the bottom of the tube. By weighting the tube, it stands by itself.

Baby dolls don’t show their arms or legs either. The soft sculpture dolls are wrapped in bunting blankets. The magic is that they look like their arms and legs are secure.

Magic – I love it.

To see more of the magic, look at my site on Etsy